Atherosclerosis of lower limbs is a part of systemic arteriosclerosis. We usually pay more attention to coronary heart disease and stroke, that is, the sclerosis of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, but often ignore the arteriosclerosis of lower limbs, because the occlusion of lower limbs does not seem fatal. However, due to "poor blood circulation", it will lead to chills and numbness, especially in winter. Sometimes plaque shedding may also lead to pulmonary embolism.
There are three stages in the development of arteriosclerosis obliterans of lower limbs.
Early stage: legs and feet are afraid of cold and are easy to get tired.
B-ultrasound examination of blood vessels shows that the degree of blood vessel blockage is often below 50%. Explain that legs and feet are afraid of cold and easy to get tired. The circulation becomes worse, which will also make the toenails thicker and the skin of the lower limbs pale. Lower calf temperature will reduce human immunity, so be sure to keep warm.
Intermediate stage: intermittent claudication
This is a professional vocabulary, which means that after a long walk, my leg hurts and I can't walk. After rest, I can get better and walk again. If the condition is serious, the patient may have pain after walking for hundreds of meters. At this time, it means that the degree of arterial obstruction in lower limbs reaches 70%, which increases the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke, so we must pay attention to treatment.
Stage 3: Resting pain
It hurts even if you don't walk, especially at night. At this time, the blood vessel blockage has probably reached 80-90%. If you go to the hospital for examination, surgery is generally recommended. If not actively treated, ulcers, gangrene and amputation may occur.
These bad habits will cause vascular occlusion of lower limbs. How many tricks do you have?
1. Smoking
Smoking is definitely one of the key killers of blood vessels. Smoking will cause a "wound" on the vascular endothelium, and the unsmooth vascular endothelium can easily "get stuck" with cholesterol in the blood to form plaques. Therefore, people who have smoking habits must give up smoking.
2. Three highs and a diet that leads to three highs
Diabetes, hyperlipidemia and hypertension are the direct causes of vascular sclerosis, injury and plaque. Even if you don't meet the standards of diabetes and hyperlipidemia, eating a diet high in oil, salt and sugar often will make blood more viscous, slow down blood flow and increase the burden on blood vessels, so blood vessels are not so smooth, so they are not omnipotent.
3. Emotional instability
If you are often angry, irritable, or anxious and depressed, it will also lead to vascular tension, vasospasm and endothelial damage, thus increasing the risk of thrombosis. Many elderly people suffer from stroke or myocardial infarction after rage, and calmness is the way to keep fit.
4. No exercise habits
Exercise makes the heart and blood vessels stronger and more elastic, and the inner wall of blood vessels becomes smoother and smoother, removing excess sugar and fat, so arteriosclerosis is not easy to form. A sedentary life will slow down the blood flow and narrow the blood vessels.
Rebuild blood circulation of lower limbs, and remember these four tricks.
1. drug therapy
Drug therapy is mainly used for patients in the early and middle stages, or as an auxiliary treatment for surgery and interventional therapy. Commonly used drugs include:
(1) antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin and clopidogrel;
(2) Drugs that dilate blood vessels and promote collateral circulation, such as cilostazol, ambroxol and prostaglandin.
(3) If there are three highs, it is natural to take hypoglycemic, antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drugs for the three highs.
2. Surgical therapy
The purpose of the operation is to rebuild the arterial blood flow channel and improve the blood supply of limbs more directly.
What symptoms indicate that you need surgery?
(1) Severe intermittent claudication; (2) Resting pain; (3) Ulcer or gangrene.
There are many options for surgery. Doctors will comprehensively consider the location, scope, degree, outflow tract of vascular diseases and the patient's physical endurance, and choose the appropriate surgical method, because it is too professional, so I won't go into details here.
3. Make collateral vessels more developed, instead of daily exercise that blocks blood vessels.
If the blood vessel blockage is not serious enough to require surgery in the early and middle stages, you can take some measures to improve circulation at home, such as walking for half an hour every day (two days off every week); When lying on your back every day, raise your legs to 45-60 degrees from the bed surface at the same time and keep them for as long as possible, and so on.
Even if the blockage requires surgical treatment, the above exercise is still needed after operation to prevent the disease from recurring or coming back.
4. Several dietary rules beneficial to blood vessels
(1) The dietary pattern of the "three highs" population is also applicable to you who need arterial occlusion of lower limbs.
Including fat restriction, salt restriction, sugar restriction and total calorie restriction, this "four restrictions" is the golden rule, which is applicable to all vascular-related diseases and even more other chronic diseases, such as cancer. There are many articles, so I won't repeat them here.
(2) Eat more foods rich in lecithin.
Lecithin, also known as egg yolk, also has the function of lowering blood fat. This kind of food includes fungus, eggs, soybeans, natto, yam and so on.
(3) A food containing "lipid-regulating drugs" is especially recommended.
There is a lipid-lowering drug called "statins", which is known to many people with hypertension, because doctors advise patients to take it all the year round, even if their blood lipids are not high. In addition to lowering blood fat, it can also make plaques in blood vessels more "stable" and less prone to rupture and blockage.
There is a kind of food called "red rice", which is made from rice fermented by monascus mycin. Monascus rice contains lovastatin, which is also a statin lipid-lowering drug in essence, and has a significant effect on lowering blood pressure, blood lipid and cholesterol. Monascus rice belongs to "medicine and food homology" food, which was recorded as early as 1000 years ago. Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica records that monascus can "promote digestion and blood circulation, strengthen the spleen and regulate the stomach"; Recent studies have proved that the fermentation products of Monascus can also inhibit tumor growth. The simplest way to eat red rice is to add other grains to cook porridge. If the lower extremity artery is occluded, you can try it.
Finally, the focus of chronic diseases is daily maintenance. In addition to the above measures, we should also actively treat the three highs, and pay attention to the care of lower limbs and feet to avoid skin damage and burns. Finally, we should do vascular examination regularly to understand the degree of lesions and adjust the treatment methods and measures in time.