Sign and Symptoms of Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis doesn’t usually have symptoms unless condition gets serious. For example the narrowing of an artery or a blockage would make signs and symptoms visible for diagnosis. Usually most people do not know they have this disease unless stroke or heart disease hit them.

Plaque building up and narrowing artery

Some people may have sign and symptoms of Atherosclerosis but it usually depends on which arteries get affected.

Coronary Arteries

The coronary arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to our hearts. If plaque narrows or blocks these arteries at a certain degree (a disease called coronary heart disease, or CHD), a common symptom Angina Pectoris may surface. Angina is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when the heart muscle is deprived of sufficient oxygen absorption.

Angina may feel like pressure or squeezing in your chest. Most people mistake Angina as heart attack which is not true as Angina is clearly milder and cures with enough rest and medication. The pain can be felt throughout our shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back. Angina pain may even feel like indigestion. The pain tends to get worse with vigorous activities and cease with rest. Emotional distress may also trigger Angina as the heart is stressed when in distress.

Other symptoms of CHD are shortness of breath and arrhythmias (ah-RITH-me-ahs). Arrhythmias are problems with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat.

Plaque also can form in the heart's smallest arteries. This disease is called coronary micro vascular disease (MVD). Symptoms of coronary MVD include angina, shortness of breath, sleep problems, fatigue (tiredness), and lack of energy.

Carotid Arteries

The carotid arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to your brain. If plaque narrows or blocks these arteries a disease called carotid artery disease may surface. Symptoms of stroke would also appear and seen clearly on oneself such as:

Deposits and narrowing of the artery

• Sudden weakness
• Paralysis (an inability to move) or numbness of the face, arms, or legs, especially on one side of the body
• Confusion
• Trouble speaking or understanding speech
• Trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Problems breathing
• Dizziness, trouble walking, loss of balance or coordination, and unexplained falls
• Loss of consciousness



Peripheral Atherosclerosis

• Sudden and severe headache

Peripheral Arteries

Plaque also can build up in the major arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood to the legs, arms, and pelvis this disease is known as the peripheral arterial disease, which is serious at times and a sign of having atherosclerosis.

If these major arteries are narrowed or blocked, usually numbness or pain will affect the specific parts but at much serious conditions the affected part may undergo severe and dangerous infections.

Renal Arteries

The renal arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to our kidneys. If plaque builds up in these arteries, immediate attention is required development of chronic kidney disease maybe of risk. As time passes without appropriate and immediate treatment, kidney failure will eventually be the next threat.

Deposits on the renal artery

Early kidney disease often has no signs or symptoms. As the disease gets worse it can cause tiredness, changes in how you urinate (more often or less often), loss of appetite, nausea (feeling sick to the stomach), swelling in the hands or feet, itchiness or numbness, and trouble concentrating.

Cerebrovascular

With Atherosclerosis a transient ischemic attack (TIA) may happen before a stroke. Difficulty in speaking or weakness or numbness on particular sites may be the symptoms of both strokes and TIAs. The difference: in a TIA, the symptoms go away, usually within an hour, and do not leave permanent brain injury. This is quite similar to Angina Pectoris compared to a heart attack.

Cerebrovascular plaque and thrombus/embolus

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/atherosclerosis/signs.html

Posted in: Atherosclerosis