Can Prominent Veins be caused by PMR or PRED ?

Posted , 9 users are following.

Over the last 2 weeks I have sometimes had very prominent veins in my left arm/hand. This is most unusal for me - my veins and pulse have always been hard to find. I get so many new health issues come and go,  I don't want to race off to the Dr every time something weird happens. Has any one else experienced this ?

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  • Posted

    The veins on my hands now stand out almost as much as if they were on 'top' of the skin.  I never thought it might be due to PMR though.  I lost a lot of weight on Pred (10 kilos) so I put it down to that.  I also see my veins much more on my legs.  It will be interesting to hear what our experts think of this topic.
    • Posted

      I have read that weight loss can be a reason, but unfortunately I have not lost any weight. My veins have never been visible, but some were sitting on top of my arm like yours.
  • Posted

    It is quite normal for the veins to protrude, often because of weight loss. But I think that it can occur withiout that as a side-effect.
  • Posted

    must be my day for "me too". I noticed similar, occasionally. protruding veins on back of my hands and sometimes forearms several months ago.

    Doc reckoned "normal" in a "don't worry about it" sort of voice. Too many other (more important) things in the conversation for me to persue whether it was normal for normal people or normal for me and my condition. But since I hadn't noticed it previously it was worth asking and apparently it can sometimes mean something important - pmr seems to help my imagination! lol

    I also noticed the opposite before a recent medical procedure. Unfortunate prep nurse having trouble finding a suitable vein reckoned "dehydration" as no fluids for many hours.

    • Posted

      Oh good heavens!  Really we just ought to ignore all these things and just get on with our lives.

      💃🏄🍷☕️🍻🍟

    • Posted

      That's what I'm doing .got to see rheumatologist today , need to ask questions , was diagnosed six weeks ago .but not going to let it take over my life
    • Posted

      Good for you!  It's taken me 4 years to come to this decision - more fool me!😡
    • Posted

      maybe just me - I never ignore change in anything. It may be important and a stitch in time ... But I also keep it in perspective. It has to be something really bad to stop me.

      The 5 seconds (literally) of doctor time was hardly excessive. It was in the analysis part of a "maybe insect bite possibly shingles" consultation about very swollen leg and it may have meant something to doc - the first and only blister appeared a few hours later.

      pmr is really just another change in life. Needs a bit of adapting and managing one's life around, but letting it take over - never.

    • Posted

      Hi Constance. Just a thought. I think that coming on the forum with these changes/symptoms and hearing that others are also having them, allows us to do just that. Put them to the back of one's mind and carry on. It enables us to sort out what is 'normal' for us and what might need medical attention. Surely that is what a forum like this is all about. Love your symbols at the bottom of your post but can't quite work out what the last one is. Looks like a portion of Macdonad's fries! Made me fancy some like mad.......I blame the Pred lol :-}
    • Posted

      Sorry about your 'fancy' - it's me I was talking about!  Hate to think anyone would rush out and buy chips (fries) because of something I wrote.  It's easy for me.  I don't suffer from hunger and therefore am not over weight.  But heh!  Isn't the odd glass of wine, beer, coffee, tea just great?
    • Posted

      Forgot to say.  I joined this forum one year ago and it has changed my life - I really am not knocking it.  I was 'alone' with my doctor (great person) and rheumy (rubbish) for three years before that and when I found this forum I was, and am, in my element.  People understood, listened, advised.

      Really sorry if I sounded uncaring, I'm not.  Just every now and again I try and cheer people up.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm not there yet, but I know it's round the next corner.

  • Posted

    Let's get one thing sorted for a start smile: there is a BIG difference between arteries and veins and whether there should be concern if they are prominent.

    In general (there is one exception), arteries are the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood around the body to supply the tissues with oxygen and other nutrients that are required for your body to function. The blood picks up the oxygen in the lungs, the heart provides the pump mechanism to make it flow around the system. Almost the same applies for veins - except they all carry blood that gathers up the waste products from the muscles and other tissues and take them to the liver, lungs and kidneys to be got rid of. The arteries leave the heart and so have a high blood pressure to cope with. They have thick, strong walls and often an elastic layer to them. They subdivide again and again like the branches of a tree until they get to the muscles and organs where they form tiny vessels called capillaries. Unlike a tree, these tiny vessels join together again and again, getting bigger each time until the blood gets back to the lungs to pick up oxygen again and then the vessels become arteries again. It is more complex than that of course but that is the basic outline.

