Varicose veins are enlarged and often prominent, bluish and bulging vessels that have been stretched and weakened, such that blood accumulates in them rather than flowing back to the heart. They can often result in dull, aching, cramps and a sensation of heaviness in the legs.
Varicose Veins in Pregnancy
In pregnancy, varicose veins are caused by a combination of:
Hormones that relax the vessel walls and increase blood volume
Pressure of the growing uterus, impairing the return of venous blood to the heart from the lower body
Inherited weakness of veins and their valves
Inactivity and poor leg muscle tone
Prolonged periods of sitting or standing
Excess weight gain and obesity
Simple Tricks and Tips
Avoid strong spices such as cayenne, mustard, black pepper, hot sauces and curries, coffee (even decaffeinated), alcohol, smoking, and sweet clover tea, as they can aggravate the problem.
While sitting or lying in a comfortable quiet place, take some slow deep abdominal breaths until your mind is quiet. Then visualize your blood flowing easily through your veins in your legs, back up to your heart, without any resistance. Imagine your varicose veins getting smaller and smaller, then eventually resolving. See yourself as healthy and strong. This can be easily added to your regular meditation practice.
A daily 5 minute leg massage, working hard, deep and up with the flow of the veins does wonders for prevention. But, NEVER massage the leg if you have significant varicosities, or you notice an area of hardness, heat, redness or swelling.
Body Positioning
Avoid prolonged periods of standing still or sitting, especially with your legs crossed. If you need to be sitting for a long time, take frequent breaks every hour to get up and walk around, squat, rotate your feet, point and flex your toes.
If you need to be sitting or on your feet for awhile, periodically rest with your legs elevated above the level of your chest, while keeping your back straight. Or, lie down on your side at least for 30 minutes twice a day.
Don’t sit on chairs that press into the backs of your thighs. Make sure your feet can be flat on the floor, a stool or a book, with your thighs completely free while sitting.
Rise slowly from a lying down or sitting position to reduce the possibility of feeling lightheaded on standing.
Raise the end of your bed 6-8 inches with bricks or a block of wood to create a slight elevation and help drain your lower body of excess blood volume when you sleep. Or, you can simply put a few firm pillows under your feet.
Exercise regularly for 30 minutes 5 days per week. Brisk walking, swimming, dancing and prenatal yoga are great ways to develop healthy muscle tone in your legs and keep the blood circulating, in addition to helping you maintain a normal weight. Inverted yoga postures such as bridge, legs up the wall, headstand, and shoulder stand modified for pregnancy are also helpful in relieving pressure on the lower veins. You can use the wall for support. Props like yoga blankets, bolsters or blocks can be used to make the postures more accessible, passive, comfortable and restorative.
Using props to elevate your hips while in bridge or legs up the wall is especially helpful for vulvar varicosities. Legs up the wall or Viparita Karini is done lying down flat on your back with your buttocks all the way to the wall, or elevated on a folded yoga blanket, bolster or block. Let your legs rest straight up the wall for 10-20 minutes. It is also a great opportunity for practicing quiet meditation, focusing on slow deep breathing and inner gazing between your eyebrows. A lavender infused eye pillow adds to the yummy relaxation effect.
Clothing Considerations
Wear loose clothing, and avoid restrictive pants and knee highs that go part way up the leg and constrict the flow of blood back to the upper body. Wear low heeled or flat comfortable shoes.
Each day, apply maternity supportive compression leggings or stockings before getting out of bed in the morning and after elevating your legs a bit. Women with significant varicosities need to wear open-toed porous stockings which supply at least 30 mmHg and up to 50 mmHg of graduated pressure. Start using them early in pregnancy before the problem worsens, and continue through 6 weeks postpartum. Some stockings come with gloves to help put them on. If not, a little cornstarch on the legs and dishwashing gloves may help slide them on.
Diet
Every day eat a variety of foods that nourish the blood vessels such as:
Dark leafy greens
Kelp
Beets
Okra
Citrus fruits
Strawberries and, blackberries
Apricots
Black currants
Plums and prunes
Grapes
Cherries
Cantaloupe
Broccoli
Asparagus
Avocado
Alfalfa sprouts
Tomatoes
Green peppers
Carrots
Squash
Sweet potatoes
Fresh parsley
Buckwheat
Oats, wheat germ, quinoa, and other whole grains
Nuts
Brewers or nutritional yeast
Eggs
Fish
Organ meats.
