Question:
A friend of mine must start on an extended intravenous medical treatment, blood drawing, etc.There's going to be a lot of trauma for the veins and a lot of vein puncturing. I'm not sure where we heard this but there are certain vitamins, herbs or supplements that are very good for strengthening the blood vessels in terms of elasticity. Can anyone tell me what's the best thing for a person who has varicose veins and is going to be taking a lot of intravenous medical treatment? Or anything else to do to strengthen the veins?

Answer: Veins are generally pretty flexible, its the arteries that are more often the problem. Anything that you could do to strengthen veins would need a lot of lead time and would not really be useful for your friends immediate needs. I will, however, suggest some things that are good for wound healing. Increase your zinc to 30-50mg daily, take 2-3mg daily of copper, take several grams of vitamin C per day in 3 to 4 divided doses, take 5 to 10 gm of arginine (not with food). Aloe Vera also helps wound healing.