FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN ASSESSING MY CORONARY RISK
Morley Evans, 9 February 2004, v 1.2.0 (revised 9 November 2005)

• first diagnosed with high cholesterol 20 years ago (1984) yet I am STILL ALIVE at 58
and I still don't have heart disease!

Other Factors to consider besides LDL cholesterol:

• low to normal weight for height
• low homosystine
• low to normal blood pressure (112/80)
• no chest pains (but lots of other pains after Zocor was started)
• low to normal triglycerides
• low to normal clotting factor
• good levels of HDL cholesterol
• do not smoke (quit on "April Fool's Day" 2002 when the price went to ten dollars a pack)
• low sugar, low fat, diet with fruits and vegetables, and oat bran every morning
• Halibut liver oil for A & D every day since 1973
• first, Niacin and then Inositol and Ezetrol to lower cholesterol (begun Jan. 2004, abandoned in Dec. 2004 because: 1). my symptoms returned as my cholesterol went down and 2). my stomach couldn't take it anymore.)
• drink a glass of red wine every once in a while
• exercise (as best I can) 3 times a week
• mother has high cholesterol but is 84 years old
• father's sister has high cholesterol and is 90 years old
• father's older brother, Fred, had diabetes and passed away at 91years old
• father died at 75 with lung cancer (a light smoker)
• twin sister has high cholesterol but does not have heart disease (and hasn't shrunk, either)
• two younger brothers have high cholesterol but do not have heart disease
• one younger brother has psoriatic arthritis
• mother's mother died at 95 years old
• father's mother died at 80 years old
• father's father died at 84 years old
• father's brother, Horace, died of appendicitis when he was 16 years old (physician error)
• father's brother, Allen, died at 65 of metastasized cancer (but never smoked)
• mother's brother, Glenn, died at 60 of "plugged arteries" according to the family
• mother's father and probably her brother had rheumatic fever as children.
• mother's father died at 30. She always said it was a heart attack. I don't know, I wasn't at the autopsy 70 years ago.

I have shrunk! I was just under 5'10" all my adult life. Now I am just under 5'9". I won't recover that inch, but at least my hair seems to be growing back since I quit Zocor. (I was 5' 9-5/8" and now, after Zocor disease, I am 5' 8-5/8".)