Why Varicose Veins Hurt More at Night?
Sleep is a state of mind and body that occurs naturally. In this state, the human body does not react as it would when the body is in a wakeful state; the body reacts to stimuli with a decreased ability.
After a day of hectic work, interactions, and contact with fellow humans, most people would want to get home as soon and quickly as they can. So that they can retire to their beds, see their kids, or whatever it is they do to pass away time without any semblance of stress.
However, if after a day and you expect to get home and do this, the pain, discomfort, and irritation you get from your legs would lead to a sleepless night, tossing in your bed, and disorientation the next day because you didn’t get adequate sleep.
All of these happens because of the varicose veins you have, located at your legs, and you ask yourself why it hurts more at night when you are supposed to be getting sleep and rest. If this makes you curious, we will tell you why below.
What Are Varicose Veins?
Although, you might know what varicose veins are and their causes. It would be best to look at what they are to enable us to grasp why you go through what you do.
Varicose veins appear as a bulged twisted vein running underneath the skin, and it is bluish. It affects the legs and the feet most of the time but can appear on any part of the human body. They are surrounded most of the time by patches of capillaries that are flooded, known as telangiectasis, a combination of Greek words, which is commonly known by its colloquial name, spider veins.
Spider veins are a tiny network of veins that look like a spider’s web; red, blue, and purple.
Although varicose veins might not be considered a severe medical or health problem, they can cause extreme discomfort and embarrassment.
Causes of Varicose Veins
The human body’s arteries have a layer of thick muscle and elastic tissue to help circulate blood. The veins move blood from the rest of the body back to the heart. It relies on a one-way valve; this one-way valve works to prevent the blood’s backflow from being transported.
However, when someone has varicose veins, this one-way valve is prevented from doing its job because instead of the blood to flow, it pools in a particular area. This pooling of the blood then makes it difficult for blood to flow. Apart from this, the pool of blood increases venous pressure and congestion at the area while at the same time causes the vein to twist and bulge.
Another cause of varicose veins in pregnancy. Pregnancy can lead to a varicose vein because of the pressure caused at the legs due to carrying a baby; an extra weight than the legs usually can take. This pressure generated at the leg could lead to varicose vein. Varicose veins are superficial, which means that they are located at the top of the skin.
Obesity could lead to a varicose vein; obesity is when an individual has excess fat than is required. This unnecessary fat puts pressure on the legs and joints. The pressure could cause a varicose vein. Also, standing for extended period and genetics can cause varicose vein.
One cause of varicose veins that people overlook most times and do not consider is age. Most of the time, the age of someone would make a person more susceptible to get a condition, and this is the same with varicose veins. It happens because the older a person gets, the weaker the blood vessels become. Thus, there is a high chance of blood getting to pull into the vein and in turn leading to a varicose vein.
Symptoms of Varicose Vein
Knowing the symptoms of varicose veins would help you understand what you are dealing with. Imagine having discomfort and pain in your legs but not knowing why being left in the dark could be very bad. Even though you might visit a medical personnel later, knowing what affects you immediately and dealing with it helps prevent further complications.
There are several symptoms of the condition.
- Vague and dull pain that goes away when you raise your legs
- A bluish color and bulge of vein underneath your skin
- Itching at the affected area on your body
- Skin discoloration around the location of a varicose vein on your body
- Heaviness in the legs
- Intense pain after prolonged sitting or standing
- Burning, throbbing or muscle cramping
However, even with all these symptoms, you should visit qualified medical personnel to diagnose you to know what you suffer from. Sometimes, the symptoms we think we have of a condition might be for another.
Why Does Varicose Veins Hurt More at Night?
Now that we have looked at what a varicose vein is and what causes it let’s look at why it hurts more at night than in the daytime.
There a few reasons why varicose vein hurts more at night than at day time and one of them is lack of distraction. During the day, you are busy, and you have many things to do, for example, work, make phone calls, pick the kids up at school, or have a date. Because of all these activities, you rarely notice the pain in the affected area; of course, you do, but it is significantly reduced because your whole body isn’t at rest or not bugged with matters required to be done urgently.
At night are few distractions and nothing severe or time-consuming to take your mind off the pain in the affected area. Because of this, the pain becomes amplified, and you feel it more.
Another reason is a drop in temperature at night, and this is because cooler weather makes the heartbeat slower; this, in turn, makes the blood in the body pump faster. A rate is needed to match the heart’s beats and rhythm.
Remedy for Varicose Vein Pain at night
Many people would propose different remedies to use to help you dull the pain of a varicose vein at night. However, you should know that dulling the pain of a varicose vein would afford you only a little comfort.
Visiting a medical practitioner to diagnose and treat the varicose vein is the fastest way to get rid of the pain without dealing with it again.
Summary
A varicose vein is a medical condition that needs to be treated when it is found out to be it. To remedy the pain felt more at night, it is good that you get it treated.
If you suffer from varicose veins and want to treat it to help you sleep more at night without pain, the Cardiovascular Specialists of South Florida will help you with the process.
