Have you ever suffered from lower limb symptoms? Do you feel heaviness or tension, swelling, aching restless legs, cramps and itching especially in the evening when you return home from the office. I believe most of us do, but we forget the agony as the next morning dawns on us and we rush for our duties. I would suggest taking a day out from your daily routine and consult your doctor, you may be suffering from varicose veins. Well, have a sigh of relief, varicose veins is not a life threatening disease. This article might help you in this regard as I think suffering can contribute to wellbeing in the sense that it can be the one step back that motivates you to take two steps forward. Over last few years, we have been observing a sudden surge in the disease and the trend is changing from the labor class to the white collared professionals probably because of long working hours, and constant standing. Vaicose veins is fairly a widespread problem today. It affects at least 30% of general population in India and I regret to write that we do not have a clear cut incidence of this disease in our state, though I believe there is an uphill graph as regards the subclinical variety of this disorder. A vein is said to be varicose when it lengthens, dilates and becomes tortuous and the common sites in the body are, the lower end of food pipe, anal canal, where they are commonly called piles and lower limbs.
Thus varicose veins are enlarged veins that are swollen and raised above the surface of the skin. They are discolored and can be dark purple or blue and look twisted and bulging as if the round worms are put under the skin. Any condition that puts excessive pressure on the legs or abdomen can lead to varicosity. Hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy and menopause may be responsible for the high proportion of varicosity among women. Dietary deficiencies or the loss of skin elasticity due to aging are also contributing factors.Prollonged constipation, constrictive clothing and lack of exercise may contribute. There is a congenital variety of this disease too where the valves in the vein are absent or defective. The causes are multifactorial. Hereditary has a role to play. There could be structural weakness of vein walls. Ever present obesity and a sedentary lifestyle which seems to be the root cause of many ailments today can playa major role in causing this disorder. One of the common causes of this ailment is either sitting or standing continuously without movement, probably a reason why lots of computer professionals come to us with aching legs. Other forms of remedial science like Ayurveda look at the problem through the same eye. Smaller varicose veins that are near the surface generally do not pose a serious problem and can be managed with simple home measures. Regarding the treatment of symptomatic varicose veins different modalities are tried. We have surgical excision of veins,, lasers,sclerotherapy,ambulatory phelebectomy,endoscopic ligation of veins and radiofrequency ablation. To sum this article up, I emphasize yet again, manage illness positively by developing the habit of total health, you will feel so much better and have so much more energy because good health has its own rewards.

(Dr.Mushtaq Chalkoo is Consultant Laparoscopic and Minimal Access  Surgeon
Government Medical College, SMHS and Associated Hospitals Srinagar. Feedback at mushtaq_chalkoo@rediffmail.com)

Lastupdate on : Thu, 3 Feb 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 3 Feb 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 4 Feb 2011 00:00:00 IST