I am fifty-nine years old. When I was about fifty-three, my doctor diagnosed me with a high cholesterol problem. My “bad” cholesterol was so bad that I was told I had two choices. One, I could choose to live a risky life as I had before, eating all the wrong foods and only being active at work or two, leading a healthier, longer life. I chose option number two.
My doctor then recommended that I start taking statins for my cholesterol levels. I honestly did not know or care what statins were until that moment. To lower my cholesterol, I was given a prescription for statins which I was supposed to refill as long as my cholesterol levels remained high. And my lifestyle changes did not end there. Once I was told I had to lower my cholesterol, even my diet and routine changed. I had to take the stairs wherever I went and make sure I took a walk at least daily. I also had to eliminate foods such as red meat from my diet for a while.
‘I did not suffer muscle pains as I used to before’
Before I started on my prescriptive statins, my doctor gave me a warning: I was going to experience some discomfort for a while before I got used to it. What I did not realize at the time was that the discomfort in question were muscle pains. These pains were so severe I had to ask myself if it was worth it to go on with the pills. Since my doctor said my cholesterol levels, I decided to stick with the statins.
After a while, the pain just became too much. I had a friend who was also taking statins around the same time. He, like me, had experienced muscle pains. But unlike me, his had taken a turn for the better after some time. Three weeks after starting on my statins, I discovered red rice yeast.
I learnt about it from a forum I was following. So the debate that week was whether or not red rice yeast was better than pharmaceutical statins, and the members were divided. When I saw that question, I went online and looked through the content. The internet did not tell me much except more groups were divided on that question. I decided to try it out for myself.
Under the supervision of my general practitioner, I started on Red Rice Yeast vegan supplements from this company. I decided on this product because it contained the co-enzyme Q10, which meant that I did not have to buy separate supplements with this ingredient.
When I took these vitamin supplements, I did not suffer muscle pains as I used to before. In fact, I did not suffer any negative side effects from using the vitamin supplements. Two weeks into supplementing my diet with this product, I had less pain and even lower cholesterol levels. They were lower than what my doctor had predicted they would be when I started taking prescribed statins.