1159 replies to this topic

[Hoofy]

hey soul sorry i havn't been on for a couple days just go to wal mart, i think they only have 1 or 2 different grape seed extracts...anyways i started by taking 1 a day but i read the back and it said you can take 3 a day so i started doing that

it's like 6 bucks tops

[BabyAlligators]

The more I read, the more optimistic I get.

I've been off accutane going on 5 months now, and I really do think I'm seeing improvement. It's been relatively hard sleeping on my back (I usually wake up once or twice and have to readjust), but it's been worth it.

Another thing that worked successfully lately (although it deals with the effect of flushing rather than the cause) is I keep a water botlte full of icey cold water around, and if I feel a flush coming on I just take a mouthful and try to keep it in my mouth for awhile so it cools my cheeks. It got me through the parties this weekend at least, let's see how well it works in the future.

I think we flush during sex because it combines a bit of anxiety, adrenline, and heat because of the close contact with another person.

Well yup, keep the advice coming =)

[ronnie19]

i Have exactly the same flushing cheek as you, i too had accutane for a few months ..and then minocycline. im off minocycline for two months now, and i can see some improvements with my red face. now it is almostly pink. i believe is the side effects of accutane or some checmial cream or something that triggered it. i have stop using all my drugs and chemcial face products, and going natural home remedy. i think this is the best solution for us.


Cheerss

[ronnie19]

I have the similiar symtoms flushing(with headache), acne and redness also, I have a numbing sensation in my head. I feel like I'm going to go crazy sometimes but I just have a sleep. Most times it happens towards the evening. I dont take any kind of drugs just for my headaches. I really don't know what brought it on. I do know that I am low on blood this is what i blame it on for myself.

Ronnie19

[Hoofy]

I actually flushed pretty bad today...you guys are all lucky you don't live in arizona

[Karyn_elise]

wow... I feel a little better knowing that there are so many people that deal with this too. I have done some lab work and it all came back normal.

What really gets me though is that my dermatologist told me this severe flushing has nothing to do with the acne medications...

I told her I don't understand... what else could it possible be from? Expecially since I never had this problem until right after starting SOLODYN (5 months ago). I was only on it for a month... but I jumped right into another drug (bactrim) then I started on SPIRO soon after that.

Now I am finally off of everything... for a while I felt like it was getting better but... the past two days have been sooooooo bad. If I don't take a cool shower and sit infront of a fan the entire day my face will flush with in 5 mins. It is a constant battle. And it is sooo hard to sleep at night. Even when I'm not flushed my cheeks are usually still rosy.

So far it has been 25 hours that my face has yet to turn back to normal. It's really scary. Normally over night my face mostly goes back to my normal color. but last night I barely slept too... maybe thats why...

Sigh. I hope in time this will stop. I can't believe my dermatologist said it has nothing to do with the acne medications I've been on. What else could it be????????

ANY ADVICE???? I need some kind of support system. My doctor said there is nothing he can do. My derm. just keeps giving me lab work... which so far keeps coming back normal.

I feel so afraid this will never go away.

[sayuri]

Hey everybody,

I’m in the same boat. When I got bad acne last year (after stopping birth control pills) the doctor first prescribed me Minocycline/Tetracycline, but both didn’t do its job. So I went to the derm and got Accutane, building it up to 40 mg a day for a bit over 6 months. I think in the last 2-3 months I got the terrible flushing. My face was red on Accutane anyway and I didn’t mind that too much, but the flushing got really bad. Just before Christmas I stopped Tane and it sure did its job, I haven’t had a pimple since. But the flushing remains. The redness also remained by the way but I am seeing huge improvements in that so I am not too worried about it.

My biggest trigger seems to be HEAT. I can’t really judge if hot weather will also be a trigger considering winter has just finished and outside temperatures are still low. But being inside a hot room will make my face tomato red in no time. I do notice slight improvements though; during Tane my triggers used to be just about anything: showers, hot drinks, spicy food, alcohol… now it “just” seems to be temperatures that are apparently comfortable to others but will set my face on fire before I know it.
Also - it dies down quicker. I used to want to stick my head into the freezer and then it would still be red and burning for an hour or something, now it seems to die down in about 20 minutes if I just leave the room and go to a room where the central heating is low/off. Also the burning sensation is less intense.

Ofcourse, I went back to the derm ‘cause this really is a big problem to me. Not only does it hurt but I also look utterly silly and ugly during a flush in my honest opinion. Which is really frustrating because in normal state my skin looks SO beautiful post-tane. I avoid going out etcetera, because I feel so bad about it and ofcourse people mention it. If I would get a dollar for every “OMG your face looks so red!!”, I tell you, I could’ve bought a mansion in a far off tropical place by now. My derm didn’t deny the problem, though she claims never having had a patient with that side effect before (which I find hard to imagine), but it “could be the Accutane” and “I just have to be patient”, because it could take another 6 months from now to settle down. It seems to me by the way that my skin isn’t producing any oil on its own at this moment so I hope it will regain its moisture again in time making my skin less dry and hopefully stopping the flushing.

I wish you all the best, I know what a big problem this is and how bad it can make you feel. Let’s just hope we just need some time for our skins to go back to normal.

[NTK8989]

Sorry to Hear so many people r having this Flushing Problem ~__~!!
Just want to ask do u all have really dry skin??
coz dry skin can make redness worse and skin can not actually recover itself if its too dry.

