@mpetermax You are correct, your numbers are not "terrible." But in addition to LDL and total cholesterol, there are other factors the doc uses when recommending steroids - your overall health picture and all your risk factors - age, weight, blood pressure, health history, any evidence of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), family history of heart disease.

There is actually a tool many use in deciding on the recommendation - a questionnaire that once completed gives your 5-10 year risk of a cardiac event, with and without statins. Did your doctor share this with you?

In my family, there is a big history of statin-intolerance, so when my numbers looked like yours, I avoided the recommended statins for about 10 years, controlling my weight, diet and exercising, and the numbers stayed steady. Then age stiffened my arteries, and illness and pain reduced my exercise, the numbers started to rise and my primary pushed harder for me to use statins. I gave them a good try (3 different ones, over a couple of years) and had terrible side effects to all of them. I thought that was the end of it - until I had an episode that sent me to the ER, where testing revealed a moderate coronary blockage. Now I use 3 drugs to lower my cholesterol, keep my blood "slippery" and manage chest pain - perhaps if I had not been so stubborn, I would not need all them.

What is this all about - YES, by all means try diet and exercise, and if it works for you great. But if it doesn't work (and it does not for many people), or if it works for a while and then things change, please stay open to the idea of medication to help.