[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Skin tone looks much healthier. Veins look less prominent to me, especially on the calf. Though could be due to tan. On the other hand the fact that you have a tan means you are more confident

More photographs from different angle might be helpful.

The veins being invisible on waking is very important as it confirms the efficacy of Inclined Therapy. The longer the veins remain normal in appearance the more elasticity they will recover over time and the more resistant to pressure changes they will become over time.

Be patient Daryl and please keep a journal as your observations with humidity not only fit with the varicose vein therapy and understanding but add weight to my theory for gravity assisted circulation.

Thank you for providing the new photographs and your observations.

Andrew


 

[Denise]

Hi Andrew

I found your website when looking for information on Varicose Veins and being interested in alternative therapies, I was hooked.

I recently went to my GP because I had noticed some bumps on the inside of my right ankle and a vein which contracts and relaxes with my left calf muscle.  I've never been a partciularly large person and have always been fit and exercised well but over the past year I lost 1 stone in weight due to taking up running.

Anyway, my GP was totally dismissive and told me that I was getting old (I'm 38) and they were varicose veins.  He said I could get cosmetic surgery done on them but not under the NHS because they aren't causing me any problems.

I was really upset by his attitude and although the veins aren't that noticeable and I'm not 100% sure they are varicose, I decided to try your IBT.  My husband used bricks to raise the bed to the recommended incline and we have been sleeping like this for a week now. 

My husband doesn't get up in the night to go to the toilet like he usually does, he doesn't snore as much and we both feel really refreshed when we wake up.

With regard to my veins, they are flat when I wake in the morning but become raised when I start moving about.  However, my husband is convinced that the vein on my left calf is starting to flatten slightly. 

I have noticed over the past couple of days that by mid afternoon, the bumps on my ankle and the vein on my calf seem to lessen almost completely and stay that way for the rest of the evening. 

Am I being a bit optimistic that they will disappear completely and that this is a good sign?

Regards.

Denise Bunce

[Denise]

Thanks for the IT instructions Andrew.  As you can probably tell, I'm a bit of a technophobe. []  I've managed to paste my original message to you on here so there's a start!

I've read through the entire thread from Daryl, Karen, Alun, etc and it's all very interesting.

I would like to take part in your study if you want me to.  Next hurdle will be downloading pics on here! []

I have now been sleeping on an inclined bed for 10 nights.

I have a prominent/varicose vein on my left calf over the muscle.  It isn't very big and I noticed it in a lift mirror whilst on holiday about last September.  That's not to say it wasn't there before but I don't tend to go round looking at the back of my legs for fear of walking into something!

I also have some flesh coloured bumps on the inside of my right leg down near my ankle with no visible vein beneath.

I'm 38, I'm very slim (size 6/8, 5' 6" tall) and I do masses of fast walking, running, cycling and horse riding so I'm pretty fit.

Anyway, these lumpy veiny things are knocking my self confidence a bit even though they aren't that noticeable and finding this study has been quite exciting especially hearing about and seeing photos of shrinking veins!

We have a memory foam mattress and my other half has put 2 bricks under the head end one brick under the middle section so we have the right incline.

My hubby is a light sleeper/insomniac.  Since inclining the bed, he has been sleeping like a proverbial log.  Also, he tends to get up most nights to go to the loo and this has stopped.  The best thing is that the snoring has almost stopped completely too so he is a convert already.

As for me, I'm Mrs Impatient and keep getting told off for expecting immediate results with this therapy.  I sleep well but am waking up feeling very refreshed.  My ankle lumps are always well up in the morning when I get up and stay that way until about 4pm when they start to subside a little and virtually disappear towards the end of the day.  The calf vein does the same.  I'm not sure whether this is down to IBT as I never studied them so closely before this!

When I am relaxed, my calf vein virtually disappears.  It is only prominent when I am moving about and it contracts and relaxes with each step.  I'm not sure it is varicose but it does appear to be slightly smaller than it was and ever so slightly flatter.

The little lumpy bits seem to ache since I started IBT.  They don't hurt at all to touch and it might even be something to do with my running as that does make my legs ache from time to time.

