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Symptoms, Their Causes & Cures: Flushing

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Flushing

WHEN TO SEE YOUR DOCTOR

* Your flushing is recurrent.

* You've been overexposed to the sun and are also experiencing muscle cramps.

* You are also feeling dizzy or have a fever or severe chills.

What Your Symptom Is Telling You

You were around 12, daydreaming through Latin class, happily doodling the name of that special someone on the back of your notebook. Then you looked up—to find the object of your affections reading over your shoulder.

Remember that sensation? Your cheeks flamed and your best friend loudly informed you that you were red as a beet.

Well, some of the same feelings that made you blush at 12 can produce a flush in adulthood. Stress, embarrassment or anxiety can produce a sudden rise in temperature that your body tries to lower by dilating all the blood vessels near the surface of the skin. The result: that rosy flush.

It's also perfectly normal to look and feel flushed after exercise or sex, doctors say. Ditto, after too many alcoholic drinks or a meal that's highly spiced or seasoned with monosodium glutamate (MSG).

If you're a woman, you may have special reasons for flushing. During pregnancy, your body's changing hormones and increased blood volume may cause occasional flushing. Later in life, during menopause, dwindling estrogen may announce itself with hot flashes that involve severe bouts of flushing, according to John E. Midling, M.D., chairman of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Any cause of high temperature can produce flushing. Fever from an infection, heat exposure, sunburn or dehydration can all cause your internal thermostat to produce a flush.

In addition, any chronic condition that affects circulation—from diabetes to heart problems—can produce flushing, doctors say. An overactive thyroid can also produce a flush.

Certain medications, particularly some that are taken to reduce high blood pressure or cholesterol levels may cause flushing as a side effect. And flushing is a common reaction to safe but high doses of the B vitamin niacin, taken in the form of nicotinic acid.

Symptom Relief

Whether you're prone to a rose-petal blush or to flushing that looks more like a ripe tomato, here's help.

Watch what you eat and drink. Alcohol, strong spices and MSG are the prime dietary causes of flushing, says Robert Wesselhoeft III, M.D., director of family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Skip cocktails, weed the curry and ginger out of your spice cabinet and read labels to detect MSG in prepared foods, he suggests.

Evaluate your estrogen. If you're nearing the age of menopause, ask your doctor to test your estrogen levels, suggests Oliver Cooper, M.D., professor of family and community medicine at Texas A & M University Health Science Center College of Medicine in College Station. Ask whether you are a candidate for hormone replacement therapy, which can help halt hormonal swings and stop flushing.

Handle the heat. If you've been overdoing everything under the sun, here's how to handle heat exhaustion, says Harry Greene, M.D., chief of general medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. "Get in the shade and cool off with a fan or cool water. Drinking cold beverages won't hurt, but take it slowly. Too much may make you vomit," he says.

Review your medications. It would be wise to review with your doctor any medications—prescription or over-the-counter—you may be taking, says Dr. Greene. You may be experiencing flushing as a side effect.

If you take niacin to control high blood cholesterol or for any other reason, your doctor may suggest that you take an aspirin up to an hour before taking the supplement, says Dr. Greene. Aspirin will block the production of prostaglandins, hormones that contribute to the flushing response.

Get help from your doctor. There are many causes for repeated episodes of flushing. Your doctor should prescribe appropriate medical treatment. If you have an overactive thyroid, for example, your doctor can prescribe medications to cut back its production of hormones.

See also Hot Flashes

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