Thoughts on Dr. Esselstyn's diet for 75 y/o patient with 70% carotid artery blockage
I am wondering if anyone has any experience with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's diet. I have a friend whose husband (15 years older than she) is fixated on Dr. Esselstyn's diet and refuses medical intervention although he has more than 70 percent blockage. He has already had a TIA and paralysis in one side of the face. Doctors have told him that "we can't help you if you insist on listening to this guru and don't even listen to anything we have to say." He talks over the medical professionals he sees, and is incredibly rude. He has been threatening suicide if he does not get better. He will not listen to anyone. In the meantime, he is obsessing over his blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels, which he constantly monitors with an Apple watch. He just got out of the hospital a second time after filling up with fluid and being told he has a 35 percent ejection fraction of the heart. He lost about 18 lbs of fluid with the Lasix injections and maintains that the pills do not work as well as the injections. I know this isn't true as I take Lasix 40 mg myself every day, and it works fine. He says it makes him sick to his stomach but he will not take it with food, and you should not take it on an empty stomach. He says he's not going to take any medications, but is just going to follow this diet. I find that being around him is increasingly intolerable and when I was there for dinner the other night, he got furiously angry with me when I told him to be careful about following a diet prescribed by someone who has not physically examined him and knows nothing about him. My reason for writing this post is to ask if anyone else has dealt with someone like this and how they have handled it.