I was just wondering if anyone has been diagnosed with peripheral artery disease. I have not been diagnosed, but I have a strong suspicion that I might have it. For the past 3 or more years, my calf muscles have been getting extremely stiff, rigid, and painful when I walk, especially uphill. It makes things that I love to do painful and borderline unenjoyable.
I have mentioned this issue to three doctors, and they've all brushed me off, saying I need to stretch more and stuff like that. At this point, my legs are EXTREMELY hard...like, you can't even pinch any skin or fat if you tried.
I've been trying to make sense of this for a while, and I finally came across peripheral artery disease. It seems likely, because the main symptom is leg stiffness with exercise because your leg muscles aren't getting enough oxygenated blood.
I've made an appointment with a cardiologist for the 22nd, but I'm honestly really terrified. I never thought I would get circulation issues this young, and it really upsets me that I've been dealing with this for so long and no doctor ever put two and two together.
I have gone through periods of caring less about taking care of myself, but I don't feel like I've done anything so bad to deserve this. I've been a vegetarian for 13 years, and I don't drink or smoke, which are all supposed to be good things for your cardiovascular system. Ugh...whatever.
P.S. Sorry for bitching so much lately. I just have had a lot going on medically recently and very few people understand, so thanks for listening and replying.
I'm sorry you're going through so much and hope your next appointment at least answers the question for you. I know there are things they can do to help circulation, so hopefully with some treatment your symptoms will improve.
Even though I'm worried, I'm glad I finally at least found one condition that I can get checked for that may be contributing to this leg pain. I've mentioned it to my endo, family doctor, and podiatrist. I didn't go to them for the purpose of mentioning it, but was there for something else over the past few years and asked, and none of them even acted like it was a big deal.
Hopefully I'm overreacting and being paranoid (I feel like T1D kinda makes you that way), and this is just something completely different. Either way, it was probably a good idea to go to a cardiologist for screenings for heart health after 20 years of being T1 diabetic anyway.
I was initially a little disappointed to see so little feedback to this post, but in retrospect, it means all my fellow juvenators are healthy and not experiencing any heart problems. This is a very good thing. :)