My hubby is working away but is home tonight so I will get him to do his David Bailey impersonation and get some photos so you can all laugh at my sparrow legs

A couple of questions for you old hands at IBT;

1.  If you go on holiday and sleep flat for a few nights, will the veins come back?

2.  Do the raised areas flatten and disappear completely over time?

Oh well, enough rambling.  I have 7 guinea pigs to muck out in between rain showers!

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Hi Denise

Glad you found us and welcome to Nakedscientists.

Thank you for adding your observations to this thread. The more people that find us the more the argument for inclining the bed the opposite way around to what the medical profession are currently recommending will “eventually” be realised.

It takes around 4 weeks for the veins to begin to respond to the pressure / tension changes in the venous return blood. Why it takes 4 weeks I have no idea, it is based upon many people who have already used this technique.

To post pictures effectively open a photobucket account or flicker account and upload your photographs to it. Then copy the link it generates for message boards into your post, select preview and if all is ok hit the post button.

Using this method will give better resolution than uploading to the forum.

The link should look like this 

Not sure about the fleshy coloured bumps, maybe someone on the forum can help you with this.

Great that your hubby is open minded too and willing to give this a go. And the snoring stopping will bring about other bonuses no doubt.

When people go on Holliday they often take some strong plastic bed risers with them, these can be purchased from a chemist or even online on ebay and they fit inside each other so don’t take up too much room.

Sleeping flat for a week may well make the veins swell again but over time the veins will become less able to stretch and should resist pressure changes from sleeping flat occasionally.

Andrew

[/quote]

[geordiejulie]

Hi Andrew

Just a quick note.

In November of last year I noticed some spotting in front of my eyes. Being a regular user of glasses since the age of about 12 I went to my optician and had a thorough eye examination and drops put in my eyes so the optician could check my eye health. The optician reported the backs of my eyes as healthy with a slight change of prescription. The spotting he put down to a general degeneration of pieces of gel detaching themselves from the back of the eye. This is still apparent from time to time.
 
What has amazed me today though is that I found my prescription from last November and also the one I had from the year previous to this(2007)
There are improvements to the sight in both eyes! This is down in black and white and quite frankly I'm stunned. I mean when the optician said there were changes I naturally presumed he meant worse, not better!
 

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Hi Alun Hi Julie

Great to hear from you both again.

Your pictures viewed larger in this link: http://i321.photobucket.com/albums/nn365/alun006/POINT-1-IBT.jpg Are amazing, phenomenal improvements in your varicose veins. The skin colour on your legs is far healthier and indicates you could be wearing shorts outdoors. I remember you saying you have done so while visiting the beach.

And let’s not forget that you no longer need to wear those dreadful compressing stockings. I saw a guy down in Brixham who had a pair on only yesterday as we drove through. Definitely not good for ones self esteem.

The large varicose vein on the back of your leg “calf muscle area” has not been mentioned, could we have an updated photograph of it please?

Looking forward very much to when your son starts the inclined therapy too.

The pain that has been constantly present since birth in you knee and now only present occasionally is another pointer to what is happening to the nervous system and adds credence to my extensive work helping people with neurological conditions.

Neuropathic pain does not respond well to medication.
Multiple sclerosis:
Pain in particular often becomes more intense when people sleep flat. I suspect this is pressure related. Yet people with ms that use the Inclined Bed method find that retiring to bed provides a much-welcomed relief from pain.

Andrew

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Hi Andrew

Just a quick note.

In November of last year I noticed some spotting in front of my eyes. Being a regular user of glasses since the age of about 12 I went to my optician and had a thorough eye examination and drops put in my eyes so the optician could check my eye health. The optician reported the backs of my eyes as healthy with a slight change of prescription. The spotting he put down to a general degeneration of pieces of gel detaching themselves from the back of the eye. This is still apparent from time to time.
 
What has amazed me today though is that I found my prescription from last November and also the one I had from the year previous to this(2007)
There are improvements to the sight in both eyes! This is down in black and white and quite frankly I'm stunned. I mean when the optician said there were changes I naturally presumed he meant worse, not better!
 

