What the color of your snot means

Snot can come in nearly all shades of the rainbow. And each color of snot – also called mucus or boogers – tells you something different about what’s going on inside your body.

“Different colors of mucus can help tell you something, but they don’t always mean as much as a lot of people think,” said Alyssa Smolen, an advanced practice registered nurse at OSF HealthCare.

The scoop on mucus

Mucus is one of the body’s natural systems of protection. It does things like lubricate the esophagus to make it easier for food to slide down to the stomach, and it coats the lining of the stomach to protect from naturally occurring acid.

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Our sinus, head and neck regions are naturally very moist environments, which means that these areas are commonly gathering places for mucus when our bodies are trying to send us a message.

Clear

“Normally, mucus is clear. When you have a cold or infection, it might turn green or yellow,” said Alyssa.

Clear snot usually signals allergies or some kind of environmental factor that is triggering your nose to start running, such as inhaling dust or allergens. Clear snot is nothing to worry about. If it’s an inconvenience, an over-the-counter medicine can help relieve the runniness.

Yellow

When you blow your nose and see yellow boogers, that usually means your body is fighting an infection. The yellow coloring comes from white blood cells that have rushed to the area to fight off the infection.

Green

Green mucus means that the infection is a bit stronger. The green coloring means that lots of white blood cells have been working overtime to fight the infection. The infection will eventually go away, but if your snot is still showing up green after 10-12 days, talk to your health care provider.

While yellow and green are the most common colors we usually see when we have allergies or are fighting an infection like a cold, we may occasionally run into some other colors.

Red or pink

Red or pink snot means blood, but don’t be alarmed.

“Blood in your mucus is most often caused by irritation of the nasal tissues. This often occurs with viral infections or allergies due to frequent nose blowing or use of nasal sprays that may cause the tissues to become dry,” Alyssa said.

“As long as it’s a relatively small amount of blood mixed with mucus, it’s not something to fret over. If bleeding is continuous and does not stop with pressure, you should be evaluated by a health care provider.”

Brown

Similarly, brown snot is likely a sign that you had a cut in your nasal passage at some point that has since healed. Dried blood usually shows up brown, so your mucus is probably just mixed with old blood.

Black

Black snot can mean a few different things. People who smoke will sometimes notice black snot because of the chemicals they inhale while smoking.

Black snot can also appear if you’ve been working in an environment with dust or dirt. In that case, your body is just doing its job to get rid of whatever irritants made their way into your nose, and the mucus will clear out the dust, soot or dirt naturally. However, black snot can also mean a serious fungal infection. If the black snot doesn’t go away, talk to your health care provider right away to get to the bottom of it.

So, when your nose starts running, be prepared to see just about any color of the rainbow! And now you know what, if anything, you need to do about it.

View all posts by Katie Faley

Tags: allergies, cold, primary care, sinus infection

Categories: General

Here’s Why You’re Seeing Blood When You Blow Your Nose

Having a nosebleed is a common condition that’s usually harmless and typically clears up with home-based treatment. However, if the bleeding is severe, doesn’t stop, or happens frequently, it’s best to get medical attention.

The sight of blood after blowing your nose may concern you, but it’s often not serious. In fact, almost 60 million Americans experience a bloody nose annually. Your nose has a significant supply of blood in it, which can lead to bleeding when you blow your nose frequently.

Home-based and over-the-counter treatments may alleviate this condition if you experience it only occasionally or for a short stretch of time.

You may experience slight or heavy bleeding from your nose because of damage to the interior of your nasal passages. The majority of nosebleeds occur in the septum of the nose, particularly the front bottom section of this area. The septum is where your nose separates into two different sides.

Your nose has many blood vessels that can become damaged for a variety of reasons. Once the blood vessel is damaged, you may experience bleeding more frequently when blowing your nose. This is because the scab covering the broken blood vessel during the healing process may break off.

Here are some reasons you may experience bleeding when blowing your nose:

Cold, dry weather

You may find that you experience bleeding when blowing your nose more commonly in the winter months. This is when cold and dry air can damage your nose’s blood vessels because there isn’t enough moisture in your nose. It may become even more dry and irritated in the winter because you spend time in heated indoor environments that lack humidity.

Dryness in your nose can also cause a delay in the healing of broken blood vessels and result in infections in this organ. This in turn can lead to more frequent experiences of bleeding when blowing your nose.

