My nosebleed caused by swab tests?

By Alex P. Vidal

“Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.”—Fred Rogers

FOR nearly a year now, I have been suffering from nosebleed every now and then—day and night.

Because they were random nose bleeds, I thought they were common and that anybody can go through this experience—young and old—at least once in their life.

But, as I mentioned, it’s been nearly a year now; or even more than a year?

To answer my worries and doubts, I made a research about nosebleed and learned several “common causes” familiar to everyone: picking the nose; blowing the nose very hard; a minor injury to the nose; changes in humidity or temperature causing the inside of the nose to become dry and cracked.

Okay, I pick my nose but not so hard. Also, I don’t blow my nose very hard. And I don’t have a minor injury to my nose, at least as far as I’m concerned.

But, yes, humidity or temperature has been changing rapidly in the United States these past months. My nose may have dried and cracked.

But, according to my further research, nose bleeds could happen also “for no reason.”

These may be possible if we have fragile blood vessels that bleed easily, perhaps in warm dry air or after exercise; an infection of the nose lining, sinuses or adenoids; an allergy that causes hay fever or coughing.

bumps or falls; an object that has been pushed up the nostril; and, again, nose picking; and occasionally, a bleeding or clotting problem.

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Nose bleeds are not supposed to cause any alarm, they normally have harmless causes, according to experts.

It would be problematic if we start getting frequent nosebleeds. Like what I have been experiencing these past months. Friends have suggested an urgent need for the doctor’s attention. I might do it for the next step after research.

According to Joseph Parambil, M.D, a Pulmonary Medicine Specialist at Cleveland Clinic, people with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) have abnormal blood vessels (Source: besthealthguide).

These abnormal blood vessels allow the frequent flow of blood out of the body through the nose. This is a very rare condition and it is very hard to detect in its early stages.

However, persistent problems should not be neglected or rejected as normal. Seeing a doctor could prove helpful in identifying any underlying problems.

Besides the rarity of this condition, common nosebleed causes include nose injury, nose inflammation, or distortions.

Sometimes having these conditions can be frightening as something would seem wrong, but it is very common.

I have another suspect for my nosebleed: COVID-19 swab test.

I am not a medical expert, thus I can’t confirm with absolute certainty that the series of swab tests I made since 2021 was the main culprit.

I think I am one of the only few human beings all over the world who had taken more than a dozen swab tests.

For this reason, I may not anymore undergo another coronavirus swab test especially if the nosebleed will continue and persist. God forbid.

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I was first intrigued by the cover of a book written by the late American critic, Edmund Wilson (1895-1972), widely regarded as the preeminent American man of letters of the 20th century.

Wilson modestly called his book “a handful of disconnected pieces, written at various times when I happened to be interested in the various authors.”

Wilson’s mind was so deep and powerful. After reading some paragraphs in The Strange Case of Pushkin and Nabokov, I quit. I find the book difficult to decipher.

Readers will encounter that rare pleasure of entering a living world where the dead hand of academia never casts its shadow.

The essays are uneven, the earlier surveys of Gogol and Chekhov are slight affairs, without the range and poignancy of Wilson’s studies of Turgenev and Tolstoy and Pushkin.

Wilson was no phrase maker. He told readers that “Gorky rightly said that Tolstoy and God were like two bears in one den,” and there is nothing in his own remarks on Tolstoy that equals the pithiness of Gorky’s remark. Wilson built up a character, an era; his fussy data and leisurely summaries were fascinating.

Readers will encounter the bureaucrats who flourish under the Soviets as they did under the Tsars, the peasants who suffer from one regime to another, the melancholy authors who universally despair of Russia yet cannot bear to be parted from her.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)