Julie, thank you so much for posting these observations. Many such reports have been provided from people using Inclined Therapy over the years. One would think that the RNIB charity would welcome such a practical simple application for assisting someone with visual impairment, yet they failed miserably to respond when two ladies unrelated and both registered as severely visually impaired with supposedly irreversible optic nerve damage both tilted their beds around the same time during a pilot study for people with ms. Both ophthalmologists wrote to me within a month of each other asking the same question.  “How can two blocks of wood under a persons bed restore a persons sight?” This is exactly what happened to two totally unrelated people in two different towns over the same time scale.

One would have believed at the time that any charity that collects money for the blind would be compelled to investigate such claims. Wrong, that familiar brick wall appears in so many places. Guess they care more about their £millions than finding out if tilting a bed could help a person see again.

I will post the letters from the RNIB and my letters for all to see when I have time.

Thanks again Julie

All the best

Andrew

[alun006]

Hi Andrew

Actually, interesting enough.

I have not had shorts on when going outside.

I am sure that this will happen more and more in time.

But does bring up the question, that the colour is not down to the sun.

Just wanted you to know this.........

Thanks alun

[Maureen]

Hi Andrew,

I found out about you through your posts on EarthClinic and your link to YouTube. I read all nine pages on this site along with YouTube information.

Last night my husband and I started sleeping on about a 61/2” incline on an 80” long mattress (Queen Size). My main reason is to see if it removes the excess fluid in my ankles. The secondary reason is to see if it will eventually eliminate the pain in my thighs I get from pressure sitting or laying down too long. The pain is a new problem in the past two years. I have self-diagnosed myself as having primary lipeodema (as doctors ignore the problem). Here is where I got my information newbielink:http://www.lymphoedema.org/lsn/lsn070.htm [nonactive]  This may also help newbielink:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipedema [nonactive]  I am not sure if the bed will help with that, maybe you can advise so I don’t have false hopes. I will still incline for the ankles regardless.

I slept well the first night on the incline. I did not have any problems slipping down the bed which I expected. I did not feel any different when I woke up this morning. I took photographs yesterday so I will check-out how to open a Flickr account and upload them. When I see a difference I will take more photos and submit them to this site.

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

More reports from people using Inclined Therapy: http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/incline-bed-therapy.html   

Hi Maureen

Thanks for joining the study. Your condition should respond well based upon others with lymphoedema, admittedly not lipoedema but the principles behind the inclined bed should initiate an increase in urination initially over 4 weeks. Fingers crossed that this will be the case as you are the first person with lipoedema to test this.

Many times I have observed people with acute oedema problems and some times I have mentioned that it would be a good idea to research Inclined Therapy on the Internet to them without saying anything about myself or how it works in the hope that some of these people will find their way to trying this simple therapy.

It causes me grave concern that for the sake of setting up a controlled study and confirming the efficacy once and for all of this common sense approach to many medical conditions, the majority of the medical and nursing profession would rather maintain their ignorance indefinitely. How long will it take for this paradigm to become mainstream and help people with medical conditions that are never going to respond to the accepted models of treatment?

Perhaps only the people ignoring this can give us an answer.

Nevertheless, we must wait and see what happens now that you have tilted your bed.
If you could ask your doctor to take an interest in what you are doing he / she might be able to help monitor your condition more closely and record what happens or at least give us a comment in a few months time.

Initially there may be a shift of fluids down towards the ankles and some increase in swelling as the salty fluids migrate towards the lower limbs, but this should prove temporary while the lymphatic system begins to deal with the excess fluid more efficiently and moves it back into the blood stream where the kidneys will filter it and excrete it into the urine, hence the need to monitor urine output.

Sincerely

Andrew

[Ely]

Hello Andrew! 

While doing research on remedies for varicose veins, I came across your study.  I am intrigued.  I convinced my husband to put bricks under the head of our bed to incline it.  It is currently up 5".  I am 35 years old with three children (ages 10, 8 and 10 months) and I've had varicose veins for about 15 years.  I've already had surgery (VNUS closure procedure)about 3 years ago and I've experienced new varicosities since then.  I'm interested in your non-surgical approach.  I am hoping I see an improvement.  They are so unsightly and they've been aching as of late.  I had my hubby take a pic of the worst offender that extends from the top of my inner left thigh down to my knee.  After he took the picture, we slept inclined for the first time last night. My husband said he kept slipping down!  LOL!  I didn't experience that problem.  It will take some getting used to sleeping like that, but it's worth a try.  I've got nothing to lose, right?  I will keep you informed of how it goes and if I notice any benefits.  I plan on giving it at least 4 weeks and will post pictures of my leg before and after.  Thanks!