Nose picking

Picking your nose can damage blood vessels. Nose picking in children is a frequent cause of bloody noses.

Foreign objects in the nose

You may also experience trauma to your nose’s blood vessels if a foreign object enters your nose. With young children, this could be something that they put in their nose. Even the tip of a nasal spray applicator might get stuck in a person’s nose.

One study found that 5 percent of participants using steroid spray for allergic and nonallergic rhinitis had a bloody nose within a two-month period.

Nasal congestion or respiratory infections

You may experience bleeding when blowing your nose because of nasal congestion or a respiratory infection. Frequent blowing of the nose may create broken blood vessels. This can also occur if you sneeze or cough frequently, such as when you have a respiratory condition. You may experience nasal congestion or respiratory infections from a common cold, allergies, sinusitis, or another health condition.

Anatomical abnormality

The anatomical structure of your nose may lead to bleeding when you blow your nose. A deviated septum, holes in the septum, bony spurs, or fractures to your nose could be the cause. Your nose may not be getting enough moisture if you have one of these conditions, and this can result in your nose bleeding when you blow it.

Injury or surgery

Any injury or surgical intervention to your nose or face may cause blood when blowing your nose.

Exposure to chemical substances

The blood vessels in your nose may become damaged by the use of drugs like cocaine or exposure to harsh chemicals like ammonia.

Medications

You may experience bleeding when blowing your nose because you take certain medications. Blood-thinning medications like aspirin, warfarin, and others affect the ability of your blood to clot and could lead to bleeding when blowing your nose.

Tumor in the nose

Very rarely, blood when blowing your nose can be caused by a tumor in the nose. Other symptoms of such a tumor include:

• pain around your eyes
• nasal congestion that progressively gets worse
• decreased sense of smell

You can treat this condition at home if you suspect the cause isn’t serious.

Blood that is gushing or running from your nose after blowing should be treated by doing the following until your nose stops bleeding:

• sitting down
• relaxing
• tilting your head forward
• pinching your nose shut
• breathing through your mouth

Once the bleeding is under control, keep your head above your heart for several hours and avoid contact with your nose.

After you’ve gotten a heavy nose bleed under control or if you’re trying to treat a minor nose bleed, you should consider:

• using a saline spray to add moisture to your nose
• avoiding nose picking, nose blowing, or inserting any foreign objects in your nose while it heals
• applying petroleum jelly to the inside of your nose with a cotton swab every day to keep it moisturized
• adding moisture to the air with a humidifier during cold and dry months

Serious nosebleeds that last longer than 15 or 20 minutes at a time or frequent bleeding when blowing the nose requires medical attention from your doctor. Your doctor can diagnose the cause of the condition and recommend a course of treatment to prevent it from reoccurring. This may include basic treatments at home, cautery, nasal packing, or surgical intervention.

Nosebleeds are a common condition experienced by millions of Americans each year. The condition may be harmless in nature and clear up with proper treatment at home.

You should see your doctor if you suspect the bleeding when blowing your nose is caused by a more serious condition or if you experience frequent or severe nosebleeds.

If there is a runny nose with blood

A runny nose as such does not indicate the development of pathology. But if a rabbit is present in the discharge, it is worth paying maximum attention to this symptomatology.

Causes of a runny nose with blood

Thus, the specialists of the clinic “IntelPlus” in Vidnoe identify the physiological and pathological causes of this problem. Speaking specifically about the physiological origin of the negative phenomenon – a runny nose with blood, then the following points can be distinguished.

• Room air too dry. The nasal mucosa is overdried – capillary vessels will break with any tension, blowing your nose.
• The person blows his nose too hard. And it is precisely this, intensive cleansing of the nose from mucus that is the cause of the appearance of blood in the discharge from the nose.
• Mechanical injuries. This often happens if a person picks his nose and injures the mucous membrane, or when cleansing his nose with a hard stick.
• Patient-specific structural features of blood vessels – they are too fragile. And, as a result, with any tension, impact – there will be blood in the mucus from the nose.
• Hormonal imbalance. Often teenagers and pregnant women face this phenomenon, and the reason is a hormonal disorder.
• Vascular spasm. And here already from the nose, blood can, as they say, gush like a fountain, especially during intense physical or emotional stress.
• Abuse by the patient of vasoconstrictor drugs used in the fight against the common cold. Therefore, it is worth taking any drops that narrow the blood vessels for no more than a week.

