In 90% of cases, stopping nosebleeds is not difficult, but the correct sequence of actions is necessary.
First. Don't panic, try to calm down, because when we worry, our heart beats faster and blood loss increases.
Second. Sit down and tilt your head slightly forward.
Third. Try to do everything to make it comfortable for you to breathe - unbutton your collar, loosen your clothes, open a window.
Fourth. Breathe as deeply as possible, inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This will improve blood circulation and increase blood clotting.
Fifth. Place an ice pack or a towel soaked in cold water on the bridge of your nose, and a heating pad on your feet. This will narrow the vessels of the nose, dilate the vessels in the legs, due to which there will be an outflow of blood from the head.
Sixth. Use your fingers to squeeze the wings of your nose and hold your hands in this position for several minutes. You can also insert a ball of sterile cotton wool moistened with a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide into the nostril. This way you will squeeze the bleeding vessel.
Seventh. In case of severe bleeding, you can drink 1-2 teaspoons of a 5-10% solution of calcium chloride (calcium gluconate, glycerophosphate), two tablets of Vikasol or another hemostatic agent. If there are none, you can drink 1-2 teaspoons of salt water.
Eighth. If, despite all measures, the bleeding cannot be stopped, call an ambulance. Even seemingly insignificant losses can lead to anemia, dizziness and fainting.
A common mistake with nosebleeds is the patient’s desire to lie down. This cannot be done, because when a person lies down, blood does not flow out of the nose and it seems that the bleeding has stopped. But this impression is deceptive. Most often, the bleeding continues, only the patient swallows the blood while lying down. Otolaryngologist Ekaterina Avdeeva
Nosebleeds can be caused by a variety of reasons, including nasal trauma, fatigue, and overwork.
Injuries. Mechanical injuries are one of the common causes of nosebleeds. Blood can come out if a person picks his nose, or during a runny nose - when the nose is injured by tissues.
Drying out. Drying of the mucous membrane occurs in the cold or in dry indoor air and can lead to bleeding.
Poor blood clotting. Bleeding from the nose can occur with poor blood clotting, as well as in those who take acetylsalicylic acid and other blood-thinning drugs.
Vitamin K. Bleeding caused by poor blood clotting may be associated with a lack of vitamin K. Its sources include spinach, lettuce, all types of cabbage, avocados, bananas, wheat bran, soybeans, meat, eggs, milk and dairy products, olive oil.
Vitamin C. The condition of blood vessels is affected by vitamin C, a deficiency of which increases their fragility. This explains bleeding in children after illness, when the body is weakened and lacks vitamins, as well as in winter and spring. Therefore, it is important to monitor your diet, especially after illness and during the cold season.
Vegetovascular dystonia. If spontaneous nosebleeds are preceded by headache and tinnitus, and nosebleeds occur against the background of watery discharge, then most likely the cause is vegetative-vascular dystonia. Many people, especially children, do not tolerate weather changes well, due to which blood pressure also changes sharply, the vessels either expand or contract, as a result of which their walls cannot withstand and burst.
Hormones. This reason explains nosebleeds in girls during hormonal changes; this phenomenon is called replacement bleeding. The tissue of the nose and the tissue of the genital organs are of the same type, it is called cavernous tissue. If you examine it under a microscope, you can see a very close interweaving of tangles of blood vessels.
Therefore, when, before the onset of menstruation, blood rushes to the genitals, the cavernous tissues of the nose reflexively swell, the vessels overflow with blood, sometimes they cannot stand it, they burst, and bleeding comes from the nose.
Usually, with the establishment of a constant menstrual cycle, these problems in girls go away, but this does not prevent you from telling your endocrinologist and gynecologist about them during your appointment.
Overheat. Bleeding from the nose is often associated with overheating of the body, for example, in the summer with sunstroke, and in the winter with an increase in temperature during the flu and respiratory infections.
Sudden changes in pressure. Climbers and divers often suffer from nosebleeds due to the fact that they have to endure sudden changes in pressure.
In children, 90% of spontaneous nosebleeds occur from the Kisselbach plexus - this is a place at the lower edge of the nasal septum, where there is a very dense network of branched blood vessels. In children, the vessels are located close to the surface, while the mucous membrane is thin, so any damage to the mucosa and sudden dilation of the vessels can cause bleeding.
To avoid nosebleeds, humidify the air in the room using a steam generator, you can also put wet towels on the radiator, spray the room with a spray bottle, and have a lot of indoor plants in the house.
