[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

AV varicose veins cannot be caused by defective valves in Alun's and many more cases at least. Because their valves would still be as defective if this were the case and they would not return to normal veins over time. The only logical conclusion is that the pressure inside the vein that was causing them to dilate and twist has been addressed by tilting the bed. This is further backed up by the migration of oedema from the skin and surrounding tissue back into the venous return and excreted in the urine via renal filtration as should be the case in a person unaffected by oedema.

T get a clear picture of my reasoning for tilting a bed, look at the video experiments on Youtube, showing water rising up a 6 mil bore nylon tube to 24 metres, also a scaled down experiment shows this effect clearer. This vertical circulation is driven by introducing a tiny amount of denser minerals that are dissolved in 10 mils of salt solution (in the larger experiment) Less solute will also cause the same circulation!

Here we have a downward flow which contains the salt solution and represents the phloem in the tree but also represents the arterial flow in the human body, the salts added to the arteries at an elevated pint, not by introducing them as in the experiment but by the evaporation from exhaling and evaporative loss from the skin and eyes. It is impossible for evaporation to take place from a fluid that contains solutes like the blood, cerebrospinal fluid, tissue fluid and the fluid that flows onto the surface of the lungs and respiratory tract. Tears from the eyes and sweat from the skin illustrate this concentrating effect, so do nasal and oral mucous / secretions.

In the case of the lungs, salts and sugars are inevitably concentrated by evaporation and the resulting density changes will cause the fluids to migrate back through the lining of the lungs and into the arterial circulation, forcing more dilute fluids to flow onto the surface ready fro the next exhale.

This would release pulses of salts into the arteries and providing we are aligned to the direction of gravity in relation to the predominantly vertically placed veins and arteries, these salts will assist the circulation introducing a positive pulsatile pressure flow in the artery and at the same time cause a dragging effect on all of the molecules in the blood providing a boost for the return flow in the veins. It is this boost venous return flow boost that provides us with an understanding of Starlings law of the heart.

Increased venous return was demonstrated by elevating a vessel containing blood linked to the heart to show how an increase in venous return to the heart produces a greater output from the heart. The body however does not have a vessel connected to it with a length of tubing to increase the venous return. What it does have however is an ability to release solutes down the artery to induce a slight increase in arterial pressure and a compensating decrease in venous pressure that pulls more blood back to the heart caused by the dragging effect the solutes have in the descending arterial flow.

Fir this to be correct, density changes in urine output would need to be related to inclined bed posture, showing a moderate increase in urine density.

But the opposite effect should take place if we sleep horizontally showing a moderate comparative decrease in the density of the solutes found in the urine. A simple hydrometer test provided the evidence for this. But the most important reading was when my wife and I slept head down for several days. Here the urine output went down to a near water density. So the body was either storing the solutes within the blood, muscle, tissue and bones or the uptake from the gut had been interrupted.

I think it was a combination of both, as my wife and I both ended up with diarrhoea, indicative of more fluids passing through the bowls.

Further research revealed that head down sleeping was capable of causing weight loss and was I believe used with the late actor Marlon Brando. However, as mentioned earlier in this thread, head down sleeping is going to cause a lot more problems than weight loss over time. NASA have been proving this for many years and still are repeating these same postural experiments offering large sums of money to youngsters to sleep head down to see what happens to their physiology and with good reason, as head down tilt produces a rapid ageing / degenerative process on normally healthy people.

So to sum up, tilting the bed correctly (IBT) method alters the pressures inside the predominantly vertical vessels by allowing gravity to push and pull on dissolved solutes flowing in the blood, lymph, cerebrospinal fluid and tissue fluids.

Andrew K Fletcher

[Xenity]

Hello Andrew and everyone else at this forum.

Congrats for this great place to inform and share knowledge.

This is my first message here, and I want ot apologize in advance if my english is not good enough, my mother tongue is not english.

I had esclerotherapy done on my legs last Thursday.
I do not have severe varicose veins, but during my pregnancy I had a long flight (16 hours) that cause me a thrombosis in my right calf.
After that I have been soffering some discomfort in the area, specially during hot weather.
The first doctor's diagnose, after checking out my blood circulation, was a grade I of venous insuficiency (sorry I do not know what's the right translation of this).
Just something that could evolve in time to a major problem or bigger varicose veins.
According to his words nothing to really be afraid off. He said they were more an aesthetical problem than a health problem at this point. I decided not to touch them if the esclerotherapy would not guarantee the discomfort get better.

