I have very high numbers....unfortunately, neither of my parents were ever tested. My dad had a stroke in his early 60's from extremely high BP....and my mom had a spasm of her coronary arteries. I know she was given a cardiac cath and a carotid ultrasound and they said her arteries were clear...but if they did ever test her cholesterol, etc she was never told.

Both my parents died of cancer....dad was 69, mom was 76. As far as we can tell, on both sides of the family, there is NO cardiac disease. None of my father's sibling died of anything related to cardiac disease....even 2 brothers and a sister that were alcoholics. On my mom's side, one sister died of cardiomyopathy, not sure of the cause....but no one else going back 3 generations!

My cholesterol jumped dramatically in 1 year...went up 100 points!!! The doc ignored the earlier numbers because they were dont in another state. I stayed right around the same, around 230, for a few years, then last year I went on a strict low-fat/high carb/high protein diet. It was very low fat....pretty much none....and I followed it strictly....I was also exerciing: cardio 3-4X/week and weights 6X/week.

After 3 months of this, my cholesterol went up....to almost 300. I then went on Atkins. Again, after 3 months, my cholesterol went up again! The good goes down, the bad goes up....and the total goes up! Triglycerides were MUCH better, but everything else was up, up, up!!!!!

I was put on a statin, and I took it for 6 weeks, then found out that my cholesterol dropped to 150!!!! I got depressed, my stomach was upset, and I felt like garbage! Discouraged about my numbers, along with a lot of personal stuff and I fell completely off the wagon and went back to my old ways. I still kept up the meds....until about 4 weeks ago.

I have stomach "issues"....GERD, HH, esophagela motility trouble problems....and I'm very sensitive to meds and certain foods. A few weeks ago my stomach started acting up big time and my specialist took me off all meds...including the statin.

I go to the doc next week, so I'll see what she has to say....but I've read up on cholesterol and I don't think I'll go back on the statins.....I think I'll just stick with LC and let nature take it's course! Hey! my doc's at Duke....maybe I can get tested to see if I have big or little particles!!!! LOL