It's me, the lutefisk eater.

Sounds like Gemfibrozil isn't doing much for you and might be causing gallstones - not a good thing.

I was wondering - have you talked to your doctor about stopping the meds? Sometimes it's best to taper the drug, or maybe s/he wants a blood panel now, or whatever.

Also - is there a reason you don't want to try the statin drugs? (They're not side effect free, either, but they do seem to work at lowering LDL.) Apparently, Gembibrozil is better than statins at lowering triglycerides and raising HDL, not so good at lowering LDL. But your triglycerides are good, right?

I'm taking Zocor again and look forward to a much better profile next time, especially since I will have been LCing for over six months and moving more (helps improve that LDL:HDL ratio).

Good luck!