Varicose veins, increase in pain since WLS 4 mos ago...ideas why?

Hi there! I am 4 months since WLS, and I have lost 58 pounds so far. I have had severe varicose veins for at least 20 years and have had many treatments for them, including two pelvic vein embolization procedures and multiple rounds of sclerotherapy.  I have also had a uterus-only hysterectomy.  My extra weight over the years has exacerbated a strong congenital problem.  

I am distressed because in the past two weeks, my vein pain has increased significantly (especially in my pelvis, bum, upper thighs).  I recognize this pain; I have had this level of pain before.  I am quite certain it is not blood clots.  I had planned to have more vein treatments once I reached goal weight.  For me, the treatments will consist of additional pelvic embolization and two months of injection sessions and painful aftercare. From past experience, i know this would become my main life focus for a few months.  I really do not want to do these treatments now, because I need to focus on my weight loss efforts. But I may need to have the treatments now, because the pain has become hard to manage, even when lying down.  I am not able to take the pain meds that have helped in the past..

Anyhow, I just wondered if anyone might know why the pain would increase after weight loss?  The last time I had this severe level of pain was also after I had lost a great deal of weight.  It is very possible the pain increase is just coincidental to the weight loss, that there is no cause and effect at all, but I wonder.  

Thoughts?

This is pure speculation, but I'm thinking that perhaps the fat surrounding the veins may have been giving them some protection to exposure.  Now that the fat is disintegrating, they are more exposed and you're feeling them more intensely.  It's the only thing I can come up with logically to your surgery having anything to do with them.  You may have encountered the same thing if you had lost weight with plain diet/exercise.

Thanks for speculating with me!  I had wondered something similar:  maybe the fat deposits were creating pressure, or a kind of compression.  Now my skin is loose, and there is less to push against the veins.  Less compression.

Of course, I need to speak with the vein doctors about it.  Last round of treatments, though, they said that there are some things they just do not know about pelvic vein problems, partly because they are unable to see and access all these veins easily, and because the venous system is so complex and valve disease is different from person to person.

:-)

I don't have the same problem as you, but a similar one.  I have venus insufficiency. The valves in my veins are blown out so all the blood flows downward, but cannot come back up so it pools in my feet and calves.  Prior to surgery, my feet and legs were extremely swollen and I had to wear compression stockings and had several vein procedures.  I was also at a high risk for blood clots. Once there was no more they could do I decided maybe if I got some weight off it would help. Hence the weight loss journey. I am happy to say I no longer wear the stockings and my feet and legs do not swell anymore.  The condition is still there, but you would never know it to look at my legs. Although the swelling is better and they look better, they hurt like hell.  I think maybe they were so swollen and numb perhaps before that I didnt feel them.  Now I feel them due to no swelling and my skin being so much thinner.  For me, the pain and tenderness is much perferrable to the tree trunk legs I had developed. I am saying all this to say I do think there is a relationship or at least a correlation with not more pain per say but just feeling it more without all the insulation.  Good luck.

Thanks.  I really appreciated hearing your story and your insights.  I have also hoped that getting weight off would help my problem.  The pain is nasty, though!

Have they suggested the compression stockings? My friend has varicose veins and we are on our feet all day teaching and so she wears them sometimes.  They seem to help her. Just a thought!

Thanks!  I do use them sometimes!  Much of my problem is in my pelvic area, and the compression stockings do not seem to help that as much, although compression pantyhose help somewhat.  It has been hard to find the pantyhose to fit me with my extra weight, but perhaps I can fit into some now.  So I really appreciate that reminder.

I had the same issues -- varicose veins, venous insufficiency, venus reflux from all the valves being blown out. I also had a variety of treatments. By far the most helpful was EVLT. They did the greater saphenous i one leg, and lesser saphenous in the other. Sclerotherapy helped with some really small patches that remained. 

Check out EVLT.

Thanks for your reply, Grim.  You always seem to have helpful information and experience.  I have had EVLT for one vein in the past, but it is not usually an effective, or possible, option for me due to the type of vein problem, which in general originates from my pelvic area (uterus and ovaries).  The saphenous veins in the legs are not affected.  The doctors have to go in through my jugular vein and embolize as many pelvic veins as are currently diseased.  Then they do sclerotherapy on the leg veins which have been overwhelmed over time from the pressure of the pelvic blood flow.  They are unable to access many of the diseased veins between the pelvic veins and the leg veins through any treatment.  Last time, the sclerotherapy injections alone took 6 lengthy sessions.  I have had a partial hysterectomy trying to deal with this problem and other related problems, as there were things in my female parts that formed unusually.  My weight has definitely exacerbated this congenital problem.  It is strange, though, that losing weight has led to more pain.

It is very common for people with vein issues to have increased pain when the fat stores are disappearing.  As Val said, the fat keeps the veins cushioned and protected.

I have a number of vein issues stemming from a whole series of DVTs in my left leg and pelvis when I was 17 (which almost completely cut off circulation out of that leg), and have a lot of sensitivity in my lower left leg without the fat padding.  My DVT episode (the first, and most serious, of three) was in 1979, which was before the clot busting drugs, so I had a lot of tissue and vascular damage while we waited for the heparin to dissolve the clots.  I still have clot remnants throughout both veins.

Lora