Varicose Veins

[In the Kitchen]

So I have talked about worse things on here before and now another one. Ever since my first pregnancy my legs have had these veins that are getting larger every year. My mother had them that were really painful and awful to look at. Everyone that talked w/her would stare at her legs. People are so obvious about something that others feel inferior about. Now my older brother has them like she did, so now I have them. My younger sister who is perfect seems to be fortunate not to have them so far. The doc tor wants me to have surgery to remove them. Our mother said to leave nature alone and not complicate it. I am scheduled to see surgeon next week. Have any of you had experience or know of someone who has had them removed? I am not overweight and the fact I keep moving maybe helps to prevent them from getting too bad. They don't hurt but doct or said will only get worse w/time. Such encouragement. He is the one who doesn't want me to exercise because will affect arthritis I have in one leg. I don't listen to everything he advises but I do know he means well. Appreciate your thoughts.

If I have shorts on people don't look at me they stare at my legs. So ignorant. Seems the younger the person the less they notice.

 

[BlueCat]

My mother has terrible vericose veins and had them removed surgically many years ago. More have appeared and her legs are a knotted mess, but she's too elderly now to have it done again. The surgery was not pleasant, but again, it was many years ago. If it's any help to you, she said she'd gladly have it done again if she were young enough for the doctor to consider doing it.

BC

 

[texasgirl]

I have them and 2 of my sisters have them. My mom had them very badly. They stood out very badly and were dark purple. She had talked about getting surgery before she passed ,but, never did. Mine aren't bad right now, but I am getting more and more of them. I get a little self conscious about them, but, i forget about them when i'm out and about. It's a personal choice really. If they are unsightly and you feel insecure with them or they are painful, then, that is your choice to have the surgery. Good luck in your decision.

 

[luvs]

my Mom (48, yet you didn't hear that from me, cause according to Mom, she's 28 ) was pregnant with me when my big Brother was only 9 months old. she's very thin, too. so with her carrying me & toting an infant around, she got plenty of varicose veins. she had injections to shrink 'em, & had to keep them compressed/elevated for a few.
seriously, although they have improved very well, they were & are so insignificant to us that i really figure Mom worries 'bout them more than others. i try to see her varicoses & yeah, her veins are slightly prominent, yet nothing i'd give a second glance at if they belonged to another.
fret not. some stuff, like gaining a few lbs. or gray roots showing, we tend to worry 'bout while a majority may well look past w/out noticing.

 

[liketobake]

My mom too has horrible varicose veins. She is not even 50. They have been in this condition for probbaly since she was 30 though.

I am 21 and I have many spiders veins, and I am starting to get varicose veins. I have a slightly golden complection and in the summer I am the darkest one skin wise in my family, so they are not super 'eye catching' in the summer only in the winter. Also, I have never been pregnant so that has nothing to do with it. I am in stellar physical shape, it is just genetics. Everyone on my mom's side of the family has them.

Surgery can remove them, but if you are like my mom, you will just get more, it is only temperory.

http://www.cookingforums.net/

 

[SizzlininIN]

Hey ITK! Well we both are 2 of the same conditions......or I should say we now share 1.

First the Arthritis.....I have Rheumatoid (its in remission)....I was diagnosed when I was 25 or 26.........read this article. I still firmly believe that exercise is what keeps me from stiffining up. http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/AR/00009.html

Ok....now for the varicous veins. With my 2nd pregnancy I got horrible leg cramps. Several months after the birth I developed a Bakers Cyst behind my left knee and it hindered my blood flow. I ended up developing a huge, ugly, knotted varicous vein on the back of my calf. Not to mention the many spider veins. Mom told me that my grandma on my dads side had horrible varicous veins. Anyway, I dealt with this ugly site for 15 years. I wouldn't wear shorts out in public. I rarely went swimming. If I did it was at someones home that I knew and it was just a few of us there. The reason is that people I knew always would point at my leg and ask shockingly, "Oh my gosh what happened to your leg". Between the varicous and spider veins I have a long jagged cut from where the Bakers Cyst was removed. Anyway, at the end of last summer I decided enough was enough. I went to a dermatoligist and told him I was getting leg cramps because of the vein. He sent me to a surgeon and I had it removed. I also went back for 3 follow up visits to have the spider veins taken care of.
Granted it was somewhat painful after the vein was removed but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. The injections to shrink the spider veins were torture though but worth it in the end. I'd say the injections were much worse than the vein removal itself. But all in all I'd do it all over again. I went out this spring/summer and bought me the cutest shorts and bathing suit. Now you rarely catch me in jeans. The procedure did wonders for my self esteem.

 

[licia]

My mother has varicose veins too and I didn't know I had any, but I noticed some tiny "bruise like" marks on my legs and didn't know how it happened. When I mentioned it to the doctor he said it is varicose veins. When I asked what to do, he said call the vein clinic. I think they inject a saline solution into the vein and the varicose vein dries up. That seems to me much simpler than surgery.

 

[erinmself]

If they make you uncomfortable I would recomend the surgery. These days the complications and uncomfortableness are minimal. Tp keep these from coming back in the future, wear supportive pantyhose which will also prevent clots from forming. Many nurses who work 12 hour shifts wear them and it works perfectly!

 

[Banana Brain]

I have spider vains on my stomach. Its pretty gross. Just consider yourself lucky you got off easy with your legs.

 

[In the Kitchen]

Faith

Okay, I am really going to open up here. For those of you who think I am 'out there' you can join my sister in her room.