If crusts often form in your nose, you should not pick them out; it is better to periodically instill 2-3 drops of sea buckthorn oil or rosehip oil into your nose.
Heavy and frequently recurring bleeding is a reason to consult a therapist or otolaryngologist. If the problem is a defect in the vascular wall, cauterization of the vessel is usually prescribed using liquid nitrogen, laser or radio wave surgery.
Bleeding caused by high blood pressure cannot be ignored, as it signals an increased risk of strokes.
A runny nose or rhinitis is a common disease characterized by swelling, inflammation of the nasal sinuses and excessive secretion of mucus. It occurs in respiratory diseases, but in the chronic form it is an independent pathology.
If a runny nose is accompanied by nosebleeds or epistaxis, you should consult a doctor. This may indicate a violation of the integrity of the capillary vessels lining the mucosal epithelium, or be a symptom of a number of systemic diseases of the body.
Before starting treatment, you need to find out why there's blood coming out from the nose. The choice of therapeutic strategy largely depends on the causes, severity and regularity of bleeding.
Nosebleed or epistaxis is a pathological condition of the body in which blood bleeds from the vessels in the nasal cavity. The danger in such a situation is assessed by a number of factors, the most complex being “signal” bleeding. They begin suddenly and stop quickly, but are accompanied by large loss of blood.
Depending on the severity of the case, the following classification of epistaxis is distinguished:
In 90% of cases, the source of bleeding is in the anterior or lower part of the nasal septum, which is called the Kisselbach plexus. Separately, we consider posterior bleeding, which occurs in 10% of clinical cases. It is dangerous to health because bloody issues They descend along the back wall of the nasopharynx and are difficult to stop on their own. With posterior hemorrhage, blood can rise up the nasolacrimal duct, subsequently flowing out through the orbit.
Read also about the main drugs for nasal congestion
Nosebleeds are extremely rarely fatal. The most dangerous is epistaxis, which developed in a dream. Among such cases is the death of Attila, the leader of the Huns in the 5th century. He choked on blood in his sleep during his own wedding.
This group of factors that causes bleeding is associated with a local effect on the epithelium in the nasal passages. It can be short or long, often leading to disruption of the integrity of blood vessels. Typical local causes of epistaxis:
Read also about nasal congestion due to allergies.
There are also a number of factors that contribute to the occurrence of nosebleeds. These include: prolonged exposure to dry air, overheating and heat stroke, intoxication of the body. Epistaxis is observed in meteopaths during sudden changes in weather.
Do not forget that there are also cases when it is simply necessary to save a person’s life.
Some medications and chemicals can cause nosebleeds. Pathology is often observed with long-term use of NSAIDs and antipsychotics. Alcohol and other stimulants also cause nosebleeds.
You can determine the onset and type of bleeding yourself, based on the characteristic symptoms. The following precursors of pathology are identified:
Depending on the form of epistaxis, the structure and color of the blood differs. For example, scarlet foamy blood with bubbles is a sign of pulmonary hemorrhage. With gastric bleeding, it has a characteristic dark color and thick consistency. With mechanical damage to the mucous membrane against the background of rhinitis or pharyngitis, the appearance of blood clots in the nasal mucus is typical.
The first priority when bleeding from the nose appears is to stop the bleeding. There are several useful tips How to deal with the problem before seeing a doctor.
After the bleeding has stopped, you should not make sudden movements, lift weights or strain. It is advisable to drink warm and sweet tea and take a walk in the fresh air.
If a person with hemorrhage is unconscious, you should lay him on his back and move his head to the side. After this, contact emergency medical services.
There are several rules for what not to do during epistaxis:
If you do not properly deal with nosebleeds, it can intensify and lead to unpleasant consequences.
If a foreign body enters the area and causes bleeding, it is not recommended to remove it yourself. In the process, you can damage the delicate mucous membrane and only worsen the problem.
You should seek medical help if you have regular nosebleeds or have experienced a large loss of blood once. In this case, only the doctor knows. Help is also required for facial trauma, as well as for sudden bleeding that cannot be stopped on your own. The choice of therapy method is selected taking into account the form of epistaxis, the volume of blood loss and the cause of its occurrence.
