Blushing/Flushing

[samtheman]

This is a fairly recent development for me, maybe in the last 6-12 months, I've been through the whole panic attack phase and am a hell of alot better than I was, I don't avoid things anymore and can pretty much do anything now but this blushing is getting to me.

On Friday I had the dentist, no one likes the dentist, and sitting in the waiting room I was a bit anxious like anyone would be, but I could feel my face turning red and burning, and the more I thought about it the worse it got until I ended up with a tomato face bright red, Its easy to say don't think about it, but thats like saying dont' think of pink elephants, its all you'll think about.

It seems now anything I'm a bit nervous or anxious about I get a bright red face, anyone else with this problem?

[Loraine]

Yes I get this too when im anxious and panicky i sweat and my face goes bright red and burning hot and this makes me more anxious and it takes ages to go back to the normal colour:blush:

[SHYGIRLAJB]

Hi, I have always like suffered with the blushing, type of thing, feeling like your face is burning hot. I get it if Im embarrassed about something, if I get angry, panic, about something, and just general shyness.

I do not know how to combat this problem unfortunately. sorry. Just thought I would let you know you are not the only one out there with a blushing problem and to give you big big ((hugs)). xxxx.

[daydreamer]

Hi, yes I get them too! blushing when Im in social situations and flushing(extreme hot faced!) when Im in situations that provoke anxiety/stress. I havent overcome this yet, but it does subside when the anxiety does, when that will be for me who knows! LOL!

[spikey0377]

Hi All,

I know this is an old thread that I am responding to, but am so glad to see that I am not the only one whom gets these horrible vile heat attacks on my face. This has been happening to me for a number of years but got worse since I started a new job in December and now found that when I am at the doctors/hospital I get it so bad that I have had to walk out of some appointments as I feel the heat coming then I feel like the walls are closing in, then my heart starts to race, and I feel like I may collapse to the floor, it is such a horrible feeling, thought I was going bonkers but seems I am not alone in this.:ohmy:

CJ

[samtheman]

and sadly nothing I have tried has helped

[Bill]

I forget what it's called but I'm sure there's a name for blushing phobia? I'm sure someone will know.:shrug:

Anyway, I know some people feel so self-conscious that they'll go for operations to stop the flushing.

Personally, my face Always flushes due to different circumstances. I'll flush when I have to address a group. I'll flush when I feel embarrassed even when I'm enjoying it! I'll flush when I get hot. I'll flush when I come out of the cold and enter a hot room.

I must admit I hate it but I know there's nothing I can do about it so just like other anxieties and fears, I feel there's only one thing I can do....accept it and live with it!

When I was in my late teens my hair started receeding. By the time I was in my early 20's I was bald on top. I was very self-conscious about it but I grew to accept it. Now, it always amuses me when fellas brush a tiny bit of hair over a bald head until the wind catches it. I'd cut it off!

Having said all that, I've actually never liked me or my appearance although people say the contrary about me. I just feel I have to accept what I am. Oh well.:shrug:

[absentia]

Blushing is all about being self concious, so if you could switch off thinking "I hope I don't blush... crap... face is burning... I'm blushing... How embarassing!" then you can conquer it. It's all about being oblivious to how you feel and concentrating outside the box. The problem is, people with anxieties often have too much mind chatter going on. Those fearless, confident and outgoing people do not think about their actions and are quite oblivious. They have the confidence not to worry about these things. I am quite a blusher because I have social anxiety, but it does have its ups and downs and like Bill (^above) I have tried my best to accept it. I feel if I finally learn to accept it and not worry about it then eventually I will stop being so concious of it happening. Here are some links on self-conciousness:

http://www.self-confidence.co.uk/self/consciousness/self.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-consciousness

[samtheman]

Blushing is all about being self concious, so if you could switch off thinking "I hope I don't blush... crap... face is burning... I'm blushing... How embarassing!" then you can conquer it. It's all about being oblivious to how you feel and concentrating outside the box. The problem is, people with anxieties often have too much mind chatter going on. Those fearless, confident and outgoing people do not think about their actions and are quite oblivious. They have the confidence not to worry about these things. I am quite a blusher because I have social anxiety, but it does have its ups and downs and like Bill (^above) I have tried my best to accept it. I feel if I finally learn to accept it and not worry about it then eventually I will stop being so concious of it happening. Here are some links on self-conciousness:

http://www.self-confidence.co.uk/self/consciousness/self.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-consciousness

That is not always the case, I can blush when I come out of the shower say, My face is bright red and then I add fuel to the fire like "I am getting red" but self consciousness was not the initial catalyst, with it being the summer I have problems in the sun, the heat instantly fires of the blushing which again I add fuel to the fire but again self consciousness was not the initial trigger

[spikey0377]

Hi Bill,

I think if you can accept that it is just part of your make-up as such then that is a good way of looking at it. As mine comes together with the fact that when the blushing starts I get so hot and feel like I am goint to collapse I am not sure what I can do about it and therefore panic even more, all I want is fresh air, just wish I knew that all it was is anxiety and that is has nothing to do with the Hypothalamus, as I have had a Pituitary Disorder in the past not sure if it has anything to do with it, or if it is just me thinking as soon as I feel warm, the heat starts on the face and I think I am going to faint. No doctors seem to be able to help me, am going to ask for a different Endocrinologist just to double check, and if all OK maybe I will be able to just deal with it, as you do!!:blush:

