Weight-related struggles are extremely common. For many, a focused discipline of both adjusting your diet and increasing exercise is enough to help you hit your weight goals. However, for those who struggle with the symptoms of a vein condition, losing weight is extremely difficult. For that reason, one of the most common questions patients have is whether or not vein treatment will help them finally lose weight.
For people wanting to lose weight, exercise is an important part of that journey. But the presence of a vein condition brings symptoms that make any kind of activity difficult if not impossible to endure. Symptoms like swollen legs, painful and aching legs, and constant fatigue can sabotage a person's goals of adopting healthier activity into their lifestyle. Frequently, they get demoralized at their apparent lack of motivation and exhaustion which is, in fact, a byproduct of inflammation from a vein condition.
In short, vein treatments will alleviate those symptoms, giving a person the energy and ability to get moving again.
Take a look at the video below, and read on as I answer this question in more detail.
Why Does a Vein Condition Cause Weight Gain?
A presence of a vein condition causes vein reflux - stagnant blood flow in the legs which causes blood to pool in the leg area. This poor circulation then leads to severe inflammation in the entire body, which leads to fatigue. This fatigue is really the core reason why so many people who suffer from a vein condition also suffer from gradual weight gain. The fatigue people experience with a vein condition gets worse and will eventually cause weight gain.
Sometimes it happens because their legs ache. Inflammation causes pain, achiness, and swelling in the lower legs, feet, and ankles. To relieve these symptoms, people spend their evenings sitting in a recliner with their legs elevated to try and find relief.
Sometimes it is because of exhaustion and fatigue. They simply don't have the energy to do the things they want to. Once they sit down for the evening, they're done. For some, they are so fatigued by the time they see me that they have ceased from any sort of activity from the time they get home from work to the time they go to bed.
Regardless of the reason, the result is that exercise seems impossible and people feel demoralized and depressed, unable to engage in family activities, play with children or grandchildren, much less just go for a walk. They want to be healthy but feel like they don't have the willpower, often blaming themselves when it's actually a treatable vein condition.
The good news is that patients notice that their legs start feeling better within a few days after the first treatment. Energy levels go up within the first few weeks. After treatment, inflammation in the body is reduced, and as a result, people feel better, their brain fog goes away and they have a better emotional state.
I always recommend that people wait until treatments start to begin if they are struggling with any type of exercise program. Once inflammation is reduced, they'll have much better success.
How much weight do people typically gain from a vein condition?
The amount of weight gain can really vary from person to person. What I can say is that, from my experience and research, it seems that people who suffer from a vein condition tend to gain around 10-15 pounds per year when suffering from a vein condition, if left untreated.
One particular testimony from one of my patients comes to mind when I think of this subject. I had a patient who would come home from work and sit for seven hours before they went to bed at night. This fatigue and inactivity caused weight gain over time, but after a vein treatment procedure, he was successfully able to then lose over 80 pounds!
Many of my patients see an immediate improvement in their symptoms, including fatigue, after their first treatment. This checklist of the invisible signs of a vein condition can help you determine if you have a vein condition. An evaluation with a vein specialist or a free vein screening will then further clarify whether or not a vein condition is present.