Usage medicines– simple and effective method treatment of nosebleeds. For this purpose, the following groups of medications are used:
As emergency remedy Hydrogen peroxide is considered to stop nosebleeds. It can be used for instillation or moistened with a solution. In addition, it is useful to have simple antiseptics in your medicine cabinet, the use of which allows you to avoid infection during epistaxis (Chlorhexidine, Miramistin, Betadine).
You cannot choose your own means to combat nosebleeds. The choice of medication should be made by a doctor based on the diagnostic results.
Physiological procedures are prescribed for chronic nosebleeds, as well as to prevent complications and relapses of this pathology. Effective methods:
In case of chronic runny nose with blood, a complex of physiotherapy procedures is prescribed, which enhances the effect of medications. The main disadvantage of these methods is the impossibility of performing them at home.
There are a large number of surgical methods for treating nosebleeds. As an emergency measure, the injection of novocaine or quinine into the mucous membrane is used. For the chronic form of the pathology, the following methods are used:
Surgery is a last resort treatment when other methods do not bring the desired result or an emergency solution to the problem is required due to heavy blood loss.
Nosebleeds can most often be avoided. To do this, you should follow simple preventive measures:
Bleeding may be a sign of serious systemic disease. If you regularly discharge blood from the nose, it is recommended to undergo a full examination of the body.
This video will tell you why your nose bleeds.
Sometimes children and adults experience nosebleeds. Most often it is not dangerous and has a visible reason. However, it often happens that the blood comes out of nowhere: nothing hurt, nothing bothered you, but the blood suddenly started flowing. What it could be, what to do and how to stop the bleeding, whether examination and tests are necessary, which doctor to contact - we discuss these issues together with the site.
The nose is an important sensory organ, through it we feel all the aromas of life, it helps us fight penetration into the body infections .
The nose has many nerve endings and blood vessels, many of which are located in the nasal septum area just below the epithelial layer. Due to this position and the thin vascular wall, they can often bleed as a result of vascular damage. Doctors divide the causes of nosebleeds into two large groups:
Nosebleeds are a dangerous sign
Local processes that can cause bleeding are injuries to the nose or its mucous membrane, this occurs with falls and blows to the face, or broken nose. Injury to the mucous membrane often occurs in children due to the insertion of toy parts into the nose or injury to the mucous membrane with a fingernail or sharp object.
Other reasons may be inflammatory processes in the nose or sinuses, this is acute rhinitis, sinusitis and sinusitis with the formation of crusts in the nose and injury to the mucous membrane. For certain inflammations in the nose, e.g. allergies , there is a flow of blood to the vessels, and the vessels cannot withstand the pressure.
Deviation of the nasal septum or atrophy of the mucous membrane, various types of neoplasms in the nasal cavity also injure blood vessels and cause bleeding.
Nosebleeds are a dangerous sign
However, nosebleeds can also occur due to serious illnesses of the whole body. Thus, nosebleeds occur with diseases of the heart and blood vessels, hypertension and atherosclerotic lesions in the vessels of the brain, circulatory disorders in cervical spine . Then normal blood circulation through the vessels is disrupted and the pressure inside the nasal capillaries increases, which they cannot withstand and burst.
Nosebleeds can be a symptom of problems with blood clotting, including hereditary ones, an overdose of drugs that affect blood flow and clotting, with vitamin deficiency - for example, vitamin PP and C, which make the vascular wall strong.
Bleeding from the nose can occur as a result of thermal effects on the body, this is possible with overheating in the sun, fever with infectious diseases. Nosebleeds can occur when there is a sudden change in pressure in climbers or divers, when there is an imbalance of hormones, or during pregnancy.
Whatever the reasons that led to the development of bleeding, you must be able to provide first aid and decide whether help and consultation with a specialist is necessary, whether this needs to be done urgently or whether you can consult a doctor as planned.
Usually, when a nosebleed occurs, out of habit, we reflexively throw our heads up, pressing a handkerchief or napkin to our nose. Unfortunately, this is a common and dangerous misconception; you should not tilt your head up during nosebleeds.
Nosebleeds are a dangerous sign / shutterstock.com
This can lead to ingestion and inhalation of blood, especially if there is severe bleeding, vomiting, and bronchial obstruction (blood blockage). It is necessary to sit down and lean your head forward, looking between your spread legs, this is necessary so that the blood from the wings of the nose flows forward.
In addition, it is necessary to calm down and allow air to flow by unfastening a woman’s tight belt, shirt collar or bra. If bleeding occurs at home, apply a piece of frozen meat or an ice cube to the bridge of your nose; this will constrict the blood vessels and stop the bleeding faster.
