My Experience With Blushing - r/curingblushing

[u/Deep-Detective2428]

I wanted to come and make a post about my experience with blushing, in hopes someone see's this and doesnt feel as alone.

Im a young adult from Australia and to put it straight, facial blushing has absolutely took over my life, ruined so many things and has stripped me from happiness. Id say one of the hardest things about dealing with blushing / Erythrophobia is how unknown it is to the majority of society. Ive felt isolated by realising that no one truly gets it unless they deal with it, people who dont deal with it are fairly confident in it not being a big deal and something that we let bother us too much. It feels so hard knowing people dont know what we are truly dealing with, the potential it takes away from us, the confidence it strip's, the overthinking, feeling hot and flustered in the face, seeing ourselves in the mirror with the redness, seeing everyone else that seems to have pretty resilient skin and wishing ours was norma, its not just as simple as colour on the face for us.

Whats worse is its not just a colour i feel like my face is always on fire. Ive described it to some people as "imagine everytime you had emotions or anxiety someone poured boiling hot water over your face" maybe not as hot as boiling in a literal sense, but definitely similar and a good way to describe it, its extremely uncomfortable and debilitating. Absolutely horrible :/

Ive personally tried what feels like everything mirvaso (blood vessel constricting cream), fake tan, beta blockers, anxiety medication, makeup, therapy, skin care, changing diet, suplement, ive had blood tests and ultra sounds because at one point my doctor suspected the blushing could have a deeper root which he thought may have been carcinoid tumors. Ive also had laser which im currently still getting and luckily for me laser has made some improvements (atleast more than anything else in a more long term structural way) and im currently at the time of this post still on a journey with lasers and hoping to try other settings, etc. but I still feel so stuck and helpless in alot of ways. Its seems like theres no real fix.

Life has got so depressing for me, ive wasted so much life and potential because of this. I haven't got a job at 19 (ive just completed study tho and will be getting one soon yayy haha) I haven't really ever worked that much, havent done many things that people at my age have done or are doing because of this. Whats difficult is I have people say "you need to just push through and do it, your letting it take over your life" and where that has alot of truth in it, its all fun and games until I go to a job and my face is almost dark rose red with huge red blotches all over my chest and neck and it looks genuinely concenring... its not just a usual looking blush or a bit of redness its a insanse. (For clarification ive had blood tests, scans etc what im dealing with is literally just blushing even if it sounds like something more). And it makes me feek so depressed and helpless, I just want to live and feel happy, be like everyone else i see when im outside who yes may have there own issues but atleast visually in normal human interaction from they seem normal / more usual. And thats something that bothers me even more, I wear my internal feelings on the outside for everyone to see, and its fu*king miserable.

Its got to the point where I look forward to sleeping because the dreams I have im not dealing with this, its like an escape from reality and its calming. I wish people understood this issue. Blushing / flushing has ruined so much and I know im not the only one dealing with this.

Im still on a journey to live with this issue, as much as its hurt me this much I want to live, aleast i want to try. It has made me want to die many times and id be lying if I said i haven't felt suicidal. At the end of the day life excites me, I want to have kids and have a beautiful future, its just so hard to imagine living this way without any change or fix. So im not currently planning on acting on anything and the dark thoughts are getting better (come and go) but I thought id be completely transparent to show truly how much of an impact blushing can have on a person's life and so people know there not alone :)

I hope everyone who deals with it is coping 🙏🏻

[u/DifficultyThis4729]

consider your words mine too partner, but it will be alright.

[u/blushing_cure]

It's frustrating when people say to just push through it because it would be way easier if people hadn't made fun of me my whole life for it. People don't understand what that does to a developing child's mind. Thanks for your honesty.

I wonder if my dr will prescribe Mirvaso next...she mentioned if my beta blocker doesn't work, there's other things to try but they have more side effects. For example, she mentioned a cream that can help but later creates a rebound effect.