Few months later I went to visit another doc and who told me the best way to prevent them to grow bigger and to get worse was to do esclerotherapy or laser. He said my condition would not get better by doing the esclerotherapy but I would retard the evolution of the decease or even stop it if, eventually, i keep checking on them and eliminate the ones that appear as soon as I notice them. He did not only inject the area I had the discomfort on due to my thrombosys but other areas I had no discomfort at all or noticed any enlargen varicose veins. He kept repeating he had "the expert eye" and could see a problem coming soon.

Well, this was not only expensive but an experience I do not want to repeat if there is a way to avoid it.

Right now I am wearing compression stockings wich I am supposed to wear at least for a week based on his post-esclerotherapy suggestions.

I still have some blueish due to the injectionss and I really want to try IBT as soon as possible but I have a few questions I would like you to answer if possible.

1st. Should I wait until my legs are totally healed from the bruises I have to start IBT?

2nd. Is there any negative side effect or uncompatibility if I use IBT after having some veins esclerosed?

3rd. Doc told me the healing would speed up proportionally to the time I use this compression stockings. If instead wearing them for 7 days I wear them for 20 my legs will recover faster. Is ITB advised to use with any compression garment or not?

I apologize in advance, because I have not read the whole thread and probably many of my questions here have been answered.
As I said on the beggining of my post my english is not as good as I would like it to be and sometimes is kind of difficult to fully understand everything.

Thanks in advance for your time and for your great work.

[daryl l]

hi andrew and everyone else on the forum,

im 34 and last year discovered a varicose vein on my right leg, it protrudes around the underside of my ankle, slightly above my ankle and then there is a gap of about 4" before it starts protruding on the inside of my lower leg (this is around 5" long and finishes just inline with the bottom of my knee) i will obviously try and put pictures up tonight to clarify!!

i am so pleased to have found this forum as i am genuinely petrified of surgery and anything i can do to try and cure this problem will be of great help

just a couple of questions for you if you don't mind?

1,the doctor advised that during the day i wear a compression stocking as i do some lifting with my job on occasion, does this still stand??

2,as of last night i inclined the bed by 6" at the head end and found that on waking up this morning my legs felt heavy and the vein was visible right from the off! could this be because the vein pools at the bottom of my foot  around my ankle and if so can inclining make it worse?

many thanks on your fantastic work and i shall update my progress as best i can 

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Hi Daryl.

Compression stockings are going to shift the pressure problem to other veins, pretty obvious really. Alun who has provided us with some amazing photographs no longer requires compression stockings and enjoys wearing shorts in the summer. The calf muscle VV has returned to a normal looking vein.

By shifting the pressure problem to other areas using a compression stocking, you may experience haemorrhoids and even a bulge in the groin termed as a blow out. Think of squeezing a balloon, as you compress it the rest of the balloon expands.

Initially there will be some changes to the way your veins behave as the circulation improves. It is around 4 weeks that improvements should become more obvious, so don’t be discouraged by the minor changes you are observing in your ankles.

Do not cross your legs when sitting and do not sit with your knees higher than your seat so use an extra cushion to raise your bottom up higher or at least level with your knees.

Also try leaving the compression stockings off when you feel comfortable to do so.

Examine your veins before you get out of bed and while you are laying on the incline, best achieved by asking a partner or parent to take a photograph while you are laying on the incline. See alun's photographs while on the incline.

And please take some photographs of your veins for comparison later.

Do you have and oedema (fluid retention problem)?

How did you find sleeping on the incline, could you notice a significant difference?

Thank you for joining the study.

Andrew

[BenV]

Andrew

I know you have confidence in this, and that you would like to collect more evidence, but it is not appropriate for you to be advising people to ignore their doctor's advice.  Especially considering the tiny amount of information you have been given.

You know very little about this person's situation, so I think it's highly irresponsible of you to tell them to ignore medical advice.

[Xenity]

Andrew,

I think you have missed my previous message. Maybe because Daryl sent a message similar to mine right after I posted.
I am decided to try the inclined bed therapy and some of my questions have been answered already by your post to Daryl. However I'd still like to know if, based on others experience or in your own data it is too soon for me to start after having esclerotherapy done last thursday.

