Facial Flushing an Allergy Symtom?
GS
most of the day? Skin feels hot almost like you're running a fever. It
comes and goes on different days. I've been told it can happen if your body
doesn't process carbohydrates and sugars very well. Or perhaps an allergic
reaction to specific foods. Seems like it would be pretty hard to eliminate
carbs from your diet. Would that even be wise?
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Thanks.
(To reply by email, remove the zz)
C.A. Owens
See your doctor. Flushing can have a lot of causes, some trivial,
others serious.
Chris Owens
Rosie
writes
>Is anyone familiar with symptoms of extreme facial flushing that can last
>most of the day? Skin feels hot almost like you're running a fever. It
>comes and goes on different days. I've been told it can happen if your body
>doesn't process carbohydrates and sugars very well. Or perhaps an allergic
>reaction to specific foods. Seems like it would be pretty hard to eliminate
>carbs from your diet. Would that even be wise?
Yes, it's something I've grappled with for ten years now. I always did
have very fair skin that went red at the drop of a hat, but ten years
ago it became something different - hot, red flushing that was very sore
and uncomfortable (for some reason, the right side of my face was always
worse than the left).
In the last two years, I've made great progress calming my face down.
Two things that are just *horrible* triggers for the extreme flushing
are biological washing powder (think about it - your face is squashed up
against your pillow all night - if your skin doesn't like the residues
on the fabric, your face will be the first to complain) and cigarette
smoke. Unfortunately, other people's smoking can be difficult to avoid.
These are the two really bad things for me, but there are others.
Try having patch tests done. I did - one of them came up so badly that
it scarred. Just think what a reaction like that is doing to your face.
Another thing that has really helped is that over the last eighteen
months or so, every now & then I go & have some more of the broken veins
on my face cauterised. Its uncomfortable but not painful. I think, to a
certain extent, cauterising the veins reduces the ability of the face to
flush. It's helped me, anyway. I have the very fragile skin that can go
with fairness and to be honest, there are two problems; there is the
flushing, which is most definitely an allergic reaction to several
things, and there is the overlying redness of the broken veins.
Having said all this, my face is looking more and more like normal skin
these days :-)
As for it being caused by an inability to process sugars and
carbohydrates, this is extremely interesting. Nearly three weeks ago I
went for a new load of allergy testing, since it was obvious there was
something else wrong besides the ones I already know about. Sure enough,
he found a few more, the most significant of which was sugar. This meant
I needed to keep off fruits too, at least for a while, to see how it
went. But still nothing stopped me eating pasta & potatoes (except that
they get broken down into sugar). Well. The next day, I stumbled across
somebody on a newsgroup who had taken offence at some alleged wonder-
diet product advert having been spammed into the (totally unconnected)
newsgroup we were reading. He replied to it, saying how HE had managed
to lose 45 pounds in four months. I was intrigued; I emailed him; he
sent me a lot more information. Basically, he follows a low carbohydrate
approach. Limit carbohydrates to no more than 20g a day, eat ONLY meat,
fish, eggs and vegetables (avoiding the high glycemic veggies like
carrots and onions) and drink PLENTY of water every day because of the
diuretic effect of so much protein.
He also referred me to the relevant newsgroup:
alt.support.diet.low-carb
Since I had to give up everything sugary anyway, it was nobbut a small
step for me to go completely low carb. For four days I was weak and
shaky and had to keep eating, as though I wasn't getting any energy out
of the food I was eating. On the fifth day I felt better, I had energy
in my muscles again, and only needed to eat four times. On the sixth
day, I felt really good & bouncing with energy, and only needed to eat
three times. And, more or less, that's how I've been ever since.
I feel like I've kicked an addiction. I'm completely free of that
terrible gnawing hunger that I've had all my life. Now I experience
hunger as a gentle reminder that I could probably do with some food at
some point - but there's no urgency. And I feel so well in myself, this
feeling of good health is to be cherished all on its own. Lots of things
that I've had for so long, that I thought were just encroaching
decrepitude (I'm 31) have completely gone. My hips used to ache
terribly; they feel absolutely fine now. That awful ME-ish ache in my
muscles - gone, and replaced with loads of energy.
That newsgroup is a very helpful one, full of people asking questions
and telling their success stories. Have a look if you have any doubts
about the safety of a low-carb diet (we call it a way of eating). :-))))
You want to hear the bonus? We've all lost soooo much weight *without
even trying*. We eat whatever we want, within our low-carb range of
foods, as much as we want, we free ourselves of the carbohydrate
cravings and the fat just drops off. Blood pressure, triglyceride levels
and cholesterol levels all IMPROVE dramatically.
Email me privately if you want to hear more details :-)
Anyway, now that I know for sure that I have (had!!) a big problem
processing carbs & sugars, I'm intrigued to hear there may be a
connection with flushing face. I'll keep you posted on what I notice -
hard to tell at the moment because I had a load more veins cauterised
t'other day, which makes comparisons difficult while they're healing.
Thus there is symmetry - people on the other newsgroup were talking
about food allergies & I referred them here :-)
--
Rosie
"Damn. I just observed my potatoes, and their wave function collapsed."
Matthew Webber 7/3/97
Ray
governs the dilating and contracting of the peripheral arterioles in the skin.
Excessive contraction in response to cold causes Raynaud's disease. The
opposite condition occurs when there is excessive dilation of the arterioles
leading to flushing. May be due to hypersensitivity of the sympathetic nervous
system. See if it is triggered by stress or excess heat. Erythromelalgia is a
similar condition when affecting the feet. It rarely causes trophic changes,
although a small minority may have autoimmune disease as causative factors.
GS wrote:
> Is anyone familiar with symptoms of extreme facial flushing that can last
> most of the day? Skin feels hot almost like you're running a fever. It
> comes and goes on different days. I've been told it can happen if your body
> doesn't process carbohydrates and sugars very well. Or perhaps an allergic
> reaction to specific foods. Seems like it would be pretty hard to eliminate
> carbs from your diet. Would that even be wise?
>
> Anyone have any thoughts on this?
>
Rosie
>similar condition when affecting the feet. It rarely causes trophic changes,
>although a small minority may have autoimmune disease as causative factors.
time now. If you have any more information on this, PLEASE tell me more!
Up till now we've had not the slightest idea what it is.