I believe I was in my 40's the first time I was told that my cholesterol was "slightly high". I'm now well up into my 60's. Early in my 50's I succumbed to my doctor's advice and started taking Lipitor. It caused severe joint pain. I quit taking Lipitor, the joint pain went away and I stopped having my cholesterol checked. That solved the problem. Now there's no numbers to look at so there's nothing to worry about. I tell my doctor that since I won't take a statin there's no reason to test. This may be a heretical position but since there seems to be absolutely no evidence that treating "high" cholesterol numbers has any effect on mortality, that higher may even be better, especially for women, I figure why bother.

Jean