QUOTE (Dearest @ Jan 15 2007, 04:38 AM)
Varicose veins are a very common problem among men and women. They're also very familial, so I'd venture a guess that someone in your family has or had varicose veins. I've had varicosity in a superficial (surface) varicose vein (not a deep vein) on the inside of my left leg - knee area - since I was very young. I still have discomfort from it today, but I'll tell you more about that later.
As for your gynecologist, he's not completely wrong when he says that varicose veins can be caused by hormonal changes. They are more common during and after pregnancy, menopause and in women taking (or who have taken) birth control pills.
Everything having to do with your body's circulatory system is affected by menopause.
However, and it's a big HOWEVER, a good doctor doesn't diagnose over the phone despite the fact that only a small percentage of people with varicose veins develop any serious problems from them.
It's not uncommon to feel soreness, tenderness, itching, throbbing and/or a cramping feeling in the area of the varicose veins or in the whole leg that's affected. You can also develop swelling in your ankles and feet. It's also NOT uncommon for the skin around the varicose veins to become discolored - including the appearance of black and blue marks.
I have three questions for you:
1) Is the area around the varicose veins in your leg red in color?
2) When you place and hold your hand on the area where the varicose veins are, does it feel warm or hot?
3) Are you now or have you ever used birth control pills? Are you now or have you ever used hormone replacement therapy?If you've answered yes to any of the above questions, I'd get a referral to a vascular specialist or vascular surgeon (blood vessel system specialist) just to eliminate the possibility of any problem. After a physical examination, THEY can pretty much tell if the vein needs to be further tested. What they do next is a Doppler study (sonogram of the leg). I've had many of them - there's no pain associated with it.
Don't alarm yourself about blood clots unless you can answer yes to any of my questions, especially question #1.
I went through the experience of blood clots (thrombophlebitis) in my leg twice in my early 30's (after taking and stopping birth control pills. No one - not even the doctors - made the association between the BCP and the phlebitis. I didn't either until I started Power Surge and learned about the connection between hormones and blood clots.
Believe me, there's no IF about blood clots / phlebitis. If you have it, you'll know it. I had such excruciating pain in the affected leg that I rushed to see my internist who, in turn, referred me to a vascular surgeon. After doing a physical exam of my bad leg, he performed a Doppler study. I was diagnosed with phlebitis and spent two weeks in the hospital with an anti-coagulant drip / IV (blood thinner -- usually Heparin).
The same situation recurred a few years later.
From the way you describe your situation, it doesn't sound to me like a blood clot because there's generally very serious pain associated with a blood clot, but there may be exceptions. I'm not a doctor and I wouldn't presume to make any blanket statements. And, although I'm no lover of going to the doctor, I strongly believe that certain things shouldn't be left unchecked, especially during peri and postmenopause when so many health issues are "inaccurately" blamed on menopause. Shame on doctors who do that!
Again, if you answered yes to any of the questions I asked you, and if the discomfort continues, there's no problem in telling your doctor you'd like to have the vein examined further. That will at least give you peace of mind.
One last piece of advice, my internist told me many years ago after my bouts with phlebitis that if/when I ever feel discomfort in the vein to put myself on aspirin therapy to see if it relieves the problems.
Aspirin is an excellent natural anti-coagulant. In fact, everyone on this site should be taking one aspirin per day. Some doctors recommend one baby aspirin. I take one regular strength 325 mg. aspirin. Read
Power Surge Recommendations and
Power Surge's Menopause Survival Tips.Dearest
Hi Dearest ,
Well, thank you very much for that reply! I can't tell you how much that meant to me! I mean, latley, since peri has wrought it's nasty effects on me, I've become a bundle of HYSTERICAL nerves! My closeest friend said to me just last night, that she can't remember me EVER being this afraid and wound up aabout ANYTHING, and we went to high school together, so we're talking 30 something years of friendship! I find myself responding to health issues now, with paranoia and FEAR! This is nuts! If this had been me, say, 5 yrs. ago, and I had noticed that same black and blue on the vericose vein, I would have shrugged it off, and maybe checked on it again in a few days. BUT NOW, I'm so darn afraid of everything! I guess it must be the peri .....
As far as the three questions you asked me, I can't answer YES to any of them, thank God! I can say however, that SINCE I"ve been touching the area, and the black and blue, it's kind of "hurting" a little now (by itself, without me touching it), but not all the time, just on and off. I think that's because I've been touching it so much. I want you to know that BEFORE I saw that yesterday, IT DIDN'T BOTHER ME AT ALL, it wasn't till I noticed it, and then began pressing on it (to see if there was a clot) that this "hurting" or throbbing began....so, what do you think?
