Girl Sneezes 12,000 Times a Day

12-year-old Lauren Johnson has doctors stumped. The Virginia girl sneezes over 12,000 times in a day.

"I can't stop sneezing. It goes off about eight to nine times a minute," Lauren said during a recent interview.

The syndrome is known as "machine gun sneezing" and it began almost two weeks ago when Lauren caught a common cold.  She has since become known as "Achoo! Girl."

Her mother, Lynn Johnson said:"I know this is terrible for her."

The sixth-grader has had to stay home from school due to the condition and has seen six specialists since the sneezing fits took over her life.

One neurologist speculates that Lauren's condition may be an "irretractable psychogenic disorder," which may have been brought on by stress.

Lynn Johnson says:

"There's less than 40 cases ever documented ever in the entire world...Nobody really knows how to treat it, what's going to work, and even in the cases where it might have worked or turned the sneezing off for awhile, a lot of times it comes back again and then you're right back to where you started."

She added:

"It turns off when she sleeps...Only in a deep REM sleep it turns off."

"I just wish the sneezing would stop. I mean I feel fine now, but it's just the sneezing going on, and on, and on, and I can't really do anything," Lauren said, sneezing 5 times in 15 seconds.

View Lauren Johnson's interview with Today below:

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• The Girl Who Can't Stop SNEEZING (Video): Lauren Johnson Interviewed (huffingtonpost.com)
• Achoo! Girl Can't Stop Sneezing (abcnews.go.com)

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