Do not know my family health history. Asian female, 40 years old. Smoke @10 cigarettes a day (quitting is next on the list!). Moderate alcohol intake (mostly red wine).

When I was 18 I had a blood test that showed a cholesterol reading of about 475 (total), that was about 20 years ago.

About 10 years later I got a total reading of 575 and my Dr. put me on Mevacor. Took that for a month and hated it ... it made me crazy. I know that sounds weird, but I had real issues when I was on it. No history previously or after I stopped. Dr. sent me to a Cardiologist who did a heart echo(?), said my heart was fine, stress test was fine. He told me not to worry about meds for the cholesterol until I was "past child-bearing age."

Now it's 10+ years later and I'm trying once again to get the cholesterol under control. I've done diet, exercise and not been able to make any significant difference (I've always eaten a fairly healthy diet and exercised regularly). I'm not overweight (BMI is low normal) and my blood pressure is excellent.

Current doctor did tests:
HDL: 87 - LDL: 289 - TRIGLYCERIDES: 125 = 401
Liver function, EKG and Stress test were normal

He put me on Zocor (10mg) and in 3 weeks time I was experiencing severe muscle pain. Stooped that and put me on Zetia (10mg). Stopped that after a month because I couldn't tolerate it; lost 10 pounds and was so tired and weak I could barely move.

So is genetically high cholesterol a real thing and do I qualify for a diagnosis? If my cholesterol has always been this high, why don't I have any indications of related disease?

And what can I do to bring down my cholesterol? Fish oil, niacin (tried this once - flush was awful), anything else?

Thanks for any info/advice you can offer!
--KT