Ok, so it’s a bit of a stretch to say that varicose veins are an injury but when you can’t exercise it sure feels that way.

I did try though. I thought I would be able to do the yoga as that’s a lot less stressful on the body than the spin bike, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. The day after I first saw the veins, I did no bike, but I did do 12 minutes of yoga and lo and behold the veins were back just like I had done a session on the bike. I was surprised at this as I thought yoga was a passive exercise but according to my veins that’s not the case at all. I suppose that standing on one foot and twisting the body into some unusual shapes must stress the muscles and so they need more blood to repair. Now I type that out it makes a bit more sense to me. So, no more yoga.

So, what to do. Well my friend said I should ring the Doctor, probably a good idea I thought. So, I did, about 5 days later. In the meantime, after I did the yoga, I had decided to rest and do no exercise at all and decided to drink beer instead, a good plan which normally works. But frustration got the better of me and yesterday I persuaded myself to do the bike again, 3 minutes in the morning and another 3 in the evening. My veins decided I would pay for that mistake and came back with a vengeance the following morning worse that it was before – that was the 5th day on which I decided to take the advice and phone the Doctor, that day was Tuesday.

So, what did the Doctor say? Well he said a few things. He said that there’s nothing that can be done for varicose veins and that I should still exercise but I should invert my legs against a wall to help blood flow. I was already doing this as my friend had already suggested it. He also said I should get compression socks for my legs to go up to my knees. He said this would help with blood flow from my feet back up my legs. I was delighted with the idea and today I ordered some which should arrive the day after tomorrow. I will have to wear them all day, not forever but for the days that I exercise until my veins get stronger and I don’t need them anymore, I’m not entirely sure if veins do actually get stronger but I live in hope.

He did also say another thing to me. He asked me how much I weighed, I replied 18 stone or 114kgs. He replied saying that he weighed me 5 years ago and I was 16 stone 12lbs or 107kgs and only last year he weighed me at 17 stone or 108kgs, I had put on a stone or 6 kgs in a year. Now I knew this but to be honest it wasn’t great to hear. My reason for exercising was for 2 reasons, to find out if my lungs were messed up because of the dust I had been exposed to at work, and secondly to lose weight. I have found the answer to the first reason in only 18 days, my lungs are not messed up, now I can improve on that and attend to the second reason. That will take a little longer, but it is achievable – I just hope my compression socks work out well.