Let's Talk About Peripheral Vascular Disease

Welcome to Centra Scripts. Here, we talk about health, wellness, and practical tips for your everyday life. I'm your host, Cami Smith.

              Welcome to Centra Scripts. I am your host, Cami Smith, and I am here with Dr. Pavalonis, who is a vascular surgeon here at Centra. The reason we're here discussing today is because the month of September is peripheral vascular disease awareness month, and so we want to bring some highlight, some awareness around what that is because I know, for me, this is not something I have encountered in my personal life, and maybe those of you who are listening are not aware of what that is or how it's impacting maybe even those around you. And so we're going to go ahead and jump in. Dr. Pavalonis, thank you so much for being here today and for having this conversation with us. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself first, before we jump in?

Dr. Pavalonis:

Well, I'm a vascular surgeon here in Lynchburg, Virginia. I love being here. This is my third year of practice within our fine city. We have a very busy practice. Peripheral vascular disease is very prevalent in this area and something that we have a lot of work to do on.

Cami Smith:

That's incredible. See, I had no idea that it was so prevalent. Explain to us what exactly is peripheral vascular disease?

Dr. Pavalonis:

Peripheral vascular disease is impaired blood flow primarily to the lower extremities, mainly in the legs, that can cause all sorts of uncomfortable and potentially life threatening problems such as limb loss, lifestyle limiting factors, and a whole host of other things. It can also be indicative of other more serious problems like heart disease, cerebral vascular disease, stroke type things.

Cami Smith:

Goodness, so not only could it be something that somebody just has that they're walking through as a disease in their life, but it's also an indication of maybe something a little bit deeper.

Dr. Pavalonis:

Correct.

Cami Smith:

Okay. Is this something that they're born with, that they have, it's in their genetics, or is this something that, like you said, can come at later, or both?

Dr. Pavalonis:

It really seems to be a lot of lifestyle-type decisions and problems, but there's also a hereditary component as well that can affect some people. Taking control of diabetes, high blood pressure, quitting smoking, modifiable-type factors can be very helpful in potentially avoiding this, but then there are also some hereditary issues that folks can suffer with and can develop this through sometimes no fault of their own.

Cami Smith:

So interesting. I feel like we have conversations about a lot of the things that we treat here at Centra, and so many of them come back to lifestyle, come back to things like smoking, come back to things like eating healthy, getting up and exercising. It really blows my mind how much just having an active and healthy lifestyle can clear up some of these things that can creep in if you're not careful.

Dr. Pavalonis:

Oh, absolutely.

Cami Smith:

Would you agree?

Dr. Pavalonis:

Oh yes. A lot of these things, just watching what you eat, regularly following up with your doctor, not smoking, those types of things are very, very important in avoiding this type of problem with peripheral vascular disease.

Cami Smith:

Okay. So what are some symptoms? If this is not something that you have had your whole life, what are some very clear symptoms that are triggers or indications that it's time to go get checked out?

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