How Atherosclerosis Affects Your Whole Body

What atherosclerosis feels like

Let’s clear up one point right away: Atherosclerosis often has no symptoms. Plaque can accumulate in your arteries over many years without warning signs or changes in how you feel. Symptoms usually don’t appear until plaque limits blood flow or leads to complications.

Here are some areas of your body that atherosclerosis can affect, and what you might feel.

Heart

When plaque narrows your coronary arteries, you might experience:

• Temporary, predictable chest pain called stable angina
• Heart attack symptoms, possibly with early warning signs
• Vague or mild symptoms that seem unrelated to your heart

Aorta

Plaque in your aorta raises your risk of blood clots that travel through your arteries and get stuck somewhere. This causes symptoms of reduced blood flow, which vary based on where the clot gets lodged.

Brain

Plaque in arteries that lead to your brain can cause a stroke. The “BE FAST” acronym helps you learn the signs of a stroke — including changes to your balance, face and speech.

Eyes

Atherosclerosis anywhere in your body raises your risk of an eye stroke. This is when a blood clot or piece of plaque travels to and blocks the blood supply to your eye. You’ll notice sudden vision changes or loss of vision in one eye.

Legs

When plaque limits blood flow in your legs, you have peripheral artery disease. You might experience:

• Leg cramps when you’re active
• Burning pain in your feet when you’re lying down
• Toe sores that don’t heal

Kidneys

Your renal arteries supply blood to your kidneys. If plaque narrows those arteries, your kidneys can’t get enough blood to work properly. This leads to a range of symptoms like fatigue, edema and itchy skin. Reduced blood flow to your kidneys can also raise your blood pressure.

Seeing the big picture

Atherosclerosis in one spot, like your coronary arteries, is often a clue that plaque is building up in other areas, too. That’s because all your arteries are connected, like a network of pipes. The things that cause atherosclerosis — like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking — don’t discriminate. They damage “pipes” all over your body. But the damage may appear sooner in one area, leading to symptoms.

Your provider zooms in to diagnose atherosclerosis in one part of your body. They also zoom out to evaluate and protect other parts. For example, if you have coronary artery disease, your provider will help lower your risk for heart attacks and other issues like strokes.

Managing risk factors and following your provider’s treatment plan can help you feel fewer effects of atherosclerosis — and more confident in the road ahead.