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What Causes Swollen Veins Under The Right Armpit?
Question: I have swollen veins under my right armpit. The veins are hard to the touch. When I lift or extend that arm I have a stinging sensation in the vein in that arm. The swollen veins appeared about 5 days ago. About 3 weeks ago I had a cardiac catheterization ( angiogram) through groin which resulted in bruising and swelling around the entry site. The angiogram was because I had experienced some chest pain on exercising and angiogram was recommended after stress test. The angiogram was clear .Doctor now considers the chest pain is caused by my blood pressure being unstable and becoming very high during exercise and reducing blood flow around heart. I take medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and aspirin.
Is my vein blocked and is it serious? Should I visit the consultant who performed the angiogram for his view?
Is my vein blocked and is it serious? Should I visit the consultant who performed the angiogram for his view?
Brief Answer:
My description is as follows
Detailed Answer:
Greetings. Welcome to HCM and thank you for your question. I understand your concern.
Let us take this step by step. Your swollen veins under your armpit may be due to pressure and use of your right hand and arm. If you are concerned that they may be blocked or occluded, some signs would have been shown, such as discoloration of the area for instance. However due to this phenomenon, I would recommend these two tests:
- Echo Doppler of this area's vessels - to determine whether the primary problem is in the veins or the lymph glands of the area
- A plain chest X-ray - because there are certain entities which may be accompanied with signs in the armpit area.
I should reassure you that there would have been a possibility that this is a complication of the angiogram, if the procedure would have been performed through wrist artery. No linkage whatsoever when the groin artery is used. Therefore, my opinion is that you should follow with a visit to your general practitioner/curing doctor and there is no need to consult the doctor who performed the angiogram.
The blood pressure and the heart rate are two organism parameters that are prone to increase when one is performing physical activity, due to increased workload to the heart. The main aim in treating a patient with high blood pressure is to keep it under 140/90 mmHg and decrease the workload to the heart. Losartan is a highly effective anti-hypertensive drug. In my experience, I recommend a beta-blocker which, besides lowering the blood pressure, also has effects on slowing the heart rate down, a property that decreases the workload to the heart.
I would recommend you not to stop your regular physical activity, and I would encourage you to have a 60-minute physical activity a day.
I hope I was helpful with my answer. If you have follow-up questions, I am happy to help. Please rate the answer, if you do not.
Kind regards and congratulations on your normal angiogram.
Dr. Meriton
My description is as follows
Detailed Answer:
Greetings. Welcome to HCM and thank you for your question. I understand your concern.
Let us take this step by step. Your swollen veins under your armpit may be due to pressure and use of your right hand and arm. If you are concerned that they may be blocked or occluded, some signs would have been shown, such as discoloration of the area for instance. However due to this phenomenon, I would recommend these two tests:
- Echo Doppler of this area's vessels - to determine whether the primary problem is in the veins or the lymph glands of the area
- A plain chest X-ray - because there are certain entities which may be accompanied with signs in the armpit area.
I should reassure you that there would have been a possibility that this is a complication of the angiogram, if the procedure would have been performed through wrist artery. No linkage whatsoever when the groin artery is used. Therefore, my opinion is that you should follow with a visit to your general practitioner/curing doctor and there is no need to consult the doctor who performed the angiogram.
The blood pressure and the heart rate are two organism parameters that are prone to increase when one is performing physical activity, due to increased workload to the heart. The main aim in treating a patient with high blood pressure is to keep it under 140/90 mmHg and decrease the workload to the heart. Losartan is a highly effective anti-hypertensive drug. In my experience, I recommend a beta-blocker which, besides lowering the blood pressure, also has effects on slowing the heart rate down, a property that decreases the workload to the heart.
I would recommend you not to stop your regular physical activity, and I would encourage you to have a 60-minute physical activity a day.
I hope I was helpful with my answer. If you have follow-up questions, I am happy to help. Please rate the answer, if you do not.
Kind regards and congratulations on your normal angiogram.
Dr. Meriton
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Sonia Raina
Answered by
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