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435652 tn?1204311793

Temporary Bulging Veins w/ Pain

This will probably make me sound like a complete weirdo, but I figure I may as well ask and see if anyone knows anything. Using Google just brings back information on Spider / Varicose Veins no matter which word variation I seem to use.

For nearly a year, I'd get this shocking pain around my inner right ankle. My natural reaction was to look at it, and every time theres a vein (typically unseen) that will bulge out and appears to be about as big around as a pencil. The pain doesn't last too long, sometimes 5 minutes sometimes longer. It happens while walking, sitting, standing, lying down, etc. so it's not related to position I am sure. Usually within 5-10 minutes of the pain leaving, the vein goes down.

I did bring this up to my doctor who told me it was from hanging my legs while sitting or from standing too long, despite my telling him it happens in all positions. :)

Approximately 3 months after the ankle vein bulge, it appeared to be gravitating. I will feel the same shocking pain in my right hand, the area between the middle and ring knuckles on my hand - a large vein will bulge out and then vanishes in the same way. This now happens on the right side of my neck as well as my right temple. When it happens in my hands, it seems as if the area is so small that when anything swells up it leaves a dull aching pain afterward.

I'm not going to be able to have my insurance set for 3 more months (due to employer HR being stupid) - so I'd prefer to avoid any emergency rooms, not to mention, it's gone on this long and even with a doctor consult (albeit he didn't even listen to what I said) I seem to be OK aside from randomly being shocked with gross veins sticking out.

I just want to make sure I'm not dying, or perhaps this is varicose veins and it's normal for them to pop up and down at will.

Any information on my creepy veins would be greatly appreciated. 8)

Thanks!!
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Avatar universal
I have fibromyalgia, Raynaud's phenomenon, chronic fatigue, chronic migraines, restless leg syndrome, anxiety, panic attacks, ADHD, just to name a few and are known to be associated with fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia affects nerves and there are 18 total tender points that can be affected, which I have all 18. In other words, people with fibromyalgia has about half the pain tolerance of someone who doesn't have it. And there's no medication that helps. But then I started getting muscle spasms on my left shoulder blade and a humongous vein was bulging out of my skin. Then the veins in my arms, fingers, hands, feet, legs started bulging and the pain is excruciating!!! I also get cramps in my fingers, hands, toes, and feet all of the time. I was referred to a neurologist by my rheumatologist, and I have to get a test that electrocutes all of my veins one by one. Usually this would just feel like a shot or getting stung by a bee, but because of my fibromyalgia I was told it will be a lot more painful. I hope this helped someone, good luck and God bless!!
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Avatar universal
A related discussion, Any answer to sudden painful bulging vein below ankle? was started.
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A related discussion, joint pains/swollen veins was started.
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I suffer from gout and one night while in bed trying to go to sleep while my ankle throbbed felt a vein in my foot bulging to the point it felt like it would burst. I hope it's not a blood clot or something but Im saving myself a trip to doc to hear what some of you had heard already.
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Avatar universal
Hi stephanie, my symptoms are strikingly similar to yours. I havr always been told its fibromyalgia. It has gotten alot worse. I tell the dr it feels circulatory and they say no. I can tell im swollen but they say no youre a little thing. They think im crazy, I have always been very active. Not anymore. I have also had 2 tia's thay they say is only stress induced. Have you heard anything knew regarding your syptoms?
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A related discussion, Vein pain and bulging was started.
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A related discussion, related problems, bulging veins and pain was started.
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This just started happening to me today. It started today in my right hand with an extreme pain. My hand was shaking and all of my fingers went numb. I didn't notice anything to do with my veins until later today. I started having pain in the same area a few hours later and noticed my vein was a lot larger on my right hand than on my left. It started about half an hour ago and the vein still hasn't gone down. The numbness is now traveling up my arm. What is this?
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Avatar universal
I am a 29 year old with cronic kidney disease.  I am currently on dialysis and have been doing it for about 2 1/2 years now.  About 3 months ago I started getting buldging veins in my hands and arms.  Along with this I am have some traveling pain.  It sometimes is down the inside of my arm and it sometimes is throughout my fingers.  I thougt that maybe this was related to my kidney failure.  It has been freaking me out, so I asked my doctor and he said, as you could guess, that he never heard of anything like it.  I moved out of state and asked my new doctor and she also said the same thing.  These were my doctors at my dialysis units, so I am hoping that if I go to a Primary Physician he or she could help me.  But by all of your responses it does not seem likely that I will get an answer.  I will try to take this all the way to find out what is going on.  If I get an answer I will let you all know.
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Avatar universal
So has anyone figurred out what the bulging veins and travelling pain is from?
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Avatar universal
Hello, I am a 45yr old women who has never had any prior problems with a vien being engorged  until yesterday morning!  I got up and got my daughter off to School like every other morning, I felt fine. I decided to lie down for a bit after daughter was at school, I ended up falling asleep for about an hour. Woke up due to unbearable pain in my left foot ( inner ankle area)  The pain was intense to say the least, it got worse each time I would try to move my foot. I thought I had slept with it in a weird position or somthing like that, But the longer it went on the more I knew that it was something else going on.  When I looked at my foot, it shook me up quite a bit! A vein right below my ankle was HUGE, I could actually see it pulsating from my heart beat ( very creepy looking)  it has been over 24hrs now and it's still pretty large and pulsating as well as painful. If I had to rate the pain, when it first happened it was a 9 or 10 on a scale of 1 to 10,  since then it has remained swollen and pain  has stayed at a steady 5 or 6.. It scared me, I had no idea what this was, so I googled the symptoms hoping to find an answer & thats how I ended up here, I thought about going to the ER but since many others on here went & all seemed to get basically the same response from the Dr. ( He didn't know what it was) I decided it would probably be a wasted trip...If anyone is able to get an actual answer as to whats going on with us please leave a post, ,,my email is ***@****   ..My thoughts go out to all of you, whatever it is what we all have going on certainly is scary and awfully  painful..Best Wishes to all !!       Kit
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Avatar universal
Petite Female, Thirties, Caucasian, 5'5", 110 lbs., Moderate Activity (until sudden onset of symptoms, which has limited activites considerably)

