Ep.16 - Nosebleeds: When To See The Doctor

Swain Sinus Show

In this episode, Dr. Ron Swain, Jr. and host Stacy Wellborn talk about the very common and inconvenient nosebleed. What are the causes, biggest myths, treatments, and when is the time to take them seriously? While most common causes of nosebleeds are getting hit or having trauma to the lining of the nose, there are other medical and environmental reasons. While most nosebleeds are just an inconvenient nuisance if they become increasingly more frequent and severe, then that might be a sign of a more significant problem and might indicate it's time to be checked by a physician.

Big Nosebleed Questions:

• When should I go to urgent care, an ER or see an ENT physician?
• What are the most common causes of nosebleeds?
• What is the best and quickest way to stop a nosebleed?
• What treatments are available for people who suffer from frequent and severe nosebleeds?
• What over the counter and first aid should I have handy to handle a common nosebleed?
• Is there a surgery or procedure to get relief from frequent and severe nosebleeds?

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Quotables & Tweetables

Nosebleeds are super common events, and I see these kinds of problems weekly. Sometimes daily. - Dr. Ron Swain, Jr.

The big thing when you talk about nosebleeds is the severity. - Dr. Ron Swain, Jr.

The lining of the nose and the tissue is delicate, it can be damaged relatively easily, or it can dry out relatively easy depending on where you are or what you're doing. You're set up for some susceptibility to having some nosebleeds. - Dr. Ron Swain, Jr.

One of the first thing we like to do is to try to see if we can get the nose to stop bleeding by getting the blood vessels in there to shrink up and constrict. There are some good medicines over the counter for just that. - Dr. Ron Swain, Jr.

A quick thing to do is to scorch your nose with some Afrin or Neo-Synephrine, and then you can even put some cotton balls with that medicine on it and put the cotton balls on the inside of the nose, and then pinching the nostrils if the nosebleed is coming from up front. Sometimes that can be effective. - Dr. Ron Swain, Jr.

For the simple nosebleeds using some Afrin and some cotton balls and some direct pressure is reasonable. - Dr. Ron Swain, Jr.

If you have a bad enough nosebleed no matter what time of day it is, you're going to get seen by a medical professional and eventually an ENT doctor is probably going to get called. - Dr. Ron Swain, Jr.

Some people are predisposed to have nosebleeds especially those using a CPAP machine. - Dr. Ron Swain, Jr.

We'll look inside the nose to try to see where the blood is coming from. Sometimes I'll even get CAT scans. We'll take pictures of the sinuses to see and make sure there's not an infection, a mass, or a tumor. - Dr. Ron Swain, Jr.

While nosebleeds are a common problem, there certainly are levels of severity of them and those that are the most severe are not as common. - Stacy Wellborn