Beta Thal Minor- Vein Problems

I couldn't find any post on Beta's and their veins. So I am wondering if anyone else has the same symptoms.

My veins swell up, hurt and sometimes bust. I do not have high blood pressure, it's usually a little lower than average. I had red wine about a month ago and my veins started to swell and I had 3 busted blood veins (most ever busted from swelling). When my veins swell up if I take aspirin it relives it quite a bit. I'm thinking it is sulfates? I really don't know why this happens though. If anyone else has similar symptoms, please let me know.

Thanks guys!

Hannah

Interesting!  I also have had vein problems my whole life.  My veins become enlarged and I have had numerous vein strippings and lasar ablation. I first went to a vascular surgeon because of the pain when I was 21.  He told me my veins were so bad he would have to strip every single one from the waist down and I should wait as long as I could before getting them stripped because the veins that grow back are always weaker.  I waited until I was in my 30's before I had the first procedure done.  Techniques have greatly improved over the years!!!!!!!! Do you also have any clotting problems?  I started getting superficial clots in my legs after my pregnancies, but as I have gotten older I've had more.  This culminated in getting multiple pulmonary emboli a few years ago.  I now have permanent lung damage and have to be on blood thinners for life.

FYI, I found the swelling in my legs would get worse when I traveled--it seemed more related to the change in weather and probably barometric pressure (I live in high altitude and going to sea level caused my ankles to get HUGE).  I've taken diuretics to ease the swelling and that helps, along with elevating my legs at night and sometimes wearing compression stockings.  (Diuretics can lower blood pressure so be careful.  I, along with others i've read about here tend to have low blood pressure already and diuretics can make it worse)

On a more humerous note, I did find out i actually have skinny ankles .  I have always had "fat" ankles, even as a child.  As a teenager, I exercised my ankles regularly to try to get them smaller.  Nothing worked until I had the first vein stripping.  Back then, they had me keep my legs wrapped tightly in ace wraps for six weeks.  When the bandages came off, I had skinny ankles!  All that exercise wasted!!!  All I needed was new veins!!!!!    Unfortunately I only had skinny ankles for about six weeks and then they swelled up again  Oh well, at least I know i don't need to keep exercising  

Altitude has a big effect on hemoglobin levels. If you live at low altitude and move to a higher altitude, in reaction to less oxygen in the air the body will start to raise the Hb. This can be observed after about 3 weeks. Conversely, if you live at high altitude and go to low altitude, the opposite will happen. I suspect something about this dynamic would explain the problems you have when you go to lower altitude. If you weren't on a blood thinner I would suggest vitamin E, but it shouldn't be taken with blood thinners. Have you ever been advised on the safety of taking aspirin, as this is also a mild blood thinner? Vitamin C is essential for the health of blood vessels. I would suggest daily supplements. One sign of deficiency is easy bruising. This is caused by weak capillaries breaking and vitamin C definitely helps this. Was a hemoglobin electrophoresis test once beta minor was suspected? This can confirm beta minor and also reveal if there are any other unusual hemoglobins present. Because of your unexplained clotting issues, this would be well advised.

I have had large veins my whole life. I thought it was genetic and didn't think much of it. Then , when I was about 18 yrs old, I started lifting weights and my vein got much bigger, way bigger. Then I got the hemorrhoid that went from bad to worse fast, and began to bleed. In no time at all it was a big problem and had to just about quit the weight lifting all together. I didn't know or ever heard about this being a symptom of thal. This is very interesting.

I have no idea if the vein problems I have are from BTM.  Statistically, unless many more here also have similar problems, I would guess we are just the "lucky" ones who have BTM and bad veins.  It would be interesting to know if a significant number of people here also have bulging veins