Atherosclerosis is a condition where the inner walls of your arteries become damaged and blocked by a hard substance called plaque. This plaque can narrow your arteries, blocking normal blood flow. This leads to poor circulation and increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots.
What is really going on?
Your heart pumps oxygen-rich blood through your arteries to keep your body alive and healthy. When the inner cell layers of your arteries become inflamed and damaged, small cracks or lesions appear due to stress, poor diet, smoking, and other causes.
LDL cholesterol then begins to accumulate around these cracks in an attempt to repair these pockets of damage, much like a bandage. However, if you don’t correct your lifestyle, your arteries can continue to deteriorate, leading to a buildup of plaque composed of scar tissue called fibrin, hardened calcium, cholesterol, and other waste products.
This plaque transforms into a rigid, cemented substance that hardens like bone, obstructing your arteries and blocking normal blood flow. This can cause a heart attack and potentially death if the main coronary artery is completely blocked.
Symptoms of blocked arteries
You may experience pressure or pain in your chest, especially during emotional stress or exercise, which disappears when you relax. This feeling of pressure is often caused by high blood pressure and poor blood flow to and from the heart.
Another sign is referred pain or swelling on the left side of your body, such as your left shoulder or arm. You may have difficulty breathing, especially when walking, because not enough oxygen is circulating in your arteries.
In some people, there are no symptoms, and plaque can continue to form in the arteries for decades undetected until a blockage occurs. If left untreated, arterial plaque can thicken, significantly increasing the risk of heart attack, stroke, blood clot, or death.