One vascular surgeon has suggested Erythromelalgia, and said I'd have to go to the Mayo clinic or someplace in Denver if I wanted a doc who really knew anything about it.  When I read up on it, I recognized the similarities, but felt that it didn't exactly describe my symptoms. (With Erythromelalgia, it seems to be severe burning pain and redness is the primary symptom, not engorgement of veins)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythromelalgia

Another doc that I saw at the very beginning of this ordeal suggested that perhaps I had developed Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome in both forearms, due to a slight trauma which had occurred on the same day of the first appearance of symptoms. When I've mentioned that to other physicians since, most have not heard of it, and those that have still seem skeptical.
____________

My symptoms began a year ago, sudden onset, extreme vein engorgement in both arms from the elbow down. (FYI: At the time of onset, I was suffering from extreme tendinitis in both elbows)  I've always been pale, so you could see light traces of veins beneath my skin. But when my veins in my arms become engorged, they are remarkably different - they're so swollen that if I do not relieve the pressure, I am eventually physically unable to make a fist. At the beginning, each occurrence was quite painful. (And sufficiently frightening, obviously.) Triggers seem to be mild exertion and temperatures over 70 degrees. When my veins are not reactive, you can not see them.  Over the past year, the condition has worsened: it takes significantly less to trigger - bring the new cord-like dark blue veins out, and it has spread to my bicep, and temple area of my forehead. About six months after the symptoms first appeared, I started to have a severe pain and heat sensation in my thigh, which closely resembled the symptoms of DVT.  After that, the vein engorgement began appearing in my feet. Just so we're clear: These are not subtle changes noticeable only to me. This is the kind of vein engorgement that caused my neighbor (who was not familiar with my body's new eccentric behavior) to exclaim "oh my god, what the hell is wrong with you?", as she insisted that I go to the ER immediately.

At present, the veins in both feet and arms are fully engorged when I am in lying in bed. Symptoms of vein engorgement in both forearms remains consistent, triggered by heat, activity, and prolonged bending of elbows.  My circulation is changed significantly. Impeded somehow. If I walk at a moderate pace for 15 minutes, the moment I stand still, every little capillary I never knew I had becomes filled with blood, and looks like something out of a horror movie. If I resume walking, it goes away, until I come to rest again. It's a little painful, and awful to look at.

My medical conditions which may or may not be related:
Subclinical hypothyroidism (which docs remark upon and never prescribe anything for)
Narcolepsy (I've been on stimulant therapy for over 10 years)
Raynaud's (I live in a warm climate, so I haven't had to take meds for this... though I would like to try a biofeedback treatment that is supposed to work wonders!)

Most docs haven't a clue what to say to me, other than "I have no idea what this is, but please let me know when you find out!"
_______

If anyone has any information on what could have caused this, I'd be thrilled. It's altering my lifestyle significantly.

