Women and Clogged Arteries

Clogged arteries can cause big problems, especially for women.

A clogged artery can happen anywhere in the body. It can start as just an annoyance or pain but can lead to life-threatening conditions. Knowing the warning signs is key to getting on the right path before things become much worse.

"If it happens in the heart, some people have chest pains or some nausea, or pain in their arm. If it happens in their legs, these are people who try to walk a distance but they feel like they have to stop every, probably, a block or even less with cramping in their legs and they have to sit down," said Alain Tanbe, M.D., a fellowship-trained, board certified vascular surgeon at The Vascular Center at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

That's what happened to Cynthia Oxendine.

"I love walking, and then I started feeling, you know, pain in the left leg. I knew something wasn't right," Oxendine said.

She said it was annoying, but also was causing her major problems day to day.

"I had moved to where I am now so I can be near where I work and it was only two blocks. I couldn't even walk the two blocks. I was catching Lyfts and Ubers every day just to go two blocks, which was really costly," Oxendine said.

Oxendine described it as a strong, pulling pain, and it's why she ended up at Mercy Medical Center.

"She had a lot of blockages in her leg, so we did an intervention for her, on both legs actually, and now she's walking much better," Dr. Tanbe said.

The two procedures were in April and May.

"Oh my God, such relief," Oxendine said.

After more than two years of pain, she's so glad she had something done to help her leg pain. It has changed her life.

"So, now I'm actually able to walk to work and lose some pounds, too, in the process," Oxendine said.

View Mercy vascular surgeon Dr. Alain Tanbe's interview regarding women and clogged arteries.