The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. (Chinese proverb)
Poor Leg Circulation: What Is It? Where Does It Come From?
In the U.S. alone, approximately 8-12 million people suffer from some form of PVD.
Foot gangrene, as a part of atherosclerosis and/or diabetes management, has become a major medical problem. This website is intended to allow you to manage your own care, ask the right questions, insist on adequate management and information, and seek an optimal outcome for yourself as an informed patient. Perhaps it will even help the health professionals - vascular specialists and foot doctors (chiropodists, podiatrists) - who are giving care to better understand and, hopefully, incorporate into their practice the nutritional approach to gangrene - its prevention and treatment.
Blood circulation, the movement of blood throughout the body, is clearly crucial to our existence. Good circulation ensures that your body can stay healthy, heal well, and properly function during daily activities. Poor circulation can cause many health problems for individuals.
Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD)
A common cause of poor leg circulation - restricted blood flow to your legs - is peripheral vascular disease, or PVD, a form of atherosclerosis.
This term refers to disorders involving blood vessels outside, or on the periphery, of the heart.
PVD can involve
peripheral arteries (blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart, such as those that deliver blood to the arms and legs) or
peripheral veins (blood vessels that carry blood toward the heart).
Over time, peripheral vascular disease can lead to osteomyelitis (os-te-o-my-i-LI-tis) - an infection in the bones. This may cause pain, and the joints to feel stiff. In case of osteomyelitis, a part or all of a leg (or arm) may need to be amputated (removed).
Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)
When PVD involves the arteries, it is known as peripheral artery disease, or PAD.
A fatty substance called atherosclerotic plaque builds up and hardens on the walls of the peripheral arteries, making it difficult for blood to properly flow through.
The plaque takes years to build up, which is why older adults are more at risk.
If you have poor leg circulation, symptoms usually develop gradually. In the early stages, you may experience cramping or fatigue during activity in
the legs
buttocks or
feet.
The pain, whether it is leg pain, lower leg pain or foot pain, usually diminishes with rest, but will reoccur.
You may complain of a tired, aching feet, or swollen feet/legs.
You may also have cramping that occurs in your legs and feet when you are sleeping or immobile for extended periods of time.
In addition, you can incur such symptoms as ‘cold feet,’ or feet that ‘fall asleep.’
Frequent suffering with cold feet and/or cold hands usually signifies that your circulation, or blood flow from your heart, has slowed.
This may especially happen at night when you are trying to sleep, during periods of immobility or after eating certain foods.
Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
People who have very poor leg circulation may also develop a blood clot, a sudden blockage in blood that can cause severe leg pain.
This blood clot, known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), develops in a deep vein, and can occur
when a vein is damaged or
if blood flow slows down or stops completely.
You are at particular risk for DVT, if you are
obese
over age 40
on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and/or
taking long non-stop flights (more than 8 hours).
Val's Story
Val was blissfully ignorant of the dangers of DVT when she set out with friends for a holiday.
But on her flight she was forced to sit in very cramped conditions. There was no room for the hand luggage and she had to sit on her bag for the entire flight.
And just two days after the flight Val started to suffer serious problems.
Her feet were swollen and sore. She then started suffering from excruciating pains and was rushed to hospital. The cramped conditions on her flight led to blood clots. She needed to be resuscitated twice.
Six weeks later she was released from hospital, but even though all the clots had been taken away - her legs became worse.
She was brought back in to have her leg amputated.
Now Val cannot fly - she takes the car or ferry for every trip and suffers from almost constant pain.
She has ulcers on the bottom of the wound where the skin is too thin.
Val can't work and if she wasn't for her hobby making three dimensional pictures she would be suicidal.
She has run pubs for the last thirty years, but she now feels stagnant.
Source: I lost my leg to DVT. BBC News Online, 27 July, 2002
Angina of the Legs: Intermittent Claudication
As many as 50 percent of diabetics have a narrowing or blockage of the arteries supplying blood to the legs.