All this had to do with PH level alot.
I read an article few days bak.. it said
"If you have a health problem, most likely you are acidic. Research shows that unless the body's pH level is slightly alkaline, the body cannot heal itself."

what im trying to do now is to keep applying moisturing cream on my face and eat alot of fruit and vege, hope that would balance my skin ph level from acidic to more alkaline. This would hopefully speed the skin's recovery process.

il let u guys know my result in a few weeks..

ALL THE BESTT for all of U!!

[sayuri]

Yeah, I have really dry skin too. Used to be quite oily before I took accutane. (Though I guess we really need to take 6-12 months for it to recover.) What I do now is moisturize my skin with pure emu oil at night and emu oil day cream during the day ('cause it's less shiny than the oil). I think that helped a great deal with the overall redness. Apart from that I drink lots of water and try to maintain a healthy diet. Not sure if that's working though but hey at least it won't make things worse...!

[Karyn_elise]

I have some what oily skin. Def. not dry.

I'm gonna be eating super healthy, lots of water, lots of green tea, and exercising. I think exercising may help since it gets your blood flowing and makes you sweat. I am basically gonna try and flush out my system.

Though my derm. told me that she thinks it has nothing to do with the acne medications i've been on... I just don't see how it could be from anything else. Especially since there are so many people here that are dealing with it too... that have been on acne meds.

So either way I think it def. couldn't hurt to flush out my system. And stay off of all medications including chemical topicals.

I pray this goes away as soon as possible. Best wishes to every one else too!

[soul78]

Here is some interesting info on Paxil and how it helps with flushing...

http://www.keratosis...ac-lexapro.html

[soul78]

I have some what oily skin. Def. not dry.

I'm gonna be eating super healthy, lots of water, lots of green tea, and exercising. I think exercising may help since it gets your blood flowing and makes you sweat. I am basically gonna try and flush out my system.

Though my derm. told me that she thinks it has nothing to do with the acne medications i've been on... I just don't see how it could be from anything else. Especially since there are so many people here that are dealing with it too... that have been on acne meds.

So either way I think it def. couldn't hurt to flush out my system. And stay off of all medications including chemical topicals.

I pray this goes away as soon as possible. Best wishes to every one else too!

Well I know with Accutane that the actual drug is out of your system after around 1 month so it is just a matter of your skin and body recovering and reproducing oil and what not. So I don't know if trying to flush Accutane out will help but surely healthy diet and exercise will be beneficial no matter the cause. cheers.

[Karyn_elise]

Hey soul. I never was on Accutane. I have been on other medications. It started when I went on SOLODYN. I jumped right into bactrim and then to spiro after that. Since I was on spiro the flushing has gotten so extremly bad.

I hope this flushing goes away soon. Sometimes I think I am noticing improvement... but I can't really be sure I guess.

[Hoofy]

hey soul are you going to try paxil?

[soul78]

Hey soul. I never was on Accutane. I have been on other medications. It started when I went on SOLODYN. I jumped right into bactrim and then to spiro after that. Since I was on spiro the flushing has gotten so extremly bad.

I hope this flushing goes away soon. Sometimes I think I am noticing improvement... but I can't really be sure I guess.

oh I see - sorry to hear about that. I am sure once the drug is out of your system your skin will eventually return to normal in time (same as us Accutane sufferers).

[soul78]

hey soul are you going to try paxil?

I am really considering it. It may help with the chemical balance that causes flushing because from what I understand, flushing is caused by a response in the brain whether it be anxiety, exercise/sex, stress or heat/climate, the same part/chemical balance of the brain is what will cause a flush. I also find that I am more anxious about it now, as in if I go somewhere I think I will flush, I end up flushing - likely due to the worry/anxiety of it as much as just the physical...I am not totally decided but that thread I found had more then a few people with positive results.

Once under control for some time (that is if I was fortunate enough for it to work), I would try to then go off of the Paxil.

[Hoofy]

yeah it seems like since i came back to this site to tell people im not flushing...i'm flushing again....it's so crazy =[...i think im gonna try that stuff out though

the only thing thats me think about not taking it is side effects...

[soul78]

yeah it seems like since i came back to this site to tell people im not flushing...i'm flushing again....it's so crazy =[...i think im gonna try that stuff out though

the only thing thats me think about not taking it is side effects...

ditto...except that sides should go away when you stop taking it. I think the flushing becomes a lot more psychological at a point.

[Hoofy]

i doubt my doctor will give me it...last time i talked to hima bout my flushing he told me tot ake claratin lol

[Karyn_elise]

Do you really think that it is psychological???? I was told that sometimes it just takes a long time for your body to recover even after the medicine is out of your system. And it even happens to me when I'm sleeping... I'm not stressed or thinking about it while i'm asleep...

This kinda scares me though... because I really had faith in it going away in it's own time... as long as I stayed of the medications.

I mean I do think when you get upset or emotional about it... it can make it worse... but still... I always got stressed about my break outs... and how I looked in front of people... but never flushed because of anxiety then...?????

I donno... I just think when you are thinking about it constantly... that you just notice it happening more often.

Also not only does my face and ears flush... but sometimes my hands ans feet do too... if this flushing was caused by anxiety... it would happen it the face... like blushing... not your feet and hands??????