Seems @KnitOrMiss and I may have had similar debates recently

I am flummoxed about statins, to be honest, but until I'm persuaded otherwise, I'm taking Crestor, which unlike Lipitor doesn't produce nightly leg cramps.

This is mainly because my total LDL is high enough to make me a little nervous - I recently had a coronary calcium scan showing mild atherosclerosis in one artery branch.

I take Lisinopril, with no apparent side effects, for hypertension and kidney protection. Unlike the scenario with statins, the effect of ACE inhibitors on kidney cells doesn't shout "Controversy!" when Googling...

In my of , I'd like to go a month or two with NO meds and NO supplements and see how I feel, but I'm not sure it's in the cards...

(I'm doing fine. Just didnt happen to land on < Go To Keto > early enough in the game!)

opinion here, it's worth what you paid for it, please do your own research and take whatever action you are comfortable with, you are the one who has to live in your body.

albumin - I'm assuming this was a urine test, not a blood test based on your description? High levels of albumin in the blood are usually caused long term by leaky gut but short term can be caused by dehydration, and are definitely increased when eating a high protein diet. Your kidneys are supposed to filter it out of your urine, which doesn't seem to be happening here, so your doctor is concerned about the kidney damage escalating. This is a very valid concern as truly healthy kidneys would not allow any albumin to be present in the urine.

cholesterol - as your body ages all of your organs perform less efficiently and require more fuel to continue operating because they are processing this fuel less efficiently. Your brain needs fat to function and cholesterol is how your body circulates fat. It is normal for cholesterol levels to increase as you age even in healthy individuals, ideally this is HDL "good" cholesterol that increases more than LDL "bad" cholesterol. Additionally, cholesterol serves the purpose of being the bandaid for the circulatory system, so when you have a tiny tears in your arteries your body patches them up with cholesterol, so general weakness in the cellular structure of the circulatory system will also cause the body to boost cholesterol production because more bandaids are needed - unfortunately bandaids do not fix the underlying cellular weakness, they just keep you functional. There is no evidence that lowering cholesterol reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease, all of the long term studies show no impact to fatality rates due to cardiovascular disease with the application of statin drugs. Reducing cholesterol will absolutely impact cognitive function as you age, you are essentially starving your brain and eventually it will begin shutting down higher level sections in order to maintain critical life support while continuously malnourished.

If it were me I would alter to high fat, low carb, moderate protein and I would limit protein to plant sources, poultry, eggs, and fish. I would try to get mostly plant sources of fat (coconut oil, nuts, avocado, etc.). Keeping animal products below 10% of your total consumption has been show to turn off and reverse cardiovascular disease. There are lots of websites for vegan/vegetarian LCHF, it's very possible to reduce animal consumption with this WOE.

I would also try to get 2 servings of probiotic foods daily to eliminate or heal the potential leaky gut and I would avoid dairy options, but if no non-dairy options are not tolearated (kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, etc), then take the dairy options (kefir, yogurt) rather than miss out on the probiotic benefits.

I would also look for herbal/nutritional supplements to support the kidneys and liver specifically and general cell strengthening supplements like antioxidants or MSM and I would stay on these for 90 days or until a more favorable test result is achieved.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you will keep us posted!