Your veins can recover
I had covid back in early 2022 and then a few months after I recovered from the initial infection, my veins started misbehaving - horrible stinging type pains along different veins, they’d change colour from normal blue to deep purple to a really bright cyan blue and then they’d start bulging out if I so much as let my arms hang at my sides or if I got slightly warm. I went to the doctors and they fobbed me off and said I was just a vascular person and there was nothing wrong with my veins 🤦🏻♀️ it was only after extensive research of my own that I made the connection between long covid and my veins, from seeing thousands of other peoples post experiencing the same symptoms as me.
It was a long journey but I can safely say I think I’ve recovered from that particular symptom, my veins no long hurt or change colour and they only bulge out if I’m very hot or working out, which is completely normal.
Things I did differently that may have helped to speed up my recovery are below, I have no idea if any of these things actually did help or if I would have recovered anyway, but I thought I’d list them below for anybody else at their wits end from this particular symptom.
As always, please check in with your doctor if you have any concerns and don’t try something if you think it could hurt you / if you have any negative side effects from any of these things, obviously stop doing it!!
1) dry body brushing - I bought a hand held dry body brush and started using it brushing up my arms (where most of the vein issues seemed to be) towards my heart. This is supposed to be good for inflammation / lymphatic drainage.
2) oily fish - I started having mackerel, salmon and tuna regularly. Fish oils are incredibly good at helping the body to heal, their benefits are almost miraculous. Before I started trying to heal my veins, I had no fish in my diet whatsoever, so adding in this step really made a massive difference to my well-being. I started feeling better almost instantly it felt.
3) as well as the oily fish, I started taking an extra dose of omega in a supplement as this is supposedly good for helping the elasticity of veins
4) Coenzyme 10 - this was another great find, it helped me feel a lot better and COQ10 is supposed to be beneficial for circulation
5) electrolyte sports drinks - I started having one each day. Obviously these aren’t very good for you due to the sugar content and additives but it seemed to help my veins
6) high dose vitamin C with added bioflavonoids which I think helped my body to recover from any lingering viral particles that may have been causing damage to my veins. I think the bioflavonoids were the extra ingredient needed!
7) high dose vitamin D - I also think this helped my immune system to repair my body
8) magnesium flakes and Epsom salts dissolved in my bath water - the body can absorb magnesium transdermally and I think this was also beneficial
9) regular cardiovascular exercise to help my bloody to pump more efficiently - even a brisk walk counts!
10) short bursts of cold water therapy - I’d stand under a cold shower for about a minute to help “shock” my system, I didn’t do this as much as is recommended by cold water lovers, as it was just a bit too much for me and I’m a wimp! But it did help a bit
I thought I’d put all this into one post to let other people know what they could try if they’re experiencing vein issues post covid.