Nosebleeds

OK, I finally get the nosebleed thing. After two years of mostly bleed free ITP, Dougie had the grandad of all nosebleeds this morning. It lasted for nearly an hour, constantly dripping, passing big clots......argh, it was horrible. Fortunately, his big brother is something of an expert in stopping nosebleeds, having suffered from many himself before he had his nose cauterised last year, so he eventually managed to stop it for Dougie. Then after it finished he went to school as normal.

He's covered in petechiae again tonight, so I guess he must have dropped a few platelets again. I don't know how people cope with lots of nosebleeds like that. I didn't know whether to call the hospital or not, but Dougie didn't want me to, and I kept on thinking it would stop soon.

argh, yuck .....

I'm sorry to hear Dougie is experiencing these awful nosebleeds! I don't miss those days at all! I also don't miss the countless number of stained sheets that we had. I remember the school nurse complaining all the time about her bloody noses and the length of them, but I thought it was just normal for her. However, it wasn't until she got the huge clots and was throwing up blood (including the clots) that I realized that something more was going on. I found out later that she was getting the gross bloody noses at school. I truly hope this was just a one time thing and isn't the beginning of Dougie becoming an active bleeder. If so, the hematologists there will probably change their stance on the no treatment. Caitlin was much more embarrassed by the nosebleeds than she ever was about the bruising, and she had terrible bruising until we got her counts under control.

I know your older son is experienced with nosebleeds, but the one thing that stopped Caitlin's gushers was ice at the bridge of her nose. I learned that because that is what the school nurse was doing to get them to stop. We were about to take her to the ER one night, but then ice did the trick. The hematologist told us to have her look straight ahead and hold her nose from the tip to the bridge and don't move it for 15 minutes. During this time, she was to just watch tv or stare straight ahead. After 15 minutes, if it was still bleeding, we used some type of nasal spray, but I can't think of the name of it. It usually helped stop the nosebleed. Prevention was the best thing though...where we made sure she did saline sprays on a daily basis. (Only did this when her counts were under 20.) She was probably a "bleeder" from ages 4 until they slowed down at age 9, then she only had a few bad ones after that. Most have been minor, or normal bloody noses. We don't know for sure when the ITP really started though. (She was diagnosed a month before her 9th bday.)

Thanks for the advice Pauline - I'll remember the ice if he has another one. At the moment, it just looks like a one-off. I don't think it can have been connected because although he has petechiae, he doesn't even look particularly bruised at the moment.

Kayla has been a nose bleeder even before ITP it is just more regular now, our Hematologist recommends Vaseline in her nostrils when she is having more bloody noses or when there are weather changes, humidifier in her room, and for those long lasting bleeds that just won't stop Afrin nasal spray as it constricts the veins or something like that.
I hope it was just a fluke, one think to be aware of Kayla had a particularly heavy bloody nose down at childrens and while we were waiting it out in the parking lot her eyes started to bleed. The Hematologist said it was a bleed high up in her sinus' so when she blocked it it found a new route through her tear ducts (freaky stuff) It will also quite often drip down her throat causing nasty blood clots being coughed up.
Hopefully this won't continue for you but the more info you have when these things happen the better prepared you are and able to stay clear headed. (I'm afraid I freaked a bit when my baby had blood pouring out of her eyes YIKES!)
Good luck
and many platelets
Krissy

Nosebleeding for my son has been a regular thing already. So far this past two months we havent had any bad attacks, the last one 5 days ago, but not so bad. For convenience's sake, we plug his nostril with a cylindrical cotton swab till it stops. The worst ones being stopped after 7 changes of cotton, and the lightest being only after one nosepack. We were taught this at ER and after being admitted to the hospital 2x due to our inability to arrest the nosebleeding.
Petroleum on Cottonpacks, Ice on the bridge of the nose, and an xbox 360 game to keep my son still. On really bad days back to back nose bleeds, our doctor prescribes tranxemic acid to clot the blood easier and bactroban ointment before slee.

I had chronic ITP nearly 30 years ago but I'll always remember those nosebleeds. The blood would run down the back of my throat into my stomach, bleeding for hours. They gave me terribly sore throats and sometimes the whole stream would form into a long clot stretching down my esophagus, choking off my air. If I couldn't cough it out, I'd beg the doctors for crackers to cut it up (though they'd usually refuse, fearing I'd throw them up). Coughing up one clot, it looked like I coughed up a kidney. Afrin helped constrict the blood vessels a little but it was the styrofoam-like gel packs the ENTs packed into my nose that stopped the bleeding. The packing would turn to gelatin and slide right out after a few hours and it looked awful but it worked and I could get through some school.

Our dauhter is 7 and has had ITP for 5 yrs and she has horrible nosebleeds. And one thing you have to be careful of is to make sure that just beacause you got it to stop coming out the front of there nose doesn't mean it isn't going down their throats. Our daughter has had to have 2 blood transfusion from losing too much blood from bloody noses. We would think is was stopped and then she would get real sick to her stomach and throw up a ton of blood and get really tired and pale. I don't mean to scare anyone just keep a flashlight handy and look down there throats from time to time. We have found the only way to stop them is Afrin nose spray and ice at the top of her mouth.

Thank you for posting such information like this.....you know i also have the same concerned. glad i found this site.

I am fun of reading threads that gives information from things that we didn't care before!

more power!
thanks,

Its been 6 months since i've updated this thread..... nosebleeds have come few and far between since bringing my son to a specialist who cauterized the inner nasal passage of my son and using a nsala saline spray every night before he sleeps. So far, its been a manageable year for us. Hope it stays this way.

A friend of mine recommended putting an ice pack on the back of the neck. The other night my son had a nosebleed and we tried it and his nosebleed stopped instantly, although I do have to say that it wasn't one of his BAD nosebleeds with the clots, etc.

It's real common to get them with the seasonal changes. I live in Arizona and it may be in the 100's by the weekend, and I know the symptoms of dry air and nosebleeds. I see similar things when we first turn on the furnace. I find that a preventative use of a Nasal Saline Gell works the best. I like the AYR brand. Put some on a q-tip and swab it around. When my sister was having issues stopping them and it's a 30 minute drive to the hosptal, the ENT told them to keep some salt pork in the freezer. If she had one they couldn't stop in less than 20 minutes cut a cube off and pack the nose. CVS pharmacies carry a product called something like blood-stop that was in one of the newsletter articles for a ITP emergency kit a couple of years ago.