Could Thermal Biofeedback Help with the Flushing of cea?

November 27, 2000

I have been using a simple biofeedback device to help me manage stress and this,

along with meditation, has really helped my rosacea. I had been wondering for

some time, though, if biofeedback could work to help people control other

physiological processes other than the release of adrenalin and associated

stress responses. In this way, perhaps those people who believe that they have

a sympathetic nervous system anomaly could achieve some control over their

flushing. I did look on the internet re. biofeedback and did some other

research including telephone calls to biofeedback companies some months ago but

they all seemed to be concerned with stress management.

However, a few weeks ago Lee posted an article re. management of chronic pain

and I noticed that, within that article, mention was made of biofeedback;

specifically a type of biofeedback called thermal biofeedback in the context of

controlling migraines. What it says is that " some patients who are able to

increase hand temperature can reduce the number and intensity of migraines " . If

this type of biofeedback teaches you to gain some control over that part of the

SNS that governs vasodilation and vasoconstriction, I was wondering if it could

play a role in controlling the flushing of rosacea?

I remember Kate said that she had some experience of working with people using

biofeedback and I wondered if she, or indeed anyone, could cast some light on

this question?

Thanks

Hazel

November 27, 2000

Hazel, I have been a biofeedback therapist for over twenty years and my work

has included a hospital pain clinic, a psychiatrist's office, and a clinic at

a Unity Church. In all of these settings I worked with many people with

migraine headaches, high blood pressure general stress, and pain management.

Thermal feedback refers to skin temperature training. The client is taught

how to warm the hands and sometimes the feet (for high blood pressure) using

a special thermometer which gives instant auditory or visual feedback. After

a period of time, voluntary control of the blood flow is learned, and a

general relaxation response occurs. You can actually feel the blood moving

down your arms into your hands. On some occasions clients are taught to cool

the forehead for migraine management, but generally, moving the blood flow to

the hands is enough.

Dr. Elmer Greene and his wife Alyce did much of the original work on

biofeedback at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas. Their book, Beyond

Biofeedback, is a classic and very fascinating. They point out that

voluntary control of the body is not a new thing, as yogis have been doing

this for years. Three sheets yogis could dry out cotton sheets, at will, by

warming their bodies.

One of the interesting observations by Dr. Greene, and others, is that when

people begin to experience a general relaxation response on a daily basis

many symptoms disappear. I often found that clients would come in for

migraine and then have major improvement in other areas such as allergies or

GI distress.

To my knowledge there has not been a study of rosacea and biofeedback, but

there has been some successful work with controling menopausal hot flashes.

I don't personally have a big flush problem so I have never applied thermal

training to rosacea, but it would be a very interesting study for sure!!!

Maybe I will get out my biofeedback machine and be the first subject. Kate

November 27, 2000