Most of the narrowing in peripheral vascular disease (PVD) occurs between the knees and the ankles resulting in markedly decreased circulation to the feet, hence the pain in the legs or feet when you walk.
If the pain, especially pain in the calf, thigh or buttock muscles when walking - the earliest stage of ischemic leg pain - is relieved with rest, the condition is called intermittent claudication - "angina of the legs" (claudication means "to limp" in Latin).
When you walk the muscles require more blood supply to bring more oxygen to the muscles and remove toxins. If the arteries are diseased the muscles do not get the extra blood they require and so toxins build up in the muscles causing them to ache and become weak.
In the early stages of the disease this occurs at quite a long distance walked, for example half a mile.
If the narrowing in the arteries becomes worse the distance walked before pain occurs becomes less, for example 100 yards.
Eventually, some people can only walk a few yards before they are stopped by the pain in the legs. Resting usually relieves the pain within 2-3 minutes and then people may find they can walk further.
When the arteries are severely narrowed or blocked, even at rest they cannot supply enough blood to the legs. The part of the body furthest away from the heart is affected first, namely the toes and feet.
Initially the feet may only be painful at night when the legs are placed horizontally in the bed losing the help of gravity to supply blood to the feet. Some people find that dangling the leg out of the bed helps relieve the pain temporarily.
Eventually the feet are painful all through the day and sleeping is very difficult due to the pain.
If the blood vessels to a portion of the legs or, more commonly, part of the feet become totally blocked or severely narrowed, then the part of the body supplied by those blood vessels dies – ulcers and/or gangrene occur.
Any wound requires more blood than normal in order to heal. If that extra blood is not forthcoming the wound never heals and in fact dies back resulting in ulceration and/or dry black gangrene – the toes or foot becomes dark purple.
In most cases, this requires amputation if the limb (and life) is to be saved.
Peripheral Arterial Disease: Standard Medical Treatments
Medical diagnosis of peripheral artery disease involves an ultrasound Doppler test, which helps to determine the degree of the buildup of plaque and fatty substances on the inner lining of arteries.
Another, more accurate test, called arteriogram (or angiogram) is performed where larger blockages are suspected.
This is a special x-ray. Under local anesthetic, a needle is inserted into an artery, usually in the groin and dye is injected. X-rays are taken as the dye is carried in the blood down the leg arteries and this shows where the arteries are blocked or narrowed.
These tests help to determine type of treatment needed, usually risky surgical intervention, such as
balloon angioplasty - the narrowed artery can be stretched by inserting a balloon into the artery and inflating it where the artery is narrowed (it can improve the blood supply to the leg and treat the symptoms of intermittent claudication), or
stent grafts (implantations), also invasive, or
bypass surgery, in case of serious arterial blockage.
Serious Arterial Blockage: Arterial Bypass Surgery
Arterial bypass surgery improves the blood supply to a limb by… by-passing the blocked arteries.
Bypass surgery is performed in those patients with intermittent claudication, ischaemic rest pain or gangrene in whom angioplasty is not possible or has failed.
This is complex surgery which involves dissecting a normal artery above and below the blocked artery and using a length of vein or artificial graft material to divert the blood around the blockage.
Standard medical treatments of peripheral arterial disease (PVD) include then the removal, compression, or displacement of atheromatous plaque.
In fact the "cut-and-medicate" approach merely by-passes the problem! It does little to stop the underlying disease; thus, the results of medical treatments are only temporary and bring just relief of symptoms!
Besides, the practice of surgery is not an exact science and practitioners cannot guarantee results either expressed or implied. As this procedure is highly advanced, it requires prior discussion about its benefits and possible risks.
Hyperbaric Therapy
Extra oxygen - either by a mask or nasal prongs, or in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber - can be life saving at times.
Although still controversial, some cases of gangrene are treated by administering oxygen under pressure greater than that of the atmosphere (hyperbaric) to the patient in a specially designed chamber.
The theory behind using hyperbaric oxygen is that more oxygen will become dissolved in the patient's bloodstream, and therefore, more oxygen will be delivered to the gangrenous areas helping to treat gangrene. Hyperbaric treatment, helping a person to quickly oxygenate the blood, is usually done once a day for months at a time.
