Varicose veins suck!!!!!!!! (My Experience of Varicose Veins)

Member Name: 3cardmonte

Product:	My Experience of Varicose Veins
Date:	04/09/08 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You can pretend to have to sit down when your leg veins are "playing up"

Disadvantages: ugly,expensive to treat, treatment not always effective

I am only 24 years old and I have had varicose veins since I was 19! When the doctor explained what they were I was gutted!

I don't want to sound ageist but to me, varicose veins had always been the domain of the elderly, my mum had them,my nan and my aunt had them but I didn't know anybody under 50 that had them.

She told me that due to excess pressure on my legs, caused by being too heavy, the circulation in my legs was not good enough to carry blood around and the valves had been damaged, because of this the veins had become enlarged and twisted.

She told me that there was an operation availablle called "stripping" where the damaged vein is either removed or cut and tied. I thought "fantastic,let's do that". She then proceeded to tell me that the operation wouldn't be available to me because my local hospital does not perform the operations on the NHS anymore, they are only done privately. Great.

The veins themselves are a mixture of blue and green and they are visibly raised bumps that are soft and squidgy to the touch.
Whilst they are not painful, they can make my legs ache when I have been standing for a long period of time, or it is raining.

To be honest, mine are not that bad, I have seen much worse, but they don't look good. I can't wear skirts without support tights (have you ever tried those things? they are not comfortable!) and it has really affected my confidence badly.VVV

Summary: Not good!