My cholesterol has been steadily rising since my early 40's, finally going over 200 in my fifties and 2 years ago hitting 287 with an HDL of 85, LDL 174, and triglycerides of 90. That seemed to be the year that everything went wrong. Besides those stellar figures while having lost 18 lbs since 2000, and riding 3000 miles a year while living a mostly vegatarian lifestyle, I developed a kidney stone and was diagnosed as having osteoporosis. One of the consequences of the kidney stone (calcium oxalate) was that I was advised to eat a low oxalate diet. A low oxalate diet can be best described as an anti-heart healthy diet: no nuts, no oatmeal, seeds or whole grains, no dark green leaves, and especially no soy products. Because of that I agreed to start taking Lovastatin. At the same time the endocrinologist I was seeing because of osteoporosis discovered that although my T3 & T4 were normal my TSH was high, and climbing, so I also started Levothyroxine. Of course, I was put on Fosamax. After 6 months my liver values started to rise, and on re-check 2 months later had continued to rise, so I was pulled off the Lovastatin. Then the Fosamax started giving me GERD and I came off that. I'm currently waiting to get an appoint to start Reclast, which I don't expect to be any fun. They tell me I'm supposed to start taking Tylenol 3 days before the injection. I want my liver to have had a chance to recover before I take any Tylenol. I've decided to take my chances with another kidney stone, because I just can't believe that diet is healthy, although I am still avoiding soy products. Hopefully, the thyroid supplementation will help bring down my cholesterol some as well. My take on statins is that they did bring my cholesterol down to 207, but the warnings about liver problems are real, so if you do start a statin be sure to get a follow-up liver profile before your next annual exam. As a cyclist, I had been more concerned about the reports of muscle problems, but did not have any of them. The American Heart Association has some online calculaters for your cardiac risk factors. It is worthwhile going through them and taking a copy with you to your MD to see what other lifestyle changes you can make before you decide to try statins.