There’s also some evidence of inflammation and/or immune-system disorders kicking up cholesterol as the body’s attempt to smooth it over. Anything new in that area? Has your gym routine flared up some nagging injuries? Cholesterol has its purpose. Sometimes an undefined food sensitivity can cause a chronic level of stress and cause all sorts of issues.
Good luck pal. Retest as has been said… it’s good you’re on top of it,

My back has been particularly sore...hmmm

Your body makes something like 80% of your cholesterol, or so I'm told.

I'm not a physician but I'd be looking at inflammation to start with. I'd wager that's the root cause of most of what ails us. Most diets suck, in this regard. So many things on grocery store shelves and in restaurants that lead to chronic inflammation... The US food supply is largely garbage and I think some of that is by design.

I would not take a statin.

Great point. That's what the issue is with eating so much sugar. Sugar causes inflammation, and inflammation increases cholesterol.
Yep, that's inflammation, so that could be an aggravating factor. Statins are anti-inflammatory on top of whatever else they do.

Patrick. Currently I'm using Rosuvastatin (5 mg.) (Crestor) every other day and Ezetimibe (10 mg.) (Zetia) every day. It's been OK for a few years now with no reaction. Last time I had a reaction to a statin and went without for three months, my cholesterol went to 350 & climbing. So statins are something that work and I need to take them. Well, actually since I'm pretty old, maybe I could get by without them until I kick the bucket without it making much difference.

Disclaimer, I am NOT a doctor, but I've done a fair amount of reading on this topic and it seems to me that the link between cholesterol and cardiac issues is not as strong as the medical/pharma industry would have you believe. Studies that don't show a link or even support the opposite hypothesis are suppressed and never see the light of day. As others have noted, cholesterol is essential to cellular function. We need it. I'm currently on a statin and I'm very close to stopping it - muscle aches/weakness and other issues. I only agreed to it because I have very bad family history when it comes to heart attacks, however my numbers were't THAT bad, my calcium score is zero and my diet is pretty good. Personally, I'm not convinced the benefits of a statin, if they exist, are worth the side effects. Studies also love to report relative risk reduction, so a drop from 3% to 1% is reported as a 67% reduction in mortality rate, whereas the absolute is a mere 2% drop. Is that worth the side effects? I'm not sure.....everyone is different but for me I'm considering taking my chances.

I also have another important point in my favor. Back in January I had pericarditis and that's when the testing revealed the 160 score. The cath lab also revealed that all of my coronary pipes are clean.

My cholesterol skyrocketed in my mid 40s, GP put me on low dose statins. Cholesterol numbers all poped right in the middle of the normal line.

Like many of you started noticing a lot written about a tenuous link between conventional cholesterol wisdom and heart disease. Have lots of friends and family in medical, my sister is an internist and has nearly identical metabolic profile. I started asking them about it. The answer I got paraphrased and simplified: "yep its prob more complicated than currently understood, but the risk of low dose statins are so low for most people, we are still prescribing them, and I am taking them myself".

Maybe it's already been suggested here, but maybe you should go get another blood test on your own. The hospital here charges $60 for one, walk-ins welcome.