How Do I Know If I Have Peripheral Arterial Disease?

When it comes to vascular health, there are numerous conditions that can affect your daily life. Many vascular diseases have overlapping causes and symptoms, which can make it difficult to determine if an issue you are dealing with requires medical attention. Let’s break down peripheral arterial disease so you can understand when it’s necessary to talk to your doctor.

What is Peripheral Arterial Disease?

Peripheral arterial disease, also known as PAD, is a circulatory condition where blood flow is reduced to your arms and legs due to plaque buildup narrowing your arteries. It is more common for PAD to affect your legs, causing discomfort while walking. When the blood flow to your arms and legs becomes restricted, your limbs struggle to get enough oxygen and nutrients to function properly.

A PAD diagnosis can also provide insight into your overall cardiovascular health. Peripheral arterial disease is caused by atherosclerosis, which occurs when plaque begins to build up against the walls of your arteries. Atherosclerosis can be the catalyst for other health conditions, including a stroke, heart disease, and more.

Causes of Peripheral Arterial Disease

The primary cause of PAD is atherosclerosis, as the buildup of plaque reduces the blood flow to your limbs. Depending on the severity of your atherosclerosis, it can affect only one artery or multiple.

In addition to atherosclerosis, there are numerous health factors that can increase your risk of developing PAD. You can be more predisposed to PAD if you have factors such as:

Smoking: Smoking causes damage to your blood vessels and causes them to tighten. This can cause your blood pressure and cholesterol levels to rise, which can also exacerbate PAD development.
High blood pressure: As your blood pressure increases, it causes strain on your artery walls that leads to small tears forming. These tears become easy spots for cholesterol, plaque, and other fats to build up along your artery walls.
Diabetes: Another condition that contributes to plaque buildup, diabetes causes high blood sugar levels and insulin resistance. High blood sugar causes your artery walls to become rough, and insulin resistance can cause your body to produce excess fatty acids.
Obesity: Excess weight can cause more strain on your circulatory system, making it harder for your blood to flow effectively. Body fat can also release inflammatory chemicals that promote plaque buildup.
Age: As you get older, your risk of PAD increases, particularly around 65 years old. Although it’s more common in older people, you can develop PAD at any age depending on your other risk factors.
Family history: If your family has a history of heart disease, blood vessel disease, or strokes, you are at a higher risk of developing PAD.
High cholesterol: Cholesterol is one of the main elements of plaque, and excess cholesterol increases your risk of plaque buildup in your arteries.
Sedentary lifestyle: Activity levels greatly affect your circulatory system. When you sit for long periods of time, the muscles in your legs don’t contract often enough to push blood back up to your heart.
Stress: When you are stressed, your body releases adrenaline and cortisol, which cause your blood pressure to rise and your blood vessels to constrict.
Diet: Unhealthy eating habits can contribute to plaque buildup. Foods high in saturated fats can increase your risk of PAD, including butter, red meat, cheese, and more.

Overall, any health condition or lifestyle habit that contributes to plaque buildup or causes strain on your circulatory system can create an increased risk of developing peripheral arterial disease.

Symptoms

For peripheral arterial disease, symptoms gradually present over time. The earliest sign most people experience is leg pain. Leg pain from PAD can present as aching, cramping, or heaviness that worsens when walking and goes away after rest, known as intermittent claudication. Intermittent claudication is most commonly felt in your calf, but it can be felt around your foot, thigh, or buttocks.

Along with leg pain, a weak or absent pulse in your legs or feet can be an early sign of peripheral arterial disease. As plaque builds up along your artery walls, it gets harder for your blood to flow through the artery, resulting in the pulse change.

Many of the symptoms of PAD start to worsen as it progresses, including:

Slow-growing toenails
Cold lower leg or foot
Skin discoloration
Numbness or tingling sensation in feet and legs
Leg hair loss

There are additional symptoms you may experience as your peripheral arterial disease becomes severe, such as:

Worsened leg pain: Pain persists even during rest periods and worsens at night, known as critical limb ischemia.
Non-healing wounds: Sores and ulcers may form on your legs, feet, or toes as a result of blood pooling in your legs. These wounds can become infected and lead to further issues such as gangrene.
Muscle weakness: As your pain gets worse, you’re more likely to become sedentary for long periods of time, causing your muscles to weaken from lack of use.

How to Prevent PAD

Ultimately, the best way to prevent peripheral arterial disease is through developing a healthy lifestyle. If you currently smoke, you should begin your lifestyle changes by starting the process of quitting. Smoking creates a strain on your blood vessels and reduces the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream, which can lead to PAD progressing faster.

As you evaluate your lifestyle, here are some additional ways you can develop healthier habits to prevent peripheral artery disease:

Lose weight: If you are overweight, it can be causing additional strain on your veins.
Follow a heart-healthy diet: Incorporate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats instead of foods high in saturated fats, trans fats, and cholesterol.
Exercise daily: Even if it’s a short walk around your neighborhood, regularly exercising can help improve your circulation.

Managing other health conditions you have can also help prevent peripheral artery disease. If you have high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol, you should talk to your doctor about treatment options to help prevent PAD.

Treatment Options for Peripheral Arterial Disease

Once peripheral artery disease starts to form, there is no cure, but your symptoms can be managed through treatment. Your doctor will recommend the same lifestyle changes as you would use to prevent PAD, as well as treatments such as:

Medications: Your doctor may prescribe medications to treat existing conditions you have, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol.
Angioplasty: A catheter is used to widen the blocked artery to improve blood flow.
Atherectomy: In combination with an angioplasty, the plaque is shaved away from the artery walls after the artery has been opened.
Bypass surgery: Blood flow is rerouted around the blocked portion of your artery.

PAD Treatment at Michigan Vascular

At Michigan Vascular Center, we understand that managing peripheral artery disease can be challenging. That’s why we offer a comprehensive range of services designed to help you achieve optimal vascular health.

Our experienced surgeons use painless and noninvasive testing to ensure an accurate diagnosis of your condition. We then work with you to develop a treatment plan that begins with peripheral artery disease self-care and, if necessary, medicines, minimally invasive endovascular procedures, or surgery.

At Michigan Vascular Center, we’re committed to providing the highest quality care and support for our patients based on sound principles of vascular disease treatment.

Whether you’re looking for peripheral artery disease self-care guidance or more advanced treatments for PAD, our team is here to help you achieve your goals and improve your quality of life.