Hign cholesterol continues to be a problem for me.  I have tried diet, several statins, and red yeast rice.  The statins and red yeast rice have all worked well on the numbers, however, they produced unacceptable side effects.  I am currently on Crestor 3 days a week along with CQ10, and the side effects are starting again.  I have been reading about the effects of lactobacillus coagulans on cholesterol.  Is this effective enough on HDL, LDL, and triglycerides?   I am at a loss as to what to try next.

You could try krill oil.  It wont necessarily lower your cholesterol but should improve your HDLs (good cholesterol) and lower your triglycerides.  There seems to be a fair amount of evidence out there that cholesterol by itself is not much of an issue unless your HDLs are low and your trigs are high.

I forgot to mention exercise! You say above "diet, statins and red yeast rice".  Why aren't you exercising?  That alone could make a big difference.

I haven't heard about krill oil yet - thanks. I will look into that.  I have started aquatic therapy 3 days a week after having a discectomy.  With back pain and leg weakness, there wasn't much I could do in the way of exercise, but the therapy does seem to be starting to help.  At least I feel good when I'm in the water! 

Oh, sorry!  If you are having back problems then definitely watch the level of exercise you do and the aquatic therapy would be a great place to start.  Keep in mind that exercising one part of the body (that doesn't hurt, such as upper body) benefits the whole body, not just the part you exercise.

Here are a couple links you may want to look at on krill oil:

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400239/Consider-Krill-Oil.html  (Dr. Weil's opinion on krill oil)

http://neptunekrilloil.com/products/nko  (a krill oil website)

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/ (great website for info on vitamin D. If you haven't had your vitamin d blood levels checked you should considering doing this.  Very easy blood test and way over 50% of Americans are quite deficient in vitamin D. This alone could help your recovery and pain levels considerably.)

And finally, I think you said you had tried diet but I would not give up on this approach.  Diet is all important.  You may want to consider a high degree of raw food - fruit, salads, some cooked veggies, wild salmon and sardines.  All super foods that should make a considerable difference.

Thank you, roobeans

It seems that GNC produces a Nordic Krill Oil product that I can buy locally.  Fish oil created unpleasant stomach problems, but , from what I've read, the krill oil is much gentler on the stomach.  I will give it a try.

D levels were checked and found to be fine.  That was a good thought, though.

Thanks for your advice!