Varicose Veins and Hemorrhoids
I once thought varicose veins were a problem only for elderly women, until I began discovering road maps on my legs at the tender age of 19. I was in college, spending long hours standing on cement floors in the art room and the library where I worked. Fortunately, I already knew about medicinal herbs and wasted no time in searching for ones that would stop my varicose veins from getting any worse. More than 20 years later, they are smaller than they were in my college days, even though I now spend so many hours sitting at my desk. Varicose veins and hemorrhoids have a lot in common. They both occur when circulating blood slows down as it fights gravity on its journey back to the heart, and the extra load stretches weak veins. Blood relies on muscles in your legs and pelvis to push it back to the heart, and this is not an easy task if you sit or stand for long periods of time.
If you are overweight, pregnant or constipated, or if you commonly wear skin-tight pants or a girdle, the blood flow through your pelvic area is restricted even more, and varicose veins and hemorrhoids often result. Varicose veins are also quite common during pregnancy; this is not only because a growing fetus pushes on the surrounding veins, but also because rising estrogen levels weaken veins. For the same reason, women generally get varicose veins about four times as often than men. There are also certain enzymes that break down the veins' elasticity. High amounts of these enzymes are found in most people who have varicose veins. Enlarged veins can even indicate liver problems, since surface veins must take on the blood load when the liver becomes congested.
A bad case of varicose veins can cause lots of complications, while the main problems of hemorrhoids are pain and bleeding. Healthy veins produce a substance that breaks down fibrin—the protein that causes blood to clot. Since veins injured by varicosity do not break down as much fibrin, a lot of excess fibrin is deposited around the veins, causing unsightly, hard lumps just under the skin. This creates more problems than just an unpleasant appearance.
Eventually, varicose veins may begin to leak, which can make your skin itch. If enough blood pools in a particular vein, the vein can burst. When this happens, slow-healing ulcers form under the skin. A surgical operation known as sclerotherapy can destroy the offending vein, but other veins must then take on the load, and they too will enlarge.
One of the best ways to stop varicose veins and hemorrhoids from getting any worse is to strengthen your blood vessels and make them less porous. Some of the same herbs used for heart problems, such as hawthorn and ginkgo, can do this. More than 50 studies, mostly from France and Germany, demonstrate ginkgo's ability to improve blood circulation and reduce the discoloration of varicose veins.
In a study conducted in Italy in 1982, the Indian herb gotu kola improved the structure of varicose veins and increased blood flow through them in 80 percent of the participants who took it for one month. This study also showed that gotu kola strengthens the connective tissue.
Researchers have found that ginkgo and gotu kola are even more effective when used together. Almost everyone who took this combination, many of whom had serious circulation problems in their legs, found that their circulation improved. Some enjoyed their first pain-free walking in months. And in numerous other studies, both ginkgo and gotu kola have been shown to be more effective and better tolerated than tribenoside, the standard drug used for this purpose.
Horse chestnut and butcher's broom—strangely named herbs that are not nearly as well-known in North America as in Europe—can also be used to make veins stronger and less porous. In the seventeenth century, an herbalist wrote that butcher's broom, a Mediterranean shrub, was so named because butchers made brooms from it—the herb's smell kept rodents away. Clinical research conducted in Italy, France and Germany shows that butcher's broom does much more than deter pests—it encourages blood to move up out of the legs, decreases inflammation in the veins and helps to tighten the veins.
Horse chestnut, an ornamental tree that originated in Asia, probably got its name as a corruption of the Welsh gwres, meaning "pungent," which was used to differentiate it from the unrelated sweet, edible chestnut. Horse chestnut is one of the few herbs mentioned in this book that needs to be taken with extra care. Small doses (50 milligrams of the plant's active ingredient, aescin) taken two or three times a day are sufficient; very high doses are slightly toxic. European herbalists describe this herb as a "venotonic," a tonic that improves the tone of the veins by tightening the elastic fibers in their walls.
Horse chestnut, the enzyme bromelain from pineapple and gotu kola also stop the enzymes that break down damaged veins. After only 12 days of taking horse chestnut, the level of these enzymes drops by one-quarter. Bromelain even prevents vein breakage right after surgery, when operations are necessary to remove badly varicosed veins. Garlic and pineapple prevent fibrin from forming lumpy deposits around varicose veins.
The compounds known as anthocyanidins are also beneficial in treating varicose veins—they stop swollen capillaries from leaking by making them less porous. Several European pharmaceuticals sold in France, Germany, Italy and Spain contain anthocyanidins. In Europe these compounds are considered so safe that they are even used during pregnancy. In numerous studies, people with various circulation problems, including hemorrhoids and varicose veins, who were given anthocyanidins experienced dramatic and sometimes total improvement in their conditions. In none of the published studies did researchers note side effects.
Similar compounds known as proanthocyanidins—currently derived either from grape seeds or from pine needles—support skin and blood vessels in several ways. For one thing, they increase the amounts of intercellular vitamin C and collagen (fibrous protein bundles that form the connective tissue that sup ports blood vessels, ligaments and cartilage). Another way to strengthen connective tissue is with the silica-rich herbs horsetail, knotgrass and nettles.
Horse chestnut, butcher's broom, calendula and Saint-John's-wort are used in several European varicose vein ointments and in suppositories for hemorrhoids, to reduce inflammation, pain and broken veins. The witch hazel sold in drugstores and the essential oils of palmarosa, chamomile and cypress have similar properties. If varicose veins break, you can cover them with a cold compress of calendula or Saint-John's-wort with chamomile and carrot seed essential oils. This will decrease the swelling and pain and will deliver healing factors that help repair the veins.
Varicose Vein/Hemorrhoid Tea
½ ounce each hawthorn berries and flowers, ginkgo leaves and butcher's broom (if available)
Hot water (enough to cover herbs)
Combine herbs. Cover with hot water and steep for 5 minutes. Strain and drink. The same herbs can also be used to make a tincture (they are, in fact, used in several commercial tincture formulas).
Varicose Vein/Hemorrhoid Oil
1 ounce Saint-John's-wort oil
8 drops each essential oils of chamomile, palma rosa and cypress
Combine ingredients. Apply externally.
Varicose Vein/Hemorrhoid Compress
1 cup cold water
1 teaspoon tincture of calendula or Saint-John's-wort
3 drops each essential oils of chamomile and carrot seed
Combine ingredients. Stir a soft cloth in them, wring out and place over itching or broken varicose veins or hemorrhoids as often as practical.
