Battling Varicose Veins

My mom had painful and noticeable varicose veins.  She had some of them removed with a laser when I was younger.  I knew that they were hereditary, but thought that they just came with age and too much stress on one's legs.  She has worked on her feet for most of her life.  I didn't realize that pregnancy also causes a woman's body to built new blood ways to transport the new demand for blood that the growing fetus requires.  Wednesday, I made a point to take a brisk 40 minute walk during lunch, because I can feel them building up.

 A view of the path on my walk.

According to Raising Baby Green by Alan Greene, M.D.:

The baby's heart pumps depleted blood out of it's body through umbilical arteries divide into a network of tiny capillaries  The mother's blood in the placenta forms a free-lowing, living five ounce lake about the size of a glass of red wine.  This blood is refreshed completely three or four times each minute to supply the baby's needs.  The replenished blood returns through the umbilical cord like a steady, unhindered river bringing the stuff of life to the fetus.  

By the fourth month of pregnancy, seventy-five quarts of blood flow through this river every day, delivering oxygen-rich vital nutrients and removing waste.  A typical blood cell will make a complete round trip every thirty seconds.  By the time the baby is born, up to three hundred quarts of blood a day will flow through the umbilical cord.

No wonder! The body has to suddenly build so many new pathways for blood to be carried through the body to support the baby.  I realized that my mom didn't get varicose veins from getting older, but that he had two children and didn't take time to take care of herself, because she's a really hard worker.  I see the consequences that she paid, and I'm trying not to repeat them.  But, my legs have already sprouted some icky veins.

Wise Woman's Herbal for the Childbearing Year has a long list of natural suggestions for how to prevent and alleviate varicose veins on pages 29 to 31.  Here are the suggestions that I have been or will plan to incorporate into my routine:

• Not standing for long periods of time.
• Not being constipated or pushing hard during a bowel movement.
• Doing leg inversions and other inverted yoga postures
• Brisk walking
• Deep leg massage for 5 minutes daily
• Avoid crossing legs
• Vitamin E supplements
• Nettle leaf infusions

I also feel that regular exercise and routine massage therapy will play a part in reducing variscosities. And, along with not standing for a long period of time, not sitting for a long period of time should be there, too.  I can really tell that when I sit for long periods of time that it restricts the blood flow in my legs.