Symptoms

Venous symptoms may be the manifestation of a deeper problem known as venous reflux, and they can only deteriorate if left untreated.

Venous symptoms usually get worse at night, during the menstrual period, in wamer wheather, and after standing or sitting for hours on end. On the other hand, they improve radically with aerobic exercise, compression stockings, and raising the legs during the day. The most frequent venous symptoms are:

• Edema (swelling) - generally around the ankles and lower part of the legs
• Pain - as a burning sensation, heaviness, or opression
• Cramps - can wake the patient up at night
• Tired legs
• Itching
• Tenderness of the skin on the legs
• Unsightly veins
• Spider veins - small, dilated venous capilaries that resemble spider webs
• Blue veins - also known as reticular veins, they are the feeders and cause of the smaller crimson spider veins, and of leg pain
• Bulging veins - simply known as varicose veins, they originate in deeper veins