I've noticed that a lot of people seemed to develop this condition suddenly in the spring of 2008. And many of them seem to be women in their 20's and early 30's. I'm curious as to whether that might be relevant. In my reading about Erythromelalgia, it said that there was an outbreak of the condition in Japan, (I'd have to review, I think it was Japan), which they traced it to a contaminated food. Perhaps this is something similar? Or it's simpler than that? Perhaps we all just lost a few pounds, and never anticipated that our reward would be ugly arms and legs that don't work as well as they used to?
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Avatar universal
Just came from the doctor, after having a terrifying experience last night. First, I thought I had just fallen asleep on my hand and then it spread to the other. Next, the bulging , painful veins. Yes, the doctor told me it was nothing and he had never heard of this happening. I was so scared that I was having a stroke or some kind of circulation problem, at the very least. He insisted that it would most likely never happen again. Probably a panic attack or stress. Yikes! It just started up again. And it HURTS. I have another dr. appt. in 2 days but like you said I'm afraid they will explode. Why doesn't anyone know what's happening? It's more scary when drs. say its nothing. Anybody? I suppose it would be funny if it didn't hurt so much. For myself, I took an ativan and cold compresses. And tried to stay calm. It has turned to a dull throbbing and veins residing. I don't know if this worked or it would've anyway. Obviously, this is not meant to be. It's hard enough to see a dr. let alone be told it's nothing. Once again, anybody?
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435652 tn?1204311793
I had a blowout! This finally happened in my left index finger and it was extremely painful and left a nasty bruise. As my others get more painful upon activity (sometimes without), this one followed suit. I was grabbing some things from the fridge and a vein in the finger turned nearly black and bulged to the point my skin was stretched and it was hard, like uncooked spaghetti. This pain was unreal, like I hit my finger with a hammer. Then the vein shrunk down and my finger turned bright red like it was filled with blood. Later it turned purple and left a black line where the vein initially had swollen.

Apparently those episodes are 'common' according to Google. :) I had started having some mild petechiae on my stomach, chest, back and more moderately on my arms between the elbows and shoulders. In addition to that, I get skin twitches - like a butterfly under the skin. It's always the same spots; one under my left breast, one opposite of it on my back side, one on my right hand by the thumb, my inner, lower left eyelid and my right thigh. There's also a random crawling sensation near my right temple that's a spot about the size of a quarter causing me to frequently slap myself thinking it's an ant! It's weird, but painless.

My only other symptom, if it is one; my hair is falling out. It IS growing back, but I lose hair all day long in an excessive amount.

My doctor said it can be anything from the glory of aging, to vasculitis, phlebitis or some rare form of leukemia. Nice narrowing down. My insurance won't pay for testing, so I'm doing one test at a time starting with the cheapest. The CBC which came back that my RBC was low; the rest being normal. I guess that'd rule out Leukemia, as my WBC was fine.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but if you have any matching symptoms I can check back in here if I find stuff out.

Take care, and be careful using your hands. If your fingers get sore take it as a warning sign they may explode! If they do, keep them iced. It was sore for 3 days, then fine.
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Avatar universal
I have this same thing which started over a month from now except this is happening in both hand and both feet. I get pains in my legs, feet, arms, and hands even what seems to be my scalp when all of my veins are visibly huge. I have been to the ER twice afraid I am having some circulation issue. Whenever I go to the Dr and try to explain this to then they all have this look as if they have never heard of this happening before. I understand your experience, the cardiologist told me things like; all veins for everyone are the same size, veins don't hurt(As if I was pretending to be in pain), its normal for your veins to get bigger when you standup(as if I would not have noticed that before if it was normal for ME).
I am so concerned because I am 33 years old and this has just now started happening and it is has been off and on but consistently for the past month.  If you hear anything please share. I am still in the process of testing for some cause or to eliminate all causes. I will share if I find anything. Good luck!
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Avatar universal
i have bulging veins in my arms with traveling aches. I thought it may be connected to my ms. I am worried n going to doc. Have u heard any news about what this is. Like u I'm worried. Thanks
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Avatar universal
my wife suffers this exact set of symptoms -- pain and bulging veins in the right calf and ankle, but had not seen local bruising; however, in her case, i give her daily lovenox shots in the upper thighs for a clotting disorder, and i'm thinking the local hematomas caused by those shots must provide the equivalent circumstances and produce this other set of problems... i know this is not an answer, but it may trigger someone to think of the connections and provide an answer...

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435652 tn?1204311793
I'll be sure to come back and let you know should I find anything out. It's such a weird thing, but no-one ever knows what it is. I do know there's no way this is normal. Hah.
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Avatar universal
I have exactly the same thing. First time I had it  on my leg, and it was so scary that I went to ER. There, the PA told me that there is nothing to worry about (the vein disappeared by that time), the ankle was little bit swollen) and that it won't happen again. However, I guess it was bleeding inside because I had a big bruise next day. I went to walk in clinic and they took x ray but they said there is nothing serious, just a hematoma (Doctor suggested that I probably hurt my leg but didn't pay attention when it happened or otherwise it is very strange:)). Now I have it happen in my arms and legs about once a week, it does not bruise but it hurts and the temporary sticking out veins look really scary.
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Avatar universal
I'm not to sure about this one. I don't think your a "weirdo" though. GP's have a tendancy to dismiss and trivialize. I'd see a hematologist about this. If I were you I'd actually take video of the vein when you experience an episode. That will buy you a lot of respect and save you a lot of frustration with the doc.
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