Bleeding

Overview

Bleeding is also known as haemorrhage. Bleeding can occur either externally such as from a cut in the skin, nose, ears, mouth, vagina, and rectum or internally such as in the brain, gastrointestinal tract, lungs, heart, and joints. Bleeding or haemorrhage can be classified into stages of minor, moderate, severe or extensive based on the amount of blood loss from the body. It can also be classified based on the source of bleeding either from the capillaries, arteries or veins. Minor bleeding does not always have symptoms but major bleeding can be dangerous and leads to symptoms such as pallor, fatigue, fainting, low blood pressure, tachycardia, shortness of breath and unconsciousness. Bleeding commonly occurs due to trauma or injury to the body. It can also be caused by various medical conditions that affect bleeding time and clotting factors in the body and blood-thinning medications such as warfarin and heparin.