Nose Bleeds and Ayurveda

Bleeding from the nose is medically called epistaxis. It is usually harmless but may require medical attention depending on the cause.

Types

Anterior- when the bleeding occurs from the anterior part of the nostrils from the nasal septum at the little’s area. This is the most common form.

Posterior- when the bleeding occurs from little farther in the nose from the posterior part of the inferior meatus, this is the more severe form which requires medical attention.

Causes

Local Factors

Idiopathic
Nasal polyp
Trauma to nose or face
nose picking and foreign objects in the nosev
Inflammations-upper respiratory tract infections, sinusitis, rhinitis.

Systemic factors

Hypertension
High intra ocular pressure
Head injury
Anti coagulant treatments
Blood dyscrasias
Colds, flu, hay fever.
Falls and bumps
Constipation
Fragile blood vessels.

Fragile blood vessels are affected easily by hot and dry climate esp. In summers.

Symptoms

Blood dripping from the nostril, usually bright red and sudden onset. In rare and severe cases esp. involving systemic disorders:
Vomiting, nausea if excess blood flow leading to swallowing.
Bleeding from eyes if nasolacrimal vessels are affected.

Management

Preventive

Lotions and ointments to prevent dryness of mucosa.

Conservaive

Apply firm pressure at the tip of the nose (little’s area) for at least 5mins for up to 20mins.

Bend head forwards to avoid nausea by swallowing the blood.

Apply cold over the forehead and bridge of the nose to assist in vasoconstriction of the bleeding vessels.

Severe cases may need clotting medicines and procedures like packing.

Homoeopathic therapeutic management

Homoeopathy is an individualised mode of treatment where not just the disease but all symptoms related to the disease are treated hence during the case taking your homoeopath will not just take details of the nose bleed but also the various other symptoms and problems present, so that not just the nosebleed but also the concomitant and associated symptoms are dealt with.

Causative factors are primary in homoeopathic management of bleeding; especially in controlling the bleed. eg. Bleeding from injury, infection, nose picking, from polyps etc. Common remedies being melifolium, arum triphyllum.

Cases where the bleeding is due to underlying systemic diseases the remedy is aimed at healing at that root cause level, annihilating the main disease. Commonly used remedies are crotalus horridus for blood dyscrasias, arnica for head injury to name a few.

Few other cases which present with specific concomitants and associated symptoms the commonly used remedies are bryonia, lachesis, amm carb.

But in some cases a definitive cause may not be present as in idiopathic case, in such patients the miasmatic medicines come of help, selected mainly to remove the bleeding tendency and restore the dispositional imbalance to its normalcy. phosphorus being one of the predominant remedy for this purpose.

Analysing the vast repertory and the peculiar characteristic symptoms of epistaxis a homoeopath can provide relief just with a few doses of the indicated remedy, unless it calls for an emergency intervention in severe cases.

Ayurveda Treatment for Nose Bleeds