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Noticed Mucus Along With Blood After Blowing Nose. Should I Worry?

Posted on Mon, 6 Jan 2014

Question: Hello, I was driving my children to school just now and wiped my nose as it felt like it was dripping (I don't currently have a cold) and it was watery brown dripping from the end of my nose. I looked in the mirror and it was dripping as if I had a cold. On tissue paper it was dark brown/ red like old blood and on blowing my nose there was mucus, just a little bright red blood. I have a history of sinus problems (although usually this would mean quite thick orange or green mucus), but don't feel particularly sinus at the moment, maybe just a touch which is usual for me. Do I need to worry about this? Sorry, to add, now that I have wiped my nose, there is no further drip at the moment. Also, for the past couple of weeks I have a strange sensation where the area between my thumb and my forefinger on my left hand will suddenly go really warm and instantly return to normal. Is this something i should worry about Thank you. I am female, 41 and going through early menopause.

Answered by Dr. Sriram Nathan (31 minutes later)

hello and welcome to health care magic, I am Dr Sriram Nathan, an ENT surgeon and I will try to help you out with your problem. At the offset let me assure you that some amount of discharge from the nose is very common and in all probability it would just be an allergy which will go away in a few days. In case of your sensation in the finger also the problem could either be related to the weather or just a hormonal rush as we call it. In rare cases however it may be something more sinister like a spinal leak but this is only if there is persistent leak and if the symptoms persists. In any case to be on the safer side you may do these: - take steam inhalation with menthol or other vaporizer about two to three times in a day for a couple of weeks - do not strain of try to bring out the mucous forcefully, it will only cause more harm than good -take an antihistamine like levocetrizine and a local saline drop to clear out any allergy. your doctor will know about this -take only warm food and do not get exposed to cold air in particular - see if this helps and if the problem persists or if it recurs then you must collect the discharge in a sterile container and send for lab analysis and also take a CT of the sinuses and get back to me or any ENT with the reports - if the odd sensation in the fingers persists then you must consult a gynaecologist Hope this helps and if you have any doubts you can always get back to me regards Dr Sriram Nathan

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar