recently diagnosed w/ R....flushing questions, and some venting =)

[Guest guest]

i am an 18 year old female that was recently diagnosed with rosacea.

i'm still in the mild stage where sometimes my skin is perfectly

normal,no redness at all, whereas other times it is pink and slightly

itchy in certain spots. overall though,my skin is flakier. ive

noticed slight pore englargement on my cheeks, and more sensitivity

to hot lamps and the sun. also, it seems like being outside in the

cold for only a few minutes causes my nose to turn red, and stay red

for half an hour even after i've gone inside. after reading alot of

this board, im almost postiive i have rosacea,and my derm suspects

that i do as well. i've alwyas been a big blusher in uncomfortable

situations, and i have the added problem of a bad digestive system

(which i've heard is linked to rosacea) so it almost seems inevitable

that i woudl end up with this condition...

also i always have cold hands and feet,dont know whether this is

related???...(i've read some posts above about Raynauds ,etc.)

i was wondering whether anyoen else ever notices that they flush more

easily at night? i've been wondering whether the flushing is related

to certain foods im eating...a mild flush always seems to come easier

at night, i used to think it twas because i was sitting under a hot

lamp, but last night i was sitting in front of the computer and i

started flushing MAJORLY ...this morning i was still a bit

flushed ,and after a shower,my face looked blotchy and i noticed that

i had 3 new little bumps on my cheeks (which previously were

smooth),but not papule-bumps, they look more like tiny regular

pimples. about an hour after my shower my face calmed down and is not

barely pink, but this spontaneous flushign is really starting to

worry me. also, yesterday i had acupuncture to try to help my stomach

and digestion, and the acupuncturist also did a chinese style massage

called tuina, and he started to massage my head and face a

little,which worried me. of course i was flushed afterwards,but it

went away after walking around outside in the nyc air for half an

hour or so. since acupuncture is supposed to stimulate the

circulatory system in general,i was wondering whehter that was what

brought on the huge flush last night. the only other time it's been

this bad is after i ran a mile about a month ago, was really flushed,

and ended up breaking out the way i just did this morning.

these " flush-induced pimples " also seem to take much longer to go

away than regular pimples (a few of which i have on my forehead,which

so far,does not seem to be affected by rosacea).

well,guess i just wanted to vent. my parents are trying to help me

understand this condition but it just seems like the worst possible

time to get it.. during my freshman year of college. i hate how i'm

so aware of how my skin looks now. i think my main concern presently

is just to slow the deterioration and gradual redness...does everyone

with rosacea end up in the papule stage? do some ppl just have teh

occasional flushing and not permanent redness even after 20 years? im

scared to think of how i will look then since i got rosacea so damn

early...

well ,if anyone has any tips or advice feel free to email me, thanks

for giving me a place to vent my frustrations.