Is It Time To Add a Vascular Specialist To Your Healthcare Team?
Throughout our lives, our healthcare team changes. We move from pediatricians to primary care physicians, with specialists like allergists, gynecologists or orthopedic surgeons added to our team as circumstances and physical changes demand.
Adding a vascular specialist to your team before a crisis can help you avoid that critical situation before it happens - and put you in better health all the way around. Board certified and fellowship trained vascular surgeons don’t just perform surgery; Dr. Tanquilut, Dr. Pradhan and Dr. Coffey can help you prevent vascular disease and manage any disease present. These physicians are specialists in your veins and arteries and they have a deeper and more thorough understanding of the vascular system than any other kind of healthcare provider.
Vascular diseases are serious conditions, leading causes of stroke, amputation and severe decline in quality of life. Some forms, such as abdominal aortic aneurysms, can be deadly.
If you’re not sure if you should add a vascular specialist to your team, consider these risk factors:
- Diabetes
- Kidney disease
- Family history of vascular disease
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Smoke/use tobacco products
- Overweight or obese
- Unhealthy diet including
- Highly processed foods like white bread, white rice and white pasta
- Frequent red meat
- Fried foods
- Few fresh fruits and vegetables
- Limited physical activity, less than 150 minutes of moderate activity per week
If you have any of these risk factors, especially if you are over age 60, it’s time to make an appointment with a vascular specialist.
Dr. Tanquilut, Dr. Pradhan and Dr. Coffey will help you manage your vascular disease conditions with medications and other therapies to avoid surgery, keeping your vascular health at top of mind to avoid life-changing health events. They can also help you make life style changes now to stay healthier longer, even if you have a family history of vascular disease.
When you have risk factors, call our office at 815-824-4406 and make an appointment with Dr. Tanquilut, Dr. Pradhan or Dr. Coffey. They will give you a full examination, perform or schedule screenings and get to know your goals for your lifestyle.
Put a vascular specialist on your health team now to live a healthier, more satisfying and longer life.