Atherosclerosis is a disease that diminishes your arterial circulation of oxygenated blood to your life sustaining organs or other parts of the body. Plaque builds up inside your oxygen carrying arteries of the circulatory system and may cause you to experience a couple of life threatening conditions.
Atherosclerosis results in different diseases depending on which of your circulatory arteries are significantly affected, and some of these diseases with symptoms include:
- carotid artery disease ~ stroke
- peripheral vascular disease ~ peripheral numbness, pain
- coronary artery disease, aka heart disease ~ angina, dyspnea, arrhythmia, heart attack
Some with atherosclerosis have no signs or symptoms until they suffer a heart attack or stroke. While others may notice some form of discomfort, such as angina or numbness, depending on which circulatory arteries are significantly narrowed or blocked.
The primary treatment for atherosclerosis is lifestyle changes and this treatment may be all that necessary. Basically, these healthy lifestyle adjustment recommendations are:
- physical activity increase
- lose weight ~ maintain BMI less than 25
- no smoking, avoid secondhand smoke exposure
- stress management ~ anger common trigger for heart attack
- consume healthy diet ~ reduce high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol
To help slow or reverse atherosclerosis, your may be prescribed medicines that:
- lower your cholesterol
- lower your blood pressure
- prevent blood clots from forming
For some severe cases additional medical procedures may be necessary, like
- angioplasty ~ opens coronary arteries
- bypass grafting ~ used for blocked leg arteries
- coronary artery bypass grafting ~ bypasses narrowed coronary arteries
- carotid artery surgery ~ removes neck artery plaque buildup to help prevent a stroke
Some risk factors that have been determined to be major contributors to reducing circulating oxygen via atherosclerosis disease:
- age
- stress
- alcohol
- diabetes
- smoking
- sleep apnea
- insulin resistance
- overweight, obesity
- high blood pressure
- lack of physical activity
- family history of early heart disease
- unhealthy blood cholesterol levels ~ high LDL, low HDL
Obviously, there is not a darn thing you can do about age nor family history. However, for all the rest, most of you have some level of control by adhering to appropriate healthier choices.
