Varicose veins
Varicose veins are swollen, twisted, bluish veins just under the skin, usually in the legs. They form when the small one-way valves inside a vein weaken, so blood slips back and pools instead of flowing up to the heart.
- Up to about 30% of adults have varicose veins
- In a Scottish study, about 1 in 3 adults aged 18–64 had varicose main leg veins
- Over 16 years, 23% of men and 30% of women in the Framingham Study developed them
- People with varicose veins had about 5 times the risk of a deep vein clot (DVT)
Source: StatPearls — Antani & Dattilo, Varicose Veins (2023); Evans et al., Edinburgh Vein Study, J Epidemiol Community Health 1999; MedlinePlus; Cleveland Clinic; NHS
What is Varicose veins?
Veins carry blood from the body back to the heart. In the legs that blood must travel uphill. The calf muscles squeeze the veins as you walk, and small one-way valves inside the veins close behind the blood so it cannot fall back.
When those valves or the vein wall weaken, blood slips back and pools. The vein stretches, bulges and twists, and shows blue or purple under the skin. Many people only mind the look, but varicose veins can ache, make the legs heavy and swollen, change the skin near the ankle, and sometimes lead to sores, bleeding or clots.
What are the symptoms?
- Bulging, twisted, rope-like veins, blue or purple, usually on the calves or behind the knees
- Heavy, aching or tired legs, worse after long standing
- Swelling of the feet and ankles, throbbing or cramps
- Itching around the veins
- Skin changes near the ankle — darker colour, dry scaly skin, and in time an open sore
What causes it, and who is more likely to get it?
Weak valves and vein walls
- Older age — veins lose their stretch over the years
- Varicose veins in the family
Extra pressure on the leg veins
- Standing or sitting for long hours at work
- Excess body weight
- Pregnancy
Hormones and being a woman
- Hormone changes of pregnancy and menopause, and some hormone pills
Other things that add to it
- A past deep vein clot (DVT)
- Smoking and a physically inactive life
How is it found?
A doctor usually knows varicose veins by looking at the legs. A scan is used to see how the blood flows, to check for a clot, and to plan care.
Looking at the legs while standing
Veins fill most when you stand, so the doctor looks at and feels the legs standing, and asks about aching and swelling.
Duplex ultrasound
A painless scan that shows which valves leak and which way the blood is flowing, and can find a clot.
Venogram (rarely)
An X-ray of the veins with dye, used only when the scan does not answer the question.
A neurotherapist presses Mu° and Liv° on both flanks, compares the two ring fingers and checks the blood pressure. She also asks about the rest of the family LMNT reads with blue veins — piles, a hernia, a bowel that opens hard every few days, and a pressure that has always been "on the low side".
How Neurotherapy (LMNT) sees Varicose veins
In LMNT, varicose veins sit on the acid side of the body. Guruji's teaching groups them with low blood pressure as the two diseases of the blood vessels that come because the flesh-muscles have become loose — and one chief cause of that loosening is acidity. Varicose means "to swell up": when the muscle of the vessels and of their valves becomes loose, a fault comes into them and they swell easily.
The loose-muscle chain, as Neurotherapy (LMNT) reads it
- Too little waterthe acid side begins with a body short of water
- Acid in the bloodshows as pain at Mu° and in the left ring finger
- Loose muscleswhen acid rises, the flesh-muscles become loose and slack
- Vessel walls and valveslose their hold, so the veins swell easily
- The same body elsewherelow blood pressure, piles, hernia and prolapse often come along
So the therapist does not treat the vein alone. Blue veins on both calves, piles, a hernia repaired years ago, a pressure always called low and a hard bowel are read as one dry, slack body described several times. Two treatments are named for varicose veins: the Acid Treatment Formula (ATF), given only when Mu° is strongly painful, and (6) Right Swt, which LMNT teaching reports has eased the swelling in the legs in a great many patients.
If there is no pain in Mu°, then Acid treatment is not to be given!
Neurotherapy (LMNT) treatment for Varicose veins, step by step
Examine first
The therapist presses Mu° and Liv°, compares the ring fingers, measures the blood pressure, and asks about piles, hernia, constipation and low pressure — the family that travels with blue veins.
