Many individuals who suffer from vascular diseases such as Peripheral Artery Disease and Chronic Venous Insufficiency are plagued with chronic pain. This ongoing pain can cause a sense of helplessness and frustration, as those affected struggle to regain control over their lives. Take Helen, for example, who finds herself buried under medical bills and unsure of where to turn for relief. She doesn't want to burden her family, but the prospect of managing her chronic pain seems overwhelming. In this episode, Helen shares her story about how she ended up determining that jail was her only option for medical care and pain relief.Kathryn Walker, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and CEO of Rivitalist, a wellness healthcare chain, helps Helen walk us through her story and what was going through her mind when she was arrested as she pretended to attempt to steal items from a Georgia Walmart. Christopher Stout, a vascular surgeon,contributes to the conversation by highlighting the challenges faced by patients with PAD and CVI, such as delayed care, insurance obstacles, and gaps between diagnosis and treatment. These issues can result in chronic pain that can significantly impact patients' daily lives and mental well-being.

We are LIVE at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Intervention, or SCAI, Conference in Phoenix, Arizona learning about physicians and medical device makers are trying to make procedures safer and improve patient outcomes. One of the technologies we discuss on this episode is an Intravascular Ultrasound, or IVUS, which is an imaging technique that uses a transducer to generate sound waves to produce pictures of the inside of blood vessels. Physicians are mainly using this device during angiograms for diagnostic and treatment of coronary artery disease and peripheral artery disease. Guests include David Chalyan, Director of Evidence Transformation and Medical Safety Officer at Philips IGT-Devices and Royal Philips Chief Safety Officer Steve C de Baca.

Ten years ago, I took my first overseas flight and it was a short turnaround for my return. I took supplements to help me sleep almost the entire flight to Sydney, Australia and the additional connection to Perth (another five hours) to help the time pass quicker. While there, it was two days filled with a whirlwind of meetings, panel moderation on stage, dinners, and evening festivities. I'm not sure if I even slept more than a few hours each night. On the third day I was back on a plane to Sydney where I had planned one night to have dinner with a group of eager entrepreneurs to have me write about their start-up technology businesses.

Halfway through the flight, a friend told me my face was swelling up before her eyes. It turns out my feet and hand were swollen as well. So, flight attendants cleared out an entire row of New Zealand rugby players to allow me an area to lay down, stretch out, and elevate my feet for the rest of the flight. Upon landing, I was rushed to the nearest hospital.

The fear was blood clots. The risk of a blood clot is about 3-times higher for people traveling on long-distance flights.

It was a real concern as my Mom almost died from a pulmonary embolism following a six-hour flight.

My diagnosis, however, was gravitational edema and severe dehydration and two bags of IV fluids did the trick.

But what a scare!

I followed up with my primary care physician the moment I got home. While blood clots were ruled out, she suggested checking for venous insufficiency. It's a disease of the veins, which makes it difficult for blood to return to the heart from the legs. It happens when the wall of the veins and/or the valves stop working properly and blood starts leaking into tissue or pooling. It can happen in your deep veins, which are the largest ones that are deep in your body and run through the muscle, your superficial veins that are close to your skin's surface, or your perforating veins that actually connect the deep and superficial veins. If you have CVI, you may experience symptoms such as leg swelling, pain, and throbbing while standing, muscles aches, leg cramps, itching, even varicose veins.

For me, ultimately my test results showed my venous system was healthy. But I was glad my primary care physician was assertive enough to test for it. Did you know that it's estimated that 40% of U.S. adults have some level of venous insufficiency? Yet, it's often underdiagnosed and undertreated, leaving patients to leave with debilitating symptoms until a non-healing ulcer appears on their calf.

Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Robert Coronado says it's long overdue to raise awareness for CVI. He joins me and Dr. John Phillips on this episode of The Heart of Innovation, brought to you by The Way To My Heart and Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.'s patient advocacy campaign Take A Stand Against Amputation, to talk about the prevalence of CVI, how to talk to your doctor about getting tested, how its diagnosed, and treatment options.

One of the most common medical disorders in the United States that is also one of the most underdiagnosed is chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) It's a disease of the veins, which makes it difficult for blood to return to the heart from the legs. It happens when the wall of the veins and/or the valves stop working properly and blood starts leaking into tissue or pooling. It can happen in your deep veins, which are the largest ones that are deep in your body and run through the muscle, your superficial veins that are close to your skin's surface, or your perforating veins that actually connect the deep and superficial veins. If you have CVI, you may experience symptoms such as leg swelling, pain, and throbbing while standing, muscles aches, leg cramps, itching, even varicose veins. Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Robert Coronado joins hosts Kym McNicholas and Dr. John Phillips to talk about the prevalence of CVI, how to talk to your doctor about getting tested, how its diagnosed, and treatment options.

Marathon runner Mark Easter is traveling the world to raise awareness for Peripheral Artery Disease (P.A.D.), a circulation issue impacting mainly the leg arteries. He shares why this cause is personal to him and what is powering every step he takes to the finish line. He'll also talk about the races he will run this year, how you can follow his successes, and support his campaign to reduce P.A.D. related amputations. In this episode of Save My Piggies, Jesse Waters shares his P.A.D. journey and how an early diagnosis led to lifestyle modifications which have stalled progression of this disease.