If the bleeding does not stop, you can press your nostril against the nasal septum for about ten minutes. By squeezing the vessels and slowing down the blood flow in them, a blood clot quickly forms there, which clogs the vessel.
If these measures do not help, you can try using vasoconstrictor drops used for a runny nose - naphthyzine, sanorin. Having made a cotton swab and soaked it in the medicine, insert it into the nasal cavity as tightly and deeply as possible. If the bleeding is caused by dry crusts in the nose from a runny nose, it is necessary to lubricate the nasal cavity with vegetable oil or Vaseline, this will soften the crusts and stop the bleeding.
If nosebleeds are caused by overheating, take the victim into the shade and place a cool compress on the nose area. If you suspect heatstroke, you must immediately examine the person by calling an ambulance and hospitalizing the victim.
Sometimes nosebleeds are one of the symptoms of serious illnesses, so you should immediately seek help from a doctor.
Nosebleeds are usually frightening and take you by surprise. Even a few falling scarlet drops cause concern, and if blood is gushing out of your nose, you won’t be confused for long. Knowing why a nose bleeds and how to act to stop it will help you avoid panic and competently help the victim.
Epistaxis (nosebleeds) is a common and familiar phenomenon to everyone. There are many reasons for it - from fairly harmless to serious, but what they all have in common is the effect on the blood vessels: they become fragile, burst, which is why the nose bleeds.
All causes of epistaxis in adults are divided into:
Local factors for the occurrence of nosebleeds:
Epistaxis occurs for the following systemic reasons:
In many cases, nosebleeds appear against the background of headaches, tinnitus, and dizziness.
Epistaxis in the morning, not during the day , more often observed in men. The reasons are deviated septum due to injury or vascular atrophy due to overwork, smoking, and harmful working conditions.
More serious problems are also possible - nasal polyps, systemic blood diseases, therefore, with constant bleeding in the morning, especially with pain , Consultation with a specialist is advisable.
During pregnancy, under the influence of hormones, the total volume of blood in the body increases and the load on the heart and blood vessels increases.
In a woman in an “interesting position,” the nasal mucosa thins and becomes fragile, and pressure may increase, resulting in bleeding from the nose. This must be reported to the supervising doctor - monitoring is necessary, high blood pressure is dangerous for the fetus.
After childbirth, everything usually returns to normal.
Why does nose bleed in children?
Typically, epistaxis is a frightening, spectacular, but relatively safe for health phenomenon. It develops when blood vessels are damaged spontaneously or due to injury.
Nosebleeds happen:
The danger is heavy or prolonged bleeding. Dizziness, weakness, pallor, flashing spots appear, cold sweat appears, the pulse weakens and quickens, the patient may lose consciousness. If such symptoms appear, you should not hesitate - you need urgent medical help. If blood pours from the nose every day, a headache appears, a medical consultation is also necessary.
If the bleeding occurs spontaneously, in one half of the nose, the blood flows out weakly, there is no pain, then it usually stops quickly and is not dangerous to health. Severe or prolonged bleeding requires medical intervention.
In most cases, you can handle the problem yourself. What to do if your nose bleeds:
What NOT to do:
If a child’s nose bleeds or pain occurs, there is no need to panic, scaring the baby. You need to act in the same way as when providing assistance to adults, but call doctors after 10 minutes if the bleeding has not stopped, and after 5 minutes if there is severe bleeding.
It is possible to stop nosebleeds with the help of herbal recipes:
You should urgently call an ambulance if it is impossible to stop the nosebleed on your own, it lasts more than 15-20 minutes in adults or becomes stronger, pallor, chills, severe pain, numbness of the limbs or loss of consciousness appear.
Doctors' help is also needed if:
Until the doctors arrive, the patient needs to be kept at rest.
If adults or children often have nosebleeds, bruises on the body, bleeding gums or a headache, it is imperative to establish the exact cause of the pathology.
First of all, you should contact an ENT specialist. To determine the causes of the problem, the specialist will examine the nasal cavity - there may be foreign bodies, polyps, neoplasms, and will prescribe a blood test to determine its coagulability and platelet count.
It is also advisable to seek advice from an endocrinologist, immunologist, hematologist, or oncologist. Specialists will conduct diagnostic tests and prescribe the necessary course of treatment.
