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a possible explanation could be that when there is a stenosis in the jugular the vein gets more elastic in order to carry more blood ... ??

Well...my two cents - As mentioned in the yahoo question I qouted, the swelling/filling of blood of both jugulars is common in hornplayers. This is because of the reflux caused by de valsava (which is what it is called when holding breath or playing a horn) which backs up the blood in the jugulars.

Obviously they put a lot of prolonged strain on their jugs on a regular basis. So for me to have this vein fill up so quickly means that the blood backing up as a result of the valsalva has no place to go. So that could mean stenosis somewhere up the right jug, is my very uneducated guess.

I will be so disillusioned if Dr S proves me wrong.

found something:

Q. I am a 41 years old woman having varicose veins on the back of my both knees. When I lie down I find that my neck vein also has varicosity.

A. The varicose veins of the leg are quite common and the ones on the back of the knee are also fairly common. It is unusual to have varicose veins of the neck. The neck veins are usually visible on lying down in some people more than in others as they become visible due to the position.. In heart failure the veins may become prominent. The only situations where the veins are visible and tortuou, when not related to position, are either due to malformations or blockage of the chest veins.

Answered by : Dr. Shiban K. Chaku
Senior Consultant Surgeon,
Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals,
New Delhi

source: http://doctor.ndtv.com/faq/ndtv/fid/150 ... neck-.html

Huh. I did the experiment with no discernible swelling... but wait! When I first heard of CCSVI, I started paying attention to my neck veins. I noticed that I could see prominent veins, that seemed to "disappear" and re-appear. I thought that perhaps the veins just went "deeper" at some point, and re-surfaced, but after seeing my MRV pics, I can see that the prominence of veins in my neck are concomitant with the stenoses on the MRV.

I am afraid to do the valsalva, or hold my breath.

eve wrote:I would love to be scanned and see where my blockages are - I think that we might find that people who have this swelling will all have stenosis in much the same place. Or so I guess. I hope Dr S will have some time for me today.

I was thinking just the same thing. I was thinking that atypical stenosis sites may explain some of the negative results people have been getting. Glad to hear of the unexpected improvement.

Ive suffered with MS for 10 years I tried this today and my right jugular become a lot more prominent whilst I was holding my breath, my wife who is fit and healthy, held her breath and no veins in her neck changed. This is more remarkable as she is fairly veiny!! Although this gives me hope as Im waiting for an appointment date in Poland, I cant help thinking that this test seems very basic with many possible explanations but hopefully I will be proven wrong. Also, could the way in which we hold our breath make a difference?? For eg, should we be holding our breath with tight stomach muscles or should we relax and just not breathe. I noticed when I was doing the test that my veins were more prominent when tightening and holding my stomach muscles after taking a gulp.

This is Dr S his answer:

drsclafani wrote: it looked to me like you did have a distending vein. It looks like it is NOT the internal jugular vein but some smaller veins like the external jugular vein.

It also looked like you were doing the Valsalva maneuver (not a karate move). This increases chest pressure and it is not uncommon for many people who do not have MS to have distsension of the vein.

That being said, it can indeed be a sign of collateral veins. But it cal also be seen in heart failure, obstructive lung disease and many other conditions.

But why focus on this. I would look at it like this;

If you have MS, you have CCSVI until proven otherwise

I tried it a few times and only noticed my smaller vein popping out on my right side. Nothing significant.

So... i was reading in dr S' threads about visial CCSVI signs and it made me think back of this. One of the people who reported to have this too, has been liberated and I asked her this morning if she still has this popping up - and guess what? It's gone - she tried it several times.

So I wonder if anyone who responded in this thread to have it, has been liberated since and if it's still there or not?