My doctor had been considering putting me on Lipitor as my cholesterol was 216. He suggested that I try to lower it myself by healthy eating, fish oil and also suggested a baby aspirin a day. He told me to come back in six months and, depending on the results of my efforts, I may or may not have to go on Lipitor. Well, I am happy to report that I just brought it down myself. It is 194! One thing that I did begin taking early on (in addition to my morning oatmeal ) was Red Yeast Rice. My daughter's husband's grandmother lowered her cholesterol by using this so I thought I had nothing to lose. When I told my doctor he said it was the best thing next to a statin to get the cholesterol down and it is completely natural. I would encourage anyone to give this a try. You do need to run it past your doctor, though, as you wouldn't want to be taking this and Lipitor at the same time. In fact, in the case of any medication, over-the-counter or not, it all needs to be run by the doctor for possible interactions with other meds that you may be taking.