Whats the best option for dealing with painful varicose veins?

May 10, 2013 3:57 AM

My wife is pregnant with our first child, she is 22 weeks along. She is slim but has quite large legs, which have always had some prominent veins on her calf. At our first meeting with the midwife she told us to get support tights, and keep an eye on it.

On the 20th week she found that her leg was really painful and she was having difficulty walking. We called 111 (the non-emergency number in the UK) and they told us to go see a doctor. The doctor reassured us that it was fine, but we should probably get some support stockings.

My wife made said appointment, while trying to avoid standing too much at work. She's a librarian at a busy sixth form college, so this isn't always possible. She has frequently come home in a lot of pain, and spent the entire evening not really being able to move. It has got worse and worse, and today we made an emergency appointment to see a doctor. He did not have a particularly great manner, precsribed us a cream, but told us he could not do the measurements for support stockings. This was a little infuriating to my wife, who had cancelled her appointment on tuesday on the assumption that she would get them measured today.

The nurse (who was more sympathetic) then did take measurements, but told us that we would need to make a seperate appointment to do a doppler test to prescribe the best tights. We then took these measurements to the chemists, who told us that said measurements were useless, and we needed to take them early in the morning. ARGH.

Essentially we've been told different things by different people, and are pretty confused now. This is a particularly stressful time for us, and having my wife in pain every single day has not made it easier. I'd like to know if there are any medical options people are missing out for us, and what exactly the procedure is to get the damn prescribed control stockings if anyone knows us. This is from a UK perspective. At this point I might be inclined to go private if it would help, although we can't really afford to.

posted by Cannon Fodder to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

Best answer: Fellow UK pregnant person here, though not one with varicose veins. All my antenatal care has been with my midwife so far, and she's been the one who sorts out other stuff like blood tests, prescriptions and scans for me. If I were having problems like this she'd be the first one I'd contact, as I'm sure she'll have come across the problem before. But your wife is probably seeing the midwife less often than I am (I'm 36 weeks).

I'm sure there is no need to go private. Here's the NHS summary page on varicose veins which does say the measurements should be done first thing, because swelling will be less then.

If I were your wife I would 1) take a deep breath; 2) arrange an early-morning appointment as soon as I could with the practice nurse at my GP's practice to get measured for compression stockings; 3) go from there. I have learnt not to be afraid to ask simple questions (like "what exactly do I do now? when can I collect Thing X/Prescription Y? where do I have to take it after that? what else do I need to do?") because I'm not exactly experienced at navigating the NHS.

Best of luck. I'm sure painful legs is the last thing she needs and I'm sure she can find some relief soon.
posted by altolinguistic at 4:27 AM on May 10, 2013

As for the pain: all we're really allowed in pregnancy , absent further advice from a doctor, is paracetamol, but it might help a bit?
posted by altolinguistic at 5:21 AM on May 10, 2013

I am definitely not your doctor, but as a stop-gap measure, perhaps you could look into using that elastic sticky bandage that comes on a roll and mummify the problem areas on her leg-- it's meant for sports injuries, any pharmacy should sell it.
posted by Static Vagabond at 5:21 AM on May 10, 2013

Best answer: Hey, in the interim, while you're waiting for official measurements, just as an FYI, you can absolutely buy non-prescription support stockings. Lots of medical supply places have them. Actually, I wear them, not for varicose veins, but for circulation and to reduce leg fatigue while I'm up on my feet at work. I buy them where I buy my scrubs for work. I'm not in the UK but I'd be very surprised if you couldn't find some manner of support stocking even in a pharmacy/drugstore. They won't be perfectly measured but to be honest, I put most all of my patients in compression stockings and for the most part it's an eyeball it type thing because its not like they make the hose to your exact measurements, they just figure out what standar size will be best for you. If your wife is of an average size or slim, get the "regular" size and then size up or down as needed. The ones you get in the pharmacy over the counter won't be as crazy supportive as the expensive prescribed ones, but I bet they'll make her feel better, at least in the meantime.
posted by takoukla at 6:33 AM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have not been pregnant, but was recently discussing pregnancy support stockings (the non-prescription, non-measured kind) with my good friend who is an OB-GYN, and she said that they are incredibly helpful for many women, and were incredibly helpful for her during her pregnancies.

She said that they helped so much that she actually had more energy overall the days she wore them. So, I agree with takoukla; I'd buy the non-prescription kind today, and have her start wearing those today. That should be a significant help while you await the prescription option.
posted by insectosaurus at 7:12 AM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have been pregnant and not pregnant with a "standing a lot" job and just plain ol department store support panty-hose/stockings kept my legs happy. Also every time she gets a chance tell her to put her feet up. Each break, lunch, and every minute she can when she's home. I got to the point where I put my feet up just about every time I sat down. Pulled the closest empty chair up and dared anyone to say anything. lol Good luck and happy pregnancy!
posted by PJMoore at 8:25 AM on May 10, 2013

Best answer: You can get surprisingly strong support stockings in pretty much any pharmacy or online without any sort of fitting. They work very well and will help tide your wife over until she can get in for the fitting, but I'd be really surprised if the custom ones work significantly better.

Oh just found these and they have a fitting chart which might help. I've used another style in the Scholls brand with great effect as travel compression socks to stop ankle swelling on planes.
posted by wwax at 8:37 AM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

If she's desperate then until she can get properly measured or can get an online purchase delivered, Boots have got their own brand of maternity support tights.
posted by elsietheeel at 9:46 AM on May 10, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks very much for this, this has helped us clarify mixed messages we got from various medical professionals. We do already have support tights, and we did manage to get some non prescription stockings too.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 10:13 AM on May 10, 2013

When I worked in a library, we could occasionally find a tall stool to have at the circulation desk, so that you can sit whenever you don't need to walk somewhere. Being able to sit a lot more at work should help to. Basically she shouldn't have to be just standing anywhere -- just able to walk and show people to books still.
posted by Margalo Epps at 10:44 AM on May 10, 2013

FYI - I've had to wear compression stockings since I had a DVT mumble20mumble years ago. If you can, avoid the full-length stockings--unless you want to wear them with a garter belt--because they fall down and/or bunch up and constrict (which is bad). I've heard other people sing the praises of Jobst (I don't care for them). I prefer Tru-Form. Beware typical over-the-counter brands. They suck-diddly-uck (IME).
posted by plinth at 6:21 AM on May 13, 2013