Thanks for the article! Is brings to mind a point I've made before: Many doctor's are too darn quick to throw medication at a problem before trying common sense methods first. High Cholesterol? Try lifestyle changes first. And isn't there a difference between just a little high and very high? Lifestyle changes will correct the underlying problem/cause of the high cholesterol to begin with. Many people who are given meds for this purpose are quick to believe that because they take a med to lower their cholesterol they don't have to make any other changes. Used to be that meds were the second line of defense rather than the first.

The thing missed, forest for the trees kind of stuff, is that for people my age drugs are about the worst choice to make. Especially if there are no other problems along with the high cholesterol readings...yet. Catch us early enough, make the proper changes and we will probably never need to take a statin or other type of cholesterol med. Of course this all depends on other health factors. For me PN was making it difficult to walk as much and as often as I would like to. But that's another post and another subject altogether which I'll be posting on a bit later. Good news, though, so no one worries in the meantime. Giving people my age these kinds of drugs when we're capable of correcting the problem ourselves ends up creating *more* and worse physical problems than the high cholesterol we started with!

I especially like the Doctor's point about people needing to be taught a healthier lifestyle. Two visits to a dietitian is not going to do the job. Granted there are people that are more willing to do it on their own, read about it, study on it and apply what they learn. But for others they need more help. Insurance companies...*BLEH*.