John P. Cunha, DO, is a U.S. board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician. Dr. Cunha's educational background includes a BS in Biology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a DO from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in Kansas City, MO. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
Most people who develop nose bleeding can handle the problem without the
need of a physician if they follow the first aid recommendations below:
Pinch all the soft parts of the nose together between
your thumb and index finger.
Press firmly toward the face - compressing the
pinched parts of the nose against the bones of the face.
Lean forward slightly with the head tilted forward. Leaning back or tilting the head back allows the blood to run back into your sinuses and throat and can cause gagging or inhaling the blood.
Hold the nose for at least five minutes. Repeat as necessary until the nose has stopped bleeding.
Sit quietly, keeping the head higher than the level of the heart. Do not lay flat or put your head between your legs.
Apply ice (wrapped in a towel) to nose and cheeks.
How do you prevent the nose from bleeding again?
Go home and rest with head elevated at 30 to 45
degrees.
Do not blow your nose or put anything into it. If you
have to sneeze, open your mouth so that the air will escape out the mouth and
not through the nose.
Stay on a soft, cool diet. No hot liquids for at least
24 hours.
Do not take any medications that will thin the blood (aspirin, ibuprofen,
clopidogrel bisulfate
[Plavix] or
warfarin [Coumadin]). If these have been prescribed by your physician, you need to contact them regarding stopping these medications.
Your doctor may recommend some form of lubricating
ointment for the inside of the nose (see below).
If re-bleeding occurs, try to clear the nose of clots by sniffing in forcefully. You can temporarily use a
remedy such as a nasal decongestant spray, such as Afrin or Neo-Synephrine. These types of sprays constrict blood vessels. (NOTE: If used for many days at a time, these can cause addiction
so they are recommended for short-term usage. Also, do not use if you have high blood pressure.)
Repeat the steps above on how to stop the common nose bleed. If
bleeding persists, call the doctor and/or visit to the emergency
room.
Nosebleed - Length Symptoms LastedQuestion: How long did the symptoms of your nosebleed last? Was there anything in particular that helped with pain/symptom relief?
Dengue fever is contracted from the bite of a striped Aedes aegypti mosquito. Symptoms of dengue include headache, fever, exhaustion, severe joint and muscle pain, rash, and swollen glands. Since dengue is caused by a virus, there is no specific medicine to treat it. Treatment instead focuses on relieving the symptoms.
Nasopharyngeal cancer is a form of cancer in which malignant cells form in the nasopharynx tissues. Risk factors include being of Chinese or Asian ancestry and exposure to the Epstein-Barr virus. Symptoms and signs of nasopharyngeal cancer include a sore throat, a lump in the neck or nose, trouble hearing, nosebleeds, headaches, and trouble hearing, breathing, or speaking. Treatment depends upon the stage of the cancer, the tumor size, the type of cancer, and the patient's health and age.
Cocaine is an addictive stimulant that is smoked, snorted, and injected. Crack is cocaine that comes in a rock crystal that is heated to form vapors, which are then smoked. Cocaine has various effects on the body, including dilating pupils, constricting blood vessels, increasing body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure.
A deviate septum is a condition in which the bone and cartilage that divide the nasal cavity of the nose in half (nasal septum) is significantly off center or crooked. The causes of a deviated septum can be congenital, or develop after a trauma or injury to the nose. Symptoms of a deviated septum include nasal congestion, recurrent sinus infections, nosebleeds, headache, facial pain, postnasal drip, snoring, and loud breathing. A deviated septum can be relieved with medications, and if necessary surgery, called a septoplasty.
Hemophilia is one of a group of inherited bleeding disorders. Hemophilia A and B are inherited in an X-linked recessive genetic pattern and is more common in males. Symptoms of hemophilia include bleeding into the joints, muscles, GI or urinary tract, or brain or skull. Treatments for hemophilia is generally replacement of blood clotting factors.
Adult-onset asthma is asthma that is diagnosed in people over 20 years of age. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. Treatment may involve anti-inflammatory medications or bronchodilators.
Idiopathic means that the cause of the condition isn't known. Thrombocytopenic means there's a lower than normal number of platelets in the blood. Purpura refers to purple bruises caused by bleeding under the skin. Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a bleeding condition in which the blood doesn't clot as it should. This is due to a low number of blood cell fragments called platelets.
Yellow fever is an infectious disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. Side effects are rare with the yellow fever vaccine. Symptoms include fever, chills, back pain, nausea, vomiting, and headache. Treatment is aimed at relieving symptoms.
Bernard-Soulier disease is a rare inherited bleeding disorder caused by a defect in the platelet glycoprotein complex 1b-IX-V. Symptoms and signs include bruising, nosebleeds, gum bleeding, and problems with anything that induces bleeding, such as surgery, ulcers, trauma, and menstruation. Treatment involves avoiding medications that interfere with clot formation, such as naproxen, ibuprofen, and aspirin. People with Bernard-Soulier syndrome should avoid contact sports.
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