When should I Treat PAD?

Are you wondering when to treat PAD (peripheral arterial disease)? If so, you may already be experiencing symptoms such as leg cramps with walking, changes to your skin color, cold feet, or ulcers.

Well, you need to understand that PAD is a serious health problem: it raises your risk for heart attacks by as much as 80%! As such, it's important to seek treatment as soon as you've been diagnosed

Symptoms and Warning Signs

The most common PAD symptom is leg cramps that come on when you walk or exercise and improve with rest.

But other symptoms are also a warning sign. You may have cold feet or hands, indicating that your arteries have narrowed, limiting the amount of blood flowing to your extremities. If that's the case, you need immediate PAD treatment. Otherwise, you're at increased risk for ulcers and limb loss. Plus, your risk for cardiovascular disease will rise as well.

When Should I Treat PAD to Avoid Cardiovascular Disease?

Cardiovascular disease comes in many forms, with four primary concerns: stroke, aortic disease, coronary heart disease, and peripheral arterial disease. Given the serious nature of each of these conditions, it's critical to seek early intervention after a PAD diagnosis. But it's also important to engage in lifestyle measures that protect your heart.

Preventing Heart Disease

You can reduce your heart disease risk by following the American Heart Association's 7 measures for good health. They include maintaining healthy cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure levels. But they also dictate regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, following a healthy diet and avoiding or quitting smoking.

Interestingly, these seven measures all appear to be equally important. Of course, you can get benefits from each on its own, but for the greatest protective effects, follow all 7 guidelines. And, if you're still asking, "when should I treat PAD?" The answer is now. Because the minimally-invasive treatments we provide at Georgia Endovascular carry lasting relief and heart-health protections.

Restoring Arterial Blood Flow

Whether you restore blood flow to your extremities with an arterial stent or a balloon angioplasty, your quality of life--and overall health--will improve. After all, this statement from the American Heart Association explains that PAD takes a heavy toll on the quality of your daily life. But why is that so?

Here's the story: once blood flow to your legs is limited by atherosclerosis, your cardiovascular health is already threatened. And that means the only way to prevent outcomes such as strokes or heart attacks is to seek immediate medical intervention. So click here to request an appointment with our Georgia PAD specialists. We are here to offer timely PAD treatment.