24 Home Remedies for Nosebleeds
A nosebleed is when the blood vessels in your nose break and/or start leaking. Your nose is very gentle and it doesn’t take a lot for your nose to start bleeding. On that note, nosebleeds are very common and hardly ever hint at a larger issue.
Causes
There are varying things that can lead to a nosebleed. Dry air, allergies, sinus problems, colds, cold air, nose injuries, sneezing too hard, chemical irritations, high blood pressure, foreign objects and picking your nose (normally the cause in young children).
While the vast majority of nosebleeds are caused by one of the listed things above, if you are experiencing frequent nosebleeds, it might be wise to see your doctor.
Home Remedies for Nosebleeds
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Humidifier
One of the most common causes of a nosebleed is dry air. By putting humidifiers in a couple rooms of your house, you might have less trouble with nosebleeds than were before. This normally helps the most during the cold winter months.
Humidifiers come in all shapes, sizes, and prices ranges
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Decongestants
Be careful of how much of these you take and how often you take them. Though it maybe is annoying having a stuffy nose, do not overdo the decongestants. They can dry out your nasal passages and cause nosebleeds.
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Nasal Spray
If the humidifier advised in one does not seem to work, spray moisture right into your nose. You can get saline sprays over the counter.
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Don’t Smoke
Smoking is one of the worst things you can do for your body. Your mouth, nose, and ears are all connected. Taking in smoke through your mouth, it can travel up through and out your nose. This can both dry out your nose as well as burn out the tiny hairs (cilia).
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Avoid Blood Thinners
Blood thinners, whether it is caffeine or a painkiller, is bad when you have trouble with nosebleeds. The thinner your blood is, the easier it is for the vessels to be damaged which make it that much easier for your nose to bleed.
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Stop the Bleeding
Getting the bleeding to stop is very important and rather easy to do, you just have to stay calm. You want to sit down and apply pressure to your nose by pinching your nose just a little above your nostrils for ten to fifteen minutes. It is best if you lean forward slightly because this will help the blood to drain out through your nose rather than down the back of your throat.
Once the bleeding stops, you should (if you are able) hold an ice back to the bridge of your nose as this will constrict the blood vessels and to help to stop the bleeding if it is still going a little bit. While applying the ice pack, you can sit up or keep leaning forward, just do not lay down as this can encourage the bleeding to start up again.
Tilting your head down while pinching it may also help
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Don’t be Harsh
You can harm the blood vessels in your nose simply by blowing your nose too hard. So if you have a cold or allergies and blow your nose fairly often, try to be as gentle as you can as you do it.
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Vitamin K and C
Vitamins K and C can really help to prevent a nosebleed. Vitamin K helps to build a moist a lining in your nose and it makes your blood vessels stronger so they are less like to break and leak. Vitamin C also strengths your blood vessels. If you follow this suggestion, you should note that adding these vitamins to your diet is along-termm help, not something that will help at a second’s notice.
Vitamin K food sources include whole milk, blackberries, leafy greens, soybean oil, cheeses, broccoli, blueberries, beef and goose liver, parsley, avocado, pomegranate, eggs, prunes, dried figs, chicken and pork, grapes, green beans and peas, and kiwi.
Vitamin C foods include chili and yellow peppers, parsley, lychees, citrus fruits, leafy greens, rose hips, thyme, broccoli, and lots of berries.
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Apple Cider Vinegar
The acid in this kind of vinegar constricts the blood vessels and helps to stop the bleeding. Wet a cotton ball with the apple cider vinegar and place it in the affected nostril. This is a remedy that works pretty quickly.
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Cayenne Pepper
This pepper is good for regulating blood pressure and should help to stop your nose from bleeding. As soon as your nose start to bleed, drink a glass of water with a teaspoon of cayenne pepper mixed in it. For most people, this tactic stops the bleeding as almost immediately.
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Water
One of the best ways to fight dry anything is with water. As aforementioned in six, the nose and throat are connected. So drinking water should help to moisten your nose at a little.
If drinking does not help, that’s okay because water can be found in different forms. Try steamy shower. The steam from the shower should help to moisten your nose some as well. You want to use caution with this, because like how extreme cold can cause a nosebleed, extreme heat can cause them as well.
