Spider veins??? TMS???

Hi everyone!

I've suffered from various mild forms of TMS for years, but only discovered it as such last year when I was completely debilitated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which I overcame in about 8 months using Sarno's methods.

My latest health anxiety: MY VEINS. I have a bit of a family history of spider and varicose veins, and within the past two months, one of my legs has developed a whole network of spider veins. This really bums me out and gives me anxiety -- I'm 24 years old, for goodness sake! I don't want to have ugly legs yet :'(

I realize that this is mostly a cosmetic issue, but living in a society that values women primarily for their beauty and youth, I'm realizing this is giving me serious, serious anxiety (about my ability to be "good enough", "beautiful enough", "lovable".)

I'm also freaked because unlike other TMS symptoms I've had, these veins are more or less permanent. Right?? I can't just say "this too shall pass", because actually they probably won't. The anxiety has me adjusting my sitting positions to a ridiculous degree out of anxiety, which I know is against the spirit of TMS healing, but I also really worry that I'm doing permanent damage to my body, at least aesthetically and possibly functionally.

My question is: (a) Could this be TMS? (b) How can I get around the issue that it's permanent to lose the anxiety about it? Do I need to completely lose all attachment to my body and how it looks? That seems absolutely impossible right now, in a society that values beauty so much.

Thank you for reading!
Sophia

 

Hi Sophia,

I don't think spider veins/varicose veins are specifically known to be TMS other than the fact that they are totally harmless! They are, like you said, just a random thing like grey hair that you just can't do a whole lot about. They certainly aren't harmful in any way and you won't hurt your legs by "sitting wrong." I think its an old wives tale that varicose veins happen from sitting weird (i've also heard they happen from standing and lots of other things, really who knows!)

I think it's impossible to lose all attachment to your body and looks...we all want to feel confident and happy in our bodies and like our appearance. At the same time, like you said, this culture is SO focused on women's bodies looking a specific way and holding us to a completely impossible standard!!

There are so many things you simply can't do anything about like harmless things like varicose veins, body shape/bone structure and a huge host of other things...I think its a hard but important thing to learn to start de-valuing the impossible beauty standards that society sets and start seeing yourself as attractive as you are. We all have things we don't like about our bodies but it doesn't mean we don't care at all! There are lots of great body positive bloggers and writers out there celebrating all shapes, sizes and appearances of people.

It has taken me (and probably lots of us) a while to accept the weird things about my appearance I don't like, and remember that you're your own worst critic on most of this stuff. Have you tried meditations on acceptance and lovingkindness? This could help a great deal with accepting things you don't like and being kinder to yourself. Easier said than done, I know