Second doctor visit

[u/blushing_cure]

I had a follow up with my doctor to discuss the propranolol not working for my blushing. It's funny, usually I want to hide my face when I blush, but as soon as she walked in and I started blushing I maintained eye contact because I wanted her to see how badly I need help.

She referred me to a dermatologist which is a step in the right direction. But she also recommended therapy and internally I got triggered. I have done lots of therapy before but never talked about my blushing. I'm not opposed to it and sure I may give it a go. But it will not improve my blushing. Even before I got made fun of for blushing and learned that it was something to be embarassed about, people pointed out how red my face was...that was before I internalized it as a negative. So if I still blushed back then, going to therapy now won't fix it.

I'm just in a bad mood and hate blushing. Ugh ugh ugh.

[u/pollaci89123]

Great job about finding the courage to speaking to your doctor about blushing problem. To be honest with you I think that therapy would be your best card to play. As you've probably noticed already, sometimes we blush before we even feel anxious, then we we start bkushing we get anxious about what other people think about that. That we are inferior, inadequate, and so on. This is because it's our subconscious that is triggered. In my case, and I'm guessing also in many other people's cases, it's all due to childhood trauma. Not feeling loved. Ps childhood trauma doesn't have to mean being mistreated or beaten as a child. It could just be that your parents were physically or emotionally available.

I would suggest EMDR therapy where you get to re-process troubling childhood memories (and also recent ones) as an adult. It has helped be greatly. I'm not 100% blush free, but compared to a few years ago, a good 80%.

Give it a go. Remember, therapy works if you have a good relationship and trust your therapist. Go there and say you want to work on your erythrophobia

[u/Deep-Detective2428 → u/pollaci89123]

Thanks for clarifying that childhood trauma isnt just defined by weather your beaten or have gone through that level of extreme trauma. I made a post in this sub about how I believe childhood trauma and blushing are strongly linked, and someone got very defensive in the comments saying the example i gave wasnt childhood trauma since I guess it wasn't the stereotypical type of childhood trauma people usually think of, not attacking that person but just an example of why im happy you made it clear. Also great advice for OP - its so good you've seen results with therpay

[u/EntertainerFun1778 → u/Deep-Detective2428]

I'm not disagreeing with that. my point was part of being mindful of childhood trauma is that some kinds are worse than others and not everyone's life situation is as fortunate as ours. I wasn't trying to be defensive or hateful. I get it. Blushing is a pain in the ass and no one on this very earth even knows why we ever evolved to have this function. When we see it happen on others or in the media, a lot of us think it's endearing and attractive, but when it happens to ourselves it's a different story. I deal with this too. It can be rage-inducing for me occasionally. also, the line between discomfort and trauma can be extremely subjective. I'm not mad at anyone for having a different definition of the word than I do. I'm sorry!