11 High Cholesterol Symptoms in Feet and Legs - Health.com

Cholesterol is a waxy substance that travels through your bloodstream and is vital for many bodily functions. People with high cholesterol are at risk of atherosclerosis, which is when plaque builds up in the arteries.

Atherosclerosis can affect blood vessels anywhere in the body, meaning that high cholesterol can affect your legs and feet. Buildup in the arteries of your lower extremities can cause a condition called peripheral artery disease (PAD). Read on to learn more.

Peripheral artery disease can reduce or block blood flow in your limbs—also called extremities—such as the arms, legs, and pelvis. The most common type of PAD is lower extremity PAD, which affects the legs and feet.

In the U.S., PAD affects more than 6.5 million people over 40 years old. Having PAD raises your risk for heart attack, stroke, and other severe health conditions.

PAD is often underdiagnosed, and symptoms vary widely. Around one in five people with PAD do not have symptoms, while more than half can have atypical signs.

People who report no symptoms may likely be physically inactive or mistake any muscle discomfort as a sign of aging. The risk of PAD increases with older age.

Sometimes, people might only be diagnosed with PAD when symptoms are severe enough to cause a medical emergency.A healthcare provider can help identify the following symptoms of PAD.

1. Cold Feet

If you have PAD, you may find that your feet are cool or cold to the touch. Blood flow helps keep your legs and feet warm. When your arteries are partly blocked by cholesterol and fat, it becomes hard for your body to get blood to areas far from the heart for stable temperature maintenance.

2. Feet Swelling

Edema, or swelling, of the feet can occur with PAD. However, swelling usually occurs when a person has been immobile. Swollen feet may also be due to resting the leg in a pain-relieving position, like elevating it.

3. Leg Pain

Leg pain is a common symptom of PAD. The pain may occur with or without activity and could feel like pins and needles in your leg. Leg pain often happens in the calves, though you could feel pain in your buttocks, feet, or thighs. Additionally, you may experience aches, cramps, or heaviness beyond pain.

4. Leg Sores

Lack of blood flow from the arteries to the legs and feet may increase your risk of developing sores called arterial ulcers. These ulcers typically happen far from the heart on the legs, feet, ankles, or toes.

Poor blood flow can damage cells, tissues, and nerves, which can cause wounds to form on the skin, especially if there is a minor injury. These wounds can also be slow and difficult to heal and can develop in areas affected by PAD.

If someone has PAD with leg ulcers, the wound can turn pale, ashen, or cold when the leg is raised. When the leg is bent while a person is in a sitting position, the skin can turn red.

5. Muscle Pain at Rest

In severe cases of PAD, muscle pain may not go away even when resting—and it can persist. Some people with PAD find pain, coldness, or numbness in their feet and toes, usually at night or when their legs are elevated.

Lowering the foot below the level of the heart or dangling it off the bed may help reduce the pain. When the legs are downward, gravity helps to pull more blood toward the feet, which can temporarily lessen the pain.

6. Muscle Pain During Exercise

A common sign of PAD is muscle pain, known as claudication, which can include aching, cramping, numbness, and fatigue. This pain occurs with walking or other physical activity. It is often located in the legs but can also occur in the butt, hip, thigh, calf, or foot.

With physical activity, muscles need extra blood to support exercise, but the narrowed arteries prevent enough blood flow. Your body uses pain to warn you that the muscle is under stress from insufficient blood flow. Standing still and resting requires less blood flow to the muscles, reducing pain.

Generally, pain that starts with exercising can go away after resting the affected muscle. With continued physical activity, the pain can return—this is known as intermittent claudication. For example, the pain can start after walking a certain distance, go away with sitting for some time, and then return after walking the same distance.

7. Muscle Wasting

Decreased amount of muscle, or muscle atrophy, can be a consequence of PAD. Some people with PAD show an overall decrease in calf or other leg muscles. Sometimes a muscle biopsy may show wasting within the muscle fibers at a microscopic level. Reduced blood flow to the muscles also decreases the delivery of oxygen and energy. This can lead to changes in the muscle structure and is associated with reduced mobility for people with PAD.