BenV
I cannot speak by others, but regarding myself I consider that I have read enough  or had enough transparent information to decide what to do with my health and life. I appreciate your concern, but in no case Andrew claims to be a doctor and I am taking his advices as something to consider, to think about and, finally, if I go for it, to try on my own risk.
Exactly what I have done by visiting a doctor.
I think we are all responsible to take our own decissions and to be consequent with the results of them.

Someone who conduces an study about IBT with his own resorces and asks no money or any other compensation than a follow up from people gives me much  more trust than some other people out there called "professionals" that gave me his medical advice and charged an enormous amount of money to, somehow, and temporarely, fix the problem that I had and the ones I did not have yet, of course charging me for both. This is exactly what has happened to me recently. I totally feel like a lab rat.

Believe me, if IBT or any other alternative remedy  that I try do not work for me I am not going to claim to be mislead from anyone else but myself. Information is the key and I think, nowadays, we have tons of it to do a good research, contrast opinions and finally decide what to do.

Thanks.

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Hello and welcome to Nakedscientists.
Wish you had found us sooner as you may well have avoided the surgery procedures and it’s inherent risks.
See comments on this video:

Thrombosis has resolved using Inclined therapy and is thought to be a result of the circulation improvements assisting the removal of the blockages. My wife’s mother was the first to report this, asking me where the huge hard mass on her leg that had been with her for years could have gone. Worth monitoring this.
Side effects reported are muscular aches, like you would expect from exercise. Stiff neck with a number of people usually lasting a few days and even a few weeks for some as the spine is stretched due to the traction of sleeping inclined.
The blood that flowed down the closed veins must be re-routed and Inclined therapy can greatly assist this process. Bruising should vanish more quickly using I.T.
I would imagine using a heavy compression stocking after sclerotherapy will assist in the closing of the veins. This is logical, so in order to prevent the improvements in circulation associate with using I.T from undoing the sclerotherapy waiting for the veins to close completely is advisable.
I cannot help feeling concerned that sclerotherapy has been used close to a deep vein thrombosis and not sure that this should have been performed with the knowledge that you have a more serious circulation problem than simply varicose veins. A compression stocking may cause this to worsen, although it is advised to use a graduated compression stocking for two years after developing a blood clot / thrombosis.
Thinking abut how this could work, it might be that the restriction on the veins due to the applied pressure could increase the through-flow of blood, a bit like putting your finger over a hosepipe accelerates the outflow of water. I think this can be achieved and indeed has been achieved using I.T without the compression stocking, though the choices you make are ultimately your own.
You should consult your doctor about I.T and about your thrombosis and be especially vigilant with regards to monitoring your skin appearance following sclerotherapy.
Andrew




Sclerotherapy advice: http://esclerotherapy.com/
Risks of Sclerotherapy
All surgery brings risk including Sclerotherapy. A good candidate for Sclerotherapy is in good overall health and has the psychological stability to deal with the recovery period. There is often some post-op pain or discomfort, temporary bruising and swelling, some restriction on activity, and some work-time lost.
recovery is straightforward when you get a Sclerotherapy if you follow doctor’s orders
Your cosmetic surgeon will give you written instructions for how to care for yourself after a Sclerotherapy. There’ll be such things as:
·   Medications for pain or infection prevention
·   Creams or lotions – to promote healing
·   Special garments – to give support
·   Wound care procedures
·   Bedrest – for a short time only, and not for all Sclerotherapy procedures
·   Gradually increased activity – to gradually rebuild strength and promote circulation without endangering wound healing
There’ll be some follow-up appointments to monitor your Sclerotherapy recovery, so be sure and keep them. With careful self-care and compliance with the plastic surgeon’s advice, most people have a complete Sclerotherapy recovery and a happy outcome.
Post-Op Complications Sometimes Happen
Serious complications after a Sclerotherapy are rare, but if they do happen, you should notify your plastic surgeon immediately. Things to watch for after a Sclerotherapy are:
·   Sudden extra bleeding.
·   A feverish temperature – this can indicate infection.
·   Discoloration around the treated area, especially greenish or yellowish – another sign of infection and a sign that local blood circulation is perhaps impaired
·   Increased pain – this usually accompanies infection
·   Increased numbness, tingling or prickling – some of this may be expected, but notify your cosmetic surgeon if it seems to persist or increase. It could indicate nerve injury.
·   Increased swelling (beyond what may be predicted by your plastic surgeon after your Sclerotherapy procedure) – could be a haematoma forming (a pooling of blood).
A minor haematoma can be drained with a needle, but if it’s left untreated, can lead to infection and even necrosis (death) of the skin.
A major haematoma, if it occurs at all, will show up in the first 12 hours or so post-op and is a medical emergency. You’ll notice pain, swelling and general agitation. Be sure and report this immediately to your plastic surgeon. Hematomas can turn into blood clots, which can then break free and circulate in the blood. This is life-threatening, but rarely happens.

