My Dr at Village Health care just took me off the statins after I asked her about them and the side effects. She said they have a new way to measure if there was a need for statins called "the framingham test". It runs off several indices, like your weight, BP, smoker-non smoker, your cholesterol #'s and what it actually determines is your individual risk for a heart attack. My percentage was below 4%. So, I am off them for now. I have been on statins for over 10 years with no side effects that I am aware of, but who knows how I'll feel once I'm off them. Better, I hope. It was hard to remember my original "BAD" numbers for her to use on the test but I did my best. Anyway, many years ago a Doctor at the old practice I went to and only saw infrequently always seemed to favor the old remedies (Vicks vapor rub, hot tea and lemon, that kinda thing, he didn't like prescribing too much) and so he advised me to take red yeast rice for help with the cholesterol. I am back on that now, and I will see what happens. The statin is the only real medication I take and I'd be happy to be off it.
P.S. I may have paraphrased a bit here, but it's what I remember from the conversation with the doctor, if that helps any
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