Is if for certain that you're going have problems if you don't take a medicine for high cholesterol. I've tried numberous medications and them just make me feel awful. I don't want to try any more.

Clover, please elaborate. For what reason was the medication prescribed? Was it a statin medication (i.e. Lipitor) to lower cholesterol? How did the medication make you feel?

And how bad were your numbers to start with? If you don't know, call your doctor's office and ask them for the numbers: total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides.

Also, do you have any risk factors that would greatly influence how severely you need to cut down your cholesterol? Your age? Are you diabetic? Do you have a history of heart attack or stroke or vascular disease? Have any close relatives had heart attack or stroke and at what age?

Some doctors prescribe cholesterol-lowering medications without trying lifestyle changes, even if the numbers are just a little high and could be improved with diet and exercise. In other cases, the numbers are so bad that it is really difficult or downright impossible to get them down without medication.

No, its not certain. Thats why 50 % of the people that have strokes and heart attacks , have high cholesterol, and %50 have no problem at all. However one thing that is becoming apparant is that cholesterol is not the problem, and there is a problem with all cholesterol lowering medications.

Cloverberrry,

It's all a matter of risk...nothing is certain. Remember, even people who play Russian roulette have an 83% chance of survial if there's only one cartridge in the "six-shooter."