I had surgery to remove varicose veins on my left leg and now my left arm hurts. I had surgery 6 days ago and was put under with a general anesthesia. The veins were superficial on my thigh & calf. My leg seems to be healing okay, but my left arm has been hurting since then. It's not red or bruised, but hurts. Coincidence, or not?
Leg vein surgery has no effect on the arm. However, prolonged pressure on the arm during surgery while you were unconscious, or inflammation from an arm IV may be the cause.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
It could be a variety of things, but probably nothing serious. Normally, general anesthesia is not used for treatment of varicose veins or even necessary. It could be a reaction to the anesthesia, but it's hard to say without knowing the outcome of your follow up appointment. Your provider should have scheduled a follow up with you within 7-10 days to see how the procedure went. If necessary, the provider could do an ultrasound on your arm as a precaution.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
It may be coincidence. The only possible cause related to your treatment may be that your arm was not adequately padded during the general anesthesia and in that instance you may be having some nerve pain related to the pressure on your nerves while under anesthesia. The other possibility is that the pain is completely unrelated to the vein procedure. I would recommend evaluation by your physician.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
You may have discomfort from how you were positioned on the table or from being moved while under general anesthesia. An anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen should help.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
I suggest you see your doctor as soon as possible to examine you. It is likely that your pain is due to positioning the left arm for IV access or it is inflammation from your IV. The IV could have infiltrated surrounding tissue. Why guess? See your doctor.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
It sounds like it was a coincidence. However, did you have an IV in that arm or was there a blood pressure cuff on that arm? If so, that might be related.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Show your arm to your surgeon. The most likely casue of arm pain after general anesthesia for a leg procedure is superficial thrombophlebitis, an inflammatory change in the vein through which IV fluids and drugs may have been given. This rarely is a serious issue, but the best approach is to see your physician.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
The arm pain is probably from your IV line during surgery.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
It sounds like you may have inflammation of an arm vein from the IV during your Vein Surgery. Follow up with your doctor to see if you need treatment for that.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
The arm has nothing to do with the leg. If you had an IV in your arm, this may be contributing to your discomfort. Speak with your surgeon.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
There is no direct connection between your arm pain and your vein surgery. However, you may be developing a phlebitis from an IV that had been in your arm. You should go see her doctor promptly about this.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Positioning during surgery usually takes into consideration proper arm placement to prevent injury. The reality is that sometimes there may be soreness in areas unrelated to surgical incisions when general anesthesia is used. I would discuss this with your surgeon in the next week and ascertain if your symptoms are related to positioning or completely coincidental. Positional symptoms should resolve over a 2-3 week period in my experience.
Published on Jul 11, 2012