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Home Remedies
Q. I want to thank you for saving me from a most embarrassing situation. I am president of a small corporation and we were making a pitch to an important client. I had been suffering from a cold for about a week and blowing my nose a lot before this critical meeting. Fifteen minutes before we were to start our presentation, I blew my nose and immediately developed a nasty nosebleed. No matter what I tried to do to stop the bleeding, nothing worked. Then I remembered reading in your column about putting cold keys down the back of the neck. By this point I was desperate and figured I had nothing to lose. Within seconds the bleeding stopped. I don’t know how this trick works, but I sure am grateful! A. We do not know how it works, either. But so many readers have written about their success, we are sure that this technique does work at least some of the time. Putting a large, cold metal key or ring of keys down the back of the neck to stop a nosebleed is a folk remedy that seems to have come to this country from Europe a long time ago. Another reader writes, “I read your column a year ago about stopping a nosebleed by dropping keys down the person’s back. This past Christmas, with the whole family gathered, my sister got a nosebleed. I had been waiting for some time to try this remedy, so I got my mom’s car keys and dropped them down my sister’s back. The nosebleed she’d had for about five minutes was gone instantly. The cold shock made her really tense up, which might be why it worked.�? Here's another take on the same remedy! I have read with interest your columns reporting keys as a solution for nosebleeds. I've been reading “A Princess Remembers:The Memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur,�? an autobiography by Gayatri Devi. In talking about palace guests whom she particularly admired as a child of 11 (in the early 1930's), she describes: "...the especially thrilling Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., the great swashbuckling film star. Later he came to Cooch Behar on a shoot and I had an even more unexpected bit of luck. My nose began to bleed and (he) looked after me and put a key down my back to stop the bleeding." I've never had nosebleeds but can't help being intrigued by this lore.
Copyright (c) 1999 by Graedon Enterprises, Inc. From The People's Pharmacy Guide To Home And Herbal Remedies by Joe Graedon and Teresa Graedon. Reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Press, LLC.
Reader Comments
I never tried cold car keys, but I know a cold wet wash cloth on the back of the neck works. I have used it on my kids. I had a nephew that had a lot of nosebleeds when he was little and it always worked for him. This year, I was coaching 5th & 6th grade basketball when one of the kids got a bloody nose. I didn't have a wash cloth, so I used paper towels. It worked. Nose stopped bleeding almost instantly.
Posted by: Jeanne V | May 6, 2007 3:16 AM
I have been plagued by nosebleeds all my life but have never heard of this one. I'll try it next time though.
I usually rely on the method my Mother used when I was a kid which is remarkably effective. You place a small piece of note paper (for me about 1 inch by 1 inch square works)that is folded over to make about 3 thicknesses of paper and place this on the gums of your upper teeth. Your top lip will hold it in place and put the needed pressure to stop the bleeding as you go about your business. The bleeding stops quickly and starts to clot.
If you don't have any paper handy you can also put pressure for a few seconds on the area above your top lip (between lip and nose) with the side of your index finger. You have to use moderate to strong pressure - enough to put pressure on the upper gums underneath the lip.
The key to this method seems to be getting enough pressure on that upper gum.
Posted by: Denise S. | July 5, 2007 1:36 PM
The technique mentioned above, of pressing hard between lip and nose, is also used by actors and singers to stifle inopportune sneezing. From its effect on nosebleeds and sneezing, it apparently distracts your nose.
Posted by: Carla Webbles | August 22, 2007 10:24 PM