Some studies have shown that the use of hyperbaric oxygen:
produces marked pain relief,
reduces the number of amputations required, and
reduces the extent of surgical debridement required.
However, hyperbaric therapy offers varying degrees of success. It is also very costly and may cause some after effects. Patients must be monitored closely for evidence of oxygen toxicity.
Symptoms of this toxicity include slow heart rate, profuse sweating, ringing in the ears, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, twitching of the lips/cheeks/eyelids/nose, visual changes, confusion, apprehension, and convulsions.
A Fight to Save the Husband's Life
On March 30, 2001, the network of Patient Advocates received an email from a desperate woman in California looking for someone to save the life of her dying husband:
I arrive at (…) hospital (…) this morning and find atrocity… My husband was moved from the IOU intensive care observation unit to the 7th floor. Upon my arrival I saw the nurse sitting at his bedside and with his tray untouched. I asked her why, and she said, “Oh, I was going on my break first and then feed him.”
I immediately went down to the executive administrator and got her up there to verify this. The CN didn’t even know how to put his teeth in upper plate and she didn’t wipe off his mouth first. She had him sitting in a leaned over position in the bed, a man that is aspirating. (…)
Then, while the administrator was there, the nurse said: “We found this on his foot this morning, and his left foot is covered in gangrene. It is black. No circulation, dead. No pulse on both feet.”
Now they are telling me he is going to loose his foot. They called a vascular surgeon (…) just now. He [my husband] is too weak to undergo a surgery, so I don’t know what will happen to him.
The administrator is going to search to see who ignored my husband’s foot by covering it with one sock and not reporting it to the doctor. Did the ER room know this or did this take place in the IOU before going upstairs to the 7th floor? (…)
He is so sick. They have called in respiratory every 6 hours as his organs are shutting down. The neurologist said to me on the phone: “Why not let a man go. He’s done his time and it’s over. Here’s nothing I can do.”
But I said: “You can give me a diagnosis and do a lumbar puncture and an MRI.” He said: “What for? It’s a waste of money!” (…)
The lead doc said that Medicare gave orders to “let the patients die, unless there is more to be done.” He told me this personally. I told him to do everything possible to save him [my husband] and he said that “he would get in trouble with Medicare.” (…)
Please hellllp, please helpppppppppppp! Somebody intervene and help me now before it is done and over with.
Peace and love,
Rita
Husband Everett
Please come forward. (...)
COMMENTS: This man was left to die in a heartless hospital because of "costs". No one suggested another therapy to his wife that could save the leg - and the life without surgery.
But thanks to the network of Patient Advocates that man was moved to some hyperbaric chamber.
It is not for a dispassionate doctor to decide when a man should die. The man in this story wanted to live. His wife wanted to give him every chance. This man is alive today, because someone listened.
The efforts of the network of Patient Advocates working together around the country, and coordinated by Elizabeth Spokoiny, culminated into the miracle of saving a life.
Beyond the Standard "Cut-and-Medicate" Treatments
A study recently published in the JAMA states that fewer than 10 percent of all patient decisions are well informed.
All "cut-and-medicate" treatments of gangrene carry with them one main shortcoming: they do little to stop the underlying cause of gangrene, that is the nutrient and oxygen deprivation in the affected areas due to impaired blood circulation.
Also surgery (read: amputation) has its limitations. In some cases it cannot be performed as it may put patient's life at even greater risk! Then, such condition is being qualified as... hopeless. "We're sorry, but nothing else can be done," vascular surgeons keep telling relatives of patients'.
And this is true - but only from the medical point of view.
What makes gangrene, especially its "dry" version, responsive to the nutritional method is the fact that this type of gangrene involves the resultant obstruction only of the arterial blood supply without interference to the venous return.
In other words, in dry gangrene the blood flow (circulation) is only partially impaired and the other part (venous system) is still functioning, or ready to function. Therefore, it is able to cooperate by supporting any attempt to restore internally faulty circulation, especially in its arterial part.
