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I've searched this but it doesn't to be an idiom and I just don't understand it. It's from the same Irish book I'm reading, could it be an Irish expression?. Here's the full sentence. I hope somehow can help.
(We = the main character and her boyfriend, John)
We were at my parents' for dinner. My father's veins were at him, my mother had a headache. John put on a brave face while surrounded by misery.
I've searched this but it doesn't to be an idiom and I just don't understand it. It's from the same Irish book I'm reading, could it be an Irish expression?. Here's the full sentence. I hope somehow can help.
(We = the main character and her boyfriend, John)
We were at my parents' for dinner. My father's veins were at him, my mother had a headache. John put on a brave face while surrounded by misery.
It means that her father suffers with problems with his veins, probably varicose veins and they were "at him" which is an Irish coloquialism for "giving him trouble, feeling painful" etc.
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My father's veins were at him 
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