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Ely

Thank you for joining us and for sharing your observations and experiences using Inclined Therapy.

Andrew

[Denise]

I've now been sleeping inclined for 22 nights.  The vein on my calf is flat when I wake in the morning so much so that you can't really even see the vein which looks faint and thin.  As soon as I stand up, the vein bulges but instead of it taking until late afternoon to flatten, it seems to flatten again at about 8am and stays that way all day with possibly a small area of very slight bulge (much less than before) when I am exercising and it is under pressure.

On Monday evening, it was flat and I went for a hike.  It took a lot longer of me walking fast and hard on uneven ground with hills in the heat before it started to bulge as before but then when I have cooled down it goes flat again.

I'm hoping eventually that I will wake with it flat and it will stay that way when  I get up and start moving around in the morning. 

Does this sound like IBT is working?

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

I've now been sleeping inclined for 22 nights.  The vein on my calf is flat when I wake in the morning so much so that you can't really even see the vein which looks faint and thin.  As soon as I stand up, the vein bulges but instead of it taking until late afternoon to flatten, it seems to flatten again at about 8am and stays that way all day with possibly a small area of very slight bulge (much less than before) when I am exercising and it is under pressure.

On Monday evening, it was flat and I went for a hike.  It took a lot longer of me walking fast and hard on uneven ground with hills in the heat before it started to bulge as before but then when I have cooled down it goes flat again.

I'm hoping eventually that I will wake with it flat and it will stay that way when  I get up and start moving around in the morning. 

Does this sound like IBT is working?

Indeed it does Denise.

Thank you for updating your progress so far.

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

 Rainbowdaby said...
VERY WELL DONE Andrew!

I have been using his Inclined bed therapy for the last NINE years and I would never go back to sleeping on a flat bed. When I left the oil and gas industry in Aberdeen I had major problems in my spine, sciatica varicous viens, circulating problems etc. etc. I was taking a bucket full of pain killers. That was EIGHT years ago.

Now at 72 years young. I have not taken any drugs (of any description) in the last SEVEN years. I genuinly feel I have taken total responsiblity of my health. No need to buy expensive health insurance. You have saved me a lot of money and given me a lot of long term happiness Andrew.

I am extremely grateful to you. Keep up the good work!

8:17 AM


A reply from my blog.

[carreerslut]

Not sure what this is all about, too tired to read it all, but inclining the bed is NOT a permanent solution to varicose veins.  Elevating the legs above the heart will of course make the journey of blood to the legs more difficult, and the veins will shrink.  Result.  Then what?  Either you leave the legs permanently raised, lose the veins, but also lose the blood supply, leading to excrutiating pain and loss of oxygenation to surrounding tissue ultimately, such that the limb deteriorates and deteriorates until gangrene sets in.... Or you do the obvious thing and put it down again.  Leg saved, varicose veins back. 

Your legs need a blood supply to function.  The weak valves in the  veins are a problem, but cutting off the blood supply to the whole leg is like using a hammer to crack a nut.  The more common approach is to cut off the blood supply to one or two of the most troublesome veins, as long as the blood has somewhere else to go.  Not a great solution, and ultimately if you have a genetic tendency to weak and bulging veins not a permanent one, but is the tradditional method.

Best home remedies?  Keep feet elevated for SHORT periods, definitely not overnight.  Hours of blood supply being cut off is not good.  They used to recommend raising the base of the mattress.  Now it is seen to only make the pain worse as the blood can't reach the feet - particularly if there is PAD.  Do not squash your veins eg. by sitting with legs crossed.  Keep off your feet i.e. don't stand excessively, which causes blood to pool in the legs.  Get your IGm blood levels checked for 'stickiness' - may be you need to take a blood thinner.  Watch out for clots in the veins which cause localised pain, swelling and fever - known as phlebitis.  Or live in outer space where there is not the gravity we have here. 

Please though let your legs have their share of blood, they deserve it as much as the rest of you.

[alun006]

Carreerslut

Thankyou for cheering me up this afternoon.

You may find it helpful to actually read the threads including the description of INCLINED NOT ELEVIATED THERAPY.


