Brand new to group - 1st post

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Jani
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Re: Brand new to group - 1st post

Post by Jani »

Sorry the name is Dr. Esselstyn.
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Re: Also new to group - 1st post

Post by AKA »

Jani wrote:My name is Jani and I'm looking for emotional support to handle the recent diagnosis my son received. He just spent a week in the hospital in China having 3 more stents put into his heart. At that time he found out that he was APOE 4/4. As you can imagine he was very frightened as am I as his mother. Adam has since done some research and discovered research done by Dr. Eddlestyn. He wrote the book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. When Adam discovered that this gene was linked to Alzheimers his worry was exacerbated. In this book Dr. Eddlestyn also discusses how his diet can help prevent or lessen the likelyhood of Alzheimers. I'm wondering if any of you are aware of this diet and your take on it. My son is grasping at anything that sounds reasonable. So am I. I bought the cookbook Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and much of the information sounds reasonable to me. So please let me know if you are aware of this diet and what you think about it. Again I'm looking for emotional support that I know can be helped by getting more information. Thank you for the help.
Jan
Hi Jan,
Welcome to the Apoe4.info community! Your concern and love for your son is so strong, I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you with him being so far away. It sounds like you are able to be in touch with him and that he is receiving the necessary medical care where he is in China.
I am familiar with Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr, as he is from my area here in Ohio and he still has a program here at the Cleveland Clinic. His Heart Disease Reversal Program is backed by research, and many people have found great success with it. I have a few links to share: his TED talk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqKNfyUPzoU a research article,
https://dresselstyn.com/JFP_06307_Article1.pdf a link to his reversal program at the Cleveland Clinic,
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/departme ... e-reversal and finally his wife Ann and daughter Jane sharing plant-perfect recipes on youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HA2lbA9Sp4
As an apoe 3/4, I have myself struggled with the oil question. In fact, I have a calcium score test scheduled for next month and have decided if my score is high, I will do Dr. Esselstyn's program for a year... but may still keep up with my fish oils! It's just my opinion, but I am convinced I could reverse any coronary artery plaque build-up in a years time. There is a difference between Dr. Esselstyn's recommendations for reversing heart disease and Dr. Bredesen's recommendations for reversing cognitive decline, I myself have decided to lean towards the keto-flex 12-3 until I have personal evidence to do otherwise. My opinion is that we do what works best for each of us and lean on as much research for our desired goal as possible.
I wish your son speedy healing. As he recovers and as you both learn more about all of the possible strategies that can bring long-lasting health, I hope you will be reassured.
Warm regards,
Andrea
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Re: Also new to group - 1st post

Post by BloomAgain »

Jani wrote:My name is Jan and I'm looking for emotional support to handle the recent diagnosis my son received. He just spent a week in the hospital in China having 3 more stents put into his heart. At that time he found out that he was APOE 4/4. As you can imagine he was very frightened as am I as his mother...Again I'm looking for emotional support that I know can be helped by getting more information. Thank you for the help.
Jan Bourret
Welcome to the ApoE4.info site, Jan!

We are so glad you found us and hope you find the wealth of information and support of our community helpful. It's heartbreaking to hear of your son's cardiac condition and newly-found 4/4 status. As a fellow mother, I so deeply feel your distress and understand your deep desire to find solutions and provide him with much-needed emotional support. I'm so glad you found our site and are taking the initiative to seek-out ApoE4 information -- it shows your bravery and devotion to your son's wellbeing.

Let me start-out by saying I am not a cardiovascular expert, nor am I aware of Dr. Eddlestyn's work. So, I will leave specific advice and commentary to other site contributors who have a lot more knowledge on these subjects. I'm sure you'll receive lots of sage advice.

As an ApoE4.info support intern, my job is to assist you with a few additional links might help you to get the most out of our site.

How-To Get the most out of the ApoE4.info website was created to help new (and not so new) members navigate the site. This area explains how to use the quotes button so that the other member receives an email notification of your reply, how to search for topics, how to subscribe to topics of interest and more.

PRIMER: An introduction to ApoE4, biochemistry, and possible prevention strategies is a fantastic resource, exploring areas such as the science behind the ApoE4 gene and the lifestyle factors that impact its expression.

Our Wiki Index offers a wealth of information and details the muti-factorial approach to taking control of your brain health.

And, we would love to know more about you and your son, we invite you to share your continuing journey by creating a new topic in Our Stories.

Again, welcome and giant hugs! We are here to support you, so please feel free to continue to post any questions or just to share your thoughts. :)
National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach
Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach
Qualified ReCODE Practitioner/Health Coach (Bredesen Protocol)
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Re: Also new to group - 1st post

Post by NF52 »

Jani wrote:My name is Jan and I'm looking for emotional support to handle the recent diagnosis my son received. He just spent a week in the hospital in China having 3 more stents put into his heart. At that time he found out that he was APOE 4/4. As you can imagine he was very frightened as am I as his mother.... Again I'm looking for emotional support that I know can be helped by getting more information. Thank you for the help.
Jan Bourret
A warm hug, Jan, from another mom of a son who had to make friends with a cardiologist way too young--and is healthy and thriving as a result!

Our son was born with a congenital heart defect that happens once in every 4500 or so births--not due to my ApOE 4/4 status or his being ApoE 3/4. He was monitored regularly by cardiologists from the time he was 48 hours old and had surgery to repair his aorta at age 5. I can still remember that literally gut-wrenching worry, sense of powerlessness, desire to simultaneously have him watched over by medical people every second (he started out life in a NICU with superb care) and have him home with us and our readiness to do whatever it took to make him healthy. So let me throw you a lifeline from your future self and tell you that young people with heart disease are not the same as senior citizens with heart disease. Not only was our 5 year old son playing Frisbee a week after being in an ICU post-surgery, he was soon able to take long walks, something his heart hadn't allowed before that. Now in his late 30's, he also is a world traveler, able to handle a variety of language and cultural differences easily in Asia, South America, Europe and Africa.

