Atherosclerosis (also known as arteriosclerosis) is a disease caused by narrowing arteries. In the beginning, it may cause discomfort in your body, such as chest pain. But if you don’t treat it, atherosclerosis may lead to more severe problems like a heart attack or stroke. Therefore, it’s important to know the symptoms and treatments.

What causes atherosclerosis?

The main cause of atherosclerosis is the buildup of plaque. You may wonder, what is the plaque and how is it built? Every day we eat different foods that contain fats, cholesterol, and calcium. If the level of any of these substances gets too high, it lodges in the wall of the artery, and a fatty deposit is made, which is called plaque.

A plaque may be formed in any artery, such as arteries in the arms, legs, or heart. Since it will block the way of blood and oxygen to various tissues of your body, you may feel pain in different parts of your body.

In some cases, you may be able to prevent this problem from happening by having a healthy diet. It is recommended to follow this diet:

• Add vegetables and fruits to your diet
• Eat low fat dairy products
• Add poultry and fish to your diet
• Avoid eating too much sugar-sweetened beverages or cakes
• It’s better to have nuts and legumes instead of chips and unhealthy snacks

Other than following a healthy diet, you should change your lifestyle too, these habits also enhance the risk of arteriosclerosis:

• Smoking- You should know that by smoking cigarettes, you are increasing the risk for atherosclerosis by lowering your HDL (which is considered “good” cholesterol) and raising the levels of LDL (which is considered “bad” cholesterol. Therefore, it’s time to quit smoking.
• Diabetes- People with diabetes are more likely to have atherosclerosis or any health conditions related to the heart because high blood sugar is one of the reasons that arteries get blocked and damaged. Therefore, if you have diabetes, take care of what you eat and follow a healthy diet.
• Obesity- Having an inactive life is the main reason for many diseases. Obesity will increase blood pressure and glucose level, both are harmful to the body, especially the heart and arteries. Thus, to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, start a sport and have an active lifestyle. You can start walking for at least 30 minutes every day.

What are the symptoms of atherosclerosis?

Although arteriosclerosis is a complicated disease, it progresses slowly. Therefore, you can treat it sooner by knowing its symptoms.

• Chest pain
• Feeling pain or muscle weakness in one leg or arm
• Shortness of breath
• Arm or leg numbness
• Loss of vision in one eye
• Feeling fatigue most of the time, especially while walking

If you have any of these symptoms for more than a week, you should visit a cardiologist to diagnose the reason and treat the problem sooner than it gets risky.

How is atherosclerosis diagnosed?

After listening to the patient’s heart sound, which is a common procedure during the first visit, the cardiologist will order some tests to diagnose the problem:

• The blood test can show cholesterol levels.
• Doppler sonography is used to evaluate blood flow.
• ECG or EKG tests are used to measure the electrical activity in the heart and find the areas of decreased blood flow.
• The heart rate also is monitored by an exercise tolerance test, which is also known as a stress test. The patient does this test on a treadmill or stationary bicycle.
• Angiography is also a test to show the large arteries in the body. The physician can find the blocked arteries during this test.
• During the CT scan test, a more detailed picture of the aorta, heart, and blood vessels are created by X-rays and computers. This test is more common and practical than ultrasound tests.

How to treat atherosclerosis?

First of all, you should know that you can’t treat atherosclerosis unless you know how severe it is. And this will happen after taking the mentioned tests. Therefore, never take any pills without a doctor’s prescription because you may increase the risk of heart attack and make your disease worse.

After diagnosing atherosclerosis, the cardiologist offers different treatments based on how severe the problem is. Apart from offering a healthy diet, exercising, or quitting smoking, the following treatments may be ordered:

• Medication- if the problem is not that severe and in the first steps, the cardiologist may only prescribe some medicines to enlarge the vessels and help the blood to flow. These medications are prescribed based on the health conditions that the patient has. For example, one may need to reduce cholesterol, and the other may have to decrease blood pressure. That’s why you should never take any pills that are prescribed to others.
• Surgery- if the patient’s condition is more complicated and the artery blockage is so hard that it can’t be treated by medication, surgery will be recommended. Possible surgeries for this condition may be bypass surgery, angioplasty, thrombolytic therapy, or atherectomy. Any of these surgeries are ordered to either remove the plaque from the arteries or dissolve the blood clot.

How to find the best cardiologist in your area?

Fortunately, finding physicians in different specialties is much easier these days than before. Whether you want to find a dermatologist to make your skin shinier or a cardiologist to diagnose your heart problem, you can just search the web. Some websites can help you find doctors and physicians in your area. One of them is called Darmankade which contains a list of doctors in Iran. People just should write the specialty and select the city they live in to find a list of doctors in that area. Since other patients have scored these doctors, it’s easy to find the best.

Bottom Line

Atherosclerosis is a serious disease that you should care about. It won’t be harmful if you stop it at the beginning. Therefore, take care of your health by following a healthy lifestyle, and visit a doctor if you have any of the symptoms or any family history of strokes or heart attack.