By: Joe Hing Kwok Chu

When nose bleeding occurs, sit up with head tilted down. Breathe slowly through the mouth. Put an ice pack or a cold towel on the forehead and behind the neck. Go to medical clinic emergency room if the bleeding doesn’t stop.

 (1) local problems: cancer in the nose,  physical injuries of the nose, broken skull, tuberculosis, inflammation of the sinus area like common cold, or bleeding after surgeries and thinning of the mucus membrane by long term usage of nasal sprays of steroids.

(2) systemic problems:  acute leukemia, hemophilia,  or aplastic anemia, excessive muscle tension, blood vessel problems like hypertension, hardening of the blood vessels, heart diseases that increase the pressure in the veins, lack of vitamin K,  long term usage of blood anticoagulants like warfarin, aspirin etc.

(3) high altitude, cold and allergy can also cause nose bleeding.

(4) low platelet count as in primary thrombocytopenia

The causes should be diagnosed by health care professionals.

The following prescription is for cooling the heat in the blood according to diagnostics of traditional Chinese medicine.

Prescription

for recurring nose bleeding:

ai ye 2 qian,  sheng di huang 3 qian , bo ye 3 qian, he ye 2 qian. Boil with 400 cc of water. Simmer till 200 c.c. One prescription a day. Make into 3 serving. Take as tea.

Note: qian = 3.75 grams (traditional measurement)

流 鼻 血 ， 吐 血，  便 血 :

艾葉 二 錢 ， 生地黃 三 錢 ，  柏葉 三 錢 ， 荷葉 二 錢 。

水 煎 服 。 每 日 一 劑 ， 分 三 回 服 。