6 nosebleeds so far today....when to be concerned?

[ChristusG]

Nephew(16), who lives with us, has always been prone to nose bleeds. He probably gets them weekly....has since he was a kid. Today he's had 6 nosebleeds so far. We have no idea what could be causing it. Is 6 nosebleeds in a day a cause for concern?

[SailorMom]

On their own - not normally. My older DS used to get them ALL the time. One was so bad he had to kneel over a toilet and let it just gush out. Scared the you-know-what out of me.

Anyway - according to the doc, the dry air caused them (we were in NM at the time), and then once started, they are really hard to stop. The tissue in there is so thin and sensitive that those 6 nosebleeds are all just continuations of one.

I certainly wouldn't hesitate to as a doc about them, and there are things the doc can do to help - but don't be too worried :)

[LMA]

I would get it checked out. They cauterize if they need to.

[Corraleno]

I get nosebleeds really easily, and it was much worse when I was a teen (maybe there's a hormone connection?). In the winter, when the air was really dry, just a normal sneeze would often set one off, and I can remember many times when I was just sitting in class, not even sneezing or rubbing my nose or anything, and suddenly there would be blood dripping on my paper! (My friends were jealous because it didn't hurt at all but it got me out of class a lot, lol).

 

I agree with the PP that the "six" nosebleeds are really just one nosebleed that's getting restarted. Is he sneezing or blowing his nose? It's hard to get kids to not blow their nose when it's all clogged up, but that just dislodges the clot and it starts all over. If the air is really dry, a humidifier and some vaseline (applied in the nostrils with a q-tip) can help a lot. Discontinue antihistamines if he's taking them (including OTC sleep aids with diphenhydramine), as those can cause nosebleeds too by drying out the mucus membranes.

 

Jackie

[dbmamaz]

i found that sometimes once my kids had a nosebleed it woudl keep coming back - like a picked scab. putting a fingerfull of antibiotic ointment in the nostril often helped. for my kids it was definitely allergy related as well as weather related. the one with the worst nosebleeds, they stopped when we went on an allergy diet - he's off all artificial additives and gluten and dairy

[Laurie4b]

My kids are pretty prone to nosebleeds. I think it's probably dry air. Letting him sit in the bathroom with the shower running should help or try some saline solution. Here's an article:

 

http://www.medicinenet.com/nosebleed/page2.htm

[meggie]

Vitamin K to help them clot quicker, maybe see an ENT about getting them cauterized. We had Pigby's cauterized. I forget how many in how many days exactly, but it was like 17 in a week. Cauterizing definitely helped.

[ChristusG]

Thanks everyone! Good to see that it's nothing to worry about but maybe something we should check into at some point.

[Starr]

No sniffing, picking or blowing, they'll start right back up. And that's hard to do when your nose is dry and full of dried blood.