How I control my Rosacea

tp912 · 6th April 2009, 02:37 PM

I'll keep this short and simple. If you suffer from flushing or burning it's worth a shot.

I have noticed a drastic difference in my skin for the better. Stop using A/C on your face to cool down a flush. Avoid any type of fan/air from blowing on your face. Do not sit or sleep under a ceiling fan. Do not take cold showers or wash your face with cold water. Do not use ice to cool down your face. Keep the temp in your house around 73-75. Avoid being outside in weather colder than 70 degrees for long.

It will seem hard to do at first. At least give it a try. I suffered from severe flushing on a scale of 1-10 i would say a 9. Things have been drastically better now, and I noticed a huge difference in about 2-3 days.

If it doesnt help you within 5 days then go back to keeping the A/C on high in your car lol
- I know it feels nice

pennya · 6th April 2009, 11:11 PM

I am planning on starting a new thread describing my experience with this approach, but what I would like to say briefly right now is that this approach definitely works.

It is based on the information presented in Colin Dahl's booklet that describes the mechanism of flushing and how he reversed his rosacea (flushing/redness) using the 'warm room' approach. http://www.ausci.com/ROSACEA%20BOOKLET%202009.pdf

Like tp912 has already stated, it's imperative that you do not let your face get cool. Keeping it as warm as possible (of course without inducing flushing) is the key, as Colin writes that by doing so you are causing continual release of the chemicals that are responsible for maintaining the intensity and duration of your flush. In effect, what you are doing is producing a 'low grade' flushing during the day (i.e. by slowly releasing these chemicals) and when it does come time for a real flush (ex. evening flush) you will avoid the intense burst of these chemicals, thus avoiding an intense flush.

I was a chronic evening flusher as well as sleep flusher. I would wake up in the middle of the night because my cheeks would start to flush and it was hard to go back to sleep. I did try remeron (which got rid of the night flushing temporarily) and clonidine but I stopped taking them after 4 weeks. I didn't want to rely on medication and I really wanted to try this approach. By the way, when I stopped the remeron the night flushing did return.

So it has been about 7 weeks since I've started with this approach and my evening flushes are pretty much gone and I don't flush at night. OH, I've also increased my room temperature by a few degrees. I think that this also helped.

It may take a few days for you to get adjusted and you may experience some initial flushing. But I would really recommend reading the booklet and trying this approach.
YOu can also follow a discussion on this topic here: http://rosacea-support.org/community...b934f&start=80
You can also post your questions to Colin, and I"m sure he'll be around to answer them.

Also, I believe this is why a lot of us feel better after exercise or eating something slightly spicy...as it makes your face a little warmer and helps with the neuropeptide depletion.

I hope this helps someone. If you have any question, please ask. I'm happy to help.

Melissa W · 6th April 2009, 11:32 PM

That is wonderful news Penny and tp912

I know that if I can control my temp all day everyday like this it does help but unfortunately I have very little control over the temp when I am at work or outside for long periods of time but it is great news that this can help us!

Best wishes,
Melissa

MissD · 6th April 2009, 11:49 PM

I've been flirting with this method off and on lately. I used to sleep with my ceiling fan blowing on me all night, but for the past few days I got through the night with it off. Laying down is a trigger for me but the flushing usually resolves in a minute or two and after that I'm fine. With the fan on all night I would usually wake up in the morning with a flush but that doesn't happen anymore, and I also flush less altogether - today I was very pale for most of the day and I was actually able to vacuum without flushing very much at all. Granted, I did have a laser treatment last month but since it was my only one so far, I think that's a pretty big achievement.

valby · 7th April 2009, 02:19 AM

I am testing this theory because we are coming in to winter and it is too cold to have the a/c and fan on me. I am hoping a couple of days of increased flushing will lead to more calm times

Melissa W · 7th April 2009, 09:55 AM

Good luck valby!
Let us know how it goes. Fingers crossed.

mattdog323 · 8th April 2009, 08:26 AM

ive found that to be true its the warm room flush scenario it does help

cooling my face down gives me bad rebound flushes when it experiences heat(after cooling the face down)

Which used to last for hours,

But some people have no choice to cool there face down when urve got sever rosacea the best thing to do is keep ur face kool because the burning can be so bad,

I find this theory helps but when im under a bad flush ive got no choice but to kool my face down flushing rapidly can progress rosacea,

It certainly works,Its helped me alot

Basically it's taken me three months of slowly changing my life style for it to have an affect on my flushing i kind off thought one day wow im hot and not flushing,

MissD · 8th April 2009, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattdog323

ive found that to be true its the warm room flush scenario it does help

cooling my face down gives me bad rebound flushes when it experiences heat(after cooling the face down)

Which used to last for hours,

But some people have no choice to cool there face down when urve got sever rosacea the best thing to do is keep ur face kool because the burning can be so bad,

I find this theory helps but when im under a bad flush ive got no choice but to kool my face down flushing rapidly can progress rosacea,

It certainly works,Its helped me alot

Basically it's taken me three months of slowly changing my life style for it to have an affect on my flushing i kind off thought one day wow im hot and not flushing,

I agree 100%. Sometimes in the evening my flushing will get so bad I have no choice but to turn a fan on, but I only use this as a last resort now. I also use a fan when I exercise since I get hot very easily in general.

One thing you may want to try to calm down flushing is having a fan blow on your body but not your face, or holding an icepack (again not on the face). I do the latter when I lay down to go to sleep because as I mentioned, laying down is a trigger and I find that sleeping with an icepack brings it down real quick.

MissD · 11th April 2009, 08:33 PM

Double post, but I must say that this method + laser is amazing.

I was baking muffins on Thursday (yes, with the hot oven on!) and not so much as an ear flushed, even when I was standing right in front of it. Yesterday I got my hair done and guess what? Only my ears flushed, even when I was getting blow-dried. And then I vacuumed today - again, only an ear got a little red. Then I took the dog for a walk/jog for over half an hour (with sunscreen and wide-brimmed hat of course) and while I myself got hot, my face didn't. I can hula-hoop for hours on end without flushing. My overall heat tolerance has increased as well.

Of course, my nose still flushes in the afternoon or night for some reason I cannot comprehend, but hopefully my next laser treatment or two will zap it into submission.

chenoarae · 11th April 2009, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissD

Of course, my nose still flushes in the afternoon or night for some reason I cannot comprehend, but hopefully my next laser treatment or two will zap it into submission.

MissD, do you often notice that your nose is cold while the rest of your face is warm? This happens to me a lot. It could be the reason why your nose still flushes.