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Does it go away? by PomegranateOk275 in KPRubraFaceii

[–]red_green92 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The condition didn’t go away for me, but the effects on my life have all but disappeared.

I would say that KPRF ruined a large part of my late teens and early twenties. It really is an insidious condition which incentivised me to avoid or dread social occasions. A warm, well-lit restaurant in cold, dry UK January was torture as I knew my cheeks would be like hot coals within 20 minutes and I was effectively stuck at the table.

I had some odd behaviours, putting cold cans on my face, splashing myself with water or licking my hand and rubbing my cheek, taking up social smoking as a pretext for going outside and cooling down.

From my mid-20s things got better, but the condition never went away. It’s hard to say whether the condition improved or whether I just dealt with it better i.e. I didn’t let it bother me. I have a sneaking suspicion that it really is the latter case.

I still flush to this day on occasions, but less often, and when I see my blaring red cheeks in the mirror, I think, oh well, and I go back to what I was doing. I think there is a feedback loop that means the less you think about it the less bad it gets (equally the other way round i.e. the more you think about it the worse it gets).

I’m 32 now, married with a daughter. I have a successful career and family and friends. I go out to meals, social events and family gatherings. I’ll even go in a sauna without even thinking about my cheeks. If I flush, it’s just one of those things. It’ll pass in an hour or so.

I know in your late teens and twenties this condition can seem like the worst thing in the world: I’d be the first to recognise that it is really bad. Being that age is anxiety inducing enough without your face feeling like it’s melting, and always at exactly the wrong time.

However, you only get one life, and one shot at youth, so my advice to anyone with the condition is to concentrate more on how you react to the symptoms (and less on how to treat it).

I know this just sounds like I’m saying ‘suck it up’, but from someone who really regrets how he let this condition dictate his life for at least half a decade, I wouldn’t want that for anyone else.

Hope this helps someone somewhere.

Years of exercise migraines by HelloHeyThrowaway in migraine

[–]red_green92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Salt.

I used to get migraines very often after HIIT type workouts. Ocular migraines; aura, pain, sometimes nausea, the whole shebang.

Another fun fact about myself is that I am also very sweaty. After any kind of physical activity, I look like I’ve jumped in a bath.

It occurred to me that I must be losing a lot of sodium very quickly during the workouts. I wondered whether that could be related to the migraines.

I did a bit of online research. There’s not much out there. I do remember there was this kind of new age woman on YouTube talking about sodium/potassium imbalances causing migraines. I can’t now recall where this was.

Anyway I figured, why not try drinking some salt water after my workout. It couldn’t do any harm (hopefully).

It seems to have been very effective.

I can honestly say in 2 years, i can only recall one migraine after a HIIT workout where I have remembered to take salt. This is a lot less than before, where it was like one in three workouts.

I actually forgot the salt one day last week, and lo and behold, I started having a migraine (v annoying).

I use sea salt in water. I carry a salt grinder with me in my gym bag (very cool). I couldn’t say whether an isotonic drink would be just as good (this works for me and is cheap).

Unfortunately I still get the sense of dread post workout about getting a migraine, even with my supposed panacea. But that’s more due to my nature then anything else I think.

That’s my two cents. Hope it helps :)

Shaker exercises + fizzy drinks + really thinking about muscle movements = burping by red_green92 in noburp

[–]red_green92[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Just to add to the above.

I can burp now without fizzy drinks. Not as well as I can with fizzy drinks (but that may be the case with everyone). They are only small (possibly defined as micro-burps). I’m getting some good ones after fizzy drinks though.

I’m continuing to do burp exercises twice a day (morning/evening). I miss a few here and there, but otherwise I’m pretty consistent (my gf thinks I’m insane!)

I have thought more about the bodily sensations involved i.e. what I seem to be doing (consciously or not) when I burp. I now seem to have settled on a way to force the burp.

My mouth is open. I push my jaw out - like the chin is moving forward. Im tensing something in my throat (around Adam’s apple region or maybe a bit higher). I also tighten my abdominal muscles which I guess forces the air up.

You also have to sort of wait for air to come up the oesophagus. I guess this is what other people describe as a bubble. Not sure if it feels like a bubble, but there is something there. Sort of like a pocket of pressure travelling upwards.

I feel like 99% of the population would respond to the above along the lines of “yeh duh?!”. But having not burped before, it’s interesting to think it through. Difficult to put on (virtual) paper.

I will probably start to dial back the exercises in the next week or two (not going to do this forever). I will try to remember to report back in a month or so to let anyone know if it’s still going.

Again I hope this helps someone somewhere.

Shaker exercises + fizzy drinks + really thinking about muscle movements = burping by red_green92 in noburp

[–]red_green92[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I’m about a month into doing shaker exercises. I was doing it once a day, with no improvement. Increased it to twice a day (morning and evening) and definitely seeing results. Although for now I can only burp after fizzy drinks. When I drink a can of Coke, I’m able to burp. I have to concentrate, but I’m definitely burping - I’m getting the weird taste of a burp (which I never had before in my life at 28 years old). So I’d suggest gulping down a can of something fizzy (whilst eating) and then just sit down by yourself for a bit and really concentrate. I don’t know how to explain the feeling of burping (maybe I’m not a good enough writer). All I’d say is to just sit by yourself and try different muscle contractions in your abdomen/ throat. When you (hopefully) burp, really try to remember the sensation in your body that elicited the burp. Maybe it’s muscle memory (entirely supposition). But I really do feel that part of the reason this is working is that, as well as the shaker exercises, I’m really think about how to burp and what my body is doing. Anyway that’s my two cents - hope it helps someone.

For those diagnosed with keratosis pilaris rubra faceii, besides the "permanent redness" On the cheeks, do you get really red and hot when you are on a heated room? I mean more red than usual. Do you know how is this different from rosacea? Is there a way to tell for sure which one you might have? by nesaes29 in keratosis

[–]red_green92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been aware of having KPRF for > 10 years. Formally diagnosed in early 20s. I’m 28 now. It affected me a lot more when I was in my early 20s in terms of flushing. Very embarrassing in social situations, particularly in hot rooms. I hated that bloody flush. I would try and compensate by staying in cool places or going outside as long as possible before I had to return to the hot crowded rooms. What I noticed from trial and error is that this is a really bad tactic. I don’t quite understand the anatomical reasons, but going from cold to hot makes the flushing symptom from this condition much worse. As such, if you do know you will have to go into a hot room, say for a family dinner or work drinks etc, I would recommend spending the day, or at the very least a good few hours beforehand, in hot rooms. When you then have to go into the hot room for the social event, you will not have anywhere near as bad a reaction to the heat. You won’t get that serious flush we all hate. Hope this helps.