Drinking other warm beverages, like warm milk, tea, decaf coffee, and cocoa can also help
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Lavender or Cypress
Essential oils can help with almost anything that you run into. Lavender and cypress are both used to relax the body. One of the ways of stopping a nosebleed is to put a two to three drops of either oil (not both) in a cup of water. Dip paper towel or a cotton ball in the oil and water, squeeze out the extra, and place the cotton ball or paper towel in the affected nostril. Leave it in the nostril for a couple minutes. You might have to repeat this a couple times to get the bleeding to fully stop.
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Onion
It is said that the fumes from the onion causes the blood to stop. For this one, you can either just smell an onion for a couple minutes, or you can squeeze out the juice of a fourth of an onion and dip a cotton ball in and put it in your nose for three of four minutes.
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Vitamin E
Vitamin E is good for hydrating your skin, so this might be one to try in the winter months. You can take a vitamin E capsule, empty the gel into a small container and gently apply it to the inside of your nostrils with a cotton swab. Once the oil is in your nose, leave it there. This is something you can do every time you feel that your nose is dry.
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Goldenseal
To use this herb to stop a nosebleed, simply boil a goldenseal leaves in boiling and then breath in the steam for about five minutes.
Warning
This home remedy should not be used by pregnant or lactating women.
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Stay Calm
While there is a debate on if stress can make cause a nosebleed, some find that panicking during a nosebleed tends to make the bleeding worse. So, as to not increase the blood flow, try to keep yourself or the person having a nosebleed calm. This is an especially important tip to keep in mind if you are helping a child who has a nosebleed.
If a child is crying and sniffling, then it can become more difficult to stop the nosebleed
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Be Gentle
There are a few suggestions in this list where it’s advised to put cotton balls with different liquids on them up your nose. You want to be very careful when do this. If you are not, the force and pressure can actually remove and wear away the first layer of lining in your nose and it can make nosebleeds easier to occur.
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Sneeze Differently
Most people, when sneezing, will clamp their mouth shut and force it out their nose. You want to do the exact opposite. Sneeze through your mouth. It does a little gross, but this way you are less likely to trigger a nosebleed.
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Fingernails
This is a suggestion that will more widely used for younger children. Young children have the habit of picking their nose. I good way to stop them from getting a nosebleed from this is make sure they have short fingernails. The longer the fingernail, they more likely they are to cut the inside of their nose.
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Coriander
The cooling effect of this leafy herb is good for stopping the bleeding. Get some juice from the fresh leaves and either apply it to the inside of your nostril or you can ever just apply it to your forehead.
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Basil
Basil has an effect similar to the coriander. For this herb, just chew on a couple leaves and the bleeding should stop pretty quickly.
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Baking Soda
You can make your own nasal spray by mixing a fourth teaspoon of baking soda, half a teaspoon of salt, and a glass of water together. You When your nose is feeling dry or if you can feel a nosebleed coming, you can use the spray three or four times a day.
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Nettle Tea
Try brewing nettle tea and letting it cool before you wet a cotton ball and place it in the affected nostril like you would with the apple cider vinegar. This can help to stop a nosebleed almost as soon as it began.
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Petroleum Jelly
Did you know that putting petroleum jelly up your nose can help to stop it from bleeding? It sounds funny, but it works. Simply use a cotton swab to put a little bit of petroleum jelly in your nose. This will both help to hydrate it (which is especially great if the nosebleed was caused by dryness) and to block the bleeding slightly.
This home remedy may make it difficult to smell for a little while, as it may feel like the nose is stuffed
Which of these home remedies are you most likely to jump to the next time a nosebleed strikes? Comment below!
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References
https://www.healthline.com/symptom/nosebleed
https://www.medicinenet.com/nosebleed/article.htm#how_do_you_prevent_the_nose_from_bleeding_again
https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/ears-nose-and-throat/nosebleed#treatment https://www.emedicinehealth.com/nosebleeds/article_em.htm#how_can_i_prevent_nosebleeds
https://food.ndtv.com/health/effective-home-remedies-to-stop-nose-bleeding-1842722
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-vitamin-k
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-c-foods#section6
https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/effective-home-remedies-to-stop-nose-bleeding/
