The medical specialists at leading vein care clinics, like Metro Vein Centers, often prescribe medications along with the varicose vein treatment they perform in the clinic.These medications may include diuretics to help remove excess fluid accumulating in your legs, anti-coagulates(blood thinners) to prevent the formation of blood clots, and anti-inflammatory drugs to help ease pain. Vein doctors may also prescribe vasodilators, like Pentoxifylline(oxpentifylline), which open up your veins and capillaries more to make blood flow more easily.
In this article, we’re going to concentrate on Vasculera, a prescription based “medical food” rather than a traditional pharmaceutical. You cannot buy Vasculera over the counter. Vasculera is now being prescribed by American vein doctors to go along withvaricose vein treatment like duplex ultrasound guided laser treatment and sclerotherapy. There are several studies that show patients responding well to Vasculera, in some cases within a week, although for other patients it can take up to six weeks to notice a significant difference.
Before we go any further, we should define a “medical food” because this can be a confusing term to many people. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a medical food is food that is “formulated” for the dietary management of a specific disease or medical issue. It must also be given and monitored by a doctor so the dosage and usage can be regulated according to the patient’s actual medical need. This makes a medical food different from both an over the counter dietary supplement or a prescription drug, which is often synthetically produced. You can think of a medical food as somewhere between a dietary supplement and a traditional prescription drug.
As part of an overall varicose vein treatment plan, Vasculera is prescribed to help restore some of the function
lost by chronic venous insufficiency. The primary active ingredient is diosmin, derived from a powerful flavonoid class antioxidant called hesperidin, found mostly in citrus fruits. In fact, the diosmin found in Vasculera is derived from oranges. Diosmin has been used for decades in Europe to overcome the symptoms of varicose veins. It is known torestore the integrity of vein walls, reduce edema(swelling), improve the unctionality of capillaries, and improve the overall blood flow. Vasculera will also help manage venous ulcers in advanced stage varicose vein disease, even when traditional medications have failed to improve the situation..
Now, you may be asking yourself at this point, “Why not just eat an orange or drink some orange juice?” This iswhere the “formulation” part of the FDA’sdefinition comes into play. While Vasculera is made from oranges, it is actually a highly purified and highly concentrated single ingredient derived from oranges. You would actually have to eat one-hundred and forty oranges to get all the diosmin you are able to get from a single Vasculera tablet! In fact, you’d have to be sure to eatall of the orange peel too, the part most people throw away, because this is where the diosmin is concentrated.
In addition to diosmin, the primary active ingredient in Vasculera, Alka4-complex is another active ingredient addedto Vasculera to help buffer the pH of blood. Alka4-complex has been shown to have an exceptional ability to survive in the highly acidic environment of the human stomach and thusreach the intestine where it can help regulate the pH ofblood! This helps reduce the local acidosis so often found in the veins of people with varicose vein disease. Thus, diosmin and Alka4-complex work synergistically to reduce inflammation. Each tablet of Vasculera contains 600 milligrams of diosmin and 30 milligrams of the Alka4-complex.
Prescription medical foods are just catching on in the United States but they have been popular in European
countries for a much longer time. In a sense, they are at the crossroads between natural medicine and traditional medicine. If you are adamantly opposed to a prescription based medical food, you could always try making citrus peeltea by boiling and then seeping fresh citrus peel for thirty minutes. This has a pleasantly mild sweet taste. You can also look for sun dried peels of tangerines (Mandarin orange peels) in natural food stores or Asian stores..
If you would like to visit a top rated vein doctor to work out a comprehensive varicose vein treatment plan, give Metro Vein Centers a call to schedule an appointment. The first consultation is free and they can help you get your varicose vein treatment covered by insurance. Further, you do not need a doctor’s referral to see a specialist at Metro Vein Centers. You’ll always be in good hands at Metro because they are among the most experienced vein doctors in the country. When consulting with a vein doctor at Metro, you can ask him or her about whether they think Vasculera, or another medical food, will help your condition.