Varicose veins caused by implant

[helpgiver]

I would like to know if anyone else has suffered with the same issue I did with the contraceptive implant (Nexplanon) and it causing me permenant damage to my veins.

This is also for anyone out there, like myself, who felt completely alone, frustrated, scared and angry at the side effect and permenant damage it has left me with.

I originally had the implant placed into me in 2014 when I lived in Nottingham. I had no side effect apart from light bleeding everyday for 6 months and then it stopped. I was very happy with this form of contraception and decided to continue using this method when I moved to London and had it renewed in 2017. This is when things started to go wrong. 4 months in and I started to develop a pain in my left foot, which then grew into my leg. I checked my leg and saw a huge varicose vein had appeared. I am not overweight, I am active by walking and swimming. Only my grandma on my dads side suffered with varicose veins after having 7 children. I have 0.

I saw the doctor, who diagnosed varicose veins and offered me pressure tights and ibuprofen. Around March both my feet developed pins and needles, so painful I struggled to walk without soft footwear and insoles. The Dr thought it was plantar fascia and gave me exercises to do and stronger pain killers. Around April I developed pins and needles in my hands and arms, along with both feet and legs, they also ached and became itchy in warm weather. This is when I became extremely concered, also I should mention, I wasn't suffering with stress, depression or anxiety. Everything in my life was fine and normal until all these symptoms appeared which caused me distress. I saw a female Dr who then mentioned it could be connected to the hormonal therapy I'm on after assessing me. I decided to have the implant removed and within days all pins and needle symptoms dissapeared and the pain level was greatly reduced. I am, however, left with a huge varicose vein on my left leg which now aches and feels heavy. My feet, arms and hands ache more frequently, the veins are far more prominent and bulgy than before. I develop pins and needles more frequently in my arms and hands, by just holding my phone up to my ear for longer then a minute, which i never had before. Showing that the blood flow isn't quite as good as it was before.

In regards to the physical pain I have suffered and still do suffer, only luckily with the implant removed it is lessened, the emotional and mental exhaustion of not being listened or believed by several doctors that is was due to the contraception ( honestly I had to officially report one dr for telling me off for crying) has to be the worst part of it. I felt I was going insane, being in all this pain and have no one believe me except one female Dr.

I write this in hope it may help someone out there who has started to or continues to have the same symptoms as me that it could be connected to the implant or hormonal contraception you are on. Take a break ( if you can) from it and see if it helps. I wish I did sooner before it developed into my arms and hands. ( which is apparantly very rare, even more frustrating )

According to research there is no proof as of yet the contraception causes varicose veins, but it can increase your chance of developing them. I can 100% confirm it caused mine. You are not going mad, there needs to be further research into hormonal therapy that is just not being done quickly enough due to funding. I now just use condoms and check my cycle regularly.

[LotusBlue]

helpgiver, thanks a lot for your report! I believe it can realy help someone to get clear with one's heailth issues and make a right decision in time! It is a pity noone had proposed your problems resulted from hormonal contraception before it became really serious. As a person, working in the fields of life sciences, a must say sex hormons can alter coagulation system and cause clotting with subsequent damage to blood vessels. That's why I believe barrier methods, UID or even charting (if one has regular cycle) are better methods of contraception, if possible. They do not interfere with another processes in your body.

[Galen70 in reply to LotusBlue]

I would just like to clarify that although oestrogen based contraception can slightly increase clotting risk , there is less evidence for progestogens. Also I am not sure what you are referring to with "subsequent damage to blood vessels" - if a clot does form, it does not usually damage the vessel it is in.

[LotusBlue in reply to Galen70]

Surely, there is a chois in hormonal contraception and not everything is the same. But as for the clot that does't damage a vessel, I could't agree. First of all, a clot does compromise blood circulaton in the altered zone and in the walls of the vessel itself. This leads to subsequent inflammation - the thrombophlebitis (if it happens to veins which is the most frequent). Even if the inflammation is not very prominent, blocked blood pass and stagnation mechanically strech the walls of the compromised vein and here comes the varicosis! As it happend in the case above.

[Galen70 in reply to LotusBlue]

Varicose veins are not however caused by blood clots - but by weakened valves in the veins. Certainly when there is a clot in a vein it can be swollen, painful , even hot to the touch. But it would be unlikely to cause permanent damage to the vein.