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New Symptom - Bulging Veins?!

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Ugh, so I'd been doing better and then crashity-crash-crash.

Trouble breathing and other signs of acidosis. Some baking soda set it right (more or less). But then the past few days, especially in the PM, I've been looking down at the fine blood vessels in my hands and feet and they're bulging. Like, turn-my-hand-to-the-side-and-they-stick-up-WAY-above-my-skin bulging. Some spots seem more elevated than others, even, like they're about to burst.

This seems like the opposite of good news.

Hands and feet ache but don't hurt, exactly. Vigorous rubbing and the blood vessels sink back down. For about twenty seconds.

No new meds except a digestive enzyme blend that contains NOTHING lactic-acid-producing. I take Vinpo for decent circulation - and have, for months.

Anyone had this symptom? Anyone have the first clue what it means? It's frightening on a body-horror level.

-J

[Edit: I should add that it comes and goes...]
 
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dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
I've had bulging veins almost all my life that I can remember -- at least in my arms and hands -- decades before I got sick. And i know my aunt had them as well, and she lived to 97 years of age.

They don't pop out as much in my feet and legs, but still do to some extent.

I'm not sure I'd attribute it to acid or alkaline, but if you started a new digestive enzyme, and that has anything like bromelain or serrapeptase (sp) or maybe nattokinase, then perhaps that may have 'opened up' your circulation, resulting in your veins showing up more pronounced?

That's just a guess of course. You might try stopping the enzymes and see if it resolves?
 

Thinktank

Senior Member
Messages
1,640
Location
Europe
Yup, chronic bulging veins right here.
Vasodilation started together with polyuria. The more i pee pee in a day the more pronounced the veins are.
My LLMD told me it has to do with my neurocognitive inflammation and elevated levels of PGE2.

Do you have OI by any chance?
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Ive had several incidence with my hand(s) veins bulging (I cant remember now if it was just the one hand or both). It's very dramatic when it happens but then disappears as suddenly has it occurred. I'd love to know what caused it on those few occasions I've had this (I was going to take photo last time it happened to show a doctor but I couldn't find my camera at the time). Its not heat related for me.

I wonder if its related to my OI in some way.
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Yes, I have OI. :(

POTS - but for those who are saying vasodilation due to Vinpo, it happens when the Vinpo wears off, in the PM. Not that it couldn't be due to that anyway, but just additional information.

-J
 
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Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
I have had it, my preliminary conclusions included
  • NO (high or low?)
  • high ammonia
  • low pH issues
And the time range was mostly at sunset/evening, when serotonin is being broken down.

Looking at the back of my hands right now I can barely see my veins, while there has been times when they are clearly noticed and times like the horror movie you mentioned :eek:

Interventions that helped me were sodium bicarbonate baths (always check my urine pH before those) and magnesium oxide orally (beware of candida flares).

Unfortunately I didn't take any notes regarding the veins.
 

pogoman

Senior Member
Messages
292
Could it be its more variable peripheral edema than bulging veins?
Part of my symptoms were/are edema in hands and feet, more pronounced in morning and at the least most in the evenings.
With me there was a marked reduction in the edema after starting the mito/methylation supplements and I could tell its reduction by how visible my hands and feet veins became.

but if it is the veins, maybe monitor your blood pressure and see if it changes with the vein condition.
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
It's doing it now. Pulse is strong and steady. Actually feels healthier than usual, honestly. Mom told me to put my hands over my head. (She has CF issues too). Works while I'm doing that, but seriously, how long can a person do that? (And type, lol). And my hands do ache while it's happening. Not in the level of agony, but it is weird. That all sure does imply pooling.

[Edit: took a bit of baking soda directly under the tongue and swallowed with a gulp of water. Aaaand it's definitively improved.]
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
Me too...prominent veins, appeared the week I 'got' ME, always visible now. Only noticeable to me, my GP would laugh, but we know it means something....
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
It's hard to dismiss, @maryb , because they come and go. You can watch the blood vessels in my hands and feet slowly become larger, then bulge in certain places. An hour later, it could be entirely gone.

Burst a tiny blood vessel yesterday, guys. Bad news.

Sometimes, when I run out of a supplement and purchase a new bottle, I stow the new bottle away until the old bottle runs out, and forget to move the new bottle to take its place. Part of this is in having too much crap to take that is changing constantly as I search for ways to improve my well-being, so if I'm not paying attention, I don't even notice I'm one bottle short.

Anyway, I'd been off Q10 for days when I noticed the veins thing. Started again this morning. Hands ache, but nothing so bad as before, and the bulging is almost entirely gone.

