How to Stop Nosebleeds
Nosebleeds are common, especially in children. Nosebleeds can be a little scary to experience, but they rarely point to a serious health problem. Most nosebleeds occur at the outside of your nose and generally last about 5 minutes.
If you have chronic nosebleeds or nosebleeds accompanied by a headache, fever, cough, pain around your eyes, or sinus drainage that continues for more than 10 days then see your doctor as soon as possible.
1- Keep Your Hands Out Of Your Nose: Touching the inside of your nose could cause an infection – another source of bleeding.
2- Sit Or Stand Up Straight There is a real reason why mom would tell you this growing up – it helps stop the flow of blood! If you are standing upright, gravity will keep the blood in your head. If you’re lying down, it’ll flow south.
3- Apply Pressure Wrapping a tissue around your finger and gently pushing against the outside of your nose is generally all that’s needed to slow or stop most nosebleeds.
4- Check Your Medications Some blood thinners can cause excessive bleeding – aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil), etc…
5- No Juice Or Soda Drinking juice or soda may make the irritation worse causing more frequent episodes of nose bleeds.
6- Use A Humidifier You should run a humidifier during cold and flu season. This will add moisture to the air and reduce any ness which can lead to an infection.
7- Use Saline Spray A saline spray can be used to clean the nose and help reduce any ness – do not use the kind of saline spray that you put in your nose.
8- Change Your Toothbrush Regularly Although not common, an injury to the inside of your nose or excessive nose picking can cause a sinus infection which will then result in chronic nosebleeds.
9- Keep Your Head Above Your Heart This is somewhat similar to #3, but also important if you’re lying down – what goes up must come down…if you are straight up while sleeping your blood will stay in your head resulting in fewer episodes of bleeding during the nighttime hours.
10- Don’t Smoke More information on smoking and preventing cancer.
11- Avoid Aspirin Although not common, some people are susceptible to excessive bleeding with aspirin. If you have chronic nosebleeds it’s best to avoid taking this medication.
12- Do Not Pick Your Nose! For real – picking your nose can cause irritation resulting in chronic nosebleeds.
13- Change Your Pillowcase Regularly Again, this is somewhat similar to #8 but also important if you’re lying down – what goes up must come down…if you are straight up while sleeping your blood will stay in your head resulting in fewer episodes of bleeding during the nighttime hours.
14- Keep The Blood In Your Head During a nosebleed, applying mild pressure against the front and back of the nasal septum
How to stop nose bleeding at home:
You can often stop a nosebleed by yourself. Here are some simple steps you can take to make sure the bleeding stops and no permanent damage is done.
1) Lean forward with your head tilted slightly forward. Doing this will allow any blood that continues to drip out of your nose to drain out (rather than down into your throat).
2) Pinch both nostrils shut using firm but gentle pressure for 10 minutes. Try to breathe through your mouth until the bleeding stops — it might not stop immediately, but try to hold the pressure steady.
If it’s been less than five minutes since you first noticed the nosebleed or it’s been less than 20 minutes from when you initially started holding pressure on the nose, wait another five minutes before checking again.
3) Once the bleeding has stopped, lean back slightly and apply a cold compress to your nose. This will further reduce any swelling that may have occurred from the blow or pressure of pinching shutting your nostrils for so long.
4) Apply more pressure on top of the cold pack for another 10 minutes. If you don’t see any blood draining out, repeat step three instead of this one.
5) If it’s been less than an hour since you started having the nosebleed, sit up with your head tilted forward again for another 20 minutes just in case any blood has drained down into your throat while you were taking care of yourself. After this time, if there is no sign of a lingering nosebleed, you can assume everything is okay and go on with your day.
what causes nose bleeding in adults:
Nosebleeds in adults are most often the result of dryness or irritation inside the nose.
They can be caused by:
1) dry weather
2) allergies
3) sunburn
4) smoking
5) picking your nose
6) an injury to the face, like a broken nose or getting punched in the face.
How to stop bleeding fast:
There are several things you can do to help stop the bleeding faster. If you have gentle pressure on your nose and it’s not bleeding very badly, your best bet is probably just sitting still for several minutes with a cold pack pressed against the bridge of your nose.
However, if this isn’t enough, here are some other steps you can take:
1) Pinch your nose shut tightly. Breathe through your mouth. If you need to, press for up to 10 minutes, though five should be enough in most cases. This will help stop the bleeding and prevent further blood from draining into your throat and down into your stomach (this can cause vomiting and nausea).
2) Once the bleeding stops, lean forward slightly with a cold compress pressed against the bridge of your nose for another 10 minutes. Then sit up and lean back slightly with a cold pack pressed to your forehead or cheekbones for another 20 minutes or so just in case there was any residual bleeding that drained out while you were sitting still with pressure on it.
3) you have access to two small, clean clothes.
first cloth- use it to apply pressure on the area of bleeding for about 10 minutes, then place a cold compress over the area and apply pressure for another 10 minutes.
2nd cloth- use it to press against the back of your throat after you’ve been spitting blood from your nose for about five minutes. This will help stop any further drainage from going down into your stomach and causing nausea or vomiting.
Just make sure you spit out as much as possible first before putting something in the back of your throat so that there isn’t too big a risk of choking on it or having it go down into your lungs instead.
4) If it’s been less than a since you started having a nosebleed, sit up with your head tilted forward again for another 20 minutes just in case anything has drained down into your throat.
5) If you have a nosebleed that lasts longer than an hour, seek medical attention immediately. You may need to have the blood drained from inside your nose so it doesn’t stop bleeding on its own and cause long-term damage to the area.
what causes nose bleeding in children:
Nosebleeds in kids are most often caused by dryness or irritation inside the nose due to allergies or picking/scratching at the nose too hard. Less commonly, they can be caused by:
1) A viral infection like a cold
2) physical such as getting hit in the nose or a broken nose
3) a rare disease called Rendu-Osler-Weber syndrome which is linked to a gene mutation and is associated with “blood in the urine, enlarged blood vessels, and red eyes” in addition to nosebleeds. In babies under 6 months old, it’s more likely that the cause of the bleeding will be from trauma during delivery or from pressure being applied when taking an X-ray.