When you have higher cholesterol levels, plaque can build up in your arteries, causing them to narrow. Called atherosclerosis, this narrowing can lead to Peripheral Arterial Disease, a condition in which hardened leg arteries limits blood flow to your legs and feet. With PAD, walking may be painful.
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a complication that can develop when the arteries in your legs get too narrow due to buildup from high cholesterol levels. PAD can cause numbness and tingling in your legs or feet.
Some people with leg pain due to high cholesterol or PAD report of feeling of heaviness, tiredness or burning in one or both legs.
With high cholesterol, you can develop fatty deposits in your blood vessels. Eventually, these deposits grow, making it difficult for enough blood to flow through your arteries. Sometimes, those deposits can break suddenly and form a clot that causes a heart attack or stroke.
A high level of cholesterol in the blood doesn't have obvious symptoms, but it can increase your risk for conditions that do have symptoms, including angina (chest pain caused by heart disease), high blood pressure, stroke, and other circulatory ailments.
You could notice cramps when you move, but they should go away with rest. The skin on your legs and feet may change colors, or you may notice hair loss. In many cases, lifestyle changes can improve PAD symptoms.
Soluble fiber can reduce the absorption of cholesterol into your bloodstream. Soluble fiber is found in such foods as oatmeal, kidney beans, Brussels sprouts, apples and pears. Add whey protein. Whey protein, which is found in dairy products, may account for many of the health benefits attributed to dairy.
While fatigue or a skin infection can cause temporarily burning or inflamed feet, burning feet are most often a sign of nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy). Nerve damage has many different causes, including diabetes, chronic alcohol use, exposure to certain toxins, certain B vitamin deficiencies or HIV infection.
Cardiovascular and circulatory systems
Over time, as plaque builds up in your arteries, you can develop heart disease. Plaque buildup in coronary arteries can disrupt the flow of oxygen-rich blood to your heart muscle. This may cause chest pain called angina.
You can't tell if you have high cholesterol without having it checked. A simple blood test will reveal your cholesterol level. Men 35 years of age and older and women 45 years of age and older should have their cholesterol checked.
Eventually, plaque will break off and completely block the blood flow. In the heart, this creates a heart attack. When it happens in the extremities, it can cause pain and numbness in the legs and feet.
In such cases, tingling may be a sign of nerve damage, which can result from causes as varied as traumatic injuries or repetitive stress injuries, bacterial or viral infections, toxic exposures, and systemic diseases such as diabetes.
Pain in Hands and Feet: Accumulation of cholesterol can clog the blood vessels of legs and hands. This build-up of cholesterol can occur continuously and make the hands and feet painful. Frequent tingling:Interruptions in the blood flow to certain parts of the body makes a tingling sensation in hands and legs.
A person is considered at high risk for developing heart disease if their total cholesterol level is higher than 240 mg/dL, LDL levels are higher than 160 mg/dL (190 mg/dL is even higher risk), and if the HDL level is below 40 mg/dL.
The lowdown. High cholesterol does not directly cause fatigue. Fatigue is often associated with the complications of high cholesterol, but high cholesterol does not typically cause symptoms. High cholesterol can lead to coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease, or stroke if left untreated.
Types of Cholesterol
Levels of LDL cholesterol higher than 130 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) are linked to an increased risk for ischemic stroke.
When people have high cholesterol their LDL (bad) is high and their HDL (good) is low. Eating healthy, regular exercise and drinking plenty of water will help to bring down cholesterol levels within 2-3 weeks.
There are no symptoms of high cholesterol unless the condition is severe. In such cases, fat deposits can form in tendons and skin or even cause severe stomach pain due to an enlarged liver or spleen. Some forms of high cholesterol are genetic. Others are a result of diet and lifestyle.
Cholesterol drops over time, not suddenly, after a few days of healthier living. There is no set period in which cholesterol is guaranteed to drop. Cholesterol-lowering drugs usually produce a change in LDL within 6 to 8 weeks. It is possible for lifestyle changes to change cholesterol levels within weeks.
Though brewed coffee does not contain actual cholesterol, it does have two natural oils that contain chemical compounds -- cafestol and kahweol -- which can raise cholesterol levels. And studies have shown that older coffee drinkers have higher levels of cholesterol.