Use lots of fresh garlic, onions, ginger and turmeric in your cooking.
Avoid excessive weight gain and constipation, as this will aggravate varicosities. Eat plenty of:
Fresh organic fruits and vegetables
Whole grains
Beans, organic tofu and tempeh
Nuts and nut butters
Seeds and ground seed products like tahini and tehina
Organic chicken or turkey, beef, lamb, or wild game
Organic eggs
Fresh organic whole raw dairy—ideally goat or sheep
Fish tested free of pollutants or from non-polluted waters.
Use organic cold expeller pressed extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil or butter (ideally goat) for cooking and baking.
Drink at least 64 ounces of filtered, spring or well water, or herbal tea daily between meals (at least 20-30 minutes before or 2 hours after eating). Avoid highly processed and refined white flour products, foods that are high in sugar, refined vegetable oils, or partially hydrogenated fat and chemicals. Limit excess sodium, by simply salting to taste and avoiding processed foods that are high in sodium additives.
Eat a bulb of fresh garlic daily. You can make it delicious by roasting or sautéing the whole cloves in olive oil, salt, pepper and a dash of parsley. If you prefer raw garlic, eat 2 cloves (not full bulbs!) twice daily crushed into your salad or cut and swallow as a pill and continue until a week after you are all better.
A great way to incorporate olive oil and raw garlic into your daily foods is to peel and soak a crushed bulb in 1 cup of cold, expeller-pressed, extra virgin olive oil, and let sit for a couple of days. The final product can be used on salads, veggies, beans, sprouted whole grain breads and pastas. Another option is to take New Chapter’s Garlicforce (a capsule of supercritical fresh organic garlic), 1-2 capsules daily as directed with 8 ounces of water per capsule.
Herbs and Supplements
Most of the supplements and herbal remedies I recommend are available on my customized online holistic apothecary. Find the best supplements that have gone through my thorough screening process there. Look in the category for varicose veins or search them individually. My online dispensary is a convenient way for you to purchase my hand-picked, professional-grade, whole food supplements and other natural health products. Ordering is simple, and the products will be shipped directly to your home or work within a few days.
If you are interested in herbs, take standardized extract of Horsechestnut, or in higher doses for more severe cases, like Venistat and use as directed on the bottle. If you are not pregnant and otherwise healthy, take Butcher’s Broom as directed on the bottle.
Nettle and Oatstraw are herbs known to strengthen the vascular system, lessen varicosities and prevent them from feeling uncomfortable and swollen. Drink 1-4 cups daily of the organic combination in an infusion, according to how severe and extensive your varicosities are. To make your own infusion:
Soak a generous handful of dried Nettle leaf and a large pinch of Oatstraw in 1 quart boiling water for 2 hours.
Strain to a canning jar.
Add a dash of honey, lemon or lime juice, or fresh mint leaves to taste.
Drink hot or cold.
Alternate the following herbal external applications 2-3 times daily. Some find cold or frozen compresses more helpful than warm or room temperature as it causes constriction of the blood vessels. Drench a washcloth or towel in Witch hazel and wrap the affected areas for 20 minutes, and alternate with a cloth or towel soaked in raw apple cider vinegar. If you prefer the frozen option you can make several in advance and store them in the freezer.
You can add to your compresses Comfrey, Yarrow, Oak bark, Calendula, Don quai, Bayberry bark, and/or Mullein to help relieve aching and swelling, and tighten the distended veins. There are wonderful herbal combination salves for varicose veins and hemorrhoids in many health food stores and holistic apothecaries. Experiment with one at a time or in combination, and use what works best for you.
Take the homeopathic remedy Hamamelis 30 c three times per day.
Make sure you are taking your daily supplements including whole food prenatal multivitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids, to ensure that you are getting all the nourishment you need that can not be derived by healthy diet alone. In addition, each day take:
1000-1500 mg of vitamin C with bioflavonoids until 36 weeks pregnant, then reduce to 500 mg
500 mg Rutin 1-2 times per day
Whole food B-complex, or 50 mg of vitamin B6 1-2 times per day
500 mg of Evening primrose, Borage, Black current or Flaxseed oil after the first trimester
Kelp powder or capsules as directed on the container if you do not have hyperthyroidism or a sensitivity to iodine
200-600 IU of vitamin E until the seventh month if you are otherwise healthy, then taper to 400 IU
400 mg Magnesium
For Varicose Veins in the Vulva (Genital Area)
Wear cool packs in your underwear as tolerated.
