Dr Abhinit Kumar Senior Consultant & HOD, ENT Surgeon Aakash Healthcare SuperSpeciality Hospital
The incidence of nosebleeds can be really dramatic and sometimes very terrifying. However, nasal bleed is the common problem. In most cases nosebleeds are not serious and can be handled easily. Nose bleed happen to affect 10-12 per cent of population of which about 10 per cent need medical attention. There are basically two types of nosebleed, an anterior nosebleed, and posterior nosebleed.
The anterior bleeding occurs in the lower septum of the nostrils, and makes up 90 per cent of all the nosebleeds. It is easy to control it, either at home or by a doctor. On the other hand, posterior nosebleed happens if the bleeding is at the back of the nose. It is hard to diagnose, complicated, and most at times may require admission to the hospital.
Although most cases resolve on its own without many complications but some patient need medical attention. There may be different factors associated with nosebleeds, and some people think that stress has a role to play in it. Can stress cause nosebleeds and if it can, how can you prevent itIJ
Stress is indirectly related with nasal bleed. Nasal bleeding can happen from anterior or posterior part of the nose. It can be mild or severe or recurrent. To stop the nasal bleed pinching of the anterior part of the nose is done in most of circumstances. Besides it, local vasoconstrictive nasal drops are used to stop it. Patient is advised to stop forceful blowing of the nose. Petroleum jelly is used locally to moisten the nasal mucosa. It prevent drying of the nasal mucosa hence prevent the nasal bleed.
For recurrent severe bleeding nasal endoscopy is done to look for the bleeding vessels. Bleeding vessels is identified and cauterised. In other circumstances nasal packing (anterior and or posterior) is used to stop the nose bleed. Other methods to stop nasal bleeding include ligation, cauterisation or embolisations of the bleeding vessels. Antibiotics are used to prevent the complication during nasal packing.
Other preventive advice given to patient are avoid strenuous activities, use humidifiers during hot and dry environment, avoid hot and spicy foods, avoid digital trauma to the nose, avoid nose blowing and excessive sneezing. Patients are also advised to avoid use of blood thinning agents like as aspirin, warfarin. Certain herbal products also contain blood thinning property like ginger, ginkocer. These things should be avoided during bleeding episode. Management of stress is very important with these tips:
Relax Your Breathing: Don’t breathe too fast will encourage your heart to race and if that happens things can get messier. It is advisable when you experience nose bleeding try breathing into a paper bag while lying back and pinching your nose with your one finger, and thumb at least for 10 minutes.
Think Positive: Whenever such situation occurs tries to concentrate on other things, and keep reminding yourself that your body is working to fix the problem. Concentrate on the world around you and tell yourself some positive mantras if you know any it will help to keep yourself calm.
Stay Hydrated: The last thing you want to do when your body is experiencing stress by causing dehydration which leads to nosebleed. In this case, water is very effective at keeping your nasal passage from drying, especially if you live in dry areas. If you are looking for a simple way to unwind your stress, just take a glass of water.
Remove Yourself from the Crowd: Being around too many people is a common trigger for people with anxiety problems. A nosebleed can cause a crowd to gather around you in an instant. For this reason, it is a good idea to ask someone around you to tell the people to step back and then you should remove yourself from the crowd.