there's a lot of talk about red yeast rice

I too was leery of statins, and resisted for years as my cholesterol climbed. I figured everyone in my family knew about it by the age of 60, and I was over 70 with "no problems" so I didn't need to worry.
Last year, at the urging of my PCP, and after talking to more people who had no problems than those who did, I agreed to try. Within 5 months I was on my third drug, with side effects, and my provider reluctantly agreed I should stop and see a cardiologist.
Well, he was a very good listener, and agreed statins weren't for me, so he got my insurance to cover Repatha.
Here's the scary part, before the med was even delivered, a sharp nurse Practitioner at urgent care refused to believe my chronic chest tightness and shortness of breath was from my asthma or Covid and did an ECG - wow, crazy heartbeat - off to the ER, then a new cardiologist. Less than a week later I was diagnosed with angina and some occluded arteries!
I am currently on Repatha, and two other meds to see if I can get by without angioplasty & stents.
ALL of this happened silently - what if I hadn't gone to Urgent Care for Paxlovid? What if the NP wasn't so proactive?

So what kind of profile has been done to assess your risk? You might do just fine with a statin, just like about 80% of people (remember, the only ones who write here are those who have problems.)