The color of the black and blue, is that of a normal black and blue, you know, blueish/greenish/yellowish thing .... there is NO red around the outside (so I'm guessing that would DEFINATLEY mean a blood clot?) just sort of a tinge of yellowish that circles it, and then beyond that, normal color. When I awoke this morning, I laid in bed, still, just to see if it hurt me ALL ON IT'S OWN, and NO, IT DIDN'T. But as soon as I began to think about
it, I started to notice thise "feelings" there, you know, a little bit of throbbing, or as if I could feel the blood "gurggling" through that area, or maybe that vein...I know that may sound funny or strange, but that's what it felt like, gurggling. Is that something I should be worried about? When I got up out of bed, I noticed that for the first few minutes of walking around, yeah, I could feel as if it felt more "pressureized" in that calf, sort of around that area, that vein .... but within a few minutes of walking around, the pressureized feeling began to diminish. NOw, its' just sort of normal. I also notice though, that some days the vericose veins on my calf, pop out farther than other days, why is that?
While laying in bed this morning, just thinking about all this, I had a recollection of the other day, maybe say, 5 days ago, when I had held up my leg (to show my husband) these vericose veins, and that I was worried because they seemed to pop out so much that day, and I was worried that this "thing" that was in a vein in my foot (all it was was a part of a vein on my foot that is more popped out than the rest of the vein, I hve the same thing on the othe foot)...but I was POSITIVE it was a blood clot on the top of my foot...lol...so, I held up my leg to show my husband these veins on the calf, because I was terrified that maybe that "thing" in the vein on top of my foot, would move up farther into the vericose veins here on my calf. Well, come to think of it, there was NO BLACK AND BLUE MARK THEN! NOPE! But, i began touching and pressing on those vericose veins on my calf, because i was so terrified that MAYBE, that supposed blod clot (which it wasn't) on my foot would move up there.....so maybe THAT'S where the BLACK AND BLUE CAME FROM. I certainly didn't press overly hard on the veins, but I WAS pressing on them. So, all I can figure is that perhaps, I pressed to hard, or to many times, and it caused this BLACK AND BLUE (and the soreness) ... because, as I said, when I showed him those veins 5 days ago, that black and blue WASN'T THERE.
As for my "dr.", yeah I know, he really shouldn't have diagnosed this over the phone, he didn't even bother to ask me to come in....i suggested it, and he acted like it was nothing.
I've been going to him now for about 15 yrs., we're sort of on a "phone call"basis, in other words, I call him if something is wrong, describe the symptoms, and then he takes it from there, if he thinks its serious, he tells me to come in. He's done that before, so, apparently this time, he must have felt it wasn't, I don't know. I'm not saying he's right in doing that, I think he just thinks he knows me (and my body I guess) well enough to do this,,,,but that's not really always a good idea.
So, ok, it DOES bother me now, and naturally, I'm becoming very nervous once again! But, I have to tell myself to calm down, and remember what you said. When I say "bothers" me, what I mean is, it's "there" now....I can feel it's "presence" so to speak, but i think that's because now I'm hyper about it, you know?
It doesn't HURT, or ACHE, just annoys me. I feel as though I need to keep bouncing my leg up and down, like restless leg syndrome, but I think it's because I'm frightened. When I stop the bouncing, THEN I can feel more of "it", so to speak. Then I can feel more of the "pressure" sort of sensation on that black and blue, ..... what do you think? Today, the vericose veins seem to be less noticeable as well. And yes, my grandmother had them, I can remember that.
I think what scared the hell out of me, was all the reading I've done on the net! Especially when they say that more than likeley, someone with surface phlebitis (with or without a clot - hey, let me ask you something here....does phlebitis ALWAYS come with a clot or not? or is it just an inflamed vein?) ..... ok, whrere did I leave off, oh yeah, they say that someone with surface phelibitis (spelling?) is MORE LIKELEY to also have DVT going on on the inside somewhere in the leg...a deep vein in the thigh! LORD!
So, now that I'm sitting here with "this thing" on my calf, which we all know is RIGHT BELOW THE THIGH, I get panicky, waiting for it to go up into some deep vein in my thigh! I know, maybe I sound like a nut right now, and I never would have been like this 5 yrs ago!!!!! When you had all those problems with the clots in your leg, did they tell you that? Did you live in fear that it might migrate up to your thigh? Or, am I just becoming a bundle of peri menopause nerves? (oh, also, no i have never taken BCP, and no, the area doesn't feel hot around or over the BLACK AND BLUE)
Dearest,,,,,,thank you so much for your help!!!!!! I thank God for this site! If you even have the time, would you be able to maybe respond to some of the things I asked you? I would really really appreciate it, and it would put a lot more of my fears to rest as well......thank you once again!
Sincerely, mydarling
