At some point in your life, you may have had a nasty nosebleed. If not, consider yourself lucky. Look at it this way: the day may come when somebody points at your nose and says “hey, you are bleeding!”, while making a condescending face. If you happen to be in such an embarrassing situation, the next feeling that you will experience is fear. Having blood coming out of your nose can be pretty dramatic, so people tend to overreact, but you shouldn’t panic… at least, not in the beginning. There are many reasons why your nose may start bleeding, and most of them aren’t liable to raise serious concerns.
That said, it’s good to be aware of the most common factors that can give rise to a bloody nose, either if it’s an anterior (limited to the nostrils) or a posterior (affecting the back part of your nose) nosebleed. Here they are!
1- Irritation
Scientifically known as Epistaxis, nosebleeds are often associated with the irritation and the nasal blockage caused by certain diseases such as colds, the flu or sinusitis. Or, to be more precise, due to the impact of a hard nose-blowing on the nasal lining.
2- Injuries
Needless to say, if you get a blow on your nose or you get it hurt owing to a fall, it’s very likely that blood starts draining out through your nostrils. The same thing could happen when having a broken nose or an object stuck in it.
3- Nose picking, that bad habit
We tend to think of our fingers being as soft as cotton, but they are not (at least, not when it comes to picking noses). Even the gentle touch of a finger can break a blood vessel in the nose, so if you are one of those who enjoy picking their noses (hopefully, not too passionately!), you are just playing with fire.
4- Dry air
The lining of your nose could also crack due to the effect of dry cold air or dry indoor air, from heating. If you need to, you can use a humidifier at home to increase moisture in the air.
5- Certain medications
Bear in mind that certain medications can provoke nosebleeds, especially anticoagulants, such as heparin, aimed at stopping blood clots. Along with such blood-thinning medicines, you should also include in this list nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) like aspirins.
6- Underlying conditions
If you have nosebleeds on a regular basis (more than once a week), this could be a sign of underlying health conditions. For instance, those people who suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension), heart conditions, kidney or liver disease are more prone to be affected by bloody nasal discharge. Not to mention those who have a tumor located within the nasal cavity, source of frequent nosebleeds.
As you can see, there are multiple things that may cause your nose to bleed. If it’s a one-off event and the bloody discharge isn’t severe, don’t give it too much importance. Yet, when it becomes a common occurrence and it involves a greater amount of blood than expected (and/or lasts longer than 30 minutes even with compression), you need to ‘see further than the end of your nose’ and seek medical assistance.
And you? Have you got any nosebleed problems related to sinusitis? If so, don’t hesitate to ask us any questions about it.