If you glance at those studies, you'll see that creatine, BCAA and Q10 prevent the release of lactate from exercise (they increase what's called the lactate threshold). So for these supplements to work, I expect they will need be in your system before you perform the exercise. They probably need to be taken say 1 or 2 hours before you start your physical exertion, to sure they are properly assimilated in your body by the time you begin the exercise and muscle usage.

Sodium bicarbonate is slightly different, in that it does not stop the release of lactate, but the study suggests it can neutralize the lactate that is already in the blood. So that means sodium bicarbonate would probably work if taken before or after exercise; but I guess that before may be better.

I should add that I do very poorly in the kind of weather that has hit my part of the world this past week: hot and wet, without the gradual climb that allows the body to acclimatize. It was normal late-spring and then suddenly normal late-summer weather. This time of year was also when I first got really ill initially, and I can't help but wonder if either

a) I simply do poorly in this sort of climate and am more susceptible to infection
b) I carry a cyclic sort of pathogen, like malaria, that always thrives at a certain time of year

Regardless, I am so angry with nature right now that I can't even.

Part of what makes me most frustrated with this illness is how much of it is a mystery. I still really have no idea how this is a symptom of acidosis, or why decreasing my acidity should help, though it seems to....

Acid-Base Physiology
5.4 Metabolic Acidosis - Metabolic Effects


5.4.1 Cardiorespiratory Effects
A metabolic acidosis can cause significant physiological effects, particularly affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

......

Cardiovascular Effects

  • Depression of myocardial contractility
  • Sympathetic overactivity (incl tachycardia, vasoconstriction,decreased arrhythmia threshold)
  • Resistance to the effects of catecholamines
  • Peripheral arteriolar vasodilatation
  • Venoconstriction of peripheral veins
  • Vasoconstriction of pulmonary arteries
  • Effects of hyperkalaemia on heart
.....

The direct vasodilatation is offset by the indirect sympathetically mediated vasoconstriction and cardiac stimulation during a mild acidosis. The venoconstriction shifts blood centrally and this causes pulmonary congestion. Pulmonary artery pressure usually rises during acidosis.
(Bold/italics mine)

From K. Brandis, Acid-Base Physiology, http://www.anaesthesiamcq.com/AcidBaseBook/ab5_4.php

....oh.

So I guess the question is actually, "why is my acidosis suddenly far more profound than before?"

I sure hope it's just the CoQ10. I think I see some purchase of creatine in my future, too. Another pill, Yaayyyy.

-J
 
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Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
THANK YOU, @Gondwanaland , for twigging to the idea that it might be acid-related.

I have to admit I'm a little more freaked out by this information rather than less. What on EARTH is going on?

o_O:(:cry:

-J
I think there could be some answers in the "uric acid" link in my sig. The thread is a bit torutuous and disconnected, but contains some interesting info.

My view of acidosis has been under the methylation perspective, but I believe it is pretty much environmental rather than genetic. It will be the product from a relation between diet and supplements, essentially. The wrong amount of plant foods/herbs (salicylates and potassium), fats, fructose, proteins... booom

My acidosis episode was derived from
  • trying to get potassium from too much coconut water (potassium, salicylates, fructose increase uric acid)
  • eating LCHF (causes uric acid retention)
  • taking methylfolate (speeding up purine metabolism -> generating uric acid)
  • taking fermented foods (sulfites+histamines -> not sure how this migh increase ammonia that is neutralized by increased acidity)
  • and god knows what else I did, mea culpa!
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
No su culpa @Gondwanaland , or whatever the 'you' is in Latin, lol. How can we juggle all of this stuff? Half the time I don't know what's gone wrong until I've done oodles of detective work, and even then I wonder if I'm like the ancient peoples, who didn't know how a rainbow worked so they assumed Iris had stepped across the sky. It's a fine line between hypothesizing and mythologizing!

Coconut water definitely helps me in the middle of an acidotic attack, so it is not the culprit in my case. I have evidence for lactic acid being the culprit so far:

  • Milk products make me sick, but I don't seem to be lactose intolerant
  • Probiotics with Lactobacillus seem to make me sick
  • My muscles were burning during this attack.
Also, I've had Kussmaul (sp?) breathing for ages, not just since starting B Vitamins. I had episodes as a child... something is more fundamentally wrong. Also, my urine pH is normal-ish, or as normal as you can figure from a simple pH strip.

I will go look at your uric acid link. :)

-J
 

Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
Copper:Zinc ratio is EVERYTHING phase
But you know what, on my log my best phase was when supplementing a good ratio of Cu:Zn back in January. Then in February my dr decided I needed more copper and ruined everything (the worse adrenal crash ever) until yesterday when I restarted my old low dose, with added Boron and Manganese.