My five-year-old only bleeds out of the right side of his nose, and I wonder why that is.

At age 68 I had my first and only, nosebleed. It just started dripping and wouldn't quit. I was taking an asprin regimen at the time. After approx. 45 minutes I called the nearest hospital and was told to come to the emergency room. So I drove there, holding a washcloth to my nose. By the time I got there, about 15 min., blood was dripping down my arm,neck and all over my shirt. The ER doc put ice on the back of my neck, a clamp on my nose, and gave me more pads to hold to my nose. The doc couldn't see where the blood was coming from, but soon decided to pack my nose with gauze in a (very weak) solution of cocaine with Afrin. I lay there for another hour until it finally quit bleeding. I was told to go home and keep my head up and not move much for the rest of the day, and to keep the gauze in my nostril for 2 days if I could, but the next day the gauze end stuck to a tissue I was blotting my nose with and came part way out so I pulled it all out. I've been a bit paranoid since then, but haven't had a repeat of the nosebleed. I am off asprin now, but will use it again soon, just not every day. There didn't seem to be any reason for the nosebleed, which is why I'm on this site now looking for clues. I was in the ER for over 2 1/2 hrs before the doc released me. I was never in pain. Ice on the back of my neck helped me feel better and I think it helped stop the bleeding.

I have found that pinching just below the bridge of the nose is sufficient to stop the bleeding, while pinching the nostrils shut as the article indicated can result with blood pooling in the nose. Why let it run back down to your mouth (maybe to protect the carpet), just hold a rag or towel under while keeping your head in an upright position and not tilted back.

My 8 year old had a head and chest cold. Upon blowing her nose, she started a nosebleed. After 45 mins, I took her to our local ER. After they made her wait for 2 hours, they used silver nitrate 3 times (first time forgetting to use lidocaine, thus burning her). They watched her for 15 minutes, then sent us home to follow up with an ENT if it started up again. They told us not to return to their ER as they were not equipped to handle her nosebleed! Of course as soon as we got home, it started up again, the ENT was of no help. I brought her into a big city hospital, where they applied 2 expanding cremes, which did nothing. They finally packed her, which slowed the bleeding. Overall, she bled heavily for 14 straight hours. She was admitted for observation. If the packing had not worked, they were going to use Afrin spray or consider surgery. We were told to leave the packing in and let it fall out on its own. This happened 26 hours after insertion. She has to take it easy for another week. I never imagined that a simple nosebleed could turn into such a nightmare!