Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs Diet

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Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs Diet

Postby plaidcanary » Sun Dec 05, 2021 8:44 pm

When I asked my cardiologist if I would still need a stent with a drastic change in diet, she said "Yes" because my heart now has "structural damage" [diagnosis: cardiomyopathy after a heart attack]. However, I'm also leaning right now to foregoing a stent and the associated heart meds, and just doing the McDougall diet. Part of me also thinks that why get on the meds and then try to get off them months later and keep getting retested, etc. because it might just be quicker, simpler, and much healthier to just do the McDougall thing. Your input is welcome and so much appreciated. Thank you.
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby Daydream » Sun Dec 05, 2021 10:46 pm

plaidcanary, If I were in your shoes, I would make a phone consultation with one of the plant based cardiologists.
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby dynodan60 » Mon Dec 06, 2021 12:34 pm

plaidcanary wrote:When I asked my cardiologist if I would still need a stent with a drastic change in diet, she said "Yes" because my heart now has "structural damage" [diagnosis: cardiomyopathy after a heart attack]. However, I'm also leaning right now to foregoing a stent and the associated heart meds, and just doing the McDougall diet. Part of me also thinks that why get on the meds and then try to get off them months later and keep getting retested, etc. because it might just be quicker, simpler, and much healthier to just do the McDougall thing. Your input is welcome and so much appreciated. Thank you.


She likely doesn’t believe you will stick to the dietary change (most of her patients probably don’t).
It MAY be a good idea to take the meds initially though, as a way to ‘kickstart’ your recovery (?). Nothing difficult in weaning off them, and also nothing wrong with keeping close track of your #s as recovery progresses.
My impression is, the only justification for a stent is ‘during’ a heart attack, not after. I would need a more detailed explanation than ‘structural damage’.
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby debknott » Tue Dec 07, 2021 10:56 am

I remember Dr. McDougall saying that he had a tattoo on his chest saying something like "no stents or I will sue." Search the site for his opinion on stents.
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby Daydream » Tue Dec 07, 2021 1:59 pm

Dr. McDougall said, "Do Not Cath, I Will Sue". :)

https://www.drmcdougall.com/articles/mc ... -not-cath/
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby pundit999 » Wed Dec 08, 2021 6:20 am

I agree with Daydream that it is best to check with one of the plant based cardiologists. Dr Joel Kahn does do consultation remotely, for example. Dr Esselstyn also answers calls quickly. Also, you may want to send a personal message to Dr McDougall through this website but I am not sure if he is still responding to such messages. He used to.

I don't understand what the urgent need is: is the cardiologist saying that you need a stent now or that you likely will need stents in the future? Stents are typically only needed if one is having a heart attack.

If you provide more details about your history and the diagnosis, it will help us understand.

But regardless, no question: you have to eat the way Dr McDougall advises. Also it might be better to go even further and consume greens several times a day, just to be safe.

Also, please do not stop the meds. Adopt the whole plants only diet AND take meds. All Dr Esselstyn's patients were on usual meds like statins. Heart attacks are very bad. You don't want to take any risk at all.
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby plaidcanary » Thu Dec 09, 2021 8:15 am

To answer your question about my history...in brief, I had a heart attack October 10. And may have had a precursor heart event a couple weeks before then. But, I didn't identify them as such at the time and didn't go to the hospital. They were bad, but I pulled through at home. I also have an underlying health condition that most people and doctors have never heard of, "MCS"(multiple-chemical sensitivity), which means I'm allergic to, or highly sensitive to, almost all foods, chemicals, and pharma -- literally. I don't, and can't, take pharmaceuticals for the most part. Only safe exceptions found so far have been lidocaine for dental and cipro for pneumonia or strep years ago. I survive by avoiding food/environmental exposures to things I can't ingest or be around to the best of my ability. I'm also vegetarian and experienced with alt-health modalities, albeit I confess that I have been eating frozen veggie entries and lots of croissants and caffeine to get by in an unusually stressful work/life situation and have been sedentary on my work pc for 12+ hrs a day--so I can see the connection of why the heart attack happened. Also, genetically speaking, father died from MI at 38 and grandparents diabetic. I don't even have a doctor any more, and haven't gone to one for years. So, after some research I was curious to see if I actually had had a heart attack and managed to find a cardiologist that accepted new patients. She put me in the E.R. overnight so I could get tests there the following morning, then a couple weeks afterward I had an appointment to get more tests in her office. Apparently, it was a heart attack, there's 55-70% blockage in an artery, and heart pumping is weak, and diagnosis is cardiomyopathy/heart failure. [I've also been prescribed, and am taking, the lowest possible dose of Metoprolol Tartrate--which, fortunately, I haven't had a reaction to.] During a follow-up consult appointment a couple weeks later, during which I finally got the results of all these tests, she asked me whether or not I wanted a stent, my choice. And then, after I asked a series of pointed questions, she tells me what would happen if I *don't* get the stent (increasing fluid in heart/lungs/legs etc until basically I'm incapacitated for the next '5' yrs statistic average, then death). So, beyond the usual concerns of heart patients, I'm actually most concerned because I could very well react to the medicine coating the stent, the meds (if taken) during the procedure, the meds after the procedure for life and etc. So, I've been researching the meds, the procedure, etc., big time. Plus, research indicates there's currently no sure-fire way to test whether or not a person is allergic to these meds at the present time. A kind of warped lose-lose situation. I'm all in for a plant-based, strict nutrition regimen, plus lifestyle changes, and hope that solves it. But, still nervous, obviously. And appreciate the extremely helpful insights I am receiving from this forum so very much.
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby dynodan60 » Thu Dec 09, 2021 12:15 pm

Plain metal stent may still be an option (?). I received two during my MI nearly 12 yrs. ago, and (In combination with a WFPBNO diet & regular exercise) never experienced angina since.
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby pundit999 » Wed Dec 15, 2021 11:38 am

A blockage in the range 55-70% typically does not need stenting but your case is complicated.
Best to talk to a plant based cardiologist. Call Dr Esselstyn:

C.B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute
1950 Richmond Road
Lyndhurst, Ohio 44124
Tel. 216-448-8556

To contact Dr. Esselstyn via email, please write to Jacqueline Frey at [email protected]. Due to the volume of emails, please limit email concerns to cardiovascular disease.
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby plaidcanary » Sat Dec 18, 2021 8:31 pm

Thank you for Dr. Esselstyn's contact information. So much appreciated.
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Re: Is Coronary Stent Still Needed If Structural Damage vs D

Postby pundit999 » Thu Jan 13, 2022 12:26 pm

Hi plaidcanary:
Was wondering if you were able to get in touch with Dr Esselstyn and if so, what did he say?
Thanks
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