Nosebleeds or epistaxis is common, not serious, but annoying condition. It is embarrassing if nose begins to bleed in public. Nosebleeds occur when the hundreds of tiny blood vessels in the inner nose get agitated pushing out the blood from the nostrils.
Usually nosebleeds last only for a few seconds to a maximum of about 10 minutes. While it may look like lots of blood but usually it is a tiny amount.
It may appear tough but nosebleeds can easily be controlled by home remedies and no other treatment may be required in most cases unless it is due to some serious underlying causes.
One of the most common causes of nosebleeds is dry air which dries out the nasal membrane. Repeated sneezing, allergic reactions, hard scratching, frequent nose blowing and nose injury can also cause nosebleeds.
High blood pressure, upper respiratory infections, hormonal changes during pregnancy can also cause nosebleeds.
Alcoholism, excessive smoking and excessive consumption of aspirin can lead to nosebleeds.
It may or may not follow with weaknesses, dizziness and confusion. You may even faint during one of the seven episodes of nosebleeds.
How to Stop Nosebleed
This requires a little bit of patience and an activity by you hand. Nothing else is required and this perhaps is the best way to stop nosebleeds.
1. Pinch the Nose
The pressure applied during pinching the nose sends the pressure back to the origin and bleeding stops.
- Sit straight with your head slightly tilted towards the front. Under no circumstance should you tilt your head backwards, it will promote more bleeding.
- With one of your fingers and thumb pinch the soft part of the nose below the hard bony structure. This will close both nostrils.
- Breath in and out from your mouth.
- Continue to hold the nostrils closed and breathing from mouth for 10 minutes.
Nosebleed with stop. If not then repeat the cycle one more time. It is important that you do it for 10 minutes at a time without changing the head position. This might be a boring exercise but very effective.
2. Apply Ice
The objective here is to constrict the blood vessels. Since these blood vessels are tiny ice compress will quickly stop nosebleed.
- wrap ice cubes in a clean cloth
- Sit straight on a chair with head slightly tilted forward
- apply the ice pack near the nose bridge and the cheeks for 5 minutes.
- remove ice pack every minute for a couple of seconds before applying it again.
The nosebleed will stop as the tiny capillaries that were bleeding are constricted and bleeding stops. Do not put ice directly on the skin.
3. Onions
Onions are excellent blood clotting agents. The fumes coming out of onions that makes you eyes weep are the same fumes which will stop your nosebleed.
- cut onions into slices
- keep your eyes closed and bring the onion slices close to nostrils and inhale the fumes.
- You can also extract juice from the onions and put a drop in each nostril
The nosebleed will immediately stops within 60-90 seconds.
4. Salt Water
Salt water is an excellent remedy to moisten nasal membrane. Dry air particularly in the winter months dries the nasal membrane. Moisten it with saline water.
- add half a teaspoon of salt into a cup of water and stir the mix well for the salt to get completely dissolved into water
- sit on a chair and tilt your head slightly forward
- take the saline water in a tablespoon
- bring the tablespoon to the nostrils and suck the saline water by inhaling action
- do it slowly so that the saline water gets in the nasal passage easily
Do it 2-3 times a day for the nosebleed to not recur.
5. Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is an excellent remedy to stop nosebleeds. In fact if you drink one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar daily twice then you will not get nosebleeds during the dry winter months.
If you already got a nosebleed then dip a cotton ball into a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and leave the soaked cotton balls in the nostrils. Your bleeding from the nose will stop within 5-10 minutes.
If none of these remedies stop nosebleeds then you may have other underlying condition then normal dry air caused nosebleed. Call on your doctor to identify the cause and treat it.