Learn About PAD Symptoms and Diagnosis

Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) can exhibit symptoms that are vital to recognize early. Our specialized services focus on PAD symptoms and diagnosis, helping you maintain healthy legs and overall well-being. By understanding the signs, you can take proactive steps to prevent severe complications. Here are the PAD symptoms you should never ignore – and why getting them checked out is so important.

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Warning Signs of PAD in Your Legs

 

PAD can cause a variety of symptoms in your legs and feet. Some key ones to watch for include:

• Leg pain or cramping when you walk or exercise (claudication): This pain, often in the calf (but it can also affect your thigh or buttock), typically starts after a certain amount of walking and goes away with rest. It might feel like a muscle cramp or ache. If you find that you always get a cramp after walking a block or two in downtown Venice and it stops when you sit down, that’s a red flag.

• Pain in your toes or feet at rest, especially at night: In more advanced PAD, you might feel burning or aching in your feet or toes when you’re lying down. This often happens at night and may improve if you dangle your foot off the bed (because gravity helps some blood flow). Pain at rest is a sign of serious circulation problems – don’t brush this off.

• Sores or wounds on your legs or feet that won’t heal: A small cut on your foot that stays open for weeks or an ulcer that just isn’t getting better can indicate PAD. Poor blood flow slows healing, so any non-healing ulcer on your foot or toe needs prompt medical attention. This is not “just a stubborn sore” – it could be a sign of severe PAD.

• Coldness or color changes in one foot: If one foot is colder than the other, or if your legs or feet look pale or even bluish when elevated, that suggests reduced blood circulation. Some people notice their foot turns a dusky purple when they sit, or very pale when raised. Don’t ignore color changes or temperature differences between legs.

• Shiny skin, hair loss, or slow toenail growth on your legs/feet: Chronic poor circulation can cause the skin on your legs to become smooth and shiny, and you might lose hair on your toes or shins. You might also notice your toenails grow much slower or become brittle. While you might not immediately connect these to a blood flow problem, they are classic PAD signs

• Weak or no pulse in your ankles or feet: You likely won’t check this yourself, but a doctor can tell if the pulse in your foot arteries is weak or missing – another indicator of PAD

• Erectile dysfunction in men: For male patients, difficulty achieving an erection can sometimes be related to PAD, especially when the arteries in the pelvis are affected. If this symptom occurs alongside other signs (like leg pain with walking), it could point to circulation issues.

 

Keep in mind, PAD symptoms can range from mild to severe. And surprisingly, not everyone with PAD has symptoms. Some people have no leg pain at all – about 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 PAD patients, according to studiescdc.gov. So, absence of pain doesn’t always mean absence of problem. But for those who do have symptoms like the ones above, it’s crucial not to ignore them.

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Don’t Brush Off These Symptoms – Here’s Why

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It’s easy to come up with excuses: “My legs hurt because I’m getting old” or “That sore will heal eventually.” But if PAD is causing these issues, ignoring them can lead to serious consequences.

When your muscles and tissues aren't getting enough blood, they’re essentially starved of oxygen. That leg pain when walking is your muscle crying out for more blood. If you ignore it and PAD worsens, you could eventually develop pain even when resting, and those unhealed wounds could turn into infections. In extreme cases, lack of blood flow can cause tissue to die (gangrene). An untreated infection or gangrene can put you at risk of losing a foot or leg to amputation. This isn’t scare-mongering – it’s the reality of what can happen with severe, untreated PAD.

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Moreover, PAD doesn’t just stay in the legs. It reflects artery problems throughout your body. By ignoring PAD symptoms, you might also be ignoring a higher risk of a heart attack or stroke in the future. The plaque in your leg arteries can also be in your heart’s arteries. So that calf pain might actually be the warning sign that prevents a heart attack – if you act on it.

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The good news is, if PAD is caught early, you can often avoid the worst outcomes. Treatments can improve blood flow and heal those wounds. Simple steps like quitting smoking, exercising, and taking proper medications can relieve symptoms and stop PAD from progressing. But this only happens if you address the problem.

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So, what should you do? If you notice any of the symptoms above, make an appointment with a healthcare provider – ideally a vascular specialist – sooner rather than later. Don’t wait until a small problem becomes an emergency.

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In our practice, we’d much rather see you for a “false alarm” than have you suffer in silence and come in when the condition is critical. Trust your instincts: if something feels off in your legs or feet, get it checked.

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