can anyone talk to me about nose bleeds please

[Miamla]

a relative is having frequent nose bleeds that won't stop. he's being checked out in A&E tonight but we haven't had any news yet

anyone got any idea as to what could be causing them?

non-scary suggestions preferred! I daren't google

and yes i know i should wait until he's back from the hospital but i'm worried and i guess i just want someone to say don't worry, eating too much cheese will cause it or some other silly thing like that

[sweatybits]

I have had problems with nosebleeds in the past, but have a slightly lower clotting factor.

It always looks worse than it is.

It can sometimes simply be a damaged bit on the lining of your nose that doesn't heal well especially if you don't let it if you know what I mean.

I used the nasel spray decongestent and it seemed to weaken the lining of miy nose and took a while for nose to recover.

[BecauseImWorthIt]

It is one of the symptoms of swine flu, apparently - has he been having them for a long time or only recently?

[Miamla]

sorry, didn't give enough info
he's late 40s. had them a few years ago (about 5) but he was able to stop them all so being a man, didn't worry about them or ever find out why. He's only gone to the hospital this time (despite having another bout of them this week, usually in early hours of morning so they've been waking him up) because it wouldn't stop bleeding. They cauterised his nose last night but it kept bleeding again so now they've plugged him

[EldonAve]

It could be that his blood clots slightly slower than average

[Miamla]

thanks Eldon, good idea but that has been ruled out. any other ideas?