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Andrew

I know you have confidence in this, and that you would like to collect more evidence, but it is not appropriate for you to be advising people to ignore their doctor's advice.  Especially considering the tiny amount of information you have been given.

You know very little about this person's situation, so I think it's highly irresponsible of you to tell them to ignore medical advice.

Ben, not advising people to ignore their doctors advice, just advising that Daryl may be able to avoid using a support stocking when the effects of Inclined Therapy become apparent as they did with Alun, who no longer requires the use of a support / compression stocking.
See the MSRC report titled Raised Bed Survey to see that 6 people out of ten people with ms reported improvements in varicose veins and oedema. It is also worth remembering that not all people with ms have varicose veins and indeed not all of the ten people interviewed had varicose veins but all that did had experienced huge improvements. And some of the partners of the participants who shared the same inclined sleep experienced improvements in varicose veins.
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=3886.25

[Xenity]

Thanks Andrew for your reply.

I think I will make sure I am fully recovered from my esclerotherapy prior to any attempt to IBT for the moment.
My doc told me to go back on fall to check the evolution on my legs and see if another sclerotherapy session is needed.
As I want to avoid further esclerotherapy sessions it might be the right moment to start IBT if everything is fine.

Will keep you posted if anything changes.

Thanks again for your help.

[daryl l]

hi andrew thanks for the reply,
the first night on the incline seemed slightly strange, after about twenty minutes i got some tingling in my legs and then must of nodded of! and on waking this morning i found my legs slightly heavier than normal which eased after ten minutes of walking about, the only thing to note was that both i and my girlfriend found we had slid down the bed in the night  []

as for the stocking, i will cease wearing it as of today and see how it goes!!

this is my ankle

and this is of the side of my leg,not the biggest of vv's but its bashing my confidence no end

also i don't suffer from any kind of oedema, hope this helps and i shall keep updating as and when
thanks again

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Thanks for the photographs.

Not as bad as I anticipated they might be, so we should expect significant improvements in 4 weeks as was the case with my wife and a nurse who were the first to try it many years ago now.

To prevent slipping put a quilt / duvet / blanket under the bottom sheet and tuck it under the mattress. The additional friction should help a lot. Also after a while you grow accustomed to the slope.

Andrew

[free spirit just soul]

Hi Andrew,

I have serious varicose veins. I would love to participate in your study!! Are you still looking for participants?  I also have some motor nerve damage as evidenced by Nerve Conduction Studies and EMG's.  I would be willing to track that data as well, since you mention the potential MS implications.  Where do I sign up?

Julia

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Hi Julia
The study is informal and aimed at providing strong anecdotal evidence supported preferably with photographic evidence. This thread contains most of the information you require. The intervention is simply to avoid sleeping flat as per the picture on the start of this thread.

This study should mirror two previous pilot studies, although this study is aimed at varicose veins and oedema, your input with regards to your neurological problems and possible changes would be most welcome and of considerable interest to myself and others using this forum.

Conducted under the watchful eyes of doctors and scientists we may even force a controlled study aimed at disproving or proving once and for all the predictable improvements in varicose veins and oedmea. But this would shake the foundations of the medical establishment so will be resisted for now at least.

Andrew

[Bondatan]

Andrew,

I've read most posts about IBT this afternoon. Very interesting.

Want to let you know that I suffered from cluster headaches for about 30 years. Plus: chronic sinusitus, insomnia, swollen veins on my temples, cold hands & feet.

About 4 years ago I read about sleeping on an inclined bed and started doing so. Also practiced a lot of chi kung to improve circulation.

All problems are over now. Haven't had cluster headache for more than 3 years now and I'm absolutely sure it won't return. Circulation is great, sleep deep, hands & feet warm, sinuses healthy, head clear. Will certainly continue to sleep this way.

Do you know where I can find more info on IBT & Parkinson's disease (for a friend)?

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Andrew,

I've read most posts about IBT this afternoon. Very interesting.