To prevent bleeding in adults and children over 3 years of age, use ascorutin (a complex drug with vitamins C and P) in prophylactic doses specified in the instructions.
You can strengthen the delicate surface of the mucous membrane with massage. Every day, morning and evening:
Breathing exercises have an excellent strengthening effect. You should inhale and exhale forcefully several times, then repeat the exercise, alternately pinching your nostrils. After this, inhale alternately with pinched nostrils, holding the air as you inhale for 5 seconds.
Washing the nose with solutions is very useful. sea salt, soda, iodine, herbal infusions, especially chamomile.
You should also constantly:
The causes of most episodes of epistaxis can be easily identified and eliminated, but they can also be a symptom of serious illnesses or a consequence of neglect of one’s health. Situations are dangerous when blood spurts from the nose; this is accompanied by pain and general weakness - this requires urgent medical attention. If bleeding constantly recurs, you also cannot do without a visit to the doctor. Pay attention to your body's signals and be healthy!
The causes of nosebleeds in adults can vary. To identify them for sure, it is recommended to consult a doctor and undergo a medical examination. If in the near future you cannot get to the hospital, then you can find out the main causes of nosebleeds in adults from the presented article.
Nosebleeds (the causes in adults will be described a little below) are concepts that are close, but not equal in meaning. To find out what the difference is between these pathological processes, let’s define each of them:
Nosebleeds in adults and children can have different sources. Thus, blood often comes from respiratory tract, esophagus and even stomach. In such cases, it flows into the nasal cavity through the so-called choanae, that is, internal openings that connect the pharynx.
Even the most experienced doctors do not know everything about nosebleeds in adults and children, because the mucous membrane of this organ is very actively supplied with blood, as it has a huge blood network woven from small vessels and capillaries.
According to statistics, most often regularly occurring nosebleeds indicate the development of a serious illness. Although this pathology can also occur in completely healthy people of different ages.
The causes of nosebleeds in adults and children are divided into local and general. To understand how they differ among people of different ages, let’s look at them in more detail.
The mucous membrane of a child’s nose is quite delicate, which is why it is easily injured. Its blood supply is provided by branches of the carotid artery. In 90% of cases in children, it is the small capillaries that bleed, which are located in the anterior-lower section of the septum of the new cavity, where, in fact, the most bleeding zone is located, informally called the Kisselbach zone.
In childhood, in addition to general and local causes of nosebleeds, there are also external ones. These include damage to the vessels of the mucous membrane:
Causes of local nosebleeds in young children include:
Common causes of nosebleeds in young children include:
Bleeding from the nose is a dangerous sign if this deviation occurs very often and is accompanied by headaches or other pain.
It should be noted that the general and local causes of nosebleeds in adolescents are the same as in young children. But most often this deviation is associated with hormonal changes in the child’s body (during puberty).
Among other things, blood from a teenager’s nose can regularly flow due to increased arterial or intracranial pressure due to excessive psycho-emotional or physical stress. In other words, overwork is the most likely cause of bleeding in children 12-16 years old.
What are the causes of nosebleeds in adults? They are also divided into local and general. By the way, with age, this phenomenon occurs more and more often. Let's take a closer look at what it may be connected with.
Local causes of nosebleeds in adults may include the following:
What else can cause nosebleeds? Causes in adults (general) are often as follows:
It should also be noted that nosebleeds in healthy people can occur due to a stressful situation or significant physical activity. The cause of this deviation is often the inhalation of dry or frosty air (hot summer or cold winter).
Often healthy adults may leak after prolonged exposure to the sun (or as a result of so-called “sunstroke”). In this case, a person experiences tinnitus, weakness, severe headaches, and sometimes loss of consciousness.
If bleeding in healthy people occurs infrequently and is in no way associated with serious internal diseases, then, as a rule, this phenomenon stops quickly and is not particularly profuse.
In older people, nosebleeds can occur for the same reasons as in healthy adults, but with some nuances. Main feature of this age is that in an old person, the capillaries of the posterior parts of the nose lose their elasticity over time, resulting in heavy bleeding.
It should also be noted that a fairly common cause of this deviation in older people is hypertension.
Now you know why certain people periodically or constantly experience nosebleeds. 4 main reasons:
Above we talked in detail about why such a deviation can occur in a person at a given age. Now I would like to tell you how to provide first aid for such a deviation.
If a person has severe nosebleeds, it is recommended: