Venous Insufficiency

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charles
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed May 09, 2012 2:58 pm

Venous Insufficiency

Post by charles »

In addition to RLS, I have Venous Insufficiency. (lower legs, resulting in light swelling of lower ankles after periods of inactivity . Swelling subsides when again active). My VI specialist is adamant that I have surgery on the small veins that are not performing....... My question is this: I read somewhere on the RLS site, or a RLS publication that this particular surgery could have an adverse effect on RLS by increasing the duration and intensity of RLS . Im looking for the publication that touches on this topic.
Thanks

Rustsmith
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 9:31 pm
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado

Venous Insufficiency

Post by Rustsmith »

Charles, I moved your note into a new discussion thread so that others can find it more easily.

If you will type "venous insufficiency" into the search box at the top of this page, you will find a number of past postings on the topic.

After seeing your note, I did a bit of searching. The RLS Foundation does not have anything on treating venous insufficiency.

The latest (2016) International RLS Study Group's consensus document on treating RLS lists venous insufficiency as a possible aggravating factor in RLS.

There are a couple of NIH (National Institute of Health) publications that looked at RLS and venous insufficiency. They found that some were helped and some did not get any benefit from treatment.

Finally, there are loads of papers on RLS and venous insufficiency, but all of the ones that I saw were written by doctors performing venous treatments and claiming that this helped their patient's RLS. I usually look at publications or websites with a great deal of skepticism when there are financial gains at stake for the author(s).
Steve

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

badnights
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Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:20 pm
Location: Northwest Territories, Canada

Re: Venous Insufficiency

Post by badnights »

I've made a number of past posts on this topic. Search "Varicose" as well as "venous insufficiency" for wider results. I think what it comes down to is, there is a subset of people with WED/RLS whose WED/RLS symptoms come from venous insufficiency, and these symptoms will go away after the surgery. The rest of us, our WED/RLS has a different cause.

So if you have varicose veins, the surgery might actually help you. I've seen nothing indicating it might make your WED/RLS worse. I will try to hunt up the papers I saw on it - but most of them were (as Steve said) written by doctors who run varicose-vein clinics. Not the most objective sources.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

RLSandra
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:39 pm

Re: Venous Insufficiency

Post by RLSandra »

I have had 4 surgeries due to Venous Insufficiency in my legs and my RLS has NOT improved at all. But, the surgeries were not done to help improve my RLS but to help the blood flow in my legs. My Vascuar problems are hereditary, my mother had the same ones and she also had RLS...now I do and unfortunately, all 4 of my children have it in different degrees.

Polar Bear
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: Venous Insufficiency

Post by Polar Bear »

I have had surgery for varicose veins. It was many years ago. I did suffer from ris at the time but it was before I found this site and before I took ris medication. The surgery was not for the benefit of the rls which was just as well as it made no difference one way or the other.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

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