Varicose Veins Archives

varicose veins

Dear Dr. Stoll,

I am 28 and I have already beginning varicose veins and spider veins. I went to the doctor and he prescribed me the stokings 20-30 and he told me when it got worse I need to have an operation. And that's all. He did not tell me how I can prevent it. I read from your messages about vitamin E - 1000 mg a day. I need to take it a month, a few months or forever? You mentioned about exercise progam - what kind of exercise I need to do? I don't want it to be worth and I don't want to do an operation.

I am 5'4" tall, 142 lb weight. I have no family history of varicose veins. I have a child 6 years old, but I did not have varicose during ad after pregnancy, it started a year ago and getting worse and worth very fast. I am scared. I work as a programmer. 8 hours a day I sit at my computer. I don't go to gim, so I am interested what kinds of exercises are good for me. I don't have other medical problems beside that. I am going to order custom fitting stokings below knee with CLOSED toys, because I think they look close to usual knee highs. Is that OK?

I hope you can help me. Waiting for your reply. Thank you very much. Greatly appreciate that. Mary.

Follow Ups:

• Re: varicose veins Walt Stoll 17:39:35 8/09/99 (0)
• I found this in the archives... trish 13:00:30 8/07/99 (0)

In Reply to: varicose veins posted by Mary on August 07, 1999 at 11:32:45:

Hi, Mary,

This site has a lot of info on varicose veins... just go to the archives and start reading...I copied this for you to get you started. This is Dr. Stoll's response to a woman whose mother had varicose veins. He may have something to add for your specific case. Good luck!

trish

"First, about her:

I would suggest she take at least 1000 units of mixed tocopherols (ask the healthfood store owner)
vitamin E twice a day. Next, I need to know if it is her deep veins or the suprerficial system that is
involved. Her doc would know----or should. Simple physical exam techniques determine which and
the conventional management is almost totally dependent upon which system is involved.

The things I will suggest here help both kinds so can be started at once.

Any elastic stockings must not come to within closer than 2 inches below the crease of her knee. The
top of the right kind of stocking has a flat stiffener sewn into the fabric so that there is NO binding at
that point. The flat thing keeps the stocking from "rolling". Next, the stockings have to be fit directly
to her legs at the appliance store (where you get splints, crutches, otrhopedic braces, etc.). She must
not skimp on this. The stockings should have no toes or heel and be substantial enough that there
would be NO swelling by the end of the day that was not there upon arising.

IF she has any swelling upon arising, she might have to spend a few days in bed (up to bathroom for
minimal intervals at a time) until all swelling is gone. In that case a home visit for fitting should be
arranged. This is routinely done but must be ordered by her doc. Any doc that would not cooperate
with this (After all s/he should have already done it. The recommendation should not have to come
from her [or you]) is not worthy of taking care of her & she needs to find a better doc.

Some docs are more attached to their egos than they are concerned about the welfare of their
patients. It is better to find this out earlier than later.

She must make an appointment to be fitted the first thing upon their opening for business. She has to
go directly from her bed to the car & keep her legs elevated in the back seat of the car until she gets
there. Then, as quickly as reasonably possible she needs to get into the store & get her legs back up
at least as high as her hips until they can fit her.

This makes sure that her legs are as small as gravity can reasonably make them and the stockings are
designed to keep them that way. She must wear them all the time except when she is in the bath or in
bed. SO, she will need at least 2 pair so she can launder one pair while she wears the other. A slant
board would help her get her legs small & would help if she did it every day for about 30 minutes.

Once I know which system is involved, I can suggest more options.

If either of you want to know more about the research behind this, go to the library & ask for
ANYTHING published in the past 40 years by the Shute Brothers (Wilfred & Evan) in Canada.
They are both MDs and are known as the world's experts in this area.

Also, until the mechanics are controlled, ANY additional antioxidents will help avoid some of the
symptoms she has (vitamin C, A, beta carotene, pycnogenol, etc.).

Finally, until I know the answers to the above, losing weight would help her a lot. Remember, she
may need to be refitted with the elastic stockings after she loses weight. The actual, accurate, fitting
of the stockings is the single most important thing for her right now and it is also the most neglected
thing by most MDs.

A habit she needs to make is to never sit down for more than a couple of minutes without getting her
feet up on a chair as high as her hips. Riding in a car should never last longer than 10 minutes without
stopping and getting out to walk for a few minutes------------UNLESS she can sit in the back with
her legs up on the seat.

See what a bother this can be?

NOW, for you:

Keeping a normal weight, regular exercise, a stretching program (best I know is "Synergetics" by
Hay), the vitamin E and antioxidents and avoiding garters or anything that could constrict the legs are
important as well. NO HIGH HEELS! Finally, if you get pregnant, do the stocking things while you
are pregnant just as I suggested for her----------as a preventive."

In Reply to: varicose veins posted by Mary on August 07, 1999 at 11:32:45:

Hi, Mary.

If you do not get up about every 10 minutes to do toe raises [raising your entire body up on your toes about a dozen times](while you are doing your computer work) you will surely get worse & pretty fast. Your place of work should have told you that.

If you do the stockings, the toe raises every 10 minutes no matter where you are sitting down, using the vitamin E and ANY mild and sustained exercise at least 20 minutes at a time at least 3 times a week, you have a chance of reversing this.

If it were me, I would continue these habits forever to keep this from coming back.

If you do not start to see improvements within 3-6 months, you might as well have the surgery. THEN, the above will keep this from happening again.

Let us know how you do.

Walt