So it's called Erythrophobia eh?..

[Fraken]

I never even knew there was a name for this.. hell, most of my life I thought I was the only person in the world suffering from this thing..
Be warned.. this is a sad story, but it's getting better.

I hear most of you people here started having blushing attacks pretty late in your life. With me.. I don't even know when it started, the earliest moment I can remember blushing was at the age of 8, possibly earlier.

I probably suppressed the worst memories I have blushing in school and other places because they were worse than dying, believe me they were. I wished multiple times a gun would appear out of nowhere so I could quickly end my suffering or I would be struck by lighting or something. I have died countless times in my life..

I think it's fair to say I'm suffering from one of the worst cases of Erythrophobia, or fear of blushing, I even feel a mind blush coming up now typing this. Also maybe because this is the first time ever in my life that I'm talking (or in this case typing) about it to anyone.

When I was young I allways thought it would improve with ageing. "It'll be gone when I grow up! no way adults blush!" well.. guess again.
I'm now 27 and although I might think I'm partially cured of it because I don't have massive blush outbreaks anymore, the truth couldn't be further away..

I've become an expert in avoiding akward situations, blending away in groups of people, directing attention away from myself. Hell, I'm a professional, I can distract people from anything you can think of. It has become part of my life, I don't even think about it anymore when I do it.

I do however still suffer from the worst case of blushing one could imagine.
You know what I'm talking about.. blushing in a supermarket when cashing out.. I even blush when I'm in my car in slow trafic and people are staring at me from the side of the road and I'm like wtf?!
When it's freezing cold in winter and I have an attack I get so warm I could take off all my clothes and go hiking on the south pole for christ sake. Hell, if I could control this thing I could even survive in super cold temperatures for god knows how long?!

I've had a very troublesome youth. It was dominated by this. I've allways had a lot of friends though but I never talked about it to them, and neither did they to me. I allways 'hoped' that no one really thought about it and I would keep it that way by not talking about it either..

My parents've seen me countless times getting red like a freaking tomato and they never ever said a word about it.. they probably didn't think anything of it or didn't think it was something serious. I even turn red when someone says 'tomato' ffs. It's allmost like a comedy show.

It's been my holy fear for as long as I can remember. I've even thought I'm going to have a heartattack some day because of the constant fast heartbeating that comes with transmuting in a tomato.

I know I'm not shy. Honestly? yes. Counsciously I don't care about nothing what anyone thinks about me. Without this uncontrolable condition I would have no problem speaking on national television to 6 billion people. but yeah.. not with a red freaking face you know..

I've had it all.. kids laughing at me in second grade.. being asked the most stupid of all questions "why are you so red?!" well.. if I knew the answer back then I would have told them and beat them up afterwards.. "Because I'm suffering from Erythrophobia, or the uncontrolable fear of blushing due to a subcounscious social malfunction in my friggin mind you %#!ùµ$!..

but I didn't.. I started avoiding the questions, learning myself techniques to divert attention away from me.. but it's been on my mind constantly however, every day of my life since it started. When I was a kid I thought of suicide countless times. I'd never do it though, luckily I'm pretty mentally stable for the rest..

This might all sound super bad and all but you know what? I don't care anymore. I've put it behind me, although I'm still not cured..
The past is the past. Nothing you or I can do about it. It's happened. Time to move on. As it has allways been.

I don't believe it's going to go away just like that, cuz now I now it won't. If I don't do anything about it I'll be stuck with this untill the day I die. I might even blush on my deathbed when a handsome nurse comes in, know what I'm saying? If I don't do anything about it I'll probably even die with a red face!

Well I can assure you, it won't happen.
I've decided after 27 years that I'm taking control of my life.
The only way to cure this is doing it yourself. Not with medication, not with some medical treatment..

I'm currently studying NLP and hypnotherapy to the bone. I know for 100% that one day not long from now I'll have cured myself and I will help anyone with this condition, only because I know what it is. I know the hell it can bring into your life. But although I'm not cured yet, my hell is over, because I know I'm taking control of it. I'm still blushing like hell sometimes, like my head will pop and destroy anyone in the vicinity or something but I don't care anymore! This is just some silly malfunction in my psyche. And I'll cure it eventually and laugh about it afterwards.

untill that day.. may all go well with everyone of you. And when I do know the skills to deal with this phobia, I'll be happy to share them with each and every one of you for free..

yours sincerely

another exploding tomato head

ps: feel free to talk to me about this in pm or msn or something.