The other factor making dry gangrene highly responsive to the nutritional method is the fact that this disease is characterized by a gradual progression.
In other words, due to relatively slow development of gangrene, there is enough time to support the body nutritionally in order to restore partially impaired circulation - in this case, to unclog arterial blockages.
These two factors - the partial impairment of the blood flow and the gradual progression of the disease - have been commonly overlooked, not to say ignored, by standard medical treatments of gangrene.
Clear-G Formula: The Nutritional Revascularization
Without improving the flow of blood to the affected limbs - amputation is a futile exercise, although it can be life saving at times.
Fortunately, there are people, including a growing number of doctors, who admit that there are successful methods to halt the progression of gangrene, other than temporary medical intervention.
One of the natural, non-amputation methods to effectively treat dry foot gangrene is the nutritional revasculatization.
Its first and foremost goal is to improve and - over a period of time - restore the impaired circulation in the areas wounded by vascular ischemia (decreased blood flow) - the most common cause of foot ulcers and/or gangrene.
The process of natural revascularization can be triggered with an application of nutritional - natural and essential - factors that - when presented in specific ratios and amounts - are able to correct longer standing deficiencies and imbalances which are known to contribute to the circulatory problems.
As opposed to standard medical methods of treating vascular ischemia, the nutritional revascularization helps to reduce the impact of factors that created the buildup of atherosclerotic plaque in the arteries.
Clear-G Formula: Advanced Blood Circulation Support
Any wound requires more blood than normal in order to heal. If that extra blood is not forthcoming the wound never heals and in fact dies back.
The natural restoration of blood flow to the arteries can be done with the help of Gangrene Clear-G Formula - a targeted, orthomolecular formulation providing a comprehensive support for the entire circulatory system.
Simply put, our Gangrene Clear-G Formula works to improve and/or restore circulation. And improved circulation allows the body to heal itself.
What could be better than a nutritional supplement fixing the impaired circulation that develops in a diseased body?
There have been medical studies on the beneficial effect of nutritional supplementation on the circulatory system; it appears people with poor blood flow do benefit from specialty dietary supplements.
Nutritional factors - naturally occurring substances, not drugs whose substances are foreign to the body - are able to boost the body chemistry by
correcting possible deficiencies and/or imbalances and
providing optimum conditions for the proper functioning of the body's own intrinsic ability to heal itself.
As far as the cardiovascular system is concerned, according to orthomolecular nutrition, if the right building blocks (nutrients) are present in the body - in the right amounts and at the right time - the body will do the rest.
In other words, if you want to stop the progression of gangrene due to impaired cirulation you need to get to the root of the problem. By just pulling a dandelion out by its leaves, you are not going to get very far.
So far, we have introduced our proprietary Gangrene Clear-G Formula to our clients and customers in 40 countries: the United States (including Virgin Islands and Hawaii), Canada, Malaysia, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Thailand, New Zealand, Germany, Belgium, Trinidad, Mexico, Italy, Pakistan, Singapore, Mauritius, Suriname (South America), France, Bolivia, Russia, Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Israel, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Bosnia, Malta, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Greece, Spain, Kuwait, Germany, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
This all-natural combination of 105 nutrients and phytonutrients (plant nutrients) not only keeps your blood flow to the affected limbs in check (as drugs do), but actually helps your body rebuild the organs and systems that control blood circulation - without side effects.
No wonder, our proprietary Clear-G Formula can produce results that doctors have rarely seen before, even with hard-core prescription drugs. And, unlike pharmaceutical drugs, it is very body-friendly.
Our proprietary Gangrene Clear-G Formula is a complete "multi" supporting healthy blood circulation. It has been designed to provide optimal concentrations of vitamins, anti-oxidants, lipotropic factors, chelated minerals, trace minerals, and digestive enzymes as they are all necessary to optimize the blood flow.
In other words, Gangrene Clear-G Formula does not "destroy" gangrene! It helps the body to eliminate its cause, namely, to stop the progression of gangrene through improving and, over a period of time, restoring impaired blood circulation that is known to contribute to gangrene.
