“Hi my name is Jennifer and I am here to share with you my experience with The Vein and Vascular Institute.

My experience actually starts in the fall of 2021. Around August I started experiencing a lot of pain and pressure in my pelvic area.

The pain started where it was a solid week. Then it was two weeks, then three weeks of constant pain.

This level of pain that I was experiencing would happen if I was sitting, if I was laying down, when I was standing and walking.

Nothing excruciating at first, but as the weeks and the days went by, the level of pain and pressure that I was experiencing began to grow.

It began to impact, not just myself, but my family. I was no longer able to comfortably, without pain, walk just a few steps in my own home, from the bedroom to the living room or to the kitchen. I could not take part in just simple day to day activities without being in this immense level of pain.

As the days continued, and the pain and pressure continued to grow, I went and made an appointment with my primary doctor. As I explained to her my pain and my situation, the closest thing that I could explain, or relate to the pressure that I was feeling is when I was giving birth to my child. That level of labor pain is the closest to what I was experiencing.

When I expressed that to my doctor, and her looking over my records, she could not find anything that indicated what would be wrong. She suggested instead that I would perhaps may want to speak to someone and perhaps it was related to stress or something postpartum that was triggering these muscle memories, as she called it. And that was probably why I was feeling these labor pains.

I left feeling very frustrated. I left feeling unheard and completely dismissed. I went home in tears and spoke to my husband and said, “Something has to be wrong, there is no reason that I’m feeling this way.”

I hated that I could not participate in the day to day things, like walking my dog or playing with my kids or going for a run or a bike ride with my older kid.

It really began to not just affect me, but my whole family.

I then made an appointment to speak with my gynecologist. I figured if perhaps it is this pelvic pain, maybe there’s something else more precisely that gynecologists can see that my primary doctor isn’t.

I made an appointment and got in right away, the next day to be exact, and thankfully she took the time to really hear what I was explaining to her…the level of pain. She could even see how I could not even walk from the lobby into the examination room. It took longer to walk than it did my exam.

She really did all that she could. But again, just like before, nothing came up to show what the pain was or what could be the indicator.

She did have one suspicion. She told me that earlier that week she had gone to a seminar in which other medical professionals get together and they share their research, they share their findings and a little bit about what they do and their backgrounds, and how it can impact other medical fields.

One of the speakers at that event happened to be Dr. Wright of The Vein and Vascular Institute. He did a segment about several topics, but one of the things that caught her attention, that she was perhaps thinking that this could be, was something called Pelvic Congestion Syndrome.

She admitted that she had never seen a case in person, but seeing that she could not see anything that was a clear identifier on her end, she said, “You know what, I’m going to get his information. I’m going to help you find someone who can help you.”

She wrote down Dr. Wright’s number, his name, and as soon as I got home, I made an appointment.

I honestly did not think that anything good was going to come out of that. I had a false notion that something with veins had nothing to do with what I was feeling. That was two different things. But I’m glad I took the chance and made that appointment.

Thankfully, the office was extremely accommodating and I got an appointment within the next week, which is amazing. You rarely find an appointment so quick. But they heard the amount of pain and discomfort I was in and got me seen as quickly as possible with Dr. Wright.

I came in, and that day just happened to be one of my worst physically feeling days. I could not even get through the consultation without being in complete tears over the level of pain that I was in.

Dr. Wright was so patient and he truly did hear everything I had to say. He heard my experiences, all that was occurring and he said, “Don’t worry, we’re going to figure out what’s going on. And if I can’t figure it out, I’m going to help you figure out what it is.”

Those had to be the most heart-warming words any physician could say to their patient.

We understand that, as much as we want, doctors may not always have the answers. But the fact that he took the time and dedication to help me find what the root cause was, spoke volumes. I was not dismissed, I was not disregarded, it was not brushed off. He truly did listen to everything, and for the first time, I left a doctor’s office feeling like there was a chance, feeling confident that I was going to finally have a solution. That’s something that cannot be bought.

The first thing he did was issue some scans to be done of my veins, a full mapping. I was a little bit taken back and impressed that he was going to go through this, but he was determined not to just focus on the areas in which I was feeling pain but also looking to see if they were stemming from a different part of the body.

After a few scans, and I got the results back in…it took a matter of two weeks from my first appointment scans and results to come in. That’s dedication, in my opinion.

I came in to go over the results, and sure enough, as he explained, what was causing it was faulty valves within my veins. Because the valves were not properly controlling the blood flow, it was like having a faucet on full blast and that was causing all the swelling and inflammation and the pain in my pelvic area.

I had the faucet of veins, blood pooling and that was causing what is called Pelvic Congestion Syndrome. It often goes from mild cramps to severe cramps, to severe back pain, leg pain, leg numbness and I was experiencing all of that.

The pain that I was having is exactly the same level of intensity and pain as when I was going into labor with my son. That is not just a mild cramp, that is and intense level of pain to be experiencing everyday from August, all the way through November.

That is physically exhausting, it’s emotionally exhausting, it’s mentally exhausting. I was at the point where I was truly feeling desperate. My family didn’t know how to help. I didn’t even know how to get help, or what help I did need. But finally, on a hunch because my gynecologist went to a seminar and heard a speaker talk about veins, I actually had a solution. I actually had a diagnosis. A diagnosis that often, very commonly gets misdiagnosed or overlooked.

If I had just gone with the first opinion of my primary health doctor, I don’t know if I could be here sitting in front of you expressing my gratitude to Dr. Wright, or just sitting here period.

The level of pain cannot be described. With that said, I finally had a solution.

Immediately after, we set up an appointment for the procedure in which two copper coils would be inserted to act as the barrier for the valves which were not functioning.

The procedure was so flawless. It sounded scary, honestly, when you talk about your veins. And to know that in this procedure I was not going to be under full anesthesia, it was at first a bit intimidating.

The staff, the doctor, the nursing staff…I could not thank them enough. They truly made me feel comfortable. They explained every step of the way.

The procedure took what felt like just minutes, and the next day, while I may have been sore, I could again start to sit up and not feel pain. In less than 24 hours I started to get my life back. I was able to sit up and not have pain, to lay down and not have pain.

Pain was not a constant presence in my life or in my family’s life. And ever since then, I have just been truly grateful of every moment.

Now I’m back to walking the dog without any problems, I take my youngest to the playground and can actually now run around with him. I can pick him up and not feel like I’m in pain. I can take long walks and do nature trails with my older boys. I can enjoy and go on bike rides with them.

I can stand up for hours baking cupcakes and doing things at home that I couldn’t even do without being in that constant pain.

I don’t know how else to show my gratitude for all that Dr. Wright and The Vein and Vascular Institute have done for me.

To know that this is something that so many women have experienced and it constantly goes misdiagnosed or it’s overlooked or ignored, even worse…the word needs to be spread.

Anytime you’re feeling this type of pain, if your doctor can’t figure it out, talk to someone. Keep on asking, keep on seeing until you find it.

If you’re not getting heard, find a doctor who will. If you’re feeling the same symptoms that I was once having, get your veins checked.

It sounds ironic, but so much has been given back to me, over veins. I cannot thank The Vein and Vascular Institute big enough for what they have done for me.”