What is the best way to stop a nosebleed?
The fastest way to stop it is to lean over a sink or sit with your head bent down (just make sure your head is not tilted back), pinch your nose just under the bridge and hold a tissue under your nostrils. This causes the blood to clot and will make it stop faster than if you tilt your head back or lie down. It will stop eventually if you do those things, but you can swallow a lot of blood (kind of gross) and it can feel like you’re choking. It will also take longer this way. Don’t blow your nose (unless it’s just a tiny bit of blood). Avoid blowing it for up to a few hours after the nosebleed, especially if it was a severe one. This will break the clot and can cause more bleeding. Instead, carefully clean the blood away from the outside of your nostrils with a wet tissue or Q-tip (don’t stick it up your nose!). If you get nosebleeds often, consider getting a humidifier, especially if you tend to get them in the winter. They are usually caused by dry air.
The medical way is to pinch the nostrils together, to induce clotting. For stubborn and re-occurring nosebleeds, you can have blood vessels inside the nose cauterized to seal them for good. By the way keithold, the Chinese have a traditional “natural” method of stopping nosebleeds. I learned this from my grandmother. You take a leafy piece of bok choy (a dark leafy green vegetable) and roll it into a bundle after crushing it a bit to release some of the oxalic juice in the leaf. Stick the rolled leaf into the bleeding nostril. The stringent nature of the oxalic acid is supposed to curb the bleeding and make it stop. I used to get that treatment as a child, and it seemed to work.
