Is there any success stories for PAD ?

[Nibblet]

I have PAD and I am under a vascular clinic, I have an appointment every 6 months..

Each time I go I'm told to walk through the pain, has it got worse no, well see you in 6 months. Ok if that is it fine, but the op that you can have he says can make it worse, so I'm not pressing for it, but I still can't walk far, can be quite distressing ploughing through the pain, what are the benefits nothing changes, is this it for me, is there any success stories out there, the consultant I have is abrupt and always late so you feel rushed out the room.. anyone had this op? Was it successful?

[Adaboo]

Hi! There are several different ops you could have, balloon angioplasty, stents, roto rooting etc up to a full bypass. But your surgeon is right, surgery isn’t a cure it’s just a rescue if your leg is at risk. A lot of stents or angioplasty just block straight back up in weeks and can be worse. Bypass is a big operation which has possibly a 10 year life span before it will clog up, but again it could clog up in weeks. There is only so many times your arteries can be operated on so most surgeons won’t touch you till your at risk of amputation. If yours hasn’t got worse you’re very lucky. Keep walking 🙂

[Nibblet in reply to Adaboo]

Thank you for that as you've pretty much mirrored what the consultant had said, I just always felt that he was pushing me off as our meeting were sometimes less than 5 mins, as he's always late. You sort of think you missing something so thank you very much for taking the trouble...

[Adaboo in reply to Nibblet]

I know what you mean as I asked for a second opinion as the first one didn’t have time and always got my follow up letter wrong. Unfortunately the best thing we can do is avoid any surgery for as long as possible and keep walking to build collateral arteries and improve blood flow. Good luck.

[Speakeazi in reply to Adaboo]

Hi Nibblet & Adaboo

I have serious PAD with a 100% block in my right fem artery and v significant build up in many others.

I have been good about walking etc and this year my ABIs ha r improved by 25% I seem to be building those tiny collateral vessels. Unfortunately if we don’t walk each day the vessels collapse. It helps when i am overwhelmed to think about those vessels being built as I walk.

I walk each day to work and back which really helps

I find biking upstairs or in the gym for 45 minutes really helps as does the cross trainer.

Some days walking is slow and painful but every so often I find I can walk a short way with no pain.

Not wishing to preach, we have to walk and do all the stuff we’re told.

Take care and keep moving!

[Nibblet in reply to Speakeazi]

Thank you Its great to hear that, will keep it moving,

[Adaboo in reply to Speakeazi]

Well done Speakeazi! I have made a good collateral bypass to my blockage, I managed to do that whilst still smoking and having no idea what was going on. I feel our bodies only maybe makes full collaterals when blood flow is blocked or almost blocked! But I may be wrong. I don’t manage to do proper walks everyday and am pleased to say I haven’t lost my collateral bypass either. You certainly don’t need to preach here as I know how important walking and exercise is to our condition. Let’s keep rocking. ☺️