    Arteries tend to lie deeper in the body - and it is in arteries that you can feel your pulse because every time the heart beats it pushes the blood harder as it contracts and less as it relaxes ready for the next beat. Pulses can easily be felt at your wrist, in the crook of the arm (which they use for taking your BP), at the side of your neck and in your groin. These are all places the artery is fairly close to the surface. One artery you have all heard of is very close to the surface - the temporal artery. Like the others you can feel a pulse there and it is sometimes visible, beating away, especially if someone is angry and their BP rises. 

    GCA is really only to be found in arteries that have an elastic part to their wall and it so happens that the temporal artery is one. It runs along your hairline and part of your forehead so isn't always easy to see - except maybe in bald gentlemen. However, if the artery becomes inflamed then it can become even more prominent - but at the same time the blood is less able to flow through it and that makes feeling the pulse in it more difficult. Because this artery is close to the skin, small and not esential to the circulation, it can be biopsied to look and see if there are any of the giant cells that give the disease its name to be found. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. But the temporal artery isn't the only artery that GCA can affect - it just happened to be the easiest to take a bit out of to have a look.

    So, if that artery were to be very visible and sore - you should go and ask your doctor about it.

    Veins, on the other hand, are often quite visible near the skin surface - sorry about the pun, but especially on the back of your hands. When you are young they are not usually so noticeable and are surrounded by a thin layer of subcutaneous fat with lovely smooth skin on top. As we age, our skin becomes thinner and less elastic and that subcutaneous fat tends to disappear, especially if we are reasonably slim, or lose a lot of weight and then they become more obvious. You rarely see veins in the back of an obese person's hands - and even the ones in arms and legs are less easy to find. Taking a blood sample from an obese person is difficult, it is very difficult to feel the vessel as it has no pulse and you are even less likely to see it. And, by the way, blood samples for tests are always taken from a vein except when they need to measure how much oxygen is in your blood and then, only then, is it from an artery and it will be done by a doctor, usually in hospital.

    Veins also become more obvious if you get hot and then your blood vessels widen to allow more blood through to cool you down. The veins have thin walls so when they widen you see it clearly on the back of your hands especially. That is how varicose veins form, the blood isn't being pumped back up to the heart efficiently, usually because the valves that stop the blood following gravity and falling back down towards your ankles are not working as well as they did and the walls of the veins become distended and thinner,  When your hands are cold the veins there become smaller - as the blood goes into the lower levels of the tissues to prevent loss of heat and keep your core warm - where all the vital organs are positioned because they need to be at 37C to work properly. Cool them down and they start to go into hibernation and work less efficiently, eventually even the heart is too cool to work and stops beating. You would die of hypothermia.

    Another cause can be raised BP:

    "Bulging veins are unusually large veins that appear at the surface of the skin. When veins are visible and have a swollen appearance, they are referred to as varicose veins. While they commonly appear in a person’s legs, they can also be found in other parts of the body as well, such as in the arms, chest, and face. Bulging veins may be due to a rise in blood pressure in the veins. This rise in venous blood pressure forces plasma out of the walls of the blood vessels, causing the surrounding tissues to become swollen and hard. In turn, the act pushes subcutaneous veins to the surface of the skin where they become more visible and in those individuals with low body fat, the effect becomes even more noticeable. When the legs are involved, symptoms that include pain that may worsen following sitting or standing for extended periods, skin darkening, cramping, swelling and rash may occur. Increased weight of an individual and inactivity can exacerbate symptoms."

    So if the vessels on the back of your hand are more noticeable there are several reasons for it - but none of them are due to GCA. Your doctor should be checking your blood pressure regularly anyway and if it is raised significantly, either providing you with lifestyle advice (weight loss, more exercise) or medication. If you simply don't like what they look like there probably are ways of reducing the knobbly appearance. Otherwise, unless they are damaged through injury there is no real need to worry.

    If you are still with me - sorry for the lecture! But I think I've answered all questions?

    • Posted

      I never noticed these prominent veins until shortly after I was put on prednisone.  They are really quite alarming.  I had already lost a lot of weight, so it wasn't that, and my blood pressure has always been low to normal and still is.  I think the only remaining reason in my case must be due to thinning skin layers, caused by the prednisone?  They only go away when I raise my arms so the blood drains the other way.  Concerned that eventually I'll have varicose veins in my legs.  Sigh.
    • Posted

      Thanks Eileen.  This was just so out of the ordinary for me. The veins have all become invisible again. (in my left arm). They went from one extreme to the other, just for a couple of weeks.

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