But getting from the state of shock to the state of "yeah, this is just something to factor into my fulfilling life" takes some time--and the support of those around both of you that this will get better! You both deserve to have tons of emotional support and even more tons of information, some of which will likely come from your son's doctors in China. One of the things that may be helpful to your son is to think about getting as many records as he can from his current "interventional cardiologist" (in the U.S, that's the term for doctors who specialize in procedures like stents and angioplasty). They may be able to tell him specifics about the results of various blood test, stress tests and/or imaging tests done in addition to the stents that provided information about the status of his coronary arteries and his heart function. They may also refer him to a cardiologist who will monitor him in the coming weeks and months. Given his (presumably young) age, they may ask about family history of early heart disease, including high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes.

(As a great doctor told me when she heard my family history of colon cancer--which hadn't seemed to important since it was spread out on both sides) "We're going to keep you on a short leash!" Sometimes family history doesn't make a difference, sometimes it helps narrow the search for possible contributing factors. One of those may be ApoE 4/4, but there may be others to explore also through the help of doctors who specialize in preventative cardiology.

All of this is to say that while I think he is on a great track as a vegan and looking into vegan heart-healthy diets, he's likely going to want to enjoy getting to know some excellent cardiologists in China. And like my son, his opened-up arteries are probably now doing a happy dance--so enjoy the fact that this has been found and treated and that he is likely to be continuing to make you a proud mom for a very long time!
4/4 and still an optimist!
Mel
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Re: Brand new to group - 1st post

Post by Mel »

Welcome Jan. I am just seeing this post from 2021 and can certainly relate being an APOE 4/4 myself and having a mother who has Alzheimer's (she is a 3/4). I have been "researching" and experimenting myself since 2013. I initially followed Dr. Purlmutter's high fat, low carb and read Dr. Gundry, Dr. Bredesen and other doctor's who supported low carb. My lab numbers were extremely concerning to my doctor (high cholesterol, c reactive protein, HOMO, etc) so I went back to my earlier days when my blood work was good and am following a Whole Food Plant Based oil free way of eating proposed by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Colin Campbell. All are "old" men now and still appear to have quite the brain power when I hear them in interviews. I don't know their APOE status but they point out that a large portion of people in the world eat WFPB and don't suffer from the diseases (heart diseae, alzehiemer's etc) that we struggle with in many industrialized countries.

I also sent my raw genetics to Promethease, mygenefood.com, and Dr. Rhonda Patrick and all recommended a low fat diet for my genetics. I do feel like a walking experiment and only time will tell whether WFPB oil free is the right way to go for me. We probably are best eating based on our genetics.

I hope that your son is doing well and am curious what approach you decided to take?
NF52
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Re: Brand new to group - 1st post

Post by NF52 »

Jani wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 12:46 pm My name is Jan and I'm looking for emotional support to handle the recent diagnosis my son received. He just spent a week in the hospital in China having 3 more stents put into his heart. At that time he found out that he was APOE 4/4. As you can imagine he was very frightened as am I as his mother. Adam has since done some research and discovered research done by Dr. Eddlestyn. He wrote the book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. When Adam discovered that this gene was linked to Alzheimers his worry was exacerbated. In this book Dr. Eddlestyn also discusses how his diet can help prevent or lessen the likelyhood of Alzheimers. I'm wondering if any of you are aware of this diet and your take on it. My son is grasping at anything that sounds reasonable. So am I. I bought the cookbook Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and much of the information sounds reasonable to me. So please let me know if you are aware of this diet and what you think about it. Again I'm looking for emotional support that I know can be helped by getting more information. Thank you for the help.
Jan
Mel wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:32 am Welcome Jan. I am just seeing this post from 2021 and can certainly relate being an APOE 4/4 myself and having a mother who has Alzheimer's (she is a 3/4). I have been "researching" and experimenting myself since 2013. I initially followed Dr. Purlmutter's high fat, low carb and read Dr. Gundry, Dr. Bredesen and other doctor's who supported low carb. My lab numbers were extremely concerning to my doctor (high cholesterol, c reactive protein, HOMO, etc) so I went back to my earlier days when my blood work was good and am following a Whole Food Plant Based oil free way of eating proposed by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Colin Campbell. All are "old" men now and still appear to have quite the brain power when I hear them in interviews. I don't know their APOE status but they point out that a large portion of people in the world eat WFPB and don't suffer from the diseases (heart diseae, alzehiemer's etc) that we struggle with in many industrialized countries.

I also sent my raw genetics to Promethease, mygenefood.com, and Dr. Rhonda Patrick and all recommended a low fat diet for my genetics. I do feel like a walking experiment and only time will tell whether WFPB oil free is the right way to go for me. We probably are best eating based on our genetics.

I hope that your son is doing well and am curious what approach you decided to take?
Hi Mel,
I'm not sure if Jan saw your kind reply to her post from 2021, so brought it over by clicking on the quote (!) icon in the upper right corner of her post. That will send her an email notification of this post, as the quote of your post does. Very old-tech, but keeps the conversations going!

Your theory that "We probably are best eating based on our genetics." certainly seems reasonable, especially given that we are more than our ApoE 4/4 identity!
4/4 and still an optimist!
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