Want to let you know that I suffered from cluster headaches for about 30 years. Plus: chronic sinusitus, insomnia, swollen veins on my temples, cold hands & feet.

About 4 years ago I read about sleeping on an inclined bed and started doing so. Also practiced a lot of chi kung to improve circulation.

All problems are over now. Haven't had cluster headache for more than 3 years now and I'm absolutely sure it won't return. Circulation is great, sleep deep, hands & feet warm, sinuses healthy, head clear. Will certainly continue to sleep this way.

Do you know where I can find more info on IBT & Parkinson's disease (for a friend)?

Iwrote this a while back to see if some interest in conducting a formal study would come of it. Difficult being a one man band sometimes but soldier on as best as I can.

 INCLINED BED THERAPY

Google search terms you will find interesting. It would appear that scientists are waking up to the fact that there is something about flat bed rest that does not bode well for people with Parkinson's disease if indeed it is a disease at all. "Sleep Deprivation" parkinson's

For People With Parkinson’s Disease.   

A person with Parkinson’s experiences many sleep related problems. Often waking paralysed following what should have been a restful nights sleep. On waking a partner or carer will help the person suffering from morning paralysis to sit up. Now their posture has been altered to make use of gravity’s beneficial influence on the circulation and some recovery is achieved. Then the legs are moved to the edge of the bed and the feet placed on the floor. Again additional recovery from paralysis is observed. Eventually when helped to stand the person with PD becomes able to move around the home and throughout the day will become more normal in function and in some cases you would hardly realise they have PD.
Only to return to the same repetitive degenerating sleeping posture and each night the PD symptoms gradually deteriorate the person’s ability to function normally.

Yet when the bed is elevated at the head end by 6-8 inches to produce a five degree to the horizontal angle, Parkinson’s Disease is observed to improve each morning and Morning Paralysis ceases to become a problem.

We need to test this therapy on a group of who have Parkinson’s Disease! My question is: Are you willing to think outside of the box and test this simple intervention?

Andrew K Fletcher   United Kingdom

Tel: +441803524117

All I have in writing, though had some interesting telephone conversations from several people trying this method, all positive.

Study update:     HOPE

We are still soldiering on with the Gravity theory and I personally want to convey some hope to all involved with the inclined bed.


Some 6 weeks ago I was asked to go to the home of an elderly couple in Torquay.
On arrival, I was introduced to a man who has advanced Parkinson's Disease. He was unable to hold a conversation, suffered from Bowel and Bladder incontinence, and had severe swelling of the abdomen and lower limbs, caused by fluid retention. His face covered in red blotches and carrying a mask of pain. He was housebound and unable to walk with out assistance and support, using a stair lift to reach the upper floor.

Life for this couple is a continual 24/7 struggle.

Some 5 years previous they had read about my work and were approached by a friend whom I was helping with the inclined bed and advised to give it a try at least. The lady said to me that she did not think it applied to everyone and thought that it was too simple an idea to even consider. 5 years later she kneeled down and prayed for a sign. On a Sunday Morning she read the article in the Sunday Independent Newspaper relating to John Caan's continued recovery from a spinal cord injury while using the inclined bed.
Strangely enough she said that she had read all of the news items, and there are many, but still thought at the time that it still did not apply to them-selves?

The very next day I received an amazing call to say that following the best nights sleep she could remember she turned to face her husband and saw that his face had completely altered, there was no pain and the mask of Parkinson's had left. When her husband awakened they had a conversation for the first time in almost a year.

4 weeks later another equally amazing call revealed that her husband had begun to walk in the home and that he had lost two and a half stones of fluid from his body. He now had toes on his feet, which were previously covered by swollen skin, which had flowed out over his feet.

5 weeks yet another amazing call. This time she was talking to her neighbour outside of her home when her husband walked by and continued up the hill with a near normal walking action instead of the Parkinson's Shuffling movement normally observed.

6 weeks I went without appointment to their home to see the changes for myself. I rang the doorbell and was greeted by a man whom six weeks ago could not talk. I asked him "How are you"? and he replied; "much better now thank you, would you like to talk to my wife, I'll just give her a call". I then stood with disbelief as I watched him walk up the stairs with ease, ironically by the side of his stair lift and call his wife's name, he then turned around and walked down the stairs in an uninterrupted normal pace. His approaching figure transformed from the swollen motionless figure of 6 weeks previous.

