peripheral vascular disease

[imaginaryfriend]

Anyone have any experience of this?

I've been having funny sensations in my left leg and am thinking this might be the cause, although hoping not!

anyone?

you again??
have you been to the drs?? what did he say??
People who suffer from peripheral vascular disease tend to notice swelling and altered sensation in the lower part of the leg. The disease can be cased by a fault or disase of the veins r the artery and both have different symptoms. The snensations on their own with out swelling etc would probably be down to a trapped nerve. if you are having swelling/signs of impaired blood flow it couls potentially be PVD or a DVT.
Either way Nerve or vascular problem I would suggest a trip to your GP if you have not already done so so he can look at it properly and put your mind at rest!!

Yes, I'm still suffering with this damned leg! I've been researching PVD on the net and it says main symptom is cramping pain / weakness / tightness on exercise, relief with rest. But nothing about swelling. I'm going to try to see the GP tomorrow morning, very hard to get appointments unfortunately, but thought I'd ask on here re. PVD so I knew what to ask / expect the GP to look for.

chapsmum, just in case you can be bothered to read any more ... I saw the GP this morning and he asked some questions did some basic neurological tests and said he didn't have a clue what's causing my leg pain and numbness. He said he didn't think it was to do with circulation but I haven't a clue how he came to that conclusion ... It hasn't put my mind at rest at all.

oh dear, has he made any suggestions etc??

Alas, absolutely none. He's written me up for some blood tests - thyroid, liver profile, kidney profile, B12, etc. I guess because I've been having pins and needles constantly in my left foot he's testing me for those things? He felt the pulse in the ankle of my left foot and said that was enough to rule out any circulatory problems but that didn't really satisfy my worry to be honest.

loss of sensation alone is more an indication of a nerve being traped that circulation.
you could ask if the practise nurses do a blood pressure dopple in the legs to see if the blood pressure is thsamne or different. This is quite a good simple test for cirulatory problems like peripheral vascular disease.
If you are young fit and a non smoker with no family history. It is very unlikely that you have sucha circulation problem.

I don't only have loss of sensation. I have constant pins and needles in the left foot and weird kind of 'crawling' feelings up and down the leg as well as odd cramping pains although they don't only come on with exercise, they can also be there when I'm sitting. I had my blood tests this morning and asked the nurse who did it if she could test the blood pressure in my foot but she said the GP would haave to do it and they only do it for people with diabetes?!

peripheral circulatory impairment does not just happen in people with dibeties.

But peripheral vascular disease does not usually just occur. It has many pre disposing factors. Family history, smoker obesity etc.
the pins ans needles really does just sound like a nerve. why not see an osteopath or physio.

Thanks for taking all this time with me, chapsmum. Do you think if it was PVD the GP could have diagnosed it by listening to the pulse in my foot? In terms of pre-disposing factors I'm not at all obese (the opposite in fact) but I've been a fairly heavy smoker in the past and still smoke a bit 3-4 a day tops. I also drink a bit, two cans of lager a day usually. So I don't know if that counts. I don't think there's any family history however. The other thing is that I'm nearly 40 so I think not young enough to think I'm totally immune any more to such things.

On the other hand I've been having, for AGES now, quite a lot of pain in the back of my neck which I think is postural. Could that maybe be related?

to simply feel for the pulses in the foot, he would not be able to give an absolute diagnosis. However if you have good pulses in your foot during an eppisode it again would probably be an indicator that it was not circulatory.
However, given your history make sure your GP has done a lipid profile blood test. This examines all the fat lipids in your blood, if your cholesterol etc is high then push for further investigation.
If it is normal then consider an oseopath. From the sounds of things(in your neck) your back is needing some attention anyway.

I had a cholesterol blood test done a little while ago and it was slightly high, nothing major, the GP said they wouldn't follow it up at the time. Maybe I should mention that when I go back to see him? If it was PVD, what do I need most to worry about? And, incidentally, where do you get all this knowledge from???

a magician never reveals her secrets!

When you go back mention that you are concerned about the risk of peripheral (and central vascular disease ) due to the fact the you are a smoker with a raised cholesterol. He may consider starting you on a statin. He may even investigate the leg further, but TBH I would ask a physio to look at as 9 times out of 10 they will recognise the difference between a nerve and circulatory problem.

HTH

It does help, thanks. I've got another appointment to see the GP when the blood tests come back. I'll mention what you've said. Thanks again.