Spontaneous night time nose bleed after hot bath

[Bikafella]

I woke up at 5 am this morning feeling uncomfortable and realised my nose was bleeding heavily. This went on for over half an hour before I could staunch it with toilet tissue. The only thing I can connect it with was that I had a very warm bath for about 40 mins before going to bed. I have to take a daily 75mg Aspirin daily to avoid risk clotting and generally it causes me no problems. Has anyone any thoughts on this.

[jayjay10000]

Hi there. For future reference, after 15mins of having a nose bleed you need to go straight to A&E so they can put balloon packs up your nose to control the bleeding, this happened to me after a few day's of having my poylops removed from my nostrils...30mins of nose bleeding can make you feel lightheaded, or you could faint,that's why it's so important to goto A&E...The Asprin you have been taking thins the blood, so controlling your nose bleed was more difficult to stop, having a warm bath might of pushed blood pressure up, so that would cause a nose bleed having high blood pressure, do you know what your blood pressure is at the moment, mine was checked yesterday and it's highish 138/86 this reading was taken at 2pm...

[Sanmo in reply to jayjay10000]

I think a hot bath would dilate your blood vessels and lower your blood pressure.

[Bikafella in reply to jayjay10000]

Thanks for your reply very useful. Generally my BP is good..I think you may be right regarding the blood pressure and the warm bath.

[aardvark68]

I am also on aspirin post STEMI and have had several spontaneous big nosebleeds over the years. I have found that applying an ice pack, as well as leaning forward and pinching my nostrils, helps stop them more quickly. And also leave the tissue in place for a while so as not to dislodge the clot.

[fishonabike in reply to aardvark68]

I have known people in this situation who pinch their nostrils on the bony part, this does nothing helpful! - so it is important to be clear that the soft parts of the nose, below the bone, should be pinched

[Winimops]

are you on Atrovastatin? One of its side effects is nose bleeds.

[Bikafella]

No I am taking Pravastatin. Nosebleeds are quite rare for me

[iansHealth1]

After my first HA back in October 22, I went through a lot of medical issues mainly related to the drugs I was initially prescribed.

One the issues was I went into hypoglycaemic shock when I had an uncontrollable nose-bleed over three days.

It was never really discovered why my nose started to bleed (I think I clattered it on the wooden surround to my bed) but once it started, it wouldn’t stop.

Of course, being on thinners just exacerbated the issue and I lost so much fluid that my mental capacity to do anything about what was happening to me was non-existent.

It was sheer luck I was found by a good samaritan in the street where I’d wandered to, who took me to hospital in her own car and I was then operated on and transfused immediately.

The issue I had was I couldn’t recognise the danger I was in and the more blood I lost, the less I could logically think.

Even in hospital, my nose would spontaneously bleed or if I touched or picked it, for ages and it was a git to get stopped even with the balloon thingys.

So to echo what has been said previously, if your nose bleeds and you can’t stop it, go to A&E.

[pete109]

Depends how much it's bleeding and how much blood you've lost, if you can stop it bleeding within an hour and it isn't gushing then I wouldn't worry, from my experience with a relative that had uncontrolled nose bleed for 5 or 6 hours, the nose packing etc. in A&E is pretty painful, the aspirin thins your blood so you'll bleed more easily anyway.

[fishonabike in reply to pete109]

As an ex-nurse who has worked in both A&E and Ear Nose and Throat I would not follow this advice. You should not wait that long before seeking medical help, sadly some medical treatments are initially uncomfortable but necessary to prevent complications - see some of the posts above

[Wingnutty]

I was on warfarin and aspirin and atorvastatin when I had my nosebleed that resulted in two hospital stays of 4 days and 5 days and an operation on an artery in my nose. This is not to be taken lightly. I notice that Winimops asked if you were on atorvastatin with good reason. The patient information leaflet for atorvastatin lists a side effect of nose bleeds as very common (1 in 10 patients) and it also lists that side effect as mild, meaning it's not a big problem. The problem is that the manufacturers assume that you are not on any other drugs that could exacerbate bleeding and for many of us, we are on other drugs that exacerbate bleeding. I would check the patient info leaflet for all drugs that you are on, especially Pravastatin and if you find any that mention nosebleeds as a side effect, bring it to your GP's attention and ask if there is an alternative. These things can turn into a serious situation fairly quickly as I know from my own experience, so please be proactive.

[Blackknight57]

i have noseblled when i was on asprin. They did stop. Now on warfarin been told to stop aspirin .