They hurt less, Sandy says, when she's up and moving. My family gets very mad at me because I don't sit down. It seems like the sitting does something to the circulation. Sandy never exposes her legs in public. I have not had shorts on for probably twenty years because I would not want to embarrass my children or my husband by the ugliness of my legs.
Blood is delivered to the legs through arteries and returns to the heart through veins.
To help the blood flow up against gravity, veins have one-way valves that prevent blood from flowing backward. If the valves fail to function properly, the blood returns to the legs and feet, causing veins to become enlarged. The result is varicose veins. Sandy's problem started when her third son was born. By the time she'd had her fifth child, the veins were out of control.