Pathological causes

It is not always possible to provoke a runny nose with blood from such simple reasons as described above. And it is already worth looking for the primary source in a more serious problem, namely:

• The viral nature of the disease. So the well-known cold begins precisely through a runny nose, when in the first days the discharge is transparent, and after 3-5 days they change their color and texture to thick, green snot.
• Sinusitis. This pathology is a consequence of several pathological conditions, for example, the same sinusitis. At the same time, nasal discharge is a consequence of the development of pathogenic microbes, the patient may be disturbed by migraine attacks, and nasal congestion leads to a desire to clear it. And this is an overvoltage and a rupture of the vessel, as a result of blood in the secretions.
• Vitamin deficiency. In particular, vitamins of groups B and C, E and D lead to the fact that the walls of blood vessels weaken, and with any runny nose or sneeze, an attempt to clear the nose leads to the appearance of blood in the discharge. That is why it is so important to drink a course of vitamins.
• Increased intracranial pressure – this can also lead to blood in nasal discharge. And often with such a phenomenon, a person feels migraine attacks, pain in the eye area. But if blood appears, you should immediately visit a specialist.
• Otitis is a disease that is a complication of the pathology of the nasal cavity, occurring in its chronic form. And the development of otitis media is indicated by bouts of pain in the ear.
• Migraine attacks can also cause blood in the nasal discharge from a broken vessel. In this case, the patient, in addition to the headache, is worried about intolerance to bright light, loud sounds.
• A cyst develops in the maxillary sinus. This pathology is not so common, but it can appear after the sinusitis suffered by the patient. Or the individual characteristics of the structure of the sinus, when the cyst will impede the supply of air, and as a result, the appearance of negative symptoms.

According to the specialists of our clinic, there is no special cure for a cold with blood. The main thing is to identify and eliminate the cause of this condition, and start from this in matters of prevention and therapy.

Runny nose mixed with blood: causes, symptoms, diseases

Runny nose by itself does not indicate severe pathology. It periodically appears in all people. This symptom is indicative of a cold. But if blood is found in the discharge from the nose, then this phenomenon is alarming. What pathologies can a runny nose with blood talk about? How to act in such a situation?

Main causes of coryza with blood

Bloody coryza may result from pathological or physiological causes. To understand what is at stake, it is necessary to consider the structure of the nasal mucosa.

Outside, the inner shell is covered with non-keratinized epithelium with mobile cilia. This epithelial layer protects the respiratory system from the penetration of viruses, foreign elements, dust. Many metabolic processes take place in the nasal mucosa. Such reactions require large amounts of nutrients. Therefore, many vessels are localized in the mucosa, which provide the influx of the necessary components.

Any injury to the nose can be accompanied by damage to the capillary. And that causes bleeding. Moreover, the strength and frequency of such a phenomenon depends on the individual structure of the mucosa, the state of the vessels.

Physiological causes

Thinking about why the nose bleeds when you have a runny nose, do not rush to attribute all the most difficult diagnoses to yourself. The culprits of the problem are often completely harmless causes that can be easily eliminated on their own. So, the main factors leading to an unpleasant phenomenon.

Dryness of the air

Dryness of the nasal mucosa occurs in a room with excessively dry air. Capillaries lose their natural elasticity and become brittle. Any stress (for example, ordinary blowing your nose) will damage them.

Increased blowing nose

This is another fairly common cause of bloody runny nose. If a person is bothered by abundant discharge, then he wants to blow his nose as best as possible. Such intensive cleansing of the nasal passages causes a strong load on the vessels. The latter do not withstand and burst.

Mechanical damage

Blood clots appearing in nasal secretions may indicate mechanical trauma to the mucosa. Such damage is usually caused during nose picking, cleaning the passages with a cotton swab or an aspirator, unsuccessful use of a pipette (during instillation).

Personality

Some people have naturally fragile blood vessels. Any tension is immediately accompanied by bleeding. As a rule, a person encounters such a feature in early childhood.

Hormonal imbalances

Adolescents may experience sudden bleeding due to a runny nose. Often this problem torments pregnant women. The cause of the unpleasant symptom lies in the hormonal disorder.

