Introduction
Welcome to The Vein Game! In the pages of this book you will learn if you are a player in the game of varicose veins or not. You will understand the rules that apply to varicose veins, their diagnosis, their treatment, and how all of this comes together inside the worlds of medicine and insurance. You will find out how to tell if your medical provider partner even plays the “vein game”, if they know the rules, and if they can help you win. You will understand who the players are including the insurance companies and how to take advantage of this knowledge. You will understand how to maximize your chances of winning the game and coming out the other side with the results that you had hoped for. All of this and so much more are waiting for you in the pages that follow, so let’s get started.
Why write this book?
Simply put, because there are millions of people just like you who are plagued by varicose veins and/or spider veins and simply don’t know what to do. In fact, it is estimated that 1 in every 20 Americans has the disease. This translates to an estimated 20 million people in the United States who are affected by varicose veins, yet it largely goes undiagnosed and rarely discussed. I see it all the time and it frustrates me that much of the medical community has yet to embrace this as a real disease. Now I won’t argue that in life there are far more concerning diseases that affect us as humans, cancer for example, and that these demand the majority of our attentions and research, but that does not mean that lesser diseases such as varicose veins should be overlooked and ignored completely.
Personally, I have developed a passion for the problem of varicose veins that is the result of my exposure to the people that suffer with them and the experiences that I have had while helping these people. I now know that the old days of being told, “You should just live with them”, are over……or at least should be. Some people have large varicose veins that are painful or causing them significant problems. Others have nothing more than a few spider veins, but are completely self-conscious about them. Whatever the case, varicose veins are a slow and insidious disease that can cause severe medical problems in later life and can result in significant issues that could have been avoided had they been treated earlier. The risks associated with this disease are often times overlooked by patient and provider alike simply because neither of them fully understand the implications. I further believe that cosmetic improvement is a worthwhile goal in our society and this alone is reason enough to pursue treatment. It is due to these reasons and more that I have made it a priority in my life to try and better educate folks about vein disease and to help start a new way of thinking when it comes to the need to treat varicose and spider veins.
Let me share a story about a patient of mine that will help to demonstrate why I think dealing with this problem is so important.
I met a very nice elderly woman a few years ago that had a lifelong struggle with varicose veins and spider veins. I will refer to her as Mrs. Smiley since I never once saw here with a frown on her face. Mrs. Smiley had what I refer to as “a complete mess” of blue and purple varicose and spider veins nearly covering her legs from top to bottom. Sure, she had noticed them and had recognized that her legs ached, hurt, and swelled nearly every day and she had often wondered why her legs wore out so much faster than those of her similarly aged friends when they went out on one of their regular walks. She had even brought it up to several medical providers in the past only to be told that unless she was developing ulcers or having pain that kept her from getting around at all, it simply wasn’t worth doing anything about. “Try some compression hose”, one Doctor had told her, but what that provider didn’t consider was that the arthritis in her hands was so bad that she was unable to get the tight socks on over her feet and had no help at home since her husband’s passing several years prior. So, she simply went on living with them. That is until she had a truly life changing event.
You see, this wonderful older woman loved to swim. Well, it wasn’t really swimming, but she would go to the public pool several times a week and do water aerobics and “lane walking” in the water for exercise. She loved doing this and absolutely glowed when she talked about it. It made her feel young, energetic, and refreshed (not to mention that her health was great due to the benefits of regular workouts). One day Mrs. Smiley was in the pool with several other people enjoying her usual activities when unbeknownst to her one of the other patrons approached the pool manager and asked if the “skin disease” that this older lady had on her legs was contagious and if other people in the pool might be able to “catch” it. Well, in the classic ignorance of someone lacking even basic knowledge or personal skills, the pool manager cornered Mrs. Smiley and asked her if the ‘leg disease’ she had could transmit to the other patrons of the pool!
Needless to say Mrs. Smiley was mortified. She remembers stammering out some half-backed explanation to the manager and then removing herself from the scene as quickly as possible. She never returned. She simply felt too embarrassed and could not face that kind of scrutiny again. While the way she was approached is completely unacceptable, the real tragedy is that she lost the one form of exercise that she could actually take part in to maintain her health.
It was at this time that I met her. Mrs. Smiley came to me with tears in her eyes (not smiling now) and shyly asked if there was anything that could be done even though she expected the same answers that she had been given before. You could not believe the relief that flooded her face when she heard the truth about her problem and that there was not only a treatment, but one that would eventually allow her to return to her swimming with confidence and even more importantly eliminate her pain and swelling (something she had assumed was hers for life).
Long story short, after only 6 months she was back swimming, the varicose veins were gone, the swelling and pain were gone, and I was sure to tell her to sock that pool manager right in the kisser if she saw him again!
It is for people just like Mrs. Smiley that I write this book. I hope that you find the stories entertaining, the information educational, and the call to action inspiring.
