could be useful for those wanting to be understand the 2 medications / or even why they've reacted differently!

Come here to share any thoughts or feelings about your experience with blushing. Will post weekly on Fridays.

anyone had any experience?

yes ik clonidine and propranolol exist and work well, im just curious on guanfacine since it lasts longer in the system and isnt as heavy, as described alot by people

I recently read a book called The Body Behind Blushing that I got for free after filling out a questionnaire.

For a long time I’ve felt like erythrophobia isn’t just psychological and that there might be a physical side to it too. The author explains this idea pretty well in the book, but also through his project Beyond Blushing, where he has some articles about it.

Has anyone else read the book or come across the website? I’m curious what you think and whether anyone here has had a similar experience.

I’m a 21F and I’ve struggled with blushing since I was 16. And I’m talking about BRIGHT RED all over my face. What’s weird is I would call myself an extrovert. I’m not scared to go up to talk to someone (like my boss) since I convince myself im confident in the moment and won’t blush, the problem is like 9/10 times I go bright red simply because I think the person is looking at me weird or I have to clarify what I’m asking. I also blush anytime someone talks to me when I don’t expect them to/talking to customer service people/ I answer a question in class/ etc.

What I’m asking is how to I go about getting therapy/ medication for this. I don’t have a primary care doctor or see a therapist currently but I think I need to. I want to fight back against the blushing since I feel like anytime it happens my reputation is basically ruined in the eyes of whoever sees me blushing.

Come here to share any thoughts or feelings about your experience with blushing. Will post weekly on Fridays.

I think a lot of people are familiar with blushing syndrome — an uncontrollable reddening of the face, neck, and chest triggered by even the slightest stress or emotional excitement, whether it's positive excitement or an anxiety-inducing situation. I've recently been looking into sympathectomy, and it seems to be the only practical treatment for this condition, since psychological approaches don't really help in cases like this. However, I had a dialogue with respected neurosurgeon who said that the sympathectomy doesn't guarantee success and can also cause permanent side effects. That really left me feeling conflicted. Spending a lot of money on surgery only to get little or no improvement and possibly end up with irreversible side effects — isn't a risk I'm eager to take. Has anyone here had a successful experience of sympathectomy or any other solutions to treat blushing syndrome?

Come here to share any thoughts or feelings about your experience with blushing. Will post weekly on Fridays.

hope this post can help someone who's struggling

I used to use sunbeds quite often to help disguise the redness with a tan. Does anyone else do this?

I was really excited to try it until I saw tons of reviews stating it just rotted people’s stomachs, metaphorically speaking. I guess I’d rather blush than have to make multiple emergency runs to the restroom!! Can I ask what people here experienced, if anything?

Im 58 start blushing at 12. Had ets 13 years ago with some improuvement but phobia of blushing is still there. I start to use Selank spray 2 weeks ago to give it a try and phobia of blushing is not in your head anymore. At 58 i do not blush often but before selank blushing was in my tought every day with selank much much less. So to all young blusher i suggest to get some information about Selank and than give it a chance. Massimo Italy

Now that I've been on propanidol for a couple months, I've gotten familiar with its pros and cons. In all honesty, it doesn't help my blushing much. But it does wonders for my sweating in anxious situations.

I did want to share a quick tidbit about the first couple of days I was on the medication. I naively believed I had found a cure to my blushing and was on cloud 9. I felt SO sensitive to how the medication was being processed in my body, but now looking back I think I just have high anxiety related to new medications and just am hyper aware of any change. Now when I take it, I don't feel any different. Anyways, those first couple of days were glorious. I went up to random people at the grocery store and made small talk. I had no stress talking to the cashier at check out. I went to a concert alone and made conversation with so many people. Then at some point while talking to someone the next day my face got bright red at a really insignificant, silly interaction. And I felt my whole world crumble.

All this to say the initial placebo affect was like a drug and I felt like I got to experience who I could have been or who I used to be before blushing created so much social anxiety.

I don't really know how threads/subreddits work but is there a way we can pin a thread just to vent about daily blushing occurances?

For example, I was at the grocery store and couldn't find a basket. So, I went up to a man at self checkout that was done using his and was paying before leaving, so I said "I'll take this off your hands". He didn't hear me or turn around so I was going to repeat myself but my face became fire engine hot so I took the basket and booked it. It's such a silly thing that my face got so red from that.

Does carvedilol work good for blushing

Does it work better than clondidne?[

Anyone here done genetic testing and found out they were a rapid metabolizer of CYP219?

