How much over 200 were you?

No worries, I’m tough.
So, that’s the million dollar question - does having a lowered number actually do anything for me on an individual level. My doctor was quite clear on the fact that he could not tell me that having a lower number would help me at all. He says that accross a broad population it is pretty safe to say that lower numbers = better heart health, but in my case it may not make any difference. That said, in his opinion, keeping the number down through the use of a statin was less risky (assuming I tolerate the drug well - I’m tested twice a year to make sure of this) than having it above 200.
So I may be taking it for nothing, but at this point it’s a bet I’m willing to take.
Thanks for the great information.

Warning: “tough love” ahead.

My whole point is that your cholesterol levels are irrelevant in the big health picture. I think you and your doctor have bought into the mistaken idea that low cholesterol is somehow better than high cholesterol and that any number totaling over 200 needs to be aggressively dealth with. It ain’t necessarily so. I would suggest that if you were eating right and exercising appropriately, your body hit the exact numbers it needed and that’s where it wanted to stay. There is no magic to having artifically low numbers (produced by taking statin drugs). And the side effects of the statins out weigh the possible benefits (those minor benefits are probably just a mild anti-inflammatory effect - not the lowered cholesterol). So in many regards, you CAN always do it with diet and exercise - if you pick the right ones.