Stick a Tampon Up MY Nose? Dealing with Bloody Noses
It seems that the summer heat winter home heaters bring more patients to the ER and urgent care centers with bloody noses. Presumably this is due the dehydrating effect of dry air on the tender mucous 
membranes of the nose. Then, any additional irritation such as a simple sneeze, nose picking (very common especially among freeway commuters I’ve noticed) or blowing your nose, can start your nose bleeding profusely. Other common problems that can cause nose bleeds include cold and allergies, high altitudes, and repeated use of any medications that thin your blood such as aspirin.
Treatment and Expectations: The first thing to do is to sit down and calm your self. This lowers the heart rate and blood pressure, making it easier to stop the bloody nose. Then you need to roll up some paper towel, about the size of a bullet, kind of like a small Tampon, and stuff it in your nostril. Even if it gets soaked, don’t keep changing it and checking it as it will only pull the new clot off, and keep bleeding!! You do not have to lay on your back with you head tilted back as widely believed. This probably will not help stop the bleeding any faster, and increases the likelihood of you choking on your own blood (yuck!) After 10-15 minutes of constant pressure, the bleed should have stopped. Decrease activity and movement for the next few hours, and don’t blow your nose for the next least 10 hours. In the mean time, you can gently wash your nose out with clean cool water, and use some moisturizing Ocean or some other non medicated nasal saline spray. For more information about this and other Urgent Care related ailments, I highly recommend referring to The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook . See all the five star ratings it received from previous readers, just like you.
Seek a Medical Professional if:
- The bleeding recurs frequently.
- Bleeding will not stop after a ½ hour of trying.
- If you are regularly taking any blood thinning medicines such as aspirin or coumadin (warfarin).
- You have any history of blood clotting problems.
- If you think you have more than a simple nose bleed.
- When in doubt.
I thought this was a joke at first when my friend’s brother did this (jokingly) when we were kids. But I guess it can work!
You always go in to such great detail about injuries, which I like. I never understood the specifics of nosebleeds but now I do!
nose bleeding is very common during summer
I usually have this attack of epitaxis in summers & it gets relieved by just pinching the nose for 5mins & then washing nose with cold water.
One of the main cause of epitaxis is heat & hot weather. It also leads to bleeding from nose. The First Aid Management includes pinching the nose & making the neck bend backwards.
Epitaxis can occur in infants also? My 1year old child has frequent nasal bleeding. Ii have consulted lot of doctors but no treatment. I am very upset due to this. Suggest me something please.
Epistaxis (or a nosebleed ) is the relatively common occurrence of hemorrhage from the nose, usually noticed when the blood drains out through the nostrils.
There are two types:
Anterior (the most common)
Posterior (less common, more likely to require medical attention). Sometimes in more severe cases, the blood can come up the nasolacrimal duct and out from the eye.
Fresh blood and clotted blood can also flow down into the stomach and cause nausea and vomiting.
It is very common in summer..
The treatment for this is, the local application of a vasoconstrictive agent has been shown to reduce the bleeding time in benign cases of epistaxis. The drugs oxymetazoline or phenylephrine are widely available in over-the-counter nasal sprays for the treatment of allergic rhinitis, and may be used for this purpose