Day 1: Rosacea after overcoming myriad of symptoms

I am currently struggling with rosacea after having overcome multiple other physical complaints reading dr. Sarno's and Alan Gordon's books. Because I have received a rosacea diagnose this feels different and i thought I would give the structured educational program a go.

To share some context. I had a troubled childhood and in late 2021 I started having panic attacks, anxiety and started having really bad shoulder pain. Fast forward to 2022 and deciding it would be a good idea to have therapy to come to terms with my past along with a highly stressful and demanding job, my symptoms increased. My entire sidebody became stiff, my legs stiffed so much that I couldn't stand on them, as did my arms, the panic attacks increased and a I experienced tingling all over my body. I got check out thoroughly: ct scans, mri's you name it I had it. All was good. After my last mri result in early may all symptoms disappeared and then 2 weeks later all of a sudden my face turned red, burned and became full of pustules. The doctor says I have rosacea, it's chronic and I should learn to live with it. All the panic and anxiety from the past year is coming back with it. I really want to believe it's a symptom imperative, but have a hard time doing so and hope that the structured educational program will help me strengthen my belief that this indeed is TMS.

 

Just want to chime in to say that it might be a good idea to do some reading into the role of stress in rosacea - it's a condition long understood to be triggered/worsened by periods of stress, regardless of how much faith you've got in TMS as an origin point for it. To strengthen your belief in the TMS side, I think reading the studies/literal health resources that cite stress, emotional troubles, etc. as triggers and worsening factors for rosacea would be a good call... especially since you have a very clear temporal link its onset and an extended bout of fear.

I have a little rosacea, but struggle sometimes with sebhorreic dermatitis around my nose and it's much the same way; it's stress-related and often gets worse alongside/after TMS scares. It can take a while to settle down when stress makes it flare. But it will. Your skin is incredibly responsive to stress, but can just as easily change for the better when you get that stress/anxiety under control. You've got this!