8. Skin and Hair Changes

People with PAD may develop smooth, shiny skin. You may also notice that the color of your skin changes. It may be darker (hyperpigmented) than usual; other times, it may become bluish—a condition known as cyanosis.

PAD can affect your hair as well. You may lose your leg hair, or it may grow much more slowly. Overall, poor blood flow to the skin and hair cells in your legs causes these changes over time.

9. Thick Toenails

With PAD, you might notice toenail changes. Toenails may grow more slowly or become thickened, deformed, or discolored nails. Chronic poor circulation due to narrow or blocked arteries that supply blood to the feet can lead to nail changes over time.

10. Tissue Death

If left untreated, PAD can progress to tissue death. Severe lack of blood flow can cause tissue death (gangrene) of the leg. Over time, as arteries narrow, you may develop pain even when resting or ulcers that do not heal. This stage of PAD is known as critical limb ischemia (CLI).

Critical limb ischemia may require bypass surgery to the affected arteries to correct blood flow. Without circulation improvement, these areas become black, and there is no cure once the tissue dies. If the wounds become infected or it is impossible to improve blood flow, amputation may be necessary.

Fewer than 5% of people with muscle pain due to PAD may have a major limb amputation at or above the ankle after five years. However, about 30% to 50% of people with CLI that does not improve in the first year may have this type of amputation.

11. Weak or Missing Pulses

If you have enough circulation, your pulse can commonly be felt on your feet from the pumping action of your heart. As your blood flow decreases, a healthcare provider may be able to detect changes when checking your pulse. With PAD, pulses may be weak or missing, especially the pulses of the feet.

To examine blood flow in your body, a provider uses the ankle-brachial index (ABI) test, which compares blood pressure in your legs to the pressure in your arms. A healthy ABI score is between 1.00 and 1.40. However, a score below 0.9 may suggest PAD, though further tests are needed for a diagnosis.

For treatment and diagnosis, a healthcare provider may consult specialists. For example, they may consult a cardiologist, who specializes in heart diseases, or a vascular surgeon, a specialist in blood vessels aside from the heart or brain.

A provider can give you treatments for PAD or similar conditions associated with atherosclerosis. This may include medications like:

• Antiplatelet drugs, like aspirin, to prevent blood clots
• Statins, such as atorvastatin or rosuvastatin calcium, to reduce cholesterol
• Vasoactive agents, like pentoxifylline, to increase blood flow
  

For preventing high cholesterol, PAD, or worsening PAD, a provider may recommend that you:

• Eat foods that are high in fiber or low in saturated fat, salt, and added sugars—namely, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean meat
  
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Regularly exercise

Quitting smoking is another very crucial recommendation. The majority of individuals with PAD—up to 80%—previously smoked or are smoking. If a person continues to smoke, it can increase their risk for conditions such as heart attacks or worsened PAD. Quitting the use of tobacco may help reduce claudication symptoms.

If a provider diagnoses you with PAD, you will need regular follow-up visits. While there is no cure for PAD, lifestyle changes and treatment can help prevent the worsening of your condition.

If you have leg pain when walking or other PAD symptoms, immediately contact a healthcare provider for diagnosis. Since some cases of PAD may have no symptoms, keep up with regular annual medical checkups, including blood pressure and cholesterol tests.

Talk to a healthcare provider if you have an increased risk of developing PAD. It is more likely to occur in people with:

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• A history of smoking
• Older age

Because blockages can occur in any blood vessel, PAD increases the risk of heart disease or stroke.

High cholesterol is one of several factors that can lead to plaque buildup in the blood vessels. Narrowed or blocked arteries in your legs can cause reduced blood flow, poor circulation, and symptoms of peripheral artery disease. This condition can cause pain with walking, decreased pulses, skin changes, or coldness in the legs and feet.

Be sure to check with a healthcare provider for early diagnosis, symptom management, and treatment to prevent serious complications.

Adblock test (Why?)