THIS is the stuff of nightmares - though in this case, the victim could not even fall asleep.

A Taiwanese man by the name of Zheng Yongcai, 47, endured nasal pain and a persistently running nose for three days.

But the pain didn't go away.

Desperation because of a lack of sleep, Mr Zheng checked himself into a hospital on Tuesday morning, reported Apple Daily Taiwan.

The doctor examined him, then pulled a large cockroach, still wriggling, out of his left nostril.

At the sight of the insect, Mr Zheng involuntarily exclaimed: 'Disgusting.'

The creature was 4cm long and 2cm wide and had been buried about 4cm into Mr Zheng's nostril.

The victim said: 'Since something got stuck in my nose three days ago, the pain has kept me from sleeping.

'It felt like there was another living thing struggling inside my body. It was really terrible.'

The doctor who saw him said that this was an extremely rare case and the first he had seen.

He said that the cockroach could have crawled into Mr Zheng's nose while he was sleeping and got stuck there.

When Mr Zheng picked his nose, he may have driven the insect further inside.

This story was first published in The New Paper on Oct 30, 2008.