What Are The Symptoms Of Circulation Diseases?
The heart is responsible for pumping blood throughout the human body. Blood carries oxygen, nutrients, and essential compounds to the tissues, organs, brain, and all other vital parts of the body so each part can function efficiently and normally.
Poor circulation of blood (along with the nutrients and oxygen it carries) can lead to a number of detrimental effects on the human body. This can result in a few common symptoms that extend from fatigue, dizziness to painful to potentially dangerous complications if you don’t address the issue.
Poor Circulation Symptoms
Cold Toes, Fingers, feet, and hands
Poor circulation largely affects the extremities. This is due to the fact that the extremities, i.e., hands and feet, are the farthest away from the pump(heart), which is where blood originates from. Because of this lack of blood flow reaching the feet and hands, it’s common for those with poor circulation to experience constantly cold in the fingers, toes, hands, and feet. They could even turn blue due to cold exposure referred to as Raynaud’s phenomenon.
Cramping/Aching in the Extremities
Poor blood flow to the limbs can lead to aching and cramping in the affected muscles. This is particularly true in the legs, which might be aggravated when you are walking around.
You also may notice that your upper and lower limbs hurt more when you lay down. That’s because when you are upright, gravity can help force some blood flow to your legs, even when with bad circulation.
Dry Skin
The skin is the largest organ of the human body, so it makes sense it would be greatly impacted by conditions like Circulation Diseases. Blood brings oxygen, nutrients, and moisture throughout the body. This helps keep our skin moisturised and healthy.
With poor circulation, your skin won’t get the nutrients and moisture it needs. This can result in drying out quickly and frequently even after you apply layers and layers of lotion or consume plenty of water.
Hair Loss
Hair loss with poor circulation occurs due to the same phenomenon as to why you experience dry skin. Blood circulation to our scalp or any hairy area of our body is what brings nutrients and compounds to sustain the hair and hair follicles and keep them healthy.
Without proper blood flow to the hair follicles, they can become unhealthy and die. This causes hair loss.
Numbness (Typically in the Extremities)
For the exact reason that your extremities will feel unusually cold, they might also start to feel numb. It feels like your hands, feet, and legs are asleep.
This can also lead to feeling tingling, i.e., pins and needles sensation in those areas as well. This occurs due to a lack of blood flow to nerves in a particular area.
Headaches, Dizziness, Lightheadedness
If you’re not getting sufficient blood flow to your brain, that means that your nervous tissues aren’t getting enough oxygen since blood is what carries oxygen and nutrients throughout the human body.
When this happens, you can experience lightheadedness, headaches, dizziness, and even collapsing.
If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, see your physician. While you might think that numb feet don’t seem like a great threat to your health, if you don’t treat it, it could lead to serious complications like a stroke or a heart attack.