Should I use hot or cold water for a nosebleed?

We all say that for fractures or other injuries, you can choose to apply cold and hot water alternately, which will help reduce swelling, but for nosebleeds, you must choose to use cold water. This is mainly because nosebleeds are caused by the accumulation of heat in the body that cannot be dissipated. It is best to use a towel or cotton soaked in cold water to stick it on the bridge of the nose or nostrils, but it should be noted that you should change the patch after about 2 minutes. Once the bleeding stops, you don’t need to apply cold compress anymore.

1. Use a cold towel for nose bleeding

As we all know, blood vessels constrict when we are cold. So you can stick cotton, towel or handkerchief soaked in cold water on the bridge of your nose. Within an hour, you can place an ice pack on the bridge of your nose for 1-2 minutes, every 2-3 minutes. After the nosebleed stops, do not remove the tampon from the nose immediately. It can be kept in for 2-3 hours if the patient is not asleep. The tampon inserted by children can be removed after 20-30 minutes. If pinching the sides of the nose or stuffing it with cotton does not help within half an hour, you should seek emergency treatment immediately. Be aware that this could be bleeding from a blood vessel deep inside the nose.

2. Precautions for nosebleeds

Do not lie on your back when you have a nosebleed. Because when lying on your back, blood will flow from the posterior wall of the pharynx into the esophagus and stomach, and will soon be vomited out from the stomach, which covers up the truth of the nosebleed. The patient should be asked to sit or semi-sitting, and attention should be paid to keeping the airway open to prevent blood from flowing into the mouth through the posterior nasal cavity. The patient should be instructed to spit out the blood that flows into the mouth as much as possible to prevent the blood from irritating the gastrointestinal tract after being swallowed, causing nausea, vomiting, or accidentally inhaling it into the respiratory tract and causing suffocation. In fact, you can also take an appropriate amount of garlic, peel it and mash it into garlic paste, apply it on the soles of your feet, wrap it with gauze, which can stop the bleeding quickly. You can also sit on a chair and soak your feet in hot water to stop nosebleeds.

To sum up, nosebleeds can be stopped with a cold towel. It is generally recommended to apply it on the bridge of the nose, which can constrict blood vessels, thereby reducing the amount of bleeding until the nosebleed stops. It should be noted that when you have a nosebleed, you should not lie on your back or raise your head, otherwise it will easily irritate your stomach and intestines. In addition, any blood that flows into the mouth must be spit out in time to avoid affecting your breathing.