His medication has now been reduced to half, because we believe that some side effects of totally out of character actions could have been caused by an overdose of drugs. This had the desired effect and worked within a few days, bringing control back with it.

He now wanders off from time to time to see his grandson playing football at the local school, he visits friends and family much to the amazement of everyone who knows him.

No matter how many times I hear or witness these unfolding stories they never cease to amaze and inspire me to continue with this important discovery. And I sincerely hope that this letter to you all will help in someway to lift the shroud of gloom and evil that surrounds the world today.

Your friend across the pond


Andrew K Fletcher

[daryl l]

just a quick update,

i have been trying ibt for over 5 weeks now, i must say i do seem to sleep rather well and wake up feeling quite refreshed!! these are the plus sides,

as for my varicose veins they have not improved in the slightest, i would say that if anything it has slightly worsened, i haven't been wearing a support stocking since the day i started ibt nor have i been straining, my only exorcise has been cycling and the odd game of tennis

i would love to hear from people who have noticed any significant changes after a 4 or 5 week period, im not expecting miracles and will continue with ibt, but i am slightly concerned that it may cause more harm than good and would like some reassurance please

i hope this post doesn't seem too negative thats not the intention

[alun006]

Hi Daryl

Don't be disappointed with your results, because you have been on i.b.t for just 4-5 weeks.

I had a periods of thinking that nothing was happening, but they will sometimes look different from time to time.

Maybe whot you have witnessed is blood actually improving which may cause your veins to look blowted temperally, i observed this from time to time. And the improvement came afterwards.

Please make sure you drink more, as this will help alot.......

I have now eradicated the knee pains that i have had for many years before i.b.t and my veins are improving as the months go by.

Andrew has taught me to think laterally & it has changed my life - more than just being on the bed as well.

I will make the effort to add some new images, i have just had a horse bite to deal with on my leg. But when it heals i will be ready to release them.

I am so thankful to Andrew for not only sharing his theory, but giving me a understanding of how the theory works.

He will always have my support..
alun004

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Hi Daryl, thank you for the update.

You say you have not been wearing the support stocking. And there is a slight increase in the varicose veins. You took some photographs, can you take some more from the same angle and same lighting? How were the veins responding to the compression stocking prior to putting the bed on an angle?

When using Inclined therapy, before getting out of bed in the morning, can you have someone take a photograph of the veins as Alun did? This should show normal looking veins and this is how the bed works, the longer the veins are kept deflated, the more the eleasticity of the vein recovers it's ability to resist pressure changes. A bit like stretching a ligament needs resting in order to tighten back up.

Your post is not negative, you are stating your observations and this is fine as we all need to learn. The best way to examine the veins is to compare photographs taken at the same time of day before and after.

Andrew

[daryl l]

hey alun and andrew thanks for the replies,

andrew as for the compression stocking,
 i don't feel it really did a hell of a lot except hold the veins in as opposed to having them out in the open and maybe enlargening whilst im lifting or doing some decent excercize, this is probably just a myth i have had installed in me by my doctor who told me to wear one in the first place at all times!!
tbh as soon as i took the stocking off the vein would simply stick out or inflate just as before and as i don't seem to get much pain from it except in winter, i haven't noticed much if any difference
 my obvious fear is that when i do have to lift heavy objects is that all the good ibt is doing i may simply be putting so much pressure on my leg that is never going to get better,

as for the vein itself, it looks different every day especially depending on the weather, sometimes not too bad and when its hot and humid it can look awful!
it also seems to have moved slightly further down my leg by approx an inch,
i think my problem is that the varicose vein starts on my ankle then seems to disappear to nothing up my leg then reappear until it stops just below the knee, almost as if its just a matter of time before the section with no protrusion says enoughs enough and pops all the way to my ankle,

i shall put photos up asap my camera is on charge as i write this

thanks again

[daryl l]

as promised (week 5)
firstly my ankle, i have noticed that the little red veins surrounding the bulges seem to have spread apart from that no real change as yet

now my leg, i know it seems hard to see but its actually worse than the photo shows, you can just about make out where the bulging has moved slightly further down the leg and almost looks to be returning upwards in a "V" shape  i can take pics from other angles if it helps? and if someone can teach me how to highlight certain areas that would be great

lastly i will get my girlfriend to take a pic first thing in the morning, i do notice that first thing if i look at my leg before i get up that the veins are totally flat and invisible!!
hope this is a good sign??