In our clinical experience, Gangrene Clear-G Formula does that in a way of:
reducing the dysfunction of endothelium - the innermost arterial lining by stimulating the body’s natural built-in, internal free-radical scavenging system
overcoming peripheral vascular ischemia by improving and/or restoring circulation - blood flow to the wounded areas
encouraging vasodilatation - widening (dilation) of the lumen of blood vessels
promoting the body's ability to develop collaterals - new, small blood vessels in the problem areas
delivering more vital, oxygen-rich and nutrient-dense blood to the affected areas
producing the growth factors - the necessary for healing substances released by the body into bloodstream and stimulating the growth of tissue and skin
preventing and/or fighting off the infection of gangrenous tissues.
Clear-G Formula
Advanced Blood Circulation Support
Powdered Dietary Supplement
0.85 Lb / 385 Grams
120 Phytonutrients and NutrientsSUPPLEMENT FACTS: Amount Per Serving (1 Scoop)
1. Vitamin A (as Vitamin A Palmitate)
2,500 IU
2. Natural Beta-Carotene
2,500 IU
3. Vitamin C (as Ascorbic Acid and Calcium Ascorbate)
1,350 mg
4. Vitamin D-3 (Cholecalciferol)
800 IU
5. Vitamin E (as D-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate and Mixed Tocopherols)
125 IU
6. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine Hydrochloride)
45 mg
7. Vitamin B2 (as Riboflavin and Ribloflavin-5-Phosphate)
15 mg
8. Niacin (as Niacin, Niacinamide and Inositol Hexaniacinate)
130 mg
9. Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxin HCl and Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate)
125 mg
10. Folic Acid
800 mcg
11. Vitamin B12 (as Methylcobalamin)
250 mcg
12. Biotin
4,500 mcg
13. Vitamin B-5 (Pantothenic Acid as D-Calcium Pantothenate)
Our Mission: To Contribute to the Optimal Health of Others™
One of the most effective dietary supplements in the world™
This product is manufactured in a NSF GMP registered facility in accordance with cGMPs for Nutritional Supplements in accordance with USP 31. The laboratories are ISO 9001:1994 certified and ISO 17025:2005 accredited. Raw materials used in the manufacturing of this product are in full compliance with the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. Raw material safety and quality is ensured by the manufacturer's Supplier Qualification Program.
QUALITY & SAFETY ASSURANCE
Mix well 1 scoop of powder in 4 ounces (˝ cup) purified lukewarm water. Leave it for a few minutes, stir thoroughly and consume. Then pour in the same cup another 4 ounces of water, stir again and drink. For general circulatory health, have 1 scoop 2 times daily (beginning after breakfast). If necessary, this dose (1 scoop) may be taken 3 to 5 times per day , or as recommended by a qualified healthcare professional.
Refrigerate the jar after opening.
DIRECTIONS
If you are under a physician’s care or taking medication, or if you are pregnant or nursing, consult your healthcare practitioner before using this product.
CAUTION
Quality and purity guaranteed. This product does not contain MSG, wheat, gluten, soy protein, fish, shellfish, milk/dairy, corn, egg, nuts, sugar, salt, starch, artificial coloring, preservatives, or flavoring.
PREMIUM PURITY
FULL OF HEALTH, INC. Since 1996 Clear-G Formula® : Advanced Blood Circulation Support*
* This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Full of Health® and Clear-G Formula® are registered trademarks of Full of Health, Inc. Serrazimes® is a registered trademark of National Enzyme Company. BioPerine® is a registered trademark of Sabinsa Corporation. BeFlora® is a registered trademark of Roxlor Group.
As you can see, Clear-G Formula consists only of the natural factors vital to the cardiovascular system and present in specific ratios and amounts in order to correct longer standing deficiencies and imbalances that are known to contribute to the common circulatory health problems.
