Why Do I Have Blood Pooling?

[cma]

Hi everyone,

I had my deep veins on legs tested with doppler ultrasound and valves are working properly. They are not damaged and blood is not leaking back, so why do I still have blood pooling in my lower legs?

I'm wearing compression stockings everyday and was wondering that maybe I'm doing more harm than good. They are helping, but I've noticed that I can't really function without them anymore. I don't really know how to ask this, but can my veins get too lazy to constrict on their own when everyday they are provided with the pressure from the outside. I don't know, if that makes sense at all

[ramakentesh]

I know where your coming from. I worried that taking midodrine or other alpha agonists would stop my body from retraining itself to re-regulate the blood flow. But over time Ive just got sick of the relapses all the time and want some control over things.

In theory this could be the case, but if you exercised with them on you might get some benefits that allow you to taper off them kinda thing???

Are you sure that you actually pool in your legs?

There is one theory with POTS where the pooling is normal but the response to that pooling is over zealous and causes the symptoms. So stopping the pooling just stops that response. This happens in the hyper variety according to some researchers although this idea is becoming less popular as an etiology.

Were your veins normal in every way?

Perhaps there is blunted arterial dilation rather than venous issues? The largest venous reservoir in the body is in the stomach.

[julieph85]

That makes sense to me. My pots started after 14 weeks of strict bed rest so I have always thought that I must have made my vessels lazy as a possible cause. Makes sense

[rubytuesday]

I have Ehlers Danlos to boot. Faulty collagen/connective tissue even in the blood vessels. I cannot wear even the milder 'compression stockings' without bursting vein on top of my foot. When I sit with the legs elevated, I pump the legs periodically. I ride recumbent stationary bike 20-25 min/day to try to keep things conditioned (and am taking midodrine). I find (here in cold midwestern winter), I have not had to take my water pill (was started on Bumex around July) for about a month now. Legs still pool a bit but I'm getting up and down more and it's not seeming to accumulate as bad as it did this summer/fall (before the Midodrine and ability to do recumbent bike). My cardiologist/PCP know why I cannot wear the stockings. My cardiac specialist explained to me that with my ANS failing and the EDS my legs just cannot return the blood to the heart (but I pool blood and fluids). I did have 2 mos. of treadmil in aquaciser before I was able to get on the recumbent bike). I, too, asked PCP to check dopplers (negative) and heart echo was neg except for the 'normal for age' mitral/tricuspid regurg and small pericardial effusion, My cardiac specialist told me when standing to cross my legs (like you've really got to go potty) and/or to 'shevel'--sway from side to side or back and forth (that also seems to help as long as the blood isn't pooling so quickly that I don't have my wits about me before faint).