Good for you.
I was on statins for a while. My cholesterol level was 259 when I started and fell to about 220 with the statins. After taking them for a couple of years I decided they might be having unpleasant side effects, so I stopped taking them. I felt fine with no symptoms whatsoever of heart problems.
That is, until two years ago when I ended up in the hospital for two weeks with pneumonia and a minor heart attack. Tests showed blockages of up to 90% in cardiac arteries. My quadruple bypass was very successful and recovery only took the normal 10 to 12 weeks. The various scars on my chest are really quite minimal.
Now my statins have resulted in a cholesterol level of 125 and I keep my fingers crossed that further blockages will be avoided.
If you really want to avoid heart disease, choose your grandparents wisely. If they had heart disease, then you need to keep a close eye on your own condition.
Yep, you can have no appreciable symptoms and have a 90% occlusion. Also, a huge occlusion like that is not necessary to have a massive heart attack. Many heart attacks occur with lesser occlusions that do not appreciably limit blood flow until a plaque ruptures due to shear forces, leading to the formation of a thrombus of clotted blood cells that form around the plaque rupture. It all depends on one’s “clotting factor” at the time of the rupture. IMO, if you are at any level of CV risk, it makes sense to keep your blood on the thin side and keep LDL low.
Thx for sharing your story - one never knows...