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Epistaxis

Your nose is important to your health. It filters the air you breathe, removing dust, germs, and irritants. It warms and moistens the air to keep your lungs and tubes that lead to them from drying out. Your nose also contains the nerve cells that help your sense of smell. When there is a problem with your nose, your whole body can suffer. For example, the stuffy nose of the common cold can make it hard for you to breathe, sleep, or get comfortable.

Many problems besides the common cold can affect the nose. They include:

  • Deviated septum - a shifting of the wall that divides the nasal cavity into halves
  • Nasal polyps - soft growths that develop on the lining of your nose or sinuses
  • Nosebleeds
  • Rhinitis - inflammation of the nose and sinuses sometimes caused by allergies. The main symptom is a runny nose.
  • Nasal fractures, also known as a broken nose


WARNING: All medicines, drugs, plants, chemicals or medicial precedures below are for historical reference only. Many of these treatments are now known to be harmful and possibly fatal. Do not consume any plant, chemical, drug or otherwise without first consulting a licensed physician that practices medine in the appropriate field.

Physician's Therapeutics Memoranda on Epistaxis

EPISTAXIS
   In severe cases, surgical measures must be resorted to (plugging anterior and posterior nares). Styptic solutions (alum, tannin, vegetable astringents, Monsel’s solution, vinegar) may be used, or else remedies that contract the capillaries (fluid extract ergot, anti pyrin, extract suprarenal capsule or internally fluid extract ergot). The hot foot bath to draw the blood away from the head, cold wa ter to nape of neck, raising the hands high above the head, pressure on the facial artery are all measures to be borne in mind.1


References

1) Nelson, Baker & Co., 1904, Physician's Handy Book of Materia Medica and Therapeustics, Detroit, Michigan.