keeping veins healthy Archives - The New Jersey Vein & Vascular Center

Guide to Vein Conditions and Vein Health

Jan 20, 2020 | Prevention of Vein Conditions, Spider Veins, Varicose Veins, Vein Care, Vein Conditions

Good vein health can’t be achieved overnight. It takes eating the right foods, exercise, and putting aside some bad habits. An estimated 40 million Americans are affected by varicose veins, which is just one type of vein complication. About half of those individuals have a history of varicose veins in their family. Women are the most likely to develop the disease. We have created this guide to vein conditions that could be affecting you.

Common Vein Conditions

While varicose veins are one of the most well-known vein complications, there is a range of other diseases that can affect your vascular system.

Raynaud’s Phenomenon

This condition is presented as white or bluish skin in the fingers and toes due to spasms in the small arteries.

Buerger’s Disease

With this malady, you’ll notice a pain in the feet and legs as well as hands and arms. This is brought on by blocked blood vessels.

Peripheral Venous Disease

This disorder initially shows as bulging in the veins under the skin, leading to a feeling of heaviness and pain in the legs.

Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD)

An ailment that causes poor circulation brought on by hardening or narrowing of the artery from smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc

Varicose Veins

Varicose veins are one of the most common vein issues. You’ll notice it by the bulging or purplish veins in the legs due to damaged valves.

Pregnancy Veins

We find that this issue is usually caused by pregnancy, bed rest, or damage to the veins. Pregnancy veins occur due to the increased size of the uterus during pregnancy. The uterus causes pressure on the large vein on the right side of the body, called the vena cava.

Reticular Veins

Usually painless, this condition affects almost 80% of adults due to hormone imbalances, weak veins, and genetic factors.

Blood Clotting Disorders

Whether inherited or acquired, these disorders make it so that blood does not clot normally. When this happens blood can often be found in urine or stool. It may also cause nosebleeds or excessive bleeding during childbirth.

Telangiectasia (Also Known as Spider Veins)

Spider veins are caused by the pressure of body weight, gravity and the tough job of carrying blood back to the heart. You may notice them on the face, breasts, and feet. Almost 60% of adults may have spider veins.

Lymphedema

With this condition, fluid from the lymphatic system builds up and causes swollen arms and legs. Most often this is caused by damaged or missing lymph nodes or vessels.

Foods for Maintaining Good Vein Health

Support good vein health this year by integrating foods that increase and promote blood flow. You can accomplish this by looking for foods that are high in Vitamin C and Vitamin E. Foods like citrus, broccoli, bell peppers, mangos, fish, etc.

It’s also important to include foods like brown rice, leafy greens, chia, and lentils that are high in fiber. Drinking enough water is also important for optimal vein health.

Precautions to Avoid Vascular Conditions

By integrating healthy lifestyle considerations into your day-to-day, such as a healthy diet, regular exercise, and quitting smoking, you can avoid future vascular problems.

If medications are needed to lower cholesterol and regulate your blood pressure, it’s important to take the meds as prescribed to mitigate the occurrence of vascular issues.

Cosmetic Varicose Veins Treatment and Spider Vein Treatment

Varicose and spider veins are treatable. Sclerotherapy is often the best method of treatment. This in-office procedure is an easy and painless way to resolve this cosmetic issue.

Other procedures can include stripping, ambulatory phlebectomy, endoscopic vein surgery, and endothermal ablation. Laser surgeries can also help to make the veins fade and disappear under intense light bursts.

Natural Therapies to Cure Vein Conditions

While cosmetic vein treatment is effective, regular exercise, dietary changes, compression stockings, and herbal remedies can guide to improve the symptoms and side effects of some vein conditions.

Doing regular yoga with positions where the lower legs are elevated above the heart helps in relieving symptoms of varicose veins.

Sound sleep also affects your vein health. Just one week of fewer hours of sleep can affect your vein condition.

Guide To Preventing Vein Conditions

The same remedies that help to reduce and eliminate the severity of vein conditions are also the treatments that you should continue even after a vein condition has improved.

Keep moving, eat right, and stop smoking. You may also consider wearing looser clothing and not standing or sitting for long periods of time.

For more information about caring for your veins or how to prevent vascular issues, please contact our office.

Keeping Veins Healthy with These Diet Tips

Jul 18, 2018 | General Health, Vein Health

You lowered your carb intake to cut belly fat. You upped your protein intake to build muscle. But cutting fat and building muscle aren’t the only things your diet can do for you. There are plenty of items you can add and subtract from your diet to improve vein health, an important but oftentimes overlooked system in our bodies. Here’s our best advice for keeping veins healthy with these diet tips.

Get Your Fill of Fiber

For keeping veins healthy, start by eating plenty of fiber. You may think fiber is just for people with digestive issues but upping your fiber intake will keep you from allowing cholesterol (the bad kind) to infiltrate your vascular system and cause all sorts of problems.

To consume fiber, try starting your day off with some oatmeal and fresh berries. Snack on some nuts throughout the day, and eat some peas, Brussels sprouts, or quinoa with dinner. You can even get your fiber at fast food places like Chipotle, as brown rice and avocado are loaded with it.

Benefits of Vitamin C for Your Veins

Elastin and collagen give our veins flexibility and thereby strengthen them, but our bodies can’t produce these essential proteins without Vitamin C.

Lucky for you, finding ways to work Vitamin C into your diet is about as simple as it gets. Obviously, oranges are a great source of this much needed vitamin. Other Vitamin C rich alternatives include strawberries, papaya, and kiwi, three fruits that taste great mixed with yogurt or eaten on their own. Throw some bell peppers in your salad for another simple source or eat some pineapple as a sweet afternoon or evening snack.

How Water Helps Veins

Our veins are 92% water, so it’s easy to surmise they require loads of it to function properly. Also, remember that fiber you’re so excited about working into your diet? Well, without enough water that fiber can’t do its job. So, it’s best to make sure you are consuming enough of both.

Try drinking water with every meal instead of soda or alcoholic beverages. Leave a bottle of water in your car or take a reusable bottle into work. When you try to drink more water, it starts to become easy very quickly. Just make sure you’ll have time to run to the bathroom, as more water means more– well– you get the idea.

Rutin – Your Vein Care Antioxidant

Another thing you need to eat more of is rutin. Rutin is an antioxidant that reduces inflammation caused by damaged veins and can even work to help prevent blood clots.

You can find rutin in asparagus, teas, and cranberries. Additionally, any citrus zest contains rutin, so that lime in your occasional Corona might be doing you more good than you thought.

Salt and Your Veins

Lastly, the phrase “don’t salt your soup before you taste it,” could have been coined by a vascular surgeon. In fact, don’t salt your soup at all. It probably tastes just fine without it. A diet high in sodium can lead to fluid retention, which, is bad (very, very bad) for your veins. To limit the amount of salt you consume, just pay attention to nutrition labels and don’t add salt to anything without giving it a good taste test first.

For a more detailed explanation of vein health and additional foods that can improve it, contact our staff and schedule a free consultation.

Additional Sources:

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-percentage-of-water-present-in-our-blood