Support the area with a specialized supportive garment such as the belly band for vulvar varicosities. For added relief, place 2 frozen sanitary pads saturated with Witch hazel held in place with the support band. You can add any of the above mentioned herbs to your compress, make up a bunch and store them in the freezer.
At work, take frequent rest periods to sit with your buttocks on a pillow and your hips elevated, or lie on your back against the wall, and use the wall to elevate your legs and lower back as you walk your legs up it.
When home get out your yoga mat. Do modified bridge alternating with legs up the wall, supporting your sacrum on a yoga block 10 minutes twice a day. While doing bridge, practice strengthening your pelvic floor muscles using your mula bandha, or root lock, which is similar to kegel exercises but much more comprehensive and effective. To do this, place another yoga block between your thighs. While inhaling, tilt your pelvis up toward your face as you slowly squeeze the block and draw your entire pelvic floor upward and inward, starting from its center. Hold as long as is comfortable, then release and return to resting your sacrum on the block as you exhale. Let the breathing be smooth, relaxed and deep as you do this. It takes practice but you will get it. Start with 25 twice per day, and work up to 50 twice per day. You will also notice other benefits like easier birthing, reduced tearing, less urinary incontenence, better sex, improved exercise performance and yoga practice, and if done on a deeper level, enhanced overall well-being.
Do lively and energetic pelvic tilts for 5 minutes once or twice a day. Get on your yoga mat, and in the middle, lay a folded yoga blanket for extra knee padding. Tilt your pelvis up and down or forward and backward like when you do yoga cat and cow movements. But, focus more on the pelvis. It is very helpful to coordinate the movements with your breathing, such as inhaling when you do cow, exhaling when you do cat, or vise versa. Gradually make the movements stronger and faster, using your core by drawing your belly inward, corseting your ribs, and isometrically pulling your front pelvic bone towards your breast bone to protect your back. You can also circle your hips in both directions and do figure eights. If not at home, you can do them on lying on a rug, or while standing, by tilting your pelvis back and forth in the same way. Include some belly dancing like figure eight movements of your pelvis and have fun with it. Some good dance music can help you get into the rhythm!
When pushing during childbirth, make sure to be on hands and knees, kneeling or side lying. Avoid squatting to lessen pressure on veins.
For all types of varicose veins, consider consulting a professional homeopath or acupuncturist skilled in traditional Chinese medicine, osteopathic or chiropractic care, especially if none of the above suggestions help and your problem is chronic.
Contact your provider or schedule a consultation with me if nothing seems to work or your leg has an area of hardness, heat, pain, redness, and/or swelling, as this could indicate inflammation or a clot formation.
For further inspiration and optimal health during pregnancy, birthing and postpartum, please make sure to take my online Love Your Birth course, so you can ROCK your journey wherever and however you plan to give birth. In adjunct, for additional helpful and uplifting information, insights and tips you can read my Natural Birth Secrets book.
Suffering with low back or pelvic discomfort? Having common pregnancy aches and pains and need some additional support? Try Bellefit’s prenatal support wear. You can check them out and purchase here. They also sell excellent postpartum support garments.
I have a holistic approach to life, including healing after pregnancy and birthing. Nothing replaces abdominal toning and exercise for restoring muscle strength and tone - which I encourage for all mamas as soon as they feel up to it postpartum. Nothing replaces touch, slow deep abdominal breathing, and a 'love your postpartum body' perspective that I promote. But I have found many mamas simply feel comforted by this support garment, especially early postpartum and temporarily as needed....to be used without forfeiting abdominal toning and strengthening exercise, breathing well and touch.
I have found Bellefit supportive garments to help like they use belly binding around the world such as in Indonesia. They do aid in early postpartum healing and provide support many mamas feel comforted by. I deal with human beings and the reality is many postpartum mom's struggle with body image, feel frustrated that getting back to themselves takes longer than expected. Being into holistic health and healing includes being sensitive to real human struggles - the mind, body, heart and soul of each person and their unique situation. Having helped countless women with these issues after having a baby as a midwife, I have found many still love that binding and feel better with this support, and ability to fit into their pre-pregnancy clothes comfortably and sooner than they would if they went through a C-section or natural childbirth recovery without it - especially when they have to dress up and fit into a certain favorite outfit for a special occasion or wedding not long after having a baby.
For more info on the Bellefit girdle, check out my blog about it here. Have a Great Postpartum Recovery (with a little help from Bellefit)!