Hi CAMMO & Welcome to the Forum,
First of all, cholesterol lowering drugs are NOT the first course of
treatment. Dr's are supposed to suggest lifestyle changes. Excellent
that you stopped smoking, because that's the number 1 thing you
can do to improve your health.
Please read Dr Graveline's article " Statin Alternatives":
http://www.spacedoc.net/statin_alternatives.htm
Statin Alternatives include low dose aspirin and nutritional supplements
that are designed to reduce inflammation, are anti-oxidants, reduce
platelet stickiness, control (toxic) homocysteine and have the same
anti-inflammatory affect as 20 mg's of Lipitor, without side effects.
Did your Dr give you the following info (total cholesterol components)?
LDL -
HDL -
Triglycerides -
Total cholesterol does not tell the whole story. Low HDL and elevated
triglycerides can usually be "normalized" by diet.
Fran