What should you do if you have a nosebleed?

by time news

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Nosebleeds are common. About 60% of people experience it at some point. ‘They are caused by a broken blood vessel in the nose, often in the mucous membrane of the septum’, says Jan van der Borden, ENT specialist and editor of Neus.nu.

Common Causes of Nosebleeds

One of the most common causes is a simple cold. ‘Your nasal mucosa is then more vulnerable, because blood vessels are swollen and lie more towards the surface. Breathing in hard can cause a blood vessel to burst.’

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Another common cause is nose picking. ‘By picking your nose you can quickly destroy a blood vessel.’ Children regularly catch a cold and often pick their noses. Therefore, they have more nosebleeds than adults. But the elderly are also the losers. ‘Aged blood vessels are fragile and once they are broken, they continue to open easily.’ The elderly also often use blood thinners. As a result, the blood does not clot properly and a tissue is just a cloth for bleeding.

Also, junk pilots and cocaine sniffers more often leave a red trail. ‘If you bump into a door with your nose, bone or cartilage can damage the mucous membrane, causing a blood vessel to rupture.’ The nasal mucosa of coke lovers can become inflamed by sniffing, resulting in nosebleeds.

What to do with a nosebleed?

When red life fluid flows out of your nose, it is a bit of a shock. Blood is the color of danger. As a result, there appears to be more blood than there actually is. But a nosebleed is almost never dangerous and usually easy to fix. Van der Borden explains how: ‘Blow your nose gently first, so that all the clots are out. This is because these stick to the edges of broken blood vessels, making them less able to retract.’

“Then soak a cotton ball with xylometazoline nasal drops, put it in the front of your nose and squeeze the soft part of your nose, just above your nostrils.” Xylometazoline constricts blood vessels and therefore the nosebleed stops earlier. But if you don’t have these nasal drops or spray at hand, you can also do without a cotton ball. ‘By squeezing you give back pressure. If that pressure is greater than the blood pressure, the bleeding will stop. After five to ten minutes, a scab will form that is strong enough to give back pressure on its own.’ When using blood thinners, it takes longer for a scab to take over the job of your finger pressure.

Don’t bend your head back if you have a nosebleed

“The most important thing is to stay calm. Your blood pressure will then be lower and the bleeding will therefore stop sooner.’ So sit down and breathe slowly through your mouth. ‘Leave your head forward a little too. If you tilt your head back, the blood may trickle down your throat. That’s gross and nauseating. It can even make you throw up.’ But don’t overdo the bending forward. For example, don’t put your chin all the way on your chest. Then the blood pressure in your nose increases and the nosebleed does not go away as quickly.

What to do after a nosebleed?

A well-known tip for impatient nosebleeds is that cooling your nose makes the leaking blood vessels close faster. Van der Borden: ‘This is not correct. At most, something cold on your nose ensures that you sit quietly and that your blood pressure decreases. But you can hardly give counter pressure with an ice pack on your nose.’ Besides, it makes your nose cold and he doesn’t like that. As a result, more blood goes to your olfactory organ to warm it up again. Not particularly useful during a nosebleed.

The ENT doctor burns away damaged blood vessels with a kind of soldering iron.

Has the nosebleed stopped? Then do not remove any blood residue. Your nose is still fragile and can easily bleed again. ‘So don’t be enthusiastic about cleaning up the blood on the floor,’ says Van der Borden with a laugh. Because by bending over, the pressure in your nose increases again and the scab can come off.

Does the bleeding stop on its own? ‘Then the bleeding is probably deep in the nose and you can’t reach it yourself.’ Then it is time to pay a visit to the doctor. If you often suffer from nosebleeds, there is a simple solution. Blood vessels that are not there can no longer bleed. That is why the ENT doctor burns away damaged blood vessels with a kind of soldering iron.

Lots of incorrect advice on the internet

The internet is chock full of nosebleed advice, including a ton of YouTube videos. Scientists from East Surrey Hospital and Queen Victoria Hospital (UK) looked at the 45 most-watched advice videos in 2016 and tracked whether the advice matched that of doctors. Just over half of the videos (25) urged viewers to bend their heads forward. Only 22 explained where to pinch the nose and a meager eleven videos correctly explained how long it should take. Not really a good score.

Nosebleeds are usually harmless. You can easily solve them with the tips in this article. If you often suffer from nosebleeds or they do not stop on their own, then there may be more to it. In that case, please contact your doctor.

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