Frequent nosebleeds

[SongMom]

Hi. My 13 yr old daughter has had 3 nosebleeds in less than a week. A couple of them have been in the middle of the night. She's had nosebleeds before, but never this frequently. Maybe it's just from dry air (we do live in a desert, Utah), but I've had other concerns about her recently. She seems to be loosing hair (comb full of hair when combing), and I think I've seen the "butterfly" across her face a lot.

I'm just wondering what types of things, other than dry air, might cause nosebleeds? I keep hesitating to take her to the dr--one, because maybe something really is wrong; two, because I may be worrying about nothing. Know what I mean?

[JaneE.]

Hi Songmom,

My 5 year old daughter gets nosebleeds for no apparent reason either. They are usually in the middle of the night, sometimes during the day, and they are real gushers. She can have them several days in a row or sporatically. She has a very small nose and the doctor said some children's blood vessels are just closer to the surface than others. Many people breath only through their noses when they sleep, drying out the lining. I usually take a Q tip with vaseline on it and lubricate the inside of her nose. This seems to help. Also a vaporizer in her room to provide moist air helps.

The rash on her nose could be anything from dryness from the cold outside air to allergies. Her hair loss could just be a growth spurt. Unless she's lethargic, loosing or gaining weight, or just not acting like herself, I wouldn't get overly worried. If the nosebleeds continue or you just don't feel comfortable about the whole situation it never hurts to have a pediatrician or GP look at her.

My opinion,
Jane

[ChickenChick]

Hi SongMom

I can relate to this problem. My 9 year old son had frequent nosebleeds from an early age, some of them quite bad. I finally took him to an ENT a couple of years ago. He said he had a couple of fairly good size blood vessels that were very close to the surface of his nasal mucosa and those vessels were very thin walled. He cauterized the vessels with silver nitrate (under a benzocaine local) and he has been right as rain ever since.

As for juvenile nosebleeds having any connection to lupus, I cannot speak to that specifically except to say I had the same problem as my son with the same treatment when I was a child. I do not yet have a diagnosis, but symptomology and progression strongly suggest lupus. I am in the "limboland" of the diagnostic process. I hope and pray the thin, close to the surface blood vessel thing is the ONLY bad thing I may have passed to my child.

Hopefully, this helped a bit, and maybe someone with more specific knowledge as to childhood nosebleeds possibly being an early sx of lupus or not will happen along with an additional response.

((((hugs)))) and positive thoughts coming your way

~Berta

[mara]

Hi Songmom, while I have never experienced this, nor have my kids, I can remember my mom talking about how my older brother and sister suffered from the same thing. She took them to the doc and they had to have the blood vessels in the nose cauterized "burned" it was called then. That worked for both of them. More recently, my father had to have the same thing done with good results. I am the only one in the family with lupus and I have had no abnomal nose bleeds. I think it may have more to do with the development of the blood vessels themselves than anything else.

I would not worry, but perhaps if they keep up you may want to have her seen by the family doc and get his opinion on cauterization. At least this will reassure you both.

Take care and good luck.

Tammy

[Ellette]

My 3 1/2 year old gets nosebleeds, usually at night, but sometimes during the day. It happens most when the air is dry so I think his blood vessels are just near the surface. My sister used to get nosebleeds all the time but that was because she has some serious and funky allergies (some were because she's an idiot...for a while she was smoking, and she's allergic to smoke - but she did get them when not smoking as well, just not as frequently). You might have her tested for allergies. If she's allergic to milk for instance, she very well could end up with problems like that.

Sara

[raggedyann1]

Hello all,

My 2 cents but this won't apply to everyone as it depends what is causing the nosebleeds. I was told several years ago when my son kept experiencing nose bleeds to have him drink a glass of orange juice. It works, he no longer has ongoing nose bleeds. Anytime any of us get nose bleeds now we drink a glass of oj and they go away.

Karen

[itchy_madness]

i'm used to having nosebleeds. my first memory about nosebleeds started in 1983. At that time i was 3 years old. i have had nosebleeds untill now. my blood vassels in my nose was often inflamed. i used to have 5 nosebleeds in a week because i catched a cold and blowed the nose too much.
if your daughter has a nosebleeds again. please go to hospital. Physician may give her a medicine to relieve inflamed blood vassels. Don't be worried about it. :thumbs:

[SongMom]

Thank you, everyone, for the information and reassurance! I knew there was a reason I liked this site! At least now I have something to go on.

Again, thank you!

:)

[jmwillis]

I have experienced several symptoms of lupus but have yet to be diagnosed by a professional (I found a large bald spot on my head and went a dermatologist who dismissed it as simple alopecia- and MANY other symptoms have occured both before and after the hair deal).

I read the responses about the nosebleeds but mostly people addressed their children's nosebleeds, and did not say if they also sufferred from the same ailment. When I was in third grade, I had to have my nose cauterized-- Could this be a link to early lupus? Should I inform the next doctor I see about this?

Thanks.

[hurley]

Hi Songmom

Nosebleeds are very common, especially in your climate. My 18 yo son experienced severe nosebleeds growing up. They were so bad (and fairly frequent) that he would go outside until they stopped - it was impossible to prevent making a mess. I took him to the urgent care center on several occasions. Finally, his pediatrician ordered some blood tests and it was discovered that he has a blood platelet disorder (absent second wave of epinephrine - or something like that - termed "Inherited Gene Pool Disease") and meds must be administered before surgery, etc, due to profuse bleeding/lack of clotting. It was first thought that he had Von Willibrand's Disease (a bleeding disorder??).

Anyway, if it is a real problem for you and your daughter you might consider asking her ped for a bleed time and associated tests in the future.

Hugs.

:love:

Julie

[Lily]

My daughter used to get frequent nosebleeds, and the ENT said they were from allergy, her nose was very inflamed and it caused the small blood vessels to break more easily. We used vaseline and she eventually grew out of it.

love
Lily