This superior dietary supplement has mitigative, preventive and protecting properties. However, there is no one "miracle" ingredient in the Gangrene Clear-G Formula. It is a special and unique, orthomolecular combination of all of ingredients that helps to accelerate the inner self-healing effect.
In many individuals, Gangrene Clear-G Formula has also been able to:
reduce and stabilize the blood sugars, therefore,
lower insulin requirements (in many cases, better than most prescription drugs).
And there appears to be no harm in taking the Gangrene Clear-G Formula.
Thermography:
The following thermographic photos are of a 57-year-old man whose feet were thermally "amputated" due to poor circulation.
This man considered himself fairly active and on a good diet. He was on the nutritional revascularization program for six (6) weeks.
Before:
A thermographic photo of both feet of a 57-year-old male, prior to the nutritional revascularization program.
After:
A thermographic photo of the same feet of the same 57-year-old male, after six (6) weeks on the nutritional revascularization program.
The follow-up thermographic photo demonstrates a glowing picture of the feet with all toes visible. The increased temperature in this area was made possible by improved circulation (blood flow).
Within six (6) weeks, vascularity in this man's feet was increased by 86 percent, and pulse volume - by 50 percent. Considering the fact that impaired cirulation in the extremities is difficult to treat, to see such a high degree of response in only six weeks is most significant.
Plethysmography:
The following plethysmographs are of both feet of the same 57-year-old man.
The first graph shows the signs of poor circulation, such as decreased size of the waveform, the oval peaking, and the indistinct low volume peaks - prior to the nutritional revascularization program:
The second graph demonstrates the signs of improved circulation, such as increased size of the waveform, the sharper peaking, and the distinct high volume peaks - after six (6) weeks of the nutritional revascularization program:
Within six (6) weeks on the nutritional revascularization program, vascularity in this man's feet was increased by 86 percent, and pulse volume - by 50 percent.
Considering the fact that impaired cirulation in the extremities is difficult to treat, to see such a high degree of response in only six (6) weeks is most significant.
Thermography is a photographic technique that measures and records infrared heat patterns. It can be used to detect areas of poor circulation in the body.
Plethysmography is a technique used to measure blood flow volume in the body. In atherosclerotic or diabetic disease, the vigour of the blood flow is seriously decreased.
Clear-G Formula: A User's Comment
Almost every week, we hear new stories from those who have benefited from this simple, nutritional method - so simple that, at first, its simplicity made them difficult to believe. These stories speak for themselves.
A 73-year-old man writes:
(...) many thanks for your Gangrene Clearing Formula. I've used it only two weeks.
Already no more painful leg cramps, no more incidents of weakness and numbness below the waist with pulsating headache.
I'm getting close 73, planning another 30 successful years -- at least.
M. H.
100 Mile House, British Columbia, Canada
*This testimonial has not been reviewed and is the sole opinion of the listed individual.
With no doubt, development of gangrene - to a great extent - is related to what you eat and how often you move. In most cases, unhealthy lifestyle - faulty diet and physical inactivity - contribute to the production of degenerative changes in the body, such as atherosclerosis or diabetes.
There is strong evidence that exercise and stress reduction - if done regularly - are both protective of the cardiovascular system and supportive of the immune processes.
The nutritional method to control gangrene is for you - if you have courage, good will and persistence, and are not afraid to take your health into your own hands.
At Full of Health, we are sure that this simple method - so simple that, at first, its simplicity makes you difficult to believe - will do as much for you as it has done for our clients and customers.
If other people have benefited from our Gangrene Clear-G Formula, you, or someone you know or hold dear, can benefit as well.
So far, we have introduced our proprietary Gangrene Clear-G Formula to our clients and customers in 40 countries: the United States (including Virgin Islands and Hawaii), Canada, Malaysia, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Thailand, New Zealand, Germany, Belgium, Trinidad, Mexico, Italy, Pakistan, Singapore, Mauritius, Suriname (South America), France, Bolivia, Russia, Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Israel, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Bosnia, Malta, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Greece, Spain, Kuwait, Germany, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
1. 705. 876. 9357 (US/Can)