There is some great info in this thread! Copying and pasting. My cholesterol has been stellar, but DH has a familial issue. He's been on Lipitor for years, now just switched to Vytorin. We'll see with the next blood test if it had any results. I'm another one who cooks only with EVOO or a bit of canola or grapeseed when absolutely necessary. You know that I don't add butter to any recipe that I'll be eating, nor do we use much butter or margarine here. DH give up eating cheese, but he prefers the harder types such as swiss or manchego as opposed to Brie. He likes it as a lo-carb/hi protein snack. He drinks his coffee black and uses 1% milk with his oatmeal. He primarily eats skinless white meat chicken, lean cuts of beef or salmon most of the time. Apples, he could do w/o but maybe spread with almond butter. One thing that we don't do w/o transfats is peanut butter. We buy the lower fat variety, but it has to be Skippy! What I haven't seen mentioned here, and Linda, this would be beneficial for you, is that the statin drugs--Lipitor in particular--may have some effect in reducing tumors of the colon. If that's the case, it may not be such a bad drug to take. Sometimes, I think we fight taking a pill, just because we want to do it "naturally" with niacin etc. but it's not the best choice. I definitely believe in diet and exercise, but in many cases like Annie's or DH's or Sharon's, it's genetics, plain and simple. So fight it with the entire arsenal!

My husband has suffered from Tinnitus for over seven years and has the most severe form of it. It isn't just a buzzing or a ringing, it is a loud screeching, metal on metal. It is non stop 24 hours a day and it is debilitating. There have been times when he hasn't been able to get out of bed. He has seen many doctors and specialists, including ENTs, Dentists, and a neurologist. He has had all kinds of tests including a brain scan. They all tell him the same thing. There is no cure for Tinnitus. The lucky people find out that their tinnitus is triggered by a drug and sometimes stopping that drug will make the tinnitus stop. Moe tried acupuncture for six months which was basically just a waste of money. It didn't provide any relief for him at all. The Chiropractor wasn't helpful either. At one point he was on anti-depressants. He wakes up with it and he goes to sleep with it. We have a white noise machine turned on at night. A friend recently sent me some information on Wobenzyme, a Systemic Enzyme Supplement. A lot of people get relief from arthritic symptoms using this supplement and some from Tinnitus. Since Moe was also suffering from arthritis in a number of joints including his knee and his shoulders we decided to give it a try. He checked with his doctor first. He started taking it the first week of January and within a week was getting relief from the joint pain. He could barely walk around the block and now we are walking three miles a day. Because the joint pain is now gone, it has made the tinnitus easier to deal with. The Tinnitus is still there, but because he isn't hurting as much, he is finding the tinnitus easier to live with. We are hoping that if he continues to take this supplement that he might get further relief from the Tinnitus. Time will tell. Ann

no problem cheerful :) HDL can be tricky when youre trying to lower your cholesterol because often what happens is you try to cut out all fat and also proteins to lower your chol, but that can really drive your HDL down. that's a trap that I fell into and I think lots of other people do too. I was so frustrated trying to get my chol down and my HDL just went from very low to lower but when I started seeing a dietician I got some excellent advice, and my results really turned around. There is so much confusing advice out there, a lot of what I learned really surprised me because it was totally different to things I'd read. My husband has always eaten the same things as me and his cholesterol has always been near perfect, except his HDL dropped a bit too but has came back up after we started with the olive oil as well. My chol results are very good now except for the apoB one (which is an additional chol test that not all doctors check) and that's still up a bit, but once that comes down I'll be off the crestor (statin) medication.

Niaspan was prescribed for both my husband and I. It is the drug of choice if your LDL (whether elevated or not) is of the small, dense type. I fussed over the price so my doctor told me I was welcome to take niacin instead. The price difference is one cent v. one dollar per day (after insurance). I asked my cardiologist if this was okay and she said sure, there might be more side effects with niacin. My husband and I were told to take an asperin 20 minutes before taking the niacin to reduce the symptoms. The first day was awful, the second day not quite so bad and now I have few if any symptoms. My ears get a bit hot and red but I can handle that. Let me reiterate for the OP, it isn't the LDL Number it is the size. I also have this strangely shaped choesterol that has a screw like protrusion that sticks into the walls of my arteries. As I understand it, taking niacin or niaspan is not going to correct this situation, it will merely slow down the occlusion of the arteries. It is a genetic defect. I bought the niacin from behind the counter at Costco. It was very reasonable. Please note that you cannot substitute over the counter extended release niacin. It does not work!!!