Fear of Blood!

The average adult has ten pints (about 5 liters) of blood surging through them accounting for up to 7% of our body weight. Newborns only have about a cup. Children are somewhere in between, increasing blood supply as they grow. Blood is the fluid of life, so why are we so frightened when we see it?

Because of AIDS, hepatitis B, and other blood-borne pathogens, many adults are justifiably fearful of spilled blood. It only takes a speck of fresh blood from a person with hepatitis B to infect an unimmunized person. This is a true reason to fear blood. Fortunately, most people do not have hepatitis B, but that does not mean we should not always be careful. All medical providers practice Universal Precautions to protect themselves from possible blood borne diseases. All people should have a hepatitis B vaccine.

Fear of blood begins in early childhood. Kids often scream when the see a drop of blood during a routine hemoglobin check. My three-year old once ran wildly through the house, holding up a red hand, yelling BA-LUD! When I rushed to her side, I notice that this blood was actually red ink from a broken marker. When I pointed this out to her, she simply said, "Never-mind", and went back to playing.

With the exception of normal menstruation, blood is supposed to stay inside us - inside those blood vessels. When human tissue becomes injured, it may bleed; a lot. In children, it seems that the amount of blood may be inversely proportional to the size of the hole created. In other words, the tiniest scalp laceration could make your two year old appear to be a bomb victim. Most parents and day-care providers apparently do not know this, based on the number of unnecessary 911 calls. It is very embarrassing when a pack of paramedics arrive and no one can find the hole that caused the bleeding.

Children look to adults for strength and comfort. When kids see trusted adults and parents running around in some kind of frenzy, they panic too. My advice to all parents would be to assess first, and panic privately. It is okay to scream like a banshee inside, while appearing calm and collected on the outside.

Some childhood injuries cause ASR (Adult Sphincter* Reaction), a term that I made up for the tightened-butt response. This is where normally controlled adults simply "lose it" (hopefully not full bladder or bowel control). Large, gaping wounds that actually may not bleed very much will cause ASR. Obvious fractures will do it, as well those baseball-sized head goose eggs on a toddler forehead. All of these are sphincter modifiers. (* The sphincter is the essential muscle that keeps our bowel and urinary openings naturally closed.)

A frightening, but harmless blood episode is the subconjunctival hemorrhage. This is an innocent rupture of the tiny blood vessels overlying the white part of the eye, often a consequence of vomiting, sneezing, coughing, breath-holding, eye rubbing, or even straining for a bowel movement. This bloody-looking eye is not sight-threatening and will heal spontaneously in a week or so.

Nosebleeds are another cause for concern. The most common cause of a nosebleed is nose-picking. Kids practice some serious, deep-digital penetration, trophy-hunting nose-picking, not the innocent, clandestine nose-picking practiced by adults at red lights. Other causes include a dry environment, colds, and allergies. Once the nose bleeds, the body will stop the bleeding by forming a scab. Unfortunately, scabs do not stick very well to the very vascular, mucous lining of the nose, and can feel more or less identical to the elusive booger. When probing fingers hit this scab, the nose will surely bleed again, and the healing process will be repeated.

When a parent tells me that their child has had twelve nosebleeds this week, I usually assume that it is ONE nosebleed that has happened twelve times. Stopping a nose bleed is usually simple, but the bleeder must be patient.

Simply hold pressure on the bleeding site by compressing the side of the nostril that is leaking. Hold it firmly for at least five, if not ten minutes WITHOUT PEEKING to see if it is still bleeding. If it doesn't stop in that time, insert a tightly rolled piece of tissue or toilet paper into the nasal opening (not too far) and apply pressure again for the same amount of time. This usually does it. It is not necessary to tilt your head back so the blood drains down your throat; to pinch the top of your nose, apply ice to your neck, or other worthless techniques that people use.

An unwritten goal of life is to preserve our most vital fluid - our blood. Let's all be careful and try to keep it inside, where it belongs.

Related Topics: Safety Measures Around the Home, Baby Walker Injuries Drop

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