Peripheral arterial disease

You, I too was recently diagnosed with PAD. Not many people have heard of it. I was told to lose weight, walk every day (even though my feet go numb) and push through the pins and needle type feeling and the pains. I was also told to quit smoking, that's quite a lot to take in. My GP told me to make an appointment with the practice nurse and get dietary advice. The receptionist cancelled my appointment as I was just about to attend, saying that all I had to do was lose weight and the nurse couldn't help. They also told me to take low dose aspirin and simvastatin. I got a dog and walk briskly for 2 miles every morning before work, I went to the local chemist and enrolled on one of their stop smoking courses, which has proved invaluable, and joined slimming world and lost just over 2 stone. My cholesterol was down to 5.3 in May and I am going to have it done again this week, before taking statins.  There is so much bad press around statins,  and trying to get impartial advice about them is nearly impossible. I was also given a Fitbit (by my daughter) to check my step count and activity level. I aim for 6 miles per day, with an activity level of at least 60 minutes. I feel there is some improvement. You must always look after your feet, I no longer cut my toe nails but file them with a nail file, my feet are often like blocks of ice so I always wear thermal socks, a foot spa every day also helps, especially with the aches. I have found that I can walk a lot easier the more I gradually increase my daily targets. Saying that, I still have days when I just want to sit with my feet up (only human after all). I have to say that the support I have received is all down to me looking for myself, my pharmacist is brilliant, and the smoking advisor is second to none.  All the supermarkets offer the stop smoking service but I prefer the local chemist. I wish you all the best with your quitting, that is probably the single best thing that helped improve my PAD.