Varicose Veins & 22 Years Young

How much weight do you have to lose? My cousin had a similar problem at a very young age as well, and due to being overweight. After she lost some weight she did notice that the veins weren't as bad, though I'm not entirely sure how much weight she lost.
I say you should keep losing and your legs will probably improve. Also, if you spend a lot of time standing, make sure you try to sit down once in a while to take the pressure off your legs, same goes with sitting all day - try to stand for a while.

I have varicose veins too!(and some random pockets of cellulite right where my thigh becomes my calf) and I'm 21. I also started noticing them from when I was about 17, they weren't so bad then. That coupled with some cellulite made me feel so insecure about wearing skirts and shorts. But i still do wear those things. I feel gross sometimes too though. But it seems like sthg that runs in the family though. Cos my mom has them, my aunties have them and my cousin has them too. But I and everyone else i know doesn't complain of pain. I know some people complain that its painful. SO if they don't hurt, just try to forget abt them. They may get better after u lose some more weight. U cld also try wrapping them with bandage overnight. My uncle told me to try that. I did it for a night and I quit. But you could give it a try and let me know. Please note that you shouldn't wrap the bandage too tight otherwise u cld cut off circulation. Maybe try with the compression socks? just wear them at night. let me know if that helps.

Hello all! I am a myfitnesspal member and I happen to work for a Vascular Surgeon who specializes in Varicose and Spider veins and superficial leg vein problems overall. Varicose veins are NO LONGER COSMETIC. They are now covered by insurance to treat as are many cases of spider veins. There are a ton of misconceptions out there from old info, bad info or the like...I am working hard to help clear these kind of thoughts up but it takes time. My biggest suggestion to you all is to go to my Dr.'s website. He has written countless articles, be in practice for over 20 years, performed countless surgeries and like I mentioned before, he is an expert on just this issue. Compression hose are great for preventing future issues, but they wont fix the current problems. Here's the website with all the info www.weknowveins.com, here is the page with all his articles http://www.weknowveins.com/in-the-press.php and if you don't live in our area you can go to eveinscreening.com and fill out the free screening which my Dr. responds to and then he searches for a Dr. in your area that has his same qualifications. NO he does not gain anything from this, it's just his passion to help folks with vein disease (which you do have if you have any bulging varicose veins or spider veins below the knee) Hope this helps you all...Warm regards, Brittany

PS there is an article that the doctor wrote specifically about how vein issues can make it hard for you to lose weight...and how fixing them can make it easier for you to exercise and lose weight...http://www.weknowveins.com/downloads/FHCN-Spring2011.pdf

Are you taking birth control pills? This may increase varicose veins due to hormones.

My best advice is to increase physical activity. Since veins return blood to the heart, the more efficient your blood flow system, the less chance for veins. If the muscles around the veins are weak or inactive, that's part of the cause.

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I have problems with my veins since forever. Had my first spider veins at about 10 years old, and deeper varicose veins at maybe 20, even if I never have been overweight in my life, I just have very fragile veins and bruise easily. (It runs in the family.)

A few tips :

Avoid being static when your legs are below your heart (so basically anytime you're not lying down). Standing is the worse (that's when it's the most difficult for your veins to send the blood back to your heart), but even sitting increase the pressure in your veins. Regularly move your legs a bit to activate your legs muscles pump (tip toe - heel - tip toe - etc.), they will help your veins to do their job.

Speaking of legs muscles pump, that means you need good legs muscles. They deserve special attention and adequate training.

Avoid too tight clothing. Compression is good with medical stockings, because they're compressive from the feet and avoid obstruction. A clothing too tight in the hip or upper thigh area means the compression occurs suddenly and the blood flow slows down/gets a bit stuck.

Compressive stockings, by the way, really make a difference (if you take an adequate pair!). At the worse, I was dehydrated and thirsty all the time despite drinking about 6l (25 cups!) of water a day, 6l without using the bathroom a single time until night time because during the day all that water was stuck in my legs (hence being dehydrated despite drinking that much). I was passing out on a daily basis (I was a nurse so always on my feet, I ended up quitting for health reasons and taking a desk job), my legs were killing me, my heart rate was wild and the one time I ran because I nearly missed my train, I ended up with water in my lungs, which led my doctors to believe I was developping some kind of heart condition. When I finally tried the stockings, I was back to full health in about 24h. So, sure, you're probably not going to notice that much improvement because you don't seem to have that much symptoms to "track the results" but I can garantee you, medical compression works wonder for struggling veins.