What I have learned is that a higher cholesterol number alone doesn’t necessarily justify taking cholesterol lowering drugs. There is the whole picture as reflected in the cholesterol ratio number. Sometimes people have elevated bad cholesterol but high good cholesterol and a great ratio number. I’m interested in my new LPa number , too, that I don’t have yet. Too many doctors say “your cholesterol number is high you HAVE to take these drugs.” That’s a lazy attitude, maybe even incompetence. That’s what my cardiologist did. All he cared about was that one number, not about what the drugs did to me or look further into my other numbers.