I have been listening and reading the bible for many years. They say that God speaks to us through others I believe this. the instance I am talking about is before I saw the doct or there was young girl with cane. She could hardly sit still and I just asked her if she was having pain. She admitted it was non stop since she had her back surgery. The doctor cut a nerve and now her bone rests on each other due to the nerve being cut. She made me so uncomfortable and told me after surgery had to sleep in wheelchair for three months to allow for healing. She went into great detail about her experience and I am now thinking, 'do I have right to question my problem, compared to hers?' I am blessed that I suffer from things that will allow me to rest at night. She said she sees different pain medication on the tv and wants to try it. Her doctor gives her something but claims it is not strong enough. I should have kept my mouth shut but felt sorry for her and wanted to know if I could help. I am asking God to deliver her from this daily cross that she has to carry. My brother said people do want to talk about their problems but he said I take them home with me. What else can one do? I have problems as I talked about and appreicat e all you input. It surely helps to know how you all handle them. Informing me that they do come back bothers me. Why have it done in first place if they are back right away? REminds me of weeds. Never die. I am sure thankful I can walk. Tomorrow I probably will be upset about them again. Maybe if I painted my legs or pu t pictures on my legs would start new fad.

thanks for response. You always do help no matter what I ask. You all know me so well. Just so sad that people even point to my legs when they walk in pairs. I should hand out pictures!

 

[Banana Brain]

Okay, I am really going to open up here. For those of you who think I am 'out there' you can join my sister in her room.

I have been listening and reading the bible for many years. They say that God speaks to us through others I believe this. the instance I am talking about is before I saw the doct or there was young girl with cane. She could hardly sit still and I just asked her if she was having pain. She admitted it was non stop since she had her back surgery. The doctor cut a nerve and now her bone rests on each other due to the nerve being cut. She made me so uncomfortable and told me after surgery had to sleep in wheelchair for three months to allow for healing. She went into great detail about her experience and I am now thinking, 'do I have right to question my problem, compared to hers?' I am blessed that I suffer from things that will allow me to rest at night. She said she sees different pain medication on the tv and wants to try it. Her doctor gives her something but claims it is not strong enough. I should have kept my mouth shut but felt sorry for her and wanted to know if I could help. I am asking God to deliver her from this daily cross that she has to carry. My brother said people do want to talk about their problems but he said I take them home with me. What else can one do? I have problems as I talked about and appreicat e all you input. It surely helps to know how you all handle them. Informing me that they do come back bothers me. Why have it done in first place if they are back right away? REminds me of weeds. Never die. I am sure thankful I can walk. Tomorrow I probably will be upset about them again. Maybe if I painted my legs or pu t pictures on my legs would start new fad.

thanks for response. You always do help no matter what I ask. You all know me so well. Just so sad that people even point to my legs when they walk in pairs. I should hand out pictures!

Wow. That's sort of heartbreaking about that girl. I guess that happens to all of us at one time, how one minute we're walking out of the mall complaining to ourselves that it isn't fair we can't afford that one great pair of shoes. Then as we're walking we pass a homeless person with no shoes. And then there's the old saying, "I once complained I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet". That takes that whole scenerio a step further...
I guess the bottem line is we should all be thankful for what we have, but it seems like we're always forgetting that.

 

[In the Kitchen]

Bb

YOu sure are no 'banana brain' you got the point exactly! Thanks for understanding. When I would share something like this with my sister, she would tell me either to get a life or I spend too much time alone. Never could understand what I wanted to tell her. If you read your bible there were always some kind of stories that were told to be example for the life we lead.

I shared my thoughts which was really exposing myself quite a lot. The reason is t rust. I trust all of you to understand my thoughts and opinion of what happened yest erday regarding my varicose veins. I only have to be reminded of he fact I can sleep tonite and I will wonder how she is doing. My hope is she will soon get relief. Oh, I do have shoes but they don't fit right. At least I have something to wear.

 

[corazon]

My mom is actually going in at the end of the month to have surgery on her varicose veins. She has deep vein thrombosis (sp?). She gets blood clots in her veins and there is risk of getting a Pulmonary embolism, where the clot breaks off and travels up the bloodstream and gets lodged in a lung and blocks bloodflow. It's usually fatal.
http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/azhealthtopics/a/deepveinthrombo.htm

 

[In the Kitchen]

corazon90

thanks for the link. Knowledge is power. Hope you will be able to help your mother when she has the surgery. She knows it is necessary and that still doesn't stop the worry. I am hoping all will go well and that she will be relieved of this problem. Sure hope she likes her doctor. As many of said they themselves have gone through it and feel good they did. Did her mother have t he same problem? They say it is inherited and my brother and I are only ones so far that have gotten them as bad as our mother. Mom never did have a choice to correct them. She had to elevate her feet when they hurt. Watching ones weight when she was young wasn't heard of. Just accepted it that it was life.

Please let us know how your mother does afer the operation and in the meantime we will be thinking and praying for her. T hanks for sharing.

 

[corazon]

thanks for the kind words itk.

I'm not sure if my Grandmother had the same problems. I'm sure she probably had varicose veins but I didn't hear anything of it. She lived in Scotland so I only saw her rarely, then she passed when I was in highschool. I just think that technology has advanced so much that now they are able to foresee these things before they happen. I'm grateful for that, grateful for my mom. Unfortunately, she lives about 2000 miles away, so I won't be able to help her our but her husband is a doc in the ER so I'm sure he will be taking good care of her.

After 2 kids, I only have some small spidery veins. I think maybe I lucked out with my dad's leg genes. I understand how you feel though, itk. I'm 26 and still get acne, so I know about the self esteem issue. I'm nursing Callum so I don't want to go to a dr for any kind of wierd drugs that may not be safe for him.

I say follow sizzlinin's advice and just go for it. You have a great attitude for being thankful for what you have but you will save yourself years of worry to get this done.