The art of trigger avoidance

[fanta]

Hi guys,

we never talk much about trigger avoidance strategies but only about specific triggers to avoid. I know that deeply depressed are advised not to be too estatic when they improve and get better. They should not invite all the friends for a party the day they feel great again, instead they should cool it a bit for half a year till their brains have gotten fully balanced again. I guess its the same for rosacea, that you really need to keep on being submissive for 6 months after you experience what appear to be full remission. Dont listen to others telling you that you are healthy and nothing is wrong with you. Well, you probably do have some low grade inflammation just waiting on the next skin care product on the market. Dr. Soldo might be right about rosacea getting more aggressive during the last couple of years, and in particular being aggressive for people hanging out here. Really, never giving the skin a break but ever looking for some new magical skin care product might be counterproductive for most.
I sense that when you get into full remission a whole other set of products are needed, then its OK with thicker creams, like cold creams and you may only need something like Cetephil bar soap to wash your face with - a bit like the old days where you didnt need to wash away imbalances on the epidermis and didnt have to think about occlusive skin care products. In some respect, many recommended rosacea topicals and skin care products are more harsh than what you used to apply.

Thanks for other comments, I have made my own views very clear here but nice to hear others views and experiences. It seems like laser treatments require quite a lot of trigger avoidance both before and after, so worth hearing something about that

[Spav]

Full remission, ahh i can always dream.

I've gone through some stages where my flushings have been so bad, i've spent weeks comming back from work or uni just sitting in my room, in the dark, windows open and drinking ice cold water. Afraid to do anything even eat. It's pretty extreem but sometimes it's the only thing that gets close to calming down my flushes.

I'm also incredably conscious of room temperature wherever i go, always looking for an opportunity to turn down the heating.

When my flushes start it often makes me more irritated and self conscious which in turn makes the flush worse. Often i try to use breathing exercises to calm me down when this happens. I do lots of stupid things, not really sure if they help. The other day i was on the train flushing like crazy as usual. I decided to imagine i was swimming in a deep, cold blue sea. Not sure if it helped me feel any cooler, but it probably helped as a form of escapism.

The problem is with this condition if you want to lead anytype of decent life you can't possibly avoid all your triggers. You have to strike a balance. That can be hard to do though especially when you know everytime you flush you're just progressing your condition further.

[fanta]

Full remission, ahh i can always dream.

I've gone through some stages where my flushings have been so bad, i've spent weeks comming back from work or uni just sitting in my room, in the dark, windows open and drinking ice cold water. Afraid to do anything even eat. It's pretty extreem but sometimes it's the only thing that gets close to calming down my flushes.

I'm also incredably conscious of room temperature wherever i go, always looking for an opportunity to turn down the heating.

When my flushes start it often makes me more irritated and self conscious which in turn makes the flush worse. Often i try to use breathing exercises to calm me down when this happens. I do lots of stupid things, not really sure if they help. The other day i was on the train flushing like crazy as usual. I decided to imagine i was swimming in a deep, cold blue sea. Not sure if it helped me feel any cooler, but it probably helped as a form of escapism.

The problem is with this condition if you want to lead anytype of decent life you can't possibly avoid all your triggers. You have to strike a balance. That can be hard to do though especially when you know everytime you flush you're just progressing your condition further.

Well, trigger avoidance is the only thing that will make you live a decent life so thats not the problem - often big triggers to rosacea are unnecessary and not really something important.
If you absolutely have to try a new skin care product in the whole face to get a big rosacea flare its unnecessary, all of us know that you have to patch test new products to sensitive skin. If you go out in the sun or drink its unnecessary, we all knows its unhealthy and terrible for the body so why do it? I think its impractical that you cant use skin care products but often you only use skin care products to try repair what the earlier moisturizer ruined in your skin - so basically its unnecessary worrying about skin care products with rosacea - cause they dont do anything for you.

[Bob Bear]

I disagree.

Do you think that the average rosacean knows and understands all of their triggers, let alone can control them?

I certainly dont. I do avoid all the obvious triggers, and that is a great help. But I still flush several times a week, and I have no idea why.

I mean, if you could identify and avoid all triggers, then you would never flare and in affect, be in remission.

BB

[Bradley]

I agree Fanta, but also one of the main problematic aspects to rosacea/flushing is the intangible aspect to it i.e. "the unknown" or uncontrollable. I can't prevent occurances of embarrassement, tension, nerves etc. This is the hardest thing to prevent/avoid because they can happen at any time without any instigation or provocation from yourself.

The only thing I can think of is to train your mind to not be surprised; expect the unexpected. When you know something will/may happen, your mind almost automatically provides a possible response path which can be your get-out clause to prevent these intangible triggers.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to get at :)

[fanta]

I hope you understand what I'm trying to get at :)
not really, but thanks anyway! :-k

[Bob Bear]

I agree Fanta, but also one of the main problematic aspects to rosacea/flushing is the intangible aspect to it i.e. "the unknown" or uncontrollable. I can't prevent occurances of embarrassement, tension, nerves etc. This is the hardest thing to prevent/avoid because they can happen at any time without any instigation or provocation from yourself.

The only thing I can think of is to train your mind to not be surprised; expect the unexpected. When you know something will/may happen, your mind almost automatically provides a possible response path which can be your get-out clause to prevent these intangible triggers.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to get at :)

My point precisely. You can never understand and anticipate all triggers. The best you can do is attempt to control the ones you are actually aware of.

[Spav]

Fanta,

If you have few triggers then you may be able to avoid them all. My situation is that i'm flushed pretty much all the time it just depends how much. This is because my face is so sensitive. For example i flush just be having my lamp on in my room.

My flush also increases when i'm in lecture theatres at uni. Concentrating can also be a major trigger for me. Going outside when the suns out trigger bad flushes for me everytime. These are things i can't avoid if i want to live anytype of normal life.

[fanta]

Spav, you cant live a normal life, thats like redheads they just have to accept that they cant tolerate sun light very well, thats just how it is. Now, going out in the sun is totally out of the question for me, I only have stayed max 3 minutes in the sun this Summer - I just had to plan everything in accordance to this and this will probably never change - I dont have one single sun spot on my body and Im sure I will never get any, so look at the bright side, our skin will remain clean without unsightly sun spots

[lakan]

i have a trick which often works if i want to stay somewhat flush-free in embarrassing/nervous situations and that basically is: simply just dont care/shut of your emotions. it may sound stupid to some but this seriously works for me. since i got rosacea problems i have just kinda learned more and more how to not care and by that i mean, i dont care if ive said something embarrassing, its just whatever and i also stay calm about how my face looks and dont really try to supress the flush. i just pretend everythings normal and this way the flush rarely get the time to expand to the painfull fullblown flush. hmm..yeah something like this. works most of the times actually, sometimes it goes straight to hell though hehe.

obviously this method doesnt work for heat, sun and food etc. triggered flushes but like i said it can help to some extent in embarrassing situations.

[nikkitn]

I've used that trick too. Works sometimes, sometimes not. Seems like its working less these days...But when it does work I don't get the terrible chest and neck flush from the emotional triggers.

[Kelli]

Trigger avoidance is absolutely impossible for me. I'd have to become a man in order to avoid my trigger.