Cardiovascular conditions have increasingly become common because of the sedentary lifestyle most people have adopted. Similarly, other practices also increase your risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. The most common cardiovascular condition affecting most people is peripheral artery disease, which may present with symptoms such as discolored skin, leg pain, poor wound healing, and leg cramping. Therefore, if you are experiencing any of the above symptoms you should seek treatment for Davenport peripheral arterial disease for symptomatic relief and prevention of further disease progression. Some of the effective ways of treating and preventing peripheral artery disease include:

Smoking cessation

Generally, smoking tobacco increases your risk of developing peripheral artery disease and other serious conditions such as stroke and heart attack. Therefore, if you usually smoke, you should take some steps to help you quit. You can quit smoking by using nicotine replacement medications, enrolling in behavior modification programs, and taking other quit-smoking medications. Usually, quitting smoking slows the progression of peripheral artery disease and other cardiovascular conditions.

Physical activity

In most cases, regular activity is an effective way of providing symptomatic relief for peripheral artery disease. Your care provider may recommend supervised exercise therapy, starting slowly with simple walking regimens, followed by leg exercises and later treadmill exercise programs to help alleviate symptoms. The exercise program usually alternates activity and rest where you are given enough time to walk and start resting before the pain commences.

Diet

Many people diagnosed with peripheral artery disease have elevated cholesterol levels. Therefore, your care provider may recommend a diet containing low trans-fat and saturated fats because it helps lower your blood cholesterol levels. In other cases, cholesterol-lowering medications may also be administered. However, it would be best if you always aimed for a healthy diet mainly containing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The diet should also have low-fat dairy products, legumes, poultry, seeds, fish, nuts, and no-tropical vegetable oils like olive oil. Similarly, it would help if you reduced saturated fats, sodium, trans-fats, sugar-sweetened beverages, added sugars, and red meat.

Medications

You should always ensure that you adhere to all the medications your care provider prescribes. If you fail to take the medication, you increase your risk of peripheral artery disease and other conditions such as stroke and heart attack. Your care provider may prescribe cholesterol-lowering medications like statins, oral anticoagulants, antiplatelet agents, and anti-hypertensive. And if you get claudication, your care provider may also prescribe cilostazol to help you walk for a distance.

Managing diabetes

Usually, type 2 diabetes increases your risk of poor results, especially in people diagnosed with peripheral artery disease. Therefore, controlling your blood sugar levels is beneficial to diabetic patients and also reduces your chances of developing limb-related complications among people with peripheral artery disease.

Treating and preventing peripheral artery disease helps alleviate symptoms you are experiencing and also further the progression of your disease. You can therefore work with care providers at Veins & Cardiovascular Center today, especially if you have peripheral artery disease, whereby they work with you in designing the best treatment plan for your condition. The treatment plan may include a healthy diet, medications, reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, ulcer prevention and foot care, and managing other cardiovascular risk factors. You may also be required to undergo surgical procedures such as atherectomy and angioplasty.