ATF — only with strong pain at Mu°
Because the vessel walls and their valves have become loose, the Acid Treatment Formula is given — but only when Mu° is strongly painful and Liv° hurts little or not at all. No Mu° +++, no ATF.
(6) Right Swt for the swollen legs
With the person lying face down, pressure is given on the RIGHT side of the spine near the sixth thoracic bead. On this side it closes — constricts; the same pressure on the left side opens instead, so the side is checked every time.
Water and the bowel behind it
LMNT teaching says: when you see one member of this family, look for the constipation standing behind it, and for the water pot standing behind that. Plain water through the day, and a bowel that opens without force, are part of the plan.
Re-examine at every visit
The ATF gate is a finding made on the day, by the hand. Mu° and Liv° are pressed again before each treatment, and the plan changes if the body has changed.
Points and formulas used
ATF, form (a)
The Acid Treatment Formula — helps the body lower its acid side; for varicose veins, given only when Mu° is strongly painful.
Works through
Open →(6) Right Swt
Pressure beside the sixth thoracic bead on the RIGHT side of the spine — it constricts, and is used for the swelling in the legs from varicose veins.
Open →Never do this
- ATF is never given without strong pain at Mu° (Mu° +++), nor when Liv° is the more painful side. ATF, form (a)
- High blood pressure: (6) Right Swt is not given — and the (6) Adr that ends ATF form (a) is also not given in high BP. The therapist changes the plan. (6) Right Swt
- Side matters: the RIGHT side of the sixth bead closes; the LEFT side opens. Working the wrong side gives the opposite treatment. (6) Left Swt
- A hot, swollen, painful calf or one swollen leg (a possible clot), or sudden breathlessness or chest pain, needs a doctor or emergency care the same day — no pressure on that leg.
- A bleeding varicose vein: lie down, raise the leg, press firmly on the spot with a clean cloth, and get medical help at once.
- Cancer: if the person has cancer, (10) Pan, Thymus, Pit, Lu + Sh, Rt. Ov / Lt. Ov and (30) Medulla are never given — the therapist changes the plan.
- Keep taking the medicines your doctor prescribed. Neurotherapy (LMNT) works alongside your medical care, never instead of it.
Watch
Shows the Acid Treatment formula step by step: (8) Pan, (3) Gal, (5) Mu°, 3 Acid on the side of the right thigh, (4) Chest Only, and (6) Adr on the upper back, given without breaks. It is used to support the body's acid–alkali balance when acid is raised.
Note: the Acid Treatment formula is given only when the Mu° point is tender, and (6) Adr is not given in high BP, diabetes, cancer or HIV — the therapist checks first.
The Acid Treatment formula, demonstrated step by step — in varicose veins it is given only when Mu° is strongly painful.
From Ayurveda and the kitchen
The two sides do different work
The yogis of India held that the two nostrils do not do the same work — breathing chiefly through the right warms the body, through the left cools it — and built alternate-nostril breathing to swing the balance back. Neurotherapy (LMNT) meets the same idea on the back: at the sixth bead, the right side closes and the left side opens.
Test yourself
What research says
- Strong evidence
Among 1,566 adults aged 18–64 in Edinburgh, about one in three had varicose main leg veins — 40% of men and 32% of women after adjusting for age. So varicose veins are very common, and not only in women.
- Strong evidence
Leaking valves let blood fall back down the leg, and changes in the vein wall itself make it stretch and weaken. Raised pressure in the veins goes with worse disease, and a weak calf-muscle pump, pregnancy and extra weight add to that pressure.
No clinical trial of Neurotherapy (LMNT) in varicose veins has been published yet. Improvements reported by neurotherapists are clinical observations.
For you
Women, in and after pregnancy
Pregnancy puts extra weight and hormone changes on the leg veins, and blue veins often first appear after a second or third child. Tell the therapist if you are pregnant — it changes which points may be given.
People who stand or sit all day
Shopkeepers, teachers, cooks, tailors and office workers. Walking breaks let the calf muscles pump the blood up; raising the legs when resting helps too.
People with piles, hernia, hard constipation or low BP
LMNT reads these as one family with varicose veins. Mention all of them to the therapist, and mention high blood pressure too — it rules out (6) Right Swt.
This page explains; it does not diagnose. Neurotherapy (LMNT) works alongside your medical care — keep taking the medicines your doctor prescribed, and see a doctor for any new or severe symptom.