purple problem

Consider this real problem: A man went to see his doctor because his face was turning purple. The doctor examined his patient, and gave him all sorts of tests. Everything came back normal. What caused this man's face to turn purple? The doctor couldn't determine it. "What are you thinking?"

Pay attention to what you are thinking as you attempt to solve this problem. Do you have a particular frame of reference? Are you assuming anything?. Is there a particular pattern of thinking that you are using?

If you solve it, email it to me.

After reading the words ‘purple face’ I automatically thought about myself. I have blood-injection-injury phobia so whenever I see blood or a needle or an injection I feel extremely dizzy, nauseous and sometimes I even faint. My family and friends tell me that during that time my face turns really purple.

Another frame of reference that I had related to this would be a movie I once saw where a guy’s face turns purple because he’s been drinking too much and his friends can’t figure out why. But when he pukes his face starts coming back to its original color.

Another thing that also came into mind was an assumption that when a person has high blood pressure, and when their heart is racing fast, it causes their face to turn purple.

I guess my pattern of thinking started with my personal experience and then I started thinking about other times when I’ve seen or heard about a ‘purple face’ problem.