drip.. drip.. drip..
November 8, 2005 1:04 PM   Subscribe

I get nosebleeds very often during the winter, from about now until March. It sucks, and its incredibly inconvenient about 99% of the time. It seems to be primarily because of cold + dry conditions. I'm otherwise healthy, the doctor says there's no medical problem, even with the frequency I get them. Suggestions for preventing/lessening them?
posted by devilsbrigade to Health & Fitness (29 answers total)
 
Wear a scarf around your mouth and nose when you're outside. This helps you breath humid air and keep your nasal and breathing passages from dying out as much. Inside, consider running a humidifier if the air is dry, if you can.
posted by Rothko at 1:06 PM on November 8, 2005


Yeesh: dying = drying.
posted by Rothko at 1:06 PM on November 8, 2005


Drink lots of water and get one of these.
posted by defreckled at 1:10 PM on November 8, 2005


Best answer: A room humidifier could be very helpful for those winter months.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:12 PM on November 8, 2005


Best answer: Use saline nose spray to keep your nasal passages moist.
posted by letterneversent at 1:16 PM on November 8, 2005


Vaseline up the nose! And a humidifier.
posted by crabintheocean at 1:26 PM on November 8, 2005


What letter said: Saline nose spray. Available from most drug stores.
posted by unixrat at 1:28 PM on November 8, 2005


Also, if it does happen, especially while you are in public or with people, don't let it stress you out. This used to happen to me quite frequently, and if I get stressed or upset about it or think "when am I going to stop bleeding ew I am covered with blood oh god," it takes a lot longer to clear up. The thing to do, at least for me, is just sit down, be calm, and breathe deeply.
posted by keatsandyeats at 1:30 PM on November 8, 2005


Has he referred you to an ear/nose/throat specialist? I had nose bleed problems for years until I went to the specialist. My bleeds were especially hard to stop because they occured way far back in my nose. Turns out I have quite a large capillary very close to the surface of the membrane, and got it cauterized twice over the span of 6 years. Now I've got no problems. If you get big nosebleeds that are hard to stop this might be the case for you.

I also use Flonase throughout the year. It's not just for allergic symptoms, but also for any irritation of the nasal passges - which could be part of the cause of your nose bleeds. OTOH, they list nosebleeds as a side effect, but for me it reduced my nosebleeds.

If your nosebleeds aren't major though, you'd probably benefit just as well from the other advice here.
posted by chuma at 1:31 PM on November 8, 2005


Humidifier + Saline.
posted by Jairus at 1:36 PM on November 8, 2005


Has he referred you to an ear/nose/throat specialist? I had nose bleed problems for years until I went to the specialist. My bleeds were especially hard to stop because they occured way far back in my nose. Turns out I have quite a large capillary very close to the surface of the membrane, and got it cauterized twice over the span of 6 years. Now I've got no problems. If you get big nosebleeds that are hard to stop this might be the case for you.

I had the exact same problem, with almost the exact same solution, and I haven't had anything resembling the nose bleeds of old since. Really, see a specialist if you can.
posted by Remy at 1:37 PM on November 8, 2005


Sleep every night with a humidifier, and drink a lot more water. You'll be amazed.

(and your plants will love you.)
posted by nevercalm at 1:42 PM on November 8, 2005


Cold + dry. Yep. I'm from the moist Pacific NW, and when I visit family in Utah, I get constant nosebleeds. I also do Vaseline up the nose. Or Carmex, or chapstick, or the waxy kind of Blistex. My husband laughs because I always have a special tube of "nose chapstick" on hand.
posted by peep at 1:43 PM on November 8, 2005


Humidifier. I was stunned by the difference once I got one.
posted by aramaic at 1:45 PM on November 8, 2005


Ditto humidifier, either whole house (on a forced air furnace) or a cold-vapour one for a single room (don't get the steam ones). I can sleep comfortably at night again!
posted by bonehead at 1:51 PM on November 8, 2005


The extent of this problem though probably needs a cauterisation of the blood vessels causing it...

IANADoctor but small adjustments to these blood vessels can make a big difference. The actual procedure is akin to someone putting a Q-Tip up your nostril
posted by Wilder at 1:58 PM on November 8, 2005


Start exclusively breathing out of your mouth. This is just a theory, but try it right now. Your nose is really only there to smell stuff, you can breathe without it. If you don't breathe through your nose then it won't get irritated = no bleeding. I'm waiting for someone to shoot this theory down. :P
posted by pwally at 3:10 PM on November 8, 2005


Best answer: I used to get those too (even had my nose cauterized at one point... didn't work). Until a friend said "hey, that's a mineral deficiency, try this!" Anyways, take a mineral supplement containing Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc in a 3:2:1 ratio. (atleast 1000mg of Cal), and they should go away like mine did. I haven't had a nosebleed in winter in years, but everyonce in a while if I stop the supplements, they come back.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:32 PM on November 8, 2005


Your nose is really only there to smell stuff, you can breathe without it.

You can breathe without your nose, but it's hardly there just to smell stuff. The cilia in the nasal passages work to filter particulate matter from the air, reducing irritation to the trachea and lungs. The pharyngeal passage warms and humidifies the air before it reaches the lungs. Both are important aspects of proper respiratory function and health.

