A man who sneezed continually for 35 years has finally been cured - after discovering he was allergic to his breakfast.

Patrick Webster saw more than 60 doctors and went to three hospitals, but was told he had no allergies and they had no idea what was causing the problem.

Now the 52-year-old former civil servant is considering suing his local health authority after scientists in York revealed that Mr Webster, who prepares his own muesli every morning, is allergic to oats.

Mr Webster, from Bournemouth, Dorset, began sneezing when he was 17 and sneezed several hundred times a day all year round.

"It was absolutely exhausting," he said. "I was so desperate to try to sort it out that I took six months off work and ended up in three hospitals.

"I had skin tests for allergies, but they were negative so the doctors wouldn't give me any other sort of allergy test.

"One doctor even said I was allergic to myself!"

For 20 years, he took steroids in a vain attempt to beat the sneezes, but says that all the drugs have left him with is osteoporosis, cramp and a low mineral count.

Finally, after more than three decades of suffering, tests by York Nutritional Laboratory revealed he had "a moderate reaction" to oats and egg yolk.

As soon as Mr Webster stopped eating his muesli, the sneezing stopped.

"The last NHS allergy specialist I saw said he was certain I was not allergic to anything because the skin tests were negative," he said.