A Sixty-Something Woman With Coronary Artery Disease

I have a friend who is savvy about health and has given me good advice in the past about various conditions my husband and I have struggled with, so when I recently received a note from her saying, "I'm curious about why you chose Esselstyn's diet - it's so extreme," I took her question seriously. The simple answer to this question is that I'm on this diet because Dr. Esselstyn's research, which is backed up by an incredible amount of data from other studies, has shown remarkable results reversing heart disease with a whole-food, plant-based diet, and that's exactly what I want.  The discovery that I had 100% blockage in one of my coronary arteries came as quite a surprise, since I honestly thought my vegan diet would protect me from any such outcome. I knew that my cholesterol level was at the high end of the the "normal" range (my total cholesterol was 191 when I first started seeking treatment for my angina), and this concerned me, but I d...

Been home since Monday. It’s Thursday now, and I think I may finally have an effective strategy for handling the pain meds. Yesterday I received a visit from a home health nurse who is the first person who ever suggested that I might be able to manage my reaction to the opioids by taking them with food. She also suggested that I try taking half a dose if I was still skeptical (I was). I did that last night, this morning and mid-day today and it worked like a charm. I have a no-salt rice cake (sounds awful, I know, but they’re good with strawberry jam on them) that I can eat along with 1/2 a Tramadol and feel no nausea or dizziness. What a breakthrough! Speaking of the visiting nurse, it was a strange experience to have someone introduce herself to me on my doorstep, step inside and immediately ask me to stand on the scale she carried in with her. It was a challenge to my natural stand-off-ishness, but I’m glad I got over myself. Not everything she said was useful, but she really did he...