Every day, your heart works hard to keep your body healthy and moving, but it can’t do that on its own. Your heart relies on a network of blood vessels — your veins and arteries — to circulate oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood throughout your body and return it to your heart. When your blood vessels are no longer able to function properly, you doctor may tell you that you have peripheral vascular disease (PVD) or peripheral artery disease (PAD). Although the two conditions sound similar, they are different, and here’s how.
PVD: When Vessels Suffer Setbacks
PVD occurs when disease affects any of the vessels outside of your heart, wherever they happen to be — in your arms, legs, brain or anywhere else.
A common type of PVD is venous insufficiency, which occurs when the valves in the leg veins don’t shut properly during blood’s return to the heart. As a result, blood flows backward and pools in the veins. Another type of PVD is deep vein thrombosis, a condition that develops when a blood clot forms deep in a vein, most often in a leg. The clot can potentially travel to the lungs and cause serious problems, even death.
Read More: Don’t Ignore Your Leg Pain
PAD: A Problem of Plaque
PAD is a type of PVD that specifically affects the arteries. It is usually caused by atherosclerosis, a process that causes plaque buildup. That plaque can narrow your arteries and limit the amount of blood that can pass through them, or it can block blood flow altogether.
Many people develop PAD without ever experiencing symptoms. When symptoms do appear, they typically include leg cramps or numbness that appear during activity but go away when you sit or stand still, suggesting your arteries aren’t supplying your legs with enough blood when you move.
Other symptoms of PAD include:
- Abnormally pale skin on the legs or feet
- Difficulty finding a pulse in the legs or feet
- Feelings of weakness, heaviness or coolness in the legs
- Sores on the legs or feet that are slow to heal
Read More: Leonard Allen’s Vascular Surgery Story
Take On Your Risk Factors
Both PVD and PAD can cause long-term problems for your health, so it’s important to keep them in check. Both conditions increase the risk of stroke and heart attack and may lead to amputation.
Family history, which you can’t control, can increase your risk of developing PVD and PAD. However, you can control many other factors, such as your weight, lifestyle (being sedentary contributes to PVD) and history of smoking. Smoking can accelerate PAD development by 10 years, according to the American College of Cardiology. You can reduce your risk by:
- Exercising on most days of the week
- Following a heart-healthy diet
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Managing chronic conditions associated with PVD and PAD, including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol
- Getting screened for vascular diseases
“The more you get out and move, the better your body is able to keep blood vessels open, enlarge the blood vessels that are open and allow them to carry more blood,” says Dr. Chad Tober, board-certified vascular surgeon at Beaufort Memorial. “It also enables the body to recruit enzymes in the muscles, which allows them to get more oxygen out of the blood. The end result is you can have incredible increase in function.”
Find out if you are at risk of or have PVD and schedule a comprehensive $60 vascular screening package at Beaufort Memorial offices in Beaufort or Bluffton.
“Vascular disease, when diagnosed early, can often be treated effectively,” Dr. Tober says. “But you have to be aware you have a problem. The screening is simple and inexpensive. And it could save your life.”
Schedule your vascular screening package today.
