What causes recurring episodes of nose bleeding in a diabetic patient?

Posted on Fri, 20 May 2016

Question: My sister is a diabetic and was diagnosed with pneumonia 2 years ago and she had surgery to remove the fluid from her lungs. She recently started bleeding chunk's of something from her nose and mouth and her legs keep swelling and are very hard. We have taken her to several doctors and they keep telling her that she is OK. But the nose and mouth bleed is more frequent and is really bad. What could be the possible problem? Please help!

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (34 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
her nose should be taken care of

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

since your sister is having recurring episodes of nose bleeding (which is not a big deal indeed), she should be examined and treated by an ear-nose-throat (ENT) specialist for it. Usually a faulty blood vessel prone to bleeding is the cause. The ENT specialist may cauterize this blood vessel to stop the bleeding and its recurrences.

Diabetes and her lung problems do not have anything to do with it. If her tests were OK then there is no reason to worry about it. Just talk with the ENT specialist for further treatment options.

Kind Regards!

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