Whoo hooo!

When I had my physical last fall, my cholesterol was high.

Way high.

Now, I've struggled with cholesterol basically my entire adult live, as far as I can tell. I was first told I needed to watch it in 1992, when I was 25. It wasn't that high then (200), but given my age, it was worrisome. I've never been a fan of using drugs to manage a condition that can be managed by behavior, so for the past 17 year or so I've been trying to reduce my cholesterol via diet and exercise.

Now, granted, I'm no Twiggy. Never have been, never will be. I actually way less now than I have in awhile, but I know I should still drop some more weight.

And my exercise habits in the last, oh, 5 years or so (basically since my kids started getting involved in activities!) have waned.

But I've worked at it. I don't eat a ton of junk food or fast food. I try to avoid highly processed foods. I loves my veggies and fruit. I even eat oatmeal pretty much EVERY DAY for breakfast! Dang!

But last fall, I hit an all time high of 300 for a total cholesterol score, and my doc (who is a wonderful person, frequently laughs with me, occasionally at me, but always takes me seriously), very gently but firmly, told me it was time to give up the fight and accept some help.

So, I went on Lipitor back around Thanksgiving. I was not happy -- I wanted BADLY to be able to fix this myself; between my doc and David, though, they convinced me that there are some folks who simply process cholesterol differently, and need drugs. So, I swallowed my pride and my pills.

Well, I went in at the beginning of the week for my 3 month blood check.

My total cholesterol has dropped 120 points. One hundred TWENTY! Screw Cheerios and their measly little "I dropped my cholesterol 10%". That's 40% Four-Zero, baby!!!

I'm a little excited.

Now, for the record: This has not changed my opinion of the proper role of pharmaceuticals. I'm glad that I tried (and tried and tried) to reduce my cholesterol on my own first. But I'm glad that there are options out there for those of us for whom that just isn't working.