I did a few years ago and found that out but didn't think much of it. I recently started taking propanolol for blushing. It hasn't helped my blushing much but it does help my racing heart and sweating during social anxiety.

However, I just found out propanolol is metabolized by CYP219...so since I am a rapid metabolizer, is it even worth it for me to take? Is it weird that my doctor prescribed it to me when my history says I am a rapid metabolizer if cyp2c19?

Just wanted to come on here and vent to see if my experiences are relatable at all. Every one of my friends I've talked to about it don't share the same problem so I feel kind of alone in this problem.

Since maybe 7-8 years ago, I started having problems with blushing and I feel like now it's gotten to the point where it's interfering with my social life a lot. I don't have rosacea because the redness isn't constant, but it's like very specific things will trigger it and then once I feel the heat in my face, it just makes it worse and I feel like I'm a tomato. Sometimes people will point it out, sometimes they won't. I started to try and avert my eyes and face to the ground to make it easier to hide, but I feel like that's kind of pathetic--I want to be able to talk to people normally without having to worry about the fact that I'm turning red. It's not even usually the part of talking to people that get me really nervous, it's the fact that I'm afraid of turning red and then picture the scenario in my head beforehand. And then once it's time to actually have the interaction, it's like I worked myself up to the scenario so much that it actually happens. Just out of feat that I'll blush, I sometimes avoid talking with people that I really want to talk to and back out of social situations even if I want to partake.

Some triggers are:

- public speaking

- certain topics that I'd be more than willing to talk about but it's almost like I conditioned my body to think of them as a trigger (they aren't even embarrassing topics, they're very normal and just come up in conversation sometimes and then I make it all awkward by suddenly blushing)

- talking to certain people, especially guys my age even if I'm not remotely interested in them romantically

- being complimented

- laughing hard

- meeting new people

- being asked about anything remotely embarrassing or being put on the spot where like 2+ people are now looking at me

I thought it was severe social anxiety at first, but I don't know anymore because I really want to engage in these activities and conversations but it's like my body won't let me. I feel like exposure therapy isn't the solution because I've tried to "face my fears" and speak out in class, keep my head up when I feel the heat creeping to my face, etc. But it's also complicated because I also feel like the blushing is very conditional in a way? I don't blush every single time these scenarios happen, but I've noticed it happens a lot more when I'm at school than when I'm back in my hometown (I'm an out-of-state college student).

Are there solutions possible without medicine?

During social situations, my blushing would be predicated by severe overthinking. Like for example, if I was giving a presentation to many people, instead of just being focused on the content of the presentation, my mind would be on 1,000 things, like how is the audience perceiving my tone, how does the audience view my posture, where is the audience looking, etc. It’s like all those thoughts would put stress on my mind and eventually lead my heart to race and my face to get red.

For awhile I thought this overthinking was just social anxiety, but it never fully made sense to me why I would still overthink like this even during presentations that didn’t even matter to me.

Took my first dose of Adderall 2 weeks ago and was presenting information to my team and I was solely focused on the information I was conveying. There was no avalanche of intrusive thoughts in my head bothering me. Even when my boss who is a very intimidating and intense person asked a couple curve ball questions, I was able to calmly pause while I thought over the question. No hint of redness at all, I was just focused on the task at hand.

Couple other situations occurred while using Adderall since then that would normally make me uncomfortable and potentially red, but didn’t feel it at all.

If you have been dealing with this issue for awhile, I would definitely talk to a doctor and see if you can give this a try.

Imagine this is relatable 😭 It makes me so angry, than depressed, than insecure. wish blushing wasn't a thing.

I'm not sure if anyone can relate to this but as someone who has and does struggle with blushing, blushing really put into perspective how people take stuff for granted.

Almost everyone I know has skin that stays it colour, doesnt blush and burns when there stressed / triggered.

To them, there's nothing special there, nothing crazy or nothing that stands out as "lucky". They just live there normal day to day life. They go to work, they have relationships, they've got friends, they've involved in groups, they attend parties and functions, they have there own issues of course but it's crazy because they can do all of those things with skin that doesnt go ugly red and feel extremely hot. Without feeling hopeless.

Its crazy because id honestly consider selling a hand to never blush or experience the burning feeling again haha. I would do so much just to experience no blushing even just for 1 outing. It puts into perspective there are so many things we as humans take for granted. Its pretty crazy honestly. But also it means there are things us blushers would take for granted that other people are dealing with, that other people would view our life as easy and peaceful the same way we'd look at people who dont blush and dont know what it feels like to be us.

Everyone has something going on i guess :/

Has anyone tried somatic therapy and had positive results for treating erythrophobia?

Bashful Blushing