I have nothing else to say.....

Over to you Andrew K Fletcher

Thankyou alun

Not sure what this is all about, too tired to read it all, but inclining the bed is NOT a permanent solution to varicose veins.  Elevating the legs above the heart will of course make the journey of blood to the legs more difficult, and the veins will shrink.  Result.  Then what?  Either you leave the legs permanently raised, lose the veins, but also lose the blood supply, leading to excrutiating pain and loss of oxygenation to surrounding tissue ultimately, such that the limb deteriorates and deteriorates until gangrene sets in.... Or you do the obvious thing and put it down again.  Leg saved, varicose veins back. 

Your legs need a blood supply to function.  The weak valves in the  veins are a problem, but cutting off the blood supply to the whole leg is like using a hammer to crack a nut.  The more common approach is to cut off the blood supply to one or two of the most troublesome veins, as long as the blood has somewhere else to go.  Not a great solution, and ultimately if you have a genetic tendency to weak and bulging veins not a permanent one, but is the tradditional method.

Best home remedies?  Keep feet elevated for SHORT periods, definitely not overnight.  Hours of blood supply being cut off is not good.  They used to recommend raising the base of the mattress.  Now it is seen to only make the pain worse as the blood can't reach the feet - particularly if there is PAD.  Do not squash your veins eg. by sitting with legs crossed.  Keep off your feet i.e. don't stand excessively, which causes blood to pool in the legs.  Get your IGm blood levels checked for 'stickiness' - may be you need to take a blood thinner.  Watch out for clots in the veins which cause localised pain, swelling and fever - known as phlebitis.  Or live in outer space where there is not the gravity we have here. 

Please though let your legs have their share of blood, they deserve it as much as the rest of you.

[Denise]

I'm with you, Alun.  What was that all about elevating the legs and your legs dropping off?   We aren't elevating the legs; we are LOWERING them hence INCLINED BED THERAPY and not ELEVATED BED THERAPY!!!!

Anyway, I've been sleeping INCLINED for 4 weeks tomorrow and when I went running tonight according to my hubby who was cycling along behind me, my calf vein was down the whole time until I got home and stopped running when it bulged again.  Some days it stays up longer than others and I have noticed it is worse in really warm weather.  It does stay flat for long periods of time.  It is always flat when I wake in bed in the morning but as soon as I get up it bulges for about an hour or so before lying flat.  Did you find that too?  Will it ultimately lie flat when I get up and stay flat all the time?

[Maureen]

Hi Andrew,

I have slept on the bed for 9 nights so far. I am very happy to say that I do see a slight reduction in fluid in my ankles. It is not something that others would notice, but I do. The fluid I am referring to is actually accumulated from beside the ankle bone on the inside of my legs down to almost the bottom (heel) of my feet. My ankles are more puffy than fluid like although I am pretty sure it is fluid also. I took “After” photographs today although there is not really anything to see….so far! I took a very short video with my digital camera to try and show the fluid as it does not show up too well in photographs. The video is not very clear but you will see the fluid that I move around with my finger.

The temperature has been around 30 degrees Celsius and 62 % humidity for the past week or so. I am mentioning this because you commented on this to Alun in a previous post. It seems to have a bearing on varicose veins; I am not sure if it affects fluid?

I have not been to a doctor for many years so I can not be monitored. No doctor is interested in this problem as they just ignore it because they do not know anything about it. I have been to Naturopathic Doctors over time and I do take care of my health. I will eventually go to a regular doctor someday. I have gone to the walk-in clinics for massage and compression stocking prescriptions only.

I am having problems registering an account with Yahoo so I can register with Flickr. I am hoping the website is having problems and I can get through tomorrow. I should have two accounts with them by now.

I decided to post this while waiting for the photos to be uploaded so you know what is happening.

Maureen

[Maureen]

Hi Andrew,

I created my third account with Yahoo today and it finally took! So I have set-up an account with Flickr and uploaded photos and video. I redid the bad video I took yesterday in better lighting and I was not holding the camera as I was taping myself so it was not too close which made for better video.

I am now trying to figure out how to upload to this site even though you will not see a difference yet, just getting ready for the future  []

If nothing turns up, you will know I had a problem. I will keep trying.

Maureen