Nervous about visible veins

[JustJoe25]

Hello everyone, over the last month or so I have noticed visible blue veins all over my body (arms, legs,, hands, feet, and chest) that I have never noticed before. I googled this (bad idea) and it's sent me into a panic. I have had anxiety my whole life so that doesn't help. I am also fair skinned and I am 27 years old and male. I brought up the veins I've noticed to my family and they said its normal and it's nothing to be concerned about. In fact my mom even has visable veins in her arms, legs, hands and feet but this hasn't stopped me from worrying as she is 51 and has had medical issues in the past and I'm 27.

When I googled this (actually how I came across this forum :) ) it only worried me more. I'm now worried I could have superficial vein thrombosis which can be an early sign of stomach cancer. I am quite unsure what SVT is exactly though. I only have visable blue veins, no rash, redness or pain.

I do workout regularly though I had a month off the gym and noticed them before returning to the gym regularly. I am not skinny but I'm not overweight either. I have never noticed these veins before when working out. Other things to consider is that its winter here on the East Coast and we have been approaching record breaking tempatures over the last few months. It's finally starting to warm up some though. I'm not sure if this can be playing a factor or not.

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be concerned? Is this normal and my anxiety is just getting the best of me or what?

[anthrokid]

I can see my veins all over my body. I am also very fair-skinned. I remember asking my doctor years ago if it was anything to worry about and she wasn't concerned at all. I'd actually even forgotten how visible my veins were until I read this post, but I just looked at my arm and there they are, haha. Have you been drinking more water than usual? Sometimes veins become more visible when you drink a lot of fluids. You could always pop in to see your GP and ask the question :)

[Serenity1990]

Yeah. All us fair-skinned folk have this. I have one that's very visible when I'm at my fittest just under my right eye, which I can be quite self-conscious about. But I've never heard of it being a sign of anything nasty, and if it is I've had it for years and it hasn't affected me.

But thanks for SVT. I'll add it to my list and should get round to worrying about it over the next couple of months. :)

[JustJoe25]

Anthrokid,

I do in fact drink a lot of water. I always drink a lot of water but because of the dry heat in the house during the winter along with having GERD I get a dry mouth VERY easily. My family had told me the same thing about water but through me trying to diagnosis myself through Dr. Google I couldn't find anything on if a lot of water caused this or not.

Serenity1990,

I am sorry if I worried you. I myself am not even exactly sure what superficial vein thrombosis actually is as through Google it doesn't seem very clear. Does anyone know more about this? Does it affect all veins or is SVT only a concern if the area is red or causes pain?

I also should note the veins are always visable at all times. The only time I don't notice them is when I first wake up and am laying in bed. Once I'm up moving around after a couple of minutes they become visable. It isn't something I notice only after a shower or anything like that.

[MyNameIsTerry]

SVT is normally found in the legs and it is has a range of treatments from raising your leg to getting exercise so you can probably gather from this that it is not normally anything to worry about. GP's can diagnose it without an examination. Its uncommon for complications to develop so its usually easily recovered from.

You get redness, swelling, tenderness, etc and sometimes a clot forms and you get a lump BUT these are just bypassed by the body and other veins are used to transport blood until the body resolves it.

So, that one really isn't anything to worry about as it seems no worse than any other form of basic inflammation issue.

Its interesting that you don't notice it in bed, when you have been static and your body has been working less but when you get moving, it can be seen. Your blood is going to be pumping harder out of bed as your heart will be beating faster so it sounds normal and that you are 'noticing' as we often do with anxiety.

[JustJoe25]

Here is a small update. Yesterday I went to the ER, had nothing to do with my veins but I had a epidermal cyst on my back. I've had this issue before where it would get drained but it comes back like every year. Anyways I decided to get it drained again and got the courage to ask the doctor about my veins. She said its normal and wasn't concerned. However when they did my heart/blood pressure the blood pressure was good, but my heart rate was high like 135. I had been experiencing anxiety very badly this week and I think this was the cause. They checked my blood sugar which was fine so it ruled out the possibility of being a diabetic. The doctor asked if I was experiencing chest pains or shortness of breath and I said no. She let me go and said then it's probably just anxiety and maybe I should go back on medication for it. Personally I don't want to do this as a lot of doctors here make you take councling to get medicine and I had done that from 4-21. So I think I really need to relax. I am relieved the doctor said the veins weren't a concern but I don't want to be worrying myself and putting strain on my heart.

[.Poppy.]

A lot of things can raise your heart rate. Even something like being tired or anxious about being in the ER can do it. I know my heart rate always raises when I'm sick and walking from the lobby to the doctor's office takes a lot of effort - the nurse mentioned the high heart rate to me once and said he was concerned which got me panicking -- until my doctor came in and said it was normal!!

Glad you got some closure on your fears, though :). I'm fair skinned and can see my veins as well. I have a friend who just passed her RN test, and she would go around and look at all our veins and tell us if we had "good veins" or not (good meaning they were easily visible, so as a nurse she could find them easily!!). I have good veins, I bet you do too :)

[KeeKee]

I too have very visible veins which I have noticed lately. I am also pale. It freaks me out too, I will most likely mention then at my next GP appointment just for reassurance. Mine is all the time and all over, especially my legs. My 7 year old is quite veiny too, which reassures me a little.

[wnsos]

I have really clear veins but at my worst, they looked actually black to me. Anxiety is insane in tricking our minds. Hope this helps.