arm tightness and bulging veins?

[baokki]

Hi, I wanted to ask real quick if anybody knows why this is happening or what the cause of this is...

For about a few hours now, the veins in my arms have been protruding really visibly, and are sticking out. My whole arms also feel tight and squeezy. I mean, occasionally my veins protrude after I get out of the shower, or if I exercise or something like that, but the odd thing here is, they've been like this for hours, nonstop, and I've just been sitting around, I'm not doing anything.

I thought having heightened blood pressure causes veins to hurt and stick out, but I have very good blood pressure, so I don't think it's that. The only thing that makes them recede is if I lift my arms up in the air, but they continue to stick out when I lower them again. Does anybody know what might be causing this? It's really scaring me and my arms just feel so tight and strange...

[Lee Grant Irons]

Hi baokki!

The vascular system (the veins and arteries) is managed by a quite complex system of hormones and organs, including your heart, kidneys, and adrenal glands. Any time you experience anxiety or stress, your adrenal glands release stress hormones, which cause your kidneys, heart, and vascular system to respond to enable you to fight or run (primitive response). So that is likely what is happening. You have then fed this anxiety by stressing out even more about your stress response. You need to break the anxiety cycle by trying to do something that diverts your attention from your symptoms, calms you down, changes your current agitated emotions to something more pleasurable, or helps your arms feel better, such as massage or even exercise.

You can do it. Let us know how you are feeling after you try this. :)

[baokki]

Thanks for the response. I've had anxiety and panic symptoms for about a year now, but I've never experienced vein pain and protrusion like this, so it scared me a bit. My arms still feel tight and the veins are bulging today, but not as bad as yesterday, however, I feel strangely light headed and nauseous. I was wondering if this was somehow related to my irritable bowel syndrome, maybe that's a cause... anyways, thanks again, I think it is most likely just anxiety causing me to tense up.

[Lee Grant Irons]

If you make an effort at controlling it and your effort begins to be successful, then that is all that matters. :) The anxiety is a greater risk to our health than the likelihood of rare disease. So doing what you can to control your anxiety is first best thing you can do.