I have suffered from nosebleeds since I was a small child. I agree that a Cal-Mag-Zinc supplement might help. (They're all quite good for you anyway.) And I also recommend keeping your membranes moist, but I would caution against sticking petroleum (Vaseline) or waxes (in lip balms) up your nose. A light, plant-based oil would be much healthier, though I'd absolutely start with saline, especially during the day. If that's not enough, a light dose of sweet almond, apricot kernel or jojoba oil at night and/or right before going out in bitterly cold/windy conditions might be needed.
posted by Dreama at 3:43 PM on November 8, 2005


pwally, I'm shooting your theory down.

I get these winter nosebleeds too; it's not "irritation" that causes them, it's a lack of moisture. Mouth-breathing is not going to help. (I'm most prone to them first thing in the morning, after I've been snoring open-mouthed all night long. So there.)

(Me, I jam a wad of tissue up there when it starts and forget about it; my friends are all used to it by now, and I don't think anybody else really cares if my nose looks a little lopsided.)
posted by ook at 4:17 PM on November 8, 2005


Why shouldn't you get a steam humidifier?
posted by crabintheocean at 4:31 PM on November 8, 2005


Dreama is right to caution you about using a petroleum based product in the nasal passages/mucosa. It has been documented that this can cause problems as noted here. And, I also recall having read a journal article about how if the product gets into the lung tissue more serious problems can present.

As with most conditions, you may want to check with your primary care provider or ENT.
posted by sillygit at 4:33 PM on November 8, 2005


Whether or not mouth breathing will help with nosebleeds - I don't know, but mouth breathing is not a good idea for lots of other reasons.
posted by clh at 5:00 PM on November 8, 2005


Response by poster: Wow. Didn't know it was such a common problem. I'll try the saline spray, thats a new one.. I have a humidifier somewhere so I'll dig that out too. I might try the vitamin sups too. I've been taking calcium and zinc, but maybe the magnesium has something to do with it.

My doctor thought it wasn't serious enough to need cauterisation, so no, he didn't refer me. They stop after a minute or two usually, and its only a very once & a while that they take a lot longer.
posted by devilsbrigade at 5:18 PM on November 8, 2005


devilsbridgade: that doesn't sound too bad. If the bleeding goes on for hours, then you may want to get worked up for any coagulopathy.

I went to see an ENT about basically similar issues (more severe), and he cauterized the vessel with silver nitrate, which seemed to stop the problem for a few months at minimum.
posted by NucleophilicAttack at 5:31 PM on November 8, 2005


I get nosebleeds quite often as well -- coating the inside of the nostril with Vaseline is helpful. An ENT got me using triple antibiotic oinment instead of vaseline. The stuff is just a bit gooier and it seems to stick better on the insides of your nose.
posted by rossination at 8:28 PM on November 8, 2005


I used to get nosebleeds all of the time - it turned out that I had a very minimally deviated septum that hadn't been diagnosed for years (by lots of different doctors), which caused a few issues for me. I had that corrected, and even though the recovery was awful, the nosebleeds stopped, I can breathe better, and things are generally good with my nasal area.

If your septum is A-OK, more moisture will definitely help. My best combination was both saline spray/mist AND a saline gel (I think it was called Ayr) in the winter months.
posted by sluggo at 4:26 AM on November 9, 2005


I read someplace that Vit C was good for fragile capillaries, and it always worked if my gums bled, I suppose you could try it. It only took one or two to fix it, so you wouldn't have to fool with it long to find out if it was going to help.

The pressure point for a nosebleed is across the upper lip, just slap a finger across it and press. Unfortunately, bleeding in public has become quite an anti-social thing to do, so I'd carry something like man-sized tissues, so you could hide the mess until you get around the corner.

crabintheocean: They don't use hot vaporizers partly because of the fear of burning someone, but the cold ones are alleged to harbor Legionnaire's disease, unless you Clorox it fairly often.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 4:41 AM on November 9, 2005


I get the nosebleeds too.

In March I was held over in Denver's airport because I wasn't allowed to board the plane bleeding (makes sense). When I finally got in touch with my ENT they told me to get some Afrin and then gave me very specific instructions that contradict the bottle, so call your ENT if you ever have the 4 hour nosebleed at high altitude after you've had some alcohol (yea, that was stupid, drinking in the airport). And you should probably avoid the Denver airport too, if you get unexplained nosebleeds, cause altitude is a pretty good explanation for that in itself.

Now, for suggestions, what nobody tells you is that the silver nitrate might give you a blinding headache (it probably won't, but it might) for a few hours. The bleeding may also come back from a different capillary, and most docs don't like to cauterize both nostrils at once.

Always be prepared for your nose to start bleeding. At the very least, have a few tissues in a pocket. Be prepared to stand your ground in public, there will always be someone who insists that you must tip your head back (which may be true of a nosebleed caused by facial trauma and is definitely true for a nosebleed so severe that you risk going into shock from the blood loss). Just get yourself into a comfortable position, which is really up to you and apply pressure to the bridge of your nose or to teh area just under your nose. Do not remove the tissues until you are sure the nose has stopped bleeding,just keep adding more tissues, because you don't want to disrupt a clot while it's forming. Don't be surprised if you find that this makes blood drip down the back of your throat, which is unsettling to me still, just spit it out.
posted by bilabial at 6:39 AM on November 9, 2005


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