Yesterday the doctor told me what he suspected I had and then I did the mistake (AGAIN) of jumping on Google to look it up.
[Enter a need to somehow ban my fingers from venturing unto Google here!!!]
I possibly have Livedo Reticularis.
Livedo Reticularis is a common benign vascular condition which commonly affects the superficial blood vessels and capillaries. Livedo Reticularis has a mottled net-like or lace-like appearance with purplish or bluish discoloration which is non-blanchable. The presentation of this disease is evident on the skin of the arms, legs, palms and soles and in rare cases includes the torso. This condition is usually aggravated by cold temperature or may be a symptom of other underlying disease.
Livedo Reticularis is an idiopathic and benign disorder. Several factors may cause the mottling appearance of the skin. This is brought about by swelling of medium sized blood vessels including capillaries which results into pooling of blood into that area. There is an interruption to the normal blood flow brought about by vascular obstructions from infections, blood clots or vessel wall anomalies like in Calciphylaxis. With normal physiology a network of vessels are responsible to provide enough blood to the more superficial ones. Due to the presence of obstructions or inflammations there is a disruption on the mechanism leading to scarcity of blood to the superficial vessels. As a compensatory mechanism, the underlying blood vessels swell to continually supply blood to the more superficial ones. This compensatory effect causes spasm and prolonged vasodilation trapping some blood on a particular area thus a cutaneous discoloration appears.
In some instance, it is thought to be due to a reaction from cold weather where vasoconstriction of blood vessels occur which is common among children and adults. In some studies there is a greater incidence of Livedo Reticularis on people leaving on colder countries. Some of this resolve spontaneously and others may leave a permanent changes in the skin. Another acceptable fact of the cause of Livedo Reticularis is hormonal changes or an autoimmune response which occur more commonly among women during third decade of life.-- quoted from www.ByeByeDoctor.com
You have live...do... what?! Ya, exaclty.
Basically what has happened is my veins have become swollen and so what I am seeing on my legs are all the swollen veins forming a crazy honeycomb pattern that starts at my upper thighs and continues to about me knees. On my left leg, as of just this past week, it now covers half of my calf. I don't really care about the look of it but my left leg is very uncomfortable. It feels as if it's constantly being squeezed. I can definitely feel that there is excess pressure present. And when I go running, my legs swell up, making them feel very heavy and stiff. When I asked the doctor how this possibly came about he noted that this is more so common with people who live in colder regions or who are always in colder environments -- hello winter at Hulk's!!! The extreme winter chill has officially kicked my butt, or my legs I guess I should say.
I asked him if it was something that I should be really concerned about or if it was just a temporary thing. He noted that once the livedo recticularis makes itself visible it may be too late to stop it from being permanent and the root cause of it may possibly be an underlying bigger problem. I can deal with never wearing skirts again and I really have never worn shorts beyond for my fights, but the whole "possible underlying bigger problem" raised red flags in my head.
I have an appointment with a specialist for testing tomorrow but I'll also be stopping by my herbal doctor. I much rather go a more natural route but after my run in on Google with numerous worst case scenarios, I am taking two routes at once.
Many of my friends dropped by the club tonight and last night to see how my appointment went, they're super sweet like that, as did my sponsor's family. We had a surprise chicken party tonight and I suspect it was more of a let's-cheer-Amy-up party. I am ok, really. I was a bit stressed about it but it helps to be surrounded by positive friends that are just as supportive as they are sarcastic. While some joked about the fact I really wasn't joking when I said I was cold, others gave me props for working long hours in such chilly conditions and some joked about it being Canada mocking me -- I've Koreanized so much that now I can't hack "a little" cold, nice. I appreciated the props and loved the jokes, but this honeycomb on my legs has got to go. Summer is coming and I've got my summer beach body, bikini-sporting body well on it's way and I don't want a red honeycomb pattern on my legs to keep me from enjoying my fun in the sun.
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