Jody, as someone with very serious cholesterol problems, I second what Rosebud said. Those are GOOD cholesterol numbers! The total cholesterol level is relatively unimportant. What matters is the ratio of HDL to LDL, and yours is fine! Also, as she wrote, the triglyceride number is very important, and I don't know of a soul--not a single person--whose triglycerides haven't improved on Atkins.

I suspect that what happens biochemically is that the triglycerides are the first things that are affected. Usually they plummet like a rock when people begin to low-carb. (Mine went from nearly 200 to 75 in a couple of months!!!). The cholesterol readings can lag behind, but I would bet that within six months to a year, they alter for the better, too.

Donna: If your concern about liver disease was the reason you got off Lipitor, I'd say not to worry about it at all. The protocol for prescribing Lipitor includes blood testing at very frequent intervals to make sure the liver is ok. At the slightest hint that anything was going wrong, the doctor would take you off of it.