varicose veins, how do you deal with it?

[kenzy]

during and after pregnancy, this pesky veins just won't go away! please help.

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take a peek at my newborn baby

depends how bad they are - sometimes you can get injections into the vein to get rid. other times you are stuck with them unless you get the op to have them stripped.

oh, and you newborn appears to simply be an advert for bingo...are you aware of this?

I think in most areas you can't get them treated on the NHS until they medically become a problem, ie they become ulcerated (and DO NOT google image unlcerated varicose veins, they are vile). Mine are really bad, started when I was a teenager and I'm now 30 and they mean I can't wear anything shorter than about 3 inches above my ankle and you can see the bulges through tights and leggings. I went to the GP and they wrote a letter to the surgeons playing up the mental health side and they refused to treat me.

If you plan to have more kids, I would wait until you've finished your family until you have them treated as they do get worse during pregnany. Sorry to not be able to write anything more cheerful!

I've had terrible thread veins and varicose veins on my legs since my 3rd pregnancy. I've had 3 years of aching & pain especially during my AF.

I've been using a vitamin K cream topically (called Red Alert) for 6 months and this is helping to fade the smaller veins, (they look pink now instead of blue!) but I also started taking a supplement called Diosmin (you can get it in most online health shops) which is really helping the horrible dragging pain in my legs.

Using the two supplements together have made an incredible difference, I wish I'd taken before photos because my right leg especially was awful - it was just striped in dark blue veins and a bulging varicose vein on the back of my leg. Now it's much improved. I still won't be wearing short skirts yet but I feel more confident already.

anyway it might be worth a try?

I've had them since I was late teens and have had them treated several times over the years, including having one stripped out via surgery. (another one quickly took its place)

Foam injections and sclerotherapy make a huge difference, and some private insurance will pay for it, on grounds of pain. (not for cosmetic reasons)

Even a couple of sessions can massively help, so I would urge anyone who can afford it to give it a go.

amelia - that is outrageous that they won't treat you. Before I had my private health insurance, I was referred to the NHS to do a full check on them. They said they would be happy to strip out the biggest ones but advised me that I'd probably need it done again so to wait until I felt it necessary. There was never a question that they would treat them though. (and they were not ulcerated or even that obviously bulgy)

Incidentally, mine became utterly hideous and black in pregnancy but were so much better within weeks after birth.

I had mine done on private insurance - they did it with a laser thingie, just tiny nick on the back of my ankle which has disappeared now. They told me not to drive for few days after, but other than that was back to work next day.

It takes about 20 mins. Theoretically they shouldn't have done it on insurance as wasn't painful, but my lovely consultant sorted it out for me! if you have private insurance, its worth asking your gp for a referral.

I was told they will come back (they have, unsuprisingly, as i'm now pregnant) however once i've had the baby i'll just pop back and have them done again.

Goodnightmoon - They won't treat mine on the NHS as they're medically not a problem yet (a bit achey if I'm my feet for too long, but not a huge deal in that regard). Maybe it varies between NHS areas, I'm in Scotland. I have the option of BUPA healthcare through my work, so I'm going to consider going down that route next year (too much on this year to add that into the mix too!). I'm ok about them most of the time. Summer does suck though . No leg revealing outfits for me. Thankfully I hate beach holidays!

If you're thinking about having them done, sooner is better than later apparently Amelia. My consultant said that once they've appeared, they will get progressively worse, and the silly thing is once they get bad enough to warrant the nhs treating them, you can't do the laser thingie, so you have to have them stripped, which needs general anaesthetic and overnight stay in hospital.

I would have thought cheaper for nhs to just zap them early on?

Pootles - you would think huh?! Preventative medicine and all that?! Pfff! I'll look into it all properly next year (they've been getting worse for the last 13 years since they first made an appearance, an extra year won't make that much difference I'm guessing) when I'm only working full time instead of working full time AND studying full time!