Bleeding

I gave my mum a scare the other day. It was on the plane ride back from KK. Extremely exhausted, I fell asleep as soon as the plane took off. Not long after, I felt dryness in my nose. I rubbed it a bit and felt liquid dripping out. I thought I caught flu. When I look at my hand, it was covered with blood!
Blood keeps dripping out and lucky me, I have tissue just conveniently located in my handbag. I called out to my mum, who was also sleeping at that time and she was shocked. I used up few pieces of tissue. And thankfully the bleeding stop. I didn't know that I should not tilt my head backwards. I should have just apply pressure on nose.

Did a little googling (from Wikipedia) and here's something about nose bleed.

Epistaxis (from Greek ἐπιστάζω (epistazo) to bleed from the nose: ἐπί (epi) - "above", "over" + στάζω (stazo) - "to drip" [from the nostrils]) or a nosebleed is the relatively common occurrence of hemorrhage from the nose, usually noticed when the blood drains out through the nostrils. There are two types: anterior (the most common), and posterior (less common, more likely to require medical attention).

The causes of nosebleeds can generally be divided into two categories, local and systemic factors, although it should be remembered that a significant number of nosebleeds occur with no obvious cause.



Local factors
-Blunt trauma (usually a sharp blow to the face such as a punch, sometimes accompanying a nasal fracture)
-Foreign bodies (such as fingers during nose-picking)
-Inflammatory reaction (e.g. acute respiratory tract infections, chronic sinusitis, allergic rhinitis or environmental irritants)
- Anatomical deformities (e.g. septal spurs or Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia)
- Insufflated drugs (particularly cocaine)
- Intranasal tumors (e.g. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma or nasopharyngeal angiofibroma)
- Low relative humidity of inhaled air (particularly during cold winter seasons)
- Nasal cannula O2 (tending to dry the olfactory mucosa)
- Nasal sprays (particularly prolonged or improper use of nasal steroids)
- Otic barotrauma (such as from descent in aircraft or ascent in scuba diving)
- Surgery (e.g. septoplasty and Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery)
- Leech infestation


Systemic factors
- Allergies
- Infectious diseases (e.g. common cold)
- Hypertension
- Drugs — Aspirin, Fexofenadine/Allegra/Telfast, warfarin, ibuprofen, clopidogrel,prasugrel, isotretinoin, desmopressin, ginseng and others
- Alcohol (due to vasodilation)
- Anaemia
- Connective tissue disease
- Blood dyscrasias
- Envenomation by mambas, taipans, kraits, and death adders
- Heart failure (due to an increase in venous pressure)
- Hematological malignancy
 -Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura
- Pregnancy (rare)
- Vascular disorders
- Vitamin C or Vitamin K deficiency
- von Willebrand's disease

I think mine was due to the low humidity of inhaled air. Hope it won't happen to me again or I will just have to wear a black shirt the next time I board a plane.