It's flu season.

The season for sneezin.'

Did you ever try to hold in a sneeze? Did it backfire on you?

There's a report catching fire on social media about a 34-year-old man who pinched his nose shut, held in his sneeze and ended up blowing a hole in his throat.

Well -- we just had to Verify this one!

The story is popping up in a lot of places. But we tracked down the source.

It's from BMJ Case Reports. That's a totally legit journal for healthcare workers and researchers.

Their story about our sad sneezer uses lots of clinical language, with X-rays that show what happened to the guy.

It boils down to this: When he held in that bad boy, he felt a pop, and his neck swelled up. Doctors told him the force of that suppressed sneeze ruptured his pharynx -- tissue in the cavity right behind the mouth. And that sent air bubbles into his neck.

They put him on a feeding tube and gave him antibiotics. And it took weeks for things to heal.

Verify spoke with emergency room doctor David Wein. He told us this does not happen often. But yeah -- it does happen.

So we can Verify -- you CAN tear a hole in your throat by holding in a sneeze.

It's no wonder then, that doctors say -- when you feel a sneeze coming, it's best to just let it happen.