How to determine if I have vein disease?
Even a mild case of vein disease can affect your overall health. Because your blood flow is less efficient than before, it’s harder for blood to be re-oxygenated and re-circulated. Cells throughout your body may not receive the oxygen and nourishment they need. As a result, vein disease can rob you of the energy you need for everyday activities. So, if you’ve been wondering why your legs hurt or your ankles swell, or you just don’t seem to have any get-up-and-go lately, vein disease may be the reason.
It may be easy to see if a person has varicose veins, but it is not so simple to determine the state of the underlying deep venous system. This is important in terms of management and treatment.
Chronic Venous Insufficiency
Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI) is defined as an inability to pump venous blood back toward the heart. This usually indicates major defects in the deep veins. With CVI, the vein walls can become permeable, allowing blood to pool in surrounding leg tissue, which can cause skin discoloration, open sores called ulcers, and blood clots. A clot may cause immediate swelling of the leg because the major mechanism to transport blood out of the leg is blocked. When the clot is at least partially resolved, more normal blood flow is restored, and the swelling subsides, but the damage may have been done. Where there was a clot, the valves in the deep veins may have been destroyed. If so, blood will accumulate in the deep veins, increasing pressure at each lower level. Veins may be damaged from original thrombophlebitis or from the constant exposure of the perforator veins to the high pressure in the deep veins. That affects the superficial veins, and it also allows venous blood to accumulate under high pressure in the outer tissues of the leg.
