Varicose veins on the legs: how effective is treatment with folk remedies?

Varicose veins are an extremely common phenomenon.With this disease, the veins dilate and their surface lengthens.This occurs due to pathological changes in the walls of blood vessels and insufficiency of the venous valves.

There are quite a few methods for treating this disease.Traditional medicine also offers its tools and effective recipes to combat the disease.Let's look at whether and how to cure varicose veins of the lower extremities on your own, and what folk remedies for varicose veins on the legs are suitable for treatment at home.

About varicose veins

According to statistics, in developed countries, up to 40% of the population suffers from varicose veins, with the first symptoms of the disease appearing at the age of 30–40.At the same time, in the countries of the so-called third world, this disease is much less common - the incidence rate is at the level of 0.1%.A sedentary lifestyle, as well as heredity, is to blame for this trend.

The symptoms of the disease are quite unpleasant - heaviness in the legs, swelling, feeling of heat, cramps.In some cases, eczema develops.

Although the disease itself is not dangerous, its consequences, one of which is thrombophlebitis, can lead to blockage of the pulmonary artery, which in some cases ends in the death of the patient.

Should you use alternative medicine?

Traditional medicine is used in the fight against many complex diseases.Bloating veins are no exception to this list.

Some plants that have long been used to treat feet are now used by pharmacologists to make medicines.

For example, we are talking about horse chestnut, which has relatively low toxicity - this is one of its advantages.Thanks to its unique chemical composition, chestnut reduces vascular permeability, prevents stagnation of venous blood, and fights atherosclerosis of the extremities.

But horse chestnut is not the only remedy in the fight for healthy veins.There are quite a few other plants that have similar properties.

Are there any risks?

All herbs, like any medicine, have contraindications.Most often, restrictions on admission concern women during the period of bearing a child, especially in the first trimester, although it is this category of patients that often suffers from varicose veins.You need to be extremely careful when breastfeeding.Expectant and nursing mothers should definitely consult a doctor before using the recipe you like.

The entire course of treatment must be monitored for blood composition.Some substances in herbal preparations reduce prothrombin levels, which affects the function of the blood coagulation system.With a critical decrease in PTI (prothrombin index), which can only be determined by the results of laboratory tests, there is a risk of bleeding.

Another property of medicinal herbs is to change blood pressure levels.This also needs to be monitored.It is important to follow the recommended dosage, the best time to take it (before, during or after meals), and the duration of treatment.

Safe recipes

Next are several safe and popular recipes for legs that are used to treat varicose veins at home.

Tomato compresses

Tomatoes of varying degrees of ripeness are a simple and affordable remedy in the fight against enlarged veins in the legs, especially in summer and autumn.Those who have tried them on themselves claim that such compresses are very effective.Here are several methods of “tomato” therapy.

• The first method of application: take unripe fruits and cut them quite large.Pieces of tomatoes are applied to the venous nodes and held until a burning sensation appears on those areas of the skin.Then remove the tomato and rinse your feet with cool water.The second method of application is the same, only with the exception that the procedure is repeated five times in a row.After two weeks, the knots should soften and after some time, smooth out.
• Ripe tomatoes are also used.The fruits are cut into slices, treatment is continued for two weeks.

Rubbing

Rubbing from simple products that are always available and on hand helps improve the condition of the skin and blood vessels with varicose veins.

• Lemonhas a tonic effect.To use this property of citrus, just wipe the skin on areas affected by varicose veins with a slice of lemon.
• Horse chestnut tincture– one of the most famous and time-tested.To prepare it, take chestnut fruits with peel, grind them in a meat grinder, put them in a three-liter jar and top up half with vodka or alcohol (40%).The tincture is kept in the dark for one month, the contents of the jar are shaken several times a week.The resulting tincture is used to wipe the feet several times a day, and always at night.
• Apple cider vinegarstrengthens the walls of blood vessels, tones the skin, eliminates swelling.It is sold in the store, but you only need to choose a natural product.Use vinegar (6%) to wipe the areas where there are spider veins and leave it on the body until the next procedure.

Compresses

1. From Kalanchoe.This recipe helps to quickly get rid of spider veins.Take several leaves of the plant, grind them into a pulp and pour in alcohol (forty percent) in a volume of 100 ml.The resulting product is infused for a week.Apply as a regular compress at night.
2. From white cabbage.Sprinkle baking soda on areas of the skin damaged by the disease.Cabbage leaves are soaped with solid soap (preferably laundry soap) and applied to the leg, secured on top with a cloth.The compress is kept on all night.

Herbal infusions

1. In equal quantities, take chamomile flowers, chestnut flowers (fruits are possible), yarrow grass, plantain, and raspberry root.Pour two tablespoons of the dry mixture into three glasses of boiling water (600 ml), bring to a boil, remove from heat, and let it brew overnight.In the morning, filter the infusion and consume one hundred and fifty milliliters in the morning and evening.
2. Pour two tablespoons of nettle into a glass of boiling water and let it brew.Drink fifty milliliters 3 times a day.The course of treatment is one month.
3. Take twenty grams of horse chestnut fruit, oak bark, birch, as well as herbs: horsetail, Icelandic moss thallus - fifty grams each, astragalus grass, immortelle flowers - twenty grams each.Two tablespoons of this mixture are poured into 500 ml of just boiled water and boiled for five minutes, allowed to brew.Drink fifty milliliters four times a day.

Food as medicine

Even the ancients knew that food can be medicine.Here are a couple of miracle food recipes.

• 250 g of garlic (or onion) is peeled, minced in a meat grinder, and poured with liquid honey (350 g).The mixture takes one week to gain strength.The product is taken orally before meals, a tablespoon three times a day.Treatment lasts two months.
• Eating grapes shows good results.However, only some varieties are suitable for treatment - Riesling, Semillon, Chaushi, Chasselas.For three days, eat half a kilogram of grapes, with skins and seeds, on an empty stomach.

Ointment

Take comfrey root (5 parts), comfrey leaf (1 part), chestnut flowers (1 part), white acacia (1 part), pork fat (2 parts).Dry raw materials are poured with hot fat and kept on low heat for 3 hours, filtered.Bandages with ointment are applied to the affected areas and kept for three days.The course of treatment consists of five procedures.If necessary, treatment is repeated after 10–15 days.

This is only a small arsenal of relatively safe and affordable folk remedies that you can prepare yourself at home to treat varicose veins of the lower extremities.

Combination with traditional therapy

Remedies from the “folk medicine cabinet” are often recommended by doctors.The fact is that, due to their relatively mild effect on the body, such drugs can replace factory-made drugs.In addition, the drugs described above enhance the effect of the main line of therapy.

However, before using one or another traditional method of treating varicose veins of the lower extremities (legs), consult your doctor so that the remedies do not conflict with each other and do not block each other’s action.It is important to remember that only a correctly selected therapeutic complex will give the best result and really help cope with the disease.

Is it effective?

What will be the effect of treating varicose veins on the legs with folk remedies at home depends on many factors.One of the main ones is the severity of the disease.

In the very early stages, only tinctures, ointments, and herbal preparations may be sufficient.At a later stage, the doctor may prescribe not only medical treatment, but even surgery or other radical procedures.

You shouldn’t give up traditional recipes, even though their effectiveness is quite low.However, they perfectly help eliminate some symptoms of the disease - relieve inflammation, eliminate swelling, and improve skin condition.