CJ

[absentia]

That is not always the case, I can blush when I come out of the shower say, My face is bright red and then I add fuel to the fire like "I am getting red" but self consciousness was not the initial catalyst, with it being the summer I have problems in the sun, the heat instantly fires of the blushing which again I add fuel to the fire but again self consciousness was not the initial trigger

I am almost always red faced after having a shower, this is a very common complaint as I googled it recently. But that is all it takes! Once you feel your face is hot you can become paranoid of blushing. Anxiety does this, because when you are anxious you feel people may notice, which makes you self concious and can easily trigger a blushing episode. I get what you are saying, but at the end of the day something needs to make you feel self concious to begin with, which in your case is the hot shower or the sun amoungst other things. Blushing (or you could say self conciousness) needs to be triggered by something, it is not completely random.

[Bill]

CJ,

I think there will be circumstances when I will always blush and I doubt that I'll ever be able to stop it so yes, I do try to accept it.

One other thought though. You know, if someone blushes in front of me I actually feel more comfortable in their company. I guess because it helps me to feel less self-conscious knowing I'm in "good company".

I know some people absolutely hate blushing and I must admit I don't particularly like it either in myself but when I see others blush I actually find it very attractive just as I know others do also so as they say I guess, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and not in how we view ourselves. Just a thought.

I feel blushing is always caused by something whether it's environmental or due to being self-conscious. Some people are lucky because their skin doesn't show it but they do in other ways. It's just our sensitive nature and the type of skin we have but whatever the cause, I like blushing in others...just not in me!:hugs:

[Cheshire Tom]

I can agree fully with this thread. It happened to me in the dentist's waiting room also. The dentist told me it was actually a very common reaction as your nerves are kicking in. I felt everyone was looking at me, yet when I looked around the room, they were not ! My dentist said he sees it alot throughout the week. Face neck etc etc.

This will sound odd, but I used to get the same reactions whenever I walked into a specific supermarket each day. Also my doctors too. It is as if I was expecting it to happen, even subconciously, so it did actually happen to me.

Feeling that I was burning up, face going red. What I do know is that it feels a thousand times worse than it looks. Sometimes I would look in the mirror and realise that no one else could see it. It felt like it was happening yet it was not in anyway visible to anyone else!

It's our mind playing silly tricks on us again. I have learnt to simply ride it out. I find that distraction works very effectively, even if its doing thing like counting backwards from seven hundred in sevens or something similar.

Bazzer x

[spikey0377]

When you blush, do any o you f eel your heart race and as if you want to leave the room or place that you are in?

I get so hot when I am in a room, train, go so red then get an overwhelming feeling of anxiety, it is really horrible and at times I wonder if I now expect it to happen, it happened on a train recently and a lady asked me if i was ok, as i had gone really red:blush: this made me panic even more and then i was thinking omg, something awful is going to happen to me, i have started to take ice out with me at the moment to try and keep myself cool if i can feel myself getting hot, and before anyone ask, it is not a lady's problem had all the tests done for that.

Maybe I just blush and always have as Bill said, and it is getting worse with age:wacko:

CJ

[Bill]

I don't think it gets any worse with age. I just think there are different triggers.

In your case and like many others, it sounds like palpitations. When we're in a room or on a train we're in enclosed environments which when we're feeling stressed will cause us to feel trapped. This trapped feeling with of no escape then makes us feel panicky which produces adrenalin making our heart pump faster preparing us to "run faster" but when there's no escape the excess adrenalin just makes us feel as if our heart is pumping faster causing palpitations. This then also means our blood pressure rises causing us to feel as if we're burning up which then causes our face to go red.

Of course also once we're then aware that our face must be red, we panic even more because of being noticed by those around us which then fuels the fire going on within us. We become self-conscious triggering our fear of being the centre of attention, of being stared at and what others will be thinking which is why when we're asked if we're ok, it makes us feel worse because we just want to hide away.

Once we feel "free", everything in our body then returns to normal.

I think that's what's happening to you.

The key, and I know it's not easy, is learning how to remain relaxed in environments where we feel trapped. I find what helps me is to find something to stop me being aware of where I am. For instance, stay by a window watching the scenery go by because it makes you feel more free. Also reading a book or paper or doing a crossword or puzzle can help.:hugs:

[spikey0377]

Hi Bill,

Thank you for explaining all that to me, I did not think about the adrenalin, and I my heart really does pound, I had to have an Echocardiogram last night and it happened again, luckily I had taken some ice and a flannel to the hospital and had that on my head, I was burning, burning hot, the Cardiologist that was doing the test said to me, "my goodness your heart is pounding", as if i did not realise that!!

I think that sounds a good explanation and maybe about time that i did something to try and learn to relax.

Thanks again Bill, really appreciate you explaining that to me.:blush:

[Bill]

It's a pleasure.:):hugs:

Just one of the ways anxiety likes to mimic illness making us think we're actually ill when really it's just adrenalin being pumped around the body preparing us to fight or take flight. In prehistoric times that's what we'd do but in this modern environment with modern stresses, there's often no way of fighting or running so the symptoms have no way of being used as they were meant to be used.

All you can do is try to learn relaxation techniques and Always remind yourself your symptoms are Just being created by too much stress so that you don't keep thinking about them because the more attention you give them, the more they will feed off your thinking. They starve when we learn how to accept and ignore them as being natural.:hugs: