Have you seen those thick-looking blue veins on someone’s legs or you probably even have them; they are often thought to be large stretch marks but no, they are called varicose veins and women have a greater risk of developing them compared to men.
Varicose veins are swollen blood vessels that appear at the back of the legs and thighs sometimes. They are usually clustered and look blue, purplish or greyish and surrounded by smaller veins called spider veins.
Causes/risk factors of varicose veins
Unlike stretch marks, a lot of people are not perturbed with their spider veins and varicose veins and I guess it’s because the cosmetic industry has not made it look so terrible for having it. Cosmetics aside, what really causes varicose veins and how bad can it get?
The veins in the legs have a valve that lets blood travel from the legs back to the heart against gravity. This is a tedious job for the veins but that’s the way the human body is programmed to work and it is supposed to be a free flow but for some reason (weak or damaged valve), the valve lets the blood flowing up to the heart back to the legs, the blood then backs up and pools in your veins causing the veins to swell and branch out which in turn causes varicose veins to form.
Varicose veins can form beneath the skin’s surface, but it often appears on the surface of the legs and lower body.
Some causes include:
Obesity
Lack of movement
Standing too much (professions that require a lot of standing)
Sitting too long/sedentary lifestyle
Unhealthy lifestyle
Pregnancy
Being female
Symptoms of varicose veins
Is it possible to have varicose veins and not know? Varicose veins are often visible but some of the symptoms include:
Swollen legs, ankle and feet
Aching legs
Muscle cramp, throbbing and soreness
Swollen twisted clusters of blue or purple veins
Itching around the veins
Soreness behind the knee
Weak leg muscles
Skin ulcers and discolouration of the skin
Sometimes, varicose veins may not have any adverse effect on your body aside from ruining the aesthetics and beauty of your legs but some other times they may degenerate and become so painful that standing and walking becomes a herculean task.
How to get rid of varicose veins
There are a few ways to treat varicose veins and they include:
Exercise: the veins don’t get direct support from the heart to move blood like the arteries. What the veins need is for your muscles to contract in order to push blood back to the heart. That is why you need to get active, get up and walk or exercise.
One major cause of varicose is obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, so you need to make workout a lifestyle because It will prevent varicose veins from developing as well as strengthen your muscle for proper circulation and blood flow.
There are several exercises that can help treat and prevent varicose veins but strength training and high-intensity interval training helps to enhance and strengthen the cell structure. You need to exercise for about 150mins a week for this to be effective.
Use compression socks: this is also a way to prevent and treat varicose veins. Compression stockings are medical socks designed for compression therapy, mostly used to guard against venous disorder. Some people who develop varicose veins stand a lot, so if your profession requires you to stand for long hours and if there’s a history of varicose veins in your family, there’s a chance that you can develop it. So you should use them while working and if you have developed them already, the socks will help put things back in place if worn regularly. However, if they have curled and swollen so much, you may need to resort to a medical /surgical solution.
Sclerotherapy: This is a non-surgical procedure that requires injecting a chemical solution into the veins to make them disappear. This therapy takes several sessions before the veins fully disappear and it is about the fastest way to get rid of varicose veins. This procedure also gets rid of spider veins as well.
Dietary change: you need to begin to consume foods rich in antioxidants. Berries and grapes are top on the list of antioxidant foods. Antioxidants help to strengthen the connective tissues. While you consume antioxidants, you also need to consume foods rich in collagen. In one of my articles on how to get rid of cellulite, I mentioned how collagen strengthens the skin and keeps it intact. Age has a huge impact in causing cellulite and varicose veins, as you get old, your body stops producing as much collagen as it used to. What collagen does is simply tighten things up. Look for healthy ways to boost your collagen level so you can strengthen the connective tissues. see the best diet to treat varicose veins
Takeaway
If you have varicose veins and didn’t know what it was, this is a great time to finally get rid of them. If they have just begun to show up, you need to take exercising seriously and make the dietary changes but if they have gotten so bad, like one man I saw at the market a few days ago, he had very thick curled veins from his thighs all the way down to his feet and it was obvious he had difficulty walking. Please seek a surgical method of getting rid of varicose veins. Ask your doctor to refer you to a place near you, see other supplements you can use for varicose veins.