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From:	LaurieInOklahoma (ip68-97-46-37.ok.ok.cox.net)
Subject:	Re: Has anyone used this plan to help disease?
Date:	January 20, 2006 at 6:57 am PST

In Reply to: Has anyone used this plan to help disease? posted by Happy Vegan on January 18, 2006 at 11:23 am:

My husband and I started Dr. Ornish's diet in 1997 in an attempt to never (EVER) need the quadruple bypass surgery the both our fathers needed.
By 2000 we were eating a diet of all whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetales, with some nuts and seeds--- having discontinued the nonfat dairy and egg whites and the refined carbs that were included in Ornish's program at that time.
We had a tremendous fall in cholesterol from doing that, and I noticed that I felt tremendously better.

It never quite occurred to me, however, that diet might affect the progression of my MS, diagnosed in 1981.
I got tired of all the medication I was taking, however, (for MS, depression, various other) and wanted an even healthier approach. Enter Dr. Fuhrman--- we found his book (E2L) in 2003.
Took me until new year's 2005 to deal with the idea of giving up wheat and salt, though. I did, however, and have now been doing Dr. Fuhrman's program for over a year, and I have consulted with him by telephone 3 times so far.

MS is such a variable disease that one year is way early to say that my excellent results are from the diet.
I am, however, off of the antidepressant medication which I had been taking for 20 years, that I found I could never discontinue without feeling miserable. (Part of Dr. F's treatment for that is to take fish oil, which I'm doing).
I'm also doing a 4 month trial period off of MS medication, with the approval of my neurologist. I think I'm doing much better than his other patients with MS.
I do have some permanent damage from the MS that will probably never be undone, just to be totally clear here. Permanent nerve damage to the bladder causes me many more trips to the bathroom than most people, and interferes with travel.
Also, after I walk about a mile, I start to limp.
I do my exercise in segments, with rest periods in between. After a rest period I get totally refreshed and can walk another mile.
Anyway, it would be interesting to know if I could have avoided the bladder damage and difficulty with extended walking if I had started E2L much sooner after my diagnosis. I very strongly suspect that that would be the case.

Our cholesterol and triglyceride numbers got even much better--- impressively so--- after changing to E2L. Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you that a family history of heart disease condemns you to heart disease!

Before changing my diet in 1997, whenever I didn't get enough sleep I would get a sensation that someone had cast a net around my brain and was pulling it tightly.
I never, ever, get that feeling anymore, and I realize that it is because I now have tremendously improved blood flow to the brain.

On E2L, my husband, who nobody would have said needed to lose weight, lost about 12-14 pounds. He noticed feeling REALLY well-- all those aches and pains he had chalked up to an increasing number of birthdays (he just turned 54, I'm about to be 53) simply disappeared.

Dr. Fuhrman's work with diabetes patients takes my breath away; it is so impressive.
At www.drfuhrman.com there is a story listed under "reverse disease" that is about recovery from really serious diabetes. I give a copy to everyone I know who is in the medical profession (my own doctors, and a few other doctors/nurses that I know).

LaurieInOklahoma

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