I am 39 years old. My cholesterol levels have been between 250 a...

I am 39 years old. My cholesterol levels have been between 250 and 370 since my mid-twenties. I started on Lipitor and noticed after a few years that my loss of memory, muscle pain, fatigue and difficulty sleeping were just plain annoying. I quit talking in August of 2007. Since then I have changed my diet to a vegan diet where I have zero cholesterol intake. After 9 months my cholesterol levels are still 270. My body produces it anyway. The only time I saw my cholesterol levels drop (on Lipitor) was when I was doing Atkins (high fat, protein) and my levels were in the 170s. I was prescribed Zocor this spring by another doctor, however still found myself unwilling to take it. While only taking a diuretic blood pressure medicine, I began experiencing some chest pain, headaches, shortness of breath, numbness in the face and hands and got scared. I began taking the Zocor on Friday 4/25/08 - I haven't had a good night's sleep since. By Tuesday night I broke out with a rash on my arms and hands (itchy). I thought it was hives. By Friday 5/2/08 my head was in a fog - I couldn't remember what happened on Monday, it feels like it was 6 months ago. I stopped talking last night Fri. 5/2/08 and this morning the rash was gone and I slept fairly well. I believe in choosing the lesser of two evils; however, with the obvious effects of this drug I wonder what it does to the inside of my body where it isn't so obvious. As young as I am, I really worry about the long term effects of this medication, and others like it, that would make heart disease seem like a piece of cake.