About P.A.D.: Women and P.A.D.

“I used to go on long hikes with my husband, but now my legs get tired so quickly, I can’t go anymore.”
- Susan, 54 years old

“I don’t know what’s happened to me. I have an awful pain in my right calf after just 10 minutes of walking. It feels like someone put a clamp on my leg.”
- Caroline, 60 years old

“When I walk, I get an aching pain – like a charley horse – in my left calf for months. When I go shopping, the pain gets so bad I can only walk for about five or six minutes before I have to sit down and rest. I must be getting old.”
- Barbara, 65 years old

Sound familiar? How many times have you heard family members and friends complain about pain in their legs and just chalked it off to “old age?” You’re not alone.

Peripheral arterial disease, or P.A.D., may be the cause of their leg pain. And, according to a recent survey conducted by the P.A.D. Coalition, only 28 percent of American women have ever heard of P.A.D., a common and dangerous disease that affects about nine million Americans, half of whom are women. That’s one in 20 over age 50 and one in five over age 70.

P.A.D. occurs when arteries in the legs become clogged with fatty deposits, reducing blood flow to the legs and causing leg pain when walking. That leg pain you’ve heard your loved ones complain about cannot be ignored. If left untreated, P.A.D. may lead to disability, amputation (losing a foot or leg) and a poor quality of life. Having P.A.D. also means that you are at increased risk for having a heart attack or stroke.

P.A.D., Arteries and Your Heart

Let’s first review how P.A.D. is related to your heart health. What most people don’t know is that the blocked arteries found in people with P.A.D. can be a red flag that other arteries, including those in the heart and brain, may also be blocked. In the short term, having P.A.D. markedly increases your risk for heart attack, stroke, amputation and death. In the long term, people with P.A.D. have a two- to six-fold increased risk of a heart attack or a stroke. As you can see, there’s a strong connection between P.A.D. and heart disease.

For a long time, women tended to ignore heart disease. They thought it was a “man’s disease” even though it was the Number One killer of American women. While many women now know about the risk factors for heart disease – high blood pressure, not exercising, high cholesterol, high blood fats and high blood sugar -- most women are not aware that if you have P.A.D., you are at increased risk for heart disease and stroke. In fact, P.A.D. is caused by the very same conditions and lifestyle behaviors that cause heart disease and stroke.

P.A.D. and Your Legs

P.A.D. develops slowly over many years. In the early stages, most people with P.A.D. have no symptoms. Only about one out of three people with P.A.D. actually feel there is something wrong with their feet or legs.

The most common signs of P.A.D. include one or more of these problems:

• Cramps, tiredness or pain in your legs, thighs or buttocks that always happens when you walk but that goes away when you rest. This is called claudication (pronounced as ‘klo´di-ka´shen’).
• Foot or toe pain at rest that often disturbs your sleep.
• Skin wounds or ulcers on your feet or toes that are slow to heal (or that do not heal for eight to 12 weeks).

Having leg symptoms can make it difficult for you to do any activity that involves walking and can make life miserable. Therefore, P.A.D. can have a big impact on your quality of life.