A Little Info on PAD/PVD

Recently I posted about my son having surgery. He had a Peripheral artery bypass to counteract the damage of PAD. What is Pad? it is clogging of the arteries not inside the heart. This includes the arteries that supply blood flow to the legs. The name for this disease is Peripheral Artery Disease. It may also be called Pripheral Vascular Disease'

The main symptom of PAD/PVD is pain or numbness while walking- in the legs or buttock area. Usually the pain or numbness will subside when you stop walking.

The cause of this pain & numbness is lack of blood supply to the muscles.

If you have these symptoms you should seek medical attention. The test to diagnose PAD/PVD is not painful and takes less than an hour. PAD/PVD can lead to an increased risk of heart attack & stroke. If left untreated it can lead to Gangrene and leg amputation. It is so important to seek medical treatment if you think you may have PAD/PVD. The earlier the treatment the better the chance of lessening damage to your body.

Plavix is a drug used to help treat PAD. If you have been prescribed Plavix or it is prescribed for you in the future and you can not afford this medicine Astra- Zeneca- the makers of this drug has a compassionate program to help patients get this drug.http://www.astrazeneca-us.com/help-affording-your-medicines- there is an online application that you can print out to apply for their assistance.
If you are unemployed, uninsured or underinsured there are some places you can look for medical help.It may take a lot of searching to find them but you must search dilligently if you need help. Do not be ashamed to ask or apply for charity care and do not delay asking if you are sick or have symptoms of a medical problem. The person sitting next to you in a restaurant, or next to you in line at the grocery store may not be afraid to ask. With all the need there is in this country charity care may soon start dwindling- so do it as soon as you know you need it.
A good way to start searching is to use a search engine- Google is a very good one.
Search for "Charity Care- in your state. Example: charity care in Illinois
This should bring up some links for you to search with. Be wise about these sites. Never pay any one to give you links to Charity Care.
Another place to look is for teaching hospitals or medical universities in your state that have university hospitals- many of them provide charity care.
If you do not find any help there start looking for hospitals in big cities and towns with in your state. They are more likely to have the funds for charity care than smaller cities & towns.
Usually there are phone mumbers listed for these hospitals. You can usually get information on whether or not they have charity care by talking to someone in the billing department or social services department.
If you find a hospital or physician- most hospitals have a list of doctors that practice at their hospital- save the list as it usually has phone numbers listed for the doctors also. You will not only need a hospital to provide you with treatment but also a doctor to give you that treatment.
Also try contacting local Social Services in your area such as Salvation Army or Lutheran Social Services, etc. They may not be able to help you with medical costs but may know who can.
If you find medical treatment but need help with transportation contact local churches even if you don't go to church. They may be able to help you with that.
This is a very cruel world at times and many people will turn their back & walk away from those in need- but not everyone.
So if you do not find what you need at first don't give up- keep searching. It may not happen in a day or even two. Don't let that discourage you.
If you don't find help in your state try searching for help in states surrounding you. Sometimes they are still willing to help.
Hopefully this will help someone in need and you will find your Angels of Mercy. I was lucky enough to have found some angels of mercy for my son. I will be eternally greatful for this and forever in their debt.