{"id":31,"date":"2013-12-03T14:18:59","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T14:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/\/?p=31"},"modified":"2014-01-15T00:52:05","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T06:52:05","slug":"pregnancy-and-vein-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/pregnancy-and-vein-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Pregnancy and Vein Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pregnancy creates many challenges for the body, and unfortunately, vein health is one of the things that can be impacted by the experience. There is a substantial increase in the risk for developing blood clots and leg-vein disease for up to six months following delivery. <\/p>\n

Causes of Vein Issues During Pregnancy <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Additional stress is placed on leg veins during pregnancy due to the volume of blood increasing as much as 50 percent. <\/li>\n
  2. The main vein in the body (called the vena cava) drains blood from the lower half of the body. As the fetus in the womb grows bigger, there is increased pressure applied against the inferior vena cava and certain body positions can cause the fetus to practically block blood flow. When obstruction of the vena cava occurs there is a dramatic increase of vein pressure in the lower body and legs. <\/li>\n
  3. Hormones spike dramatically during pregnancy, particularly estrogen and progesterone. The positive effect of this spike is that the smooth muscles of the veins relax, increasing their storage capacity and their propensity to dilate. Negatively, however, this creates an increased risk of varicose and spider veins. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Can You Prevent Varicose and Spider Veins During Pregnancy? <\/strong>
    \n Particularly if there have be pre-existing leg-vein issues, it’s a good idea to wear compression hose during pregnancy and for two weeks following delivery. The health benefits of wearing compression hose include: <\/p>\n

      \n
    • Limiting the risk of blood clots<\/li>\n
    • Slowing the progressions of vein disease<\/li>\n
    • Providing substantial relief from leg swelling and discomfort.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Treatment Recommendations<\/strong>
      \n The third trimester of pregnancy is the worst for stress on the legs, but the negative effects, such as pain and swelling, will often subside or completely resolve through the weeks following delivery. Patients should wait for a few weeks before opting for invasive treatment of varicose and spider veins to see if the problem goes away on its own. <\/p>\n

      Treatment for varicose and spider veins is not typically done during pregnancy or while a mother is breastfeeding, though exceptions are sometimes made for severe pain or disability. Medications used for vein treatment are not harmful to a mother or child, but can get into breast milk. Therefore, it’s better to err on the side of caution. It’s advised that a mother save and freeze breast milk if treatment is done before a baby is weaned. The day of treatment and for one day following, the frozen milk should be used while any pumped milk during that time is discarded. Regular breastfeeding can be resumed 48 hours after the venous treatment occurs. <\/p>\n

      If you have any questions regarding pregnancy and it’s effects on vein health<\/em>
      \n or would like to make an appointment to see a vein specialist,<\/em>
      \n contact the Midwest Vein Care office today.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Pregnancy creates many challenges for the body, and unfortunately, vein health is one of the things that can be impacted by the experience. There is a substantial increase in the risk for developing blood clots and leg-vein disease for up to six months following delivery. Causes of Vein Issues During Pregnancy Additional stress is placed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[15,22,23,9],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spider-veins","category-varicose-veins","tag-pregnancy","tag-spider-veins","tag-varicose-veins","tag-vein-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veincarestlouis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}