 

[jdj]

yes i have just read over countless reports of people suffering from ereuthrophobia and i think we all feel the same way and think the same way.
I really did laugh when you said you could talk to 6 billion people on a television if you didnt turn red, which is abosulty my mentality too. I mean i have loads of friends, im really not afraid to do anything except for swimming for sharks, which is fair enough haha, but i know the problem all to well. I dont think i have a serious case of it, but enough to affect me to make me feel uncomfortable in situations.
I mean even sometimes when im at a counter getting served i think oh no dont go red!!, and i go red and i think, are they looking at me...haha. I mean i have never talked to anyone about it and now i am 25 and i am seeing a hypnotherapist today to see if that will help. If not i think the next best thing would be cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Which works on the thought process of the mind and why you think a certain way and why you get uncomfortable and how to tackle and cure the problem.
I just hate the feeling of awkwardness and thinking to myself are people noticing me go red in the face, when in a circumstance similiar to above POST, say i was standing there and feel people are staring at me , i may go red!
Its something i just want to now get rid of and move forward in my life, because it affects my work, not feeling comfortable in public speaking, it affects 1-1 on conversations sometimes and it affects many other areas and with it cured , i'd be a extra confident. Because i am already pretty confident now which alot of people say to me and i say to them you dont know me that well, im quite the opposite haha.
Anyway thats a bit about me , feel free to reply, and ill keep you update with the hypnosis.
All the best.

 

[sidney]

thanks that sounds really helpful, do you have msn?

 

[Deckart]

Just found this site after doing a search for Erythrophobia and what you said really resonates with me. I've just been to a job interview and I even made one of the interviewers blush!.

I know alot of girls hate that guys get the wrong idea when they blush but personally I think this is a much more crippling thing for guys as we can't even approach a girl without turning into a tomato and end up being TOTALLY shut down socially, which makes being the confident and assertive one extremely difficult.

Obviously anxiety and the fear of being judged are stressors for Facial blushing and working on those using CBT has helped quite a lot for me in the last year

I feel that if I could get past this in the first place I wouldn't have anything else to worry about, the questions for me atm are where this comes from and the situations it arises and why.

 

[oirfian]

fraken.
impressive that your actually undertaking learning about hypno NLP, but have you considered/tried visiting 1 for a session? maybe no need to learn it, just recieve it.

 

[BLUSHINGBEAR]

i never knew it was called erythrophobia either until i read the blushpage.com program. kinda makes u feel better to know the condition has a name. thats where i learnt it was also connected to scopophobia. it all adds up now cos i dont blush when im wearing shades. no eye contact. anyone else notice that?

 

[juliadrake1]

For the last person who posted about not blushing when wearing shades: Yes, I also noticed that. When there is no eye contact because I am wearing shades, or I don't think the other person can see my eyes, I am much less likely to blush. Certain lighting situations affect my blushing: the worst lighting is indoor flourescent lighting, as in a college classroom or office setting: that type of light really sets me off. Better is to be in bright sunlight (with shades on, even better!) or in a dimly lit/shadowy space.

At work, I am face to face with people all day, and I also do constant scripted presentations for small groups of people. I am not a shy person, as several people responding to this thread have indicated: I am actually very confident socially, unless my blushing comes in between. When I have my camo makeup on, no problem. I can be totally confident and outgoing. One day at work, I was trying a new type of camoflage makeup, and it rubbed off after a short while leaving my face completely exposed. It was torture getting through the rest of the day after I realized a customer could see me blushing through what was left of the makeup. (he laughed right in my face when I felt the blushes)

I have found that Colortration is the best camo makeup for me. That is after trying Veil, Dermablend and Estee Lauder camoflage makeup.

I feel bad for men, who can't really get away with wearing makeup. Wearing camo makeup can look like you are one of those kooky ladies who just always wears way too much makeup. So at work, evn though noone ever says anything, I am sure they think I am a kooky lady who onstantly wears excessive makeup. Better than having them wonder what the heck is wrong with me when I blush...or even worse, for my co-workers to think I have a crush on them because I blush in their faces.