OT - Anyone else have trouble tolerating statins?

[Ray]

I've had crazy, insanely, wickedly high cholesterol for as long as they've been testing me. I have no other risk factors for heart disease, no family history of heart disease (but plenty of high cholesterol), no symptoms, etc, but I do have these very very high numbers. And a calcium scan showed enough calcium to assume that a bit of plaque build-up has begun. I just yesterday tried taking my third well-known statin drug at the advice of a cardiologist. Long story short - I haven't been able to even remotely tolerate any of the three. The others took a few days before I felt horrible - this one took all of six hours before I felt toxic all over, light-headed, arm and leg and stomach pain, sinuses even more terminally congested than normally, total exhaustion, etc. The docs keep telling me that different people react to different statins differently, so they want me to run through the whole friggin' closet full of options to see if I find one that works. But, my GOD, this is an unpleasant process - was planning a ride on this beautiful day, but I feel like I have one of the worst hangovers of my life and even walking feels kind of shaky.

I'm sort of asking here because there are docs here who don't have to worry about their liability when commenting online (rather than advising a patient) and because folks here who have been through it all. Anyone else have this problem? How critical are statins in a situation like mine? Might it make sense just to continue monitoring the situation and see if the calcification, stress test results, etc, get worse? My dad lived to be 88 with wickedly high cholesterol and no meds for it - I know that's no guarantee, but that might speak to the level of risk I might be willing to assume.

Just wondering if anyone else has gone through anything similar.

-Ray