Vascular spasm

Vascular spasm, causing blood from the nose, is observed during increased physical exertion. Such complaints occur in people climbing to great heights (for example, going uphill). Sometimes spasms occur with sharp temperature fluctuations or climate change.

Abuse of vasoconstrictor drops

These drugs are useful for the common cold. They constrict blood vessels, relieve swelling of the mucosa and contribute to improved mucus discharge. It is allowed to use vasoconstrictor drops for no more than seven days. Abuse of the drug leads to addiction, after which the person increases the dosage. This has an extremely negative effect on the state of the vessels.

Pathological causes

The sources of the problem are not always so harmless. Sometimes the reasons may lie in serious pathological processes occurring in the body. Usually they testify to themselves with rather expressive symptoms. Most often, such problems occur.

Viral infections

Colds almost always start the same way. A person is worried about a runny nose. The discharge is clear and liquid. After a few days, they are able to change their texture and color.

Viral or bacterial infection causes green discharge. Yellow or brown indicate purulent inflammatory processes. And often with a running cold, a runny nose with blood appears. This is caused by a weakening of the immune defense and thinning of the mucosa. As a result, blood vessels can spontaneously damage.

The source of an unpleasant symptom can be not only SARS, but also influenza, bronchitis and many other viral infections.

Sinusitis

This pathology combines several unpleasant diseases at once. The most common of these is sinusitis. It occurs against the background of infection in the respiratory tract. Pathogenic microorganisms begin to multiply actively. Mucus accumulates in the sinuses.

With sinusitis there are complaints of severe headache. The latter is greatly enhanced when tilted down. Pain and a feeling of heaviness are disturbing in the area under the eyes (this is the area of ​​​​the maxillary sinuses). The desire to clear the nose leads to overstrain and rupture of blood vessels.

Deficiency of vitamins, minerals

Lack of vitamins C, E, D, group B, which help strengthen blood vessels and increase their elasticity, can lead to nosebleeds. And of course, any, even a slight voltage, can provoke a rupture of the capillary.

An unpleasant symptom occurs against the background of a deficiency of trace elements such as potassium, calcium, copper, sodium, manganese.

Intracranial pressure

If this pressure is elevated, then blood streaks are regularly observed in nasal discharge. They indicate damage to blood vessels as a result of internal stress. With intracranial pressure, a person complains of a headache. Sometimes there is pressure in the eye area.

If you constantly bleed with a runny nose, then a visit to the doctor is a must!

Otitis

Such a disease can occur as a complication of pathologies of the nasal cavity, occurring in acute or chronic form. It is not difficult to determine the beginning of the development of otitis media. Pathology almost always makes itself felt with severe pain in the ear.

Migraine

Severe headaches can provoke vascular spasm. In this case, a disturbing runny nose is stained with blood from a burst vessel. In addition to an excruciating headache, the unfortunate person may complain of immunity to bright light and intolerance to loud sounds.

Cyst in the maxillary sinus

This is a rather unpleasant pathology, which, fortunately, occurs infrequently. It occurs after suffering sinusitis or as a result of the individual characteristics of the sinus (both congenital and acquired). The cyst makes it difficult to ventilate the air and causes negative symptoms.

But the pathology has no specific signs. Most often, patients complain of chronic runny nose, often with an admixture of blood, fetid discharge from the nose, deterioration of smell. Almost always, people experience headaches that are aggravated by bending over.

Methods of dealing with bloody rhinitis

The presence of blood streaks in nasal secretions is an unpleasant sign that indicates malfunctions in the body. It is difficult to determine the source of this phenomenon on your own. Therefore, it is best to go to a doctor – a therapist or an otolaryngologist.

Treatment depends on the cause of the pathology and may include the following areas:

1. Strengthening the immune system . The patient is advised to go in for sports, lead a healthy lifestyle, give up all bad habits. In addition, doctors advise to harden the body.
2. Whole food . To strengthen blood vessels, proper and varied nutrition is recommended.
3. Air humidifier . It is necessary to ventilate the room daily. If the air is too dry, it is useful to use a humidifier.
4. Taking vitamin complexes . Such drugs can only be prescribed by a doctor when vitamin deficiency is confirmed.
5. Medical treatment . Depending on the cause of the bloody rhinitis, the patient may be prescribed antibiotics, antiviral drugs, various vasoconstrictor drops.