Lenin,
The Ornish study - that is something to think about - reducing animal fats to zero is not all that hard. I am basically doing that now - except my wife keeps coming up with delicious meals with meat. (Yes, I know - she wants to get rid of me. ;) ) These days where all animal product is clearly marked on the label it's possible to choose exactly what you want. My problem in the supermarket is just selecting the right types of vegetable fats - avoiding the hydrogenated- and trans-fats.

(I am on the 80mg Atorvastatin currently but was thinking of dropping back to 40mg. I have a bit of an itch problem on my legs and chest - also I now notice a couple of patients sueing Pfizer for memory loss. I have only been on the high dose for about 2 months - prior to that it was just 20mg.
My drug strategy is more or less to combine the zero animal fats diet with the high Lipitor. My total cholesterol is in the 150-170mg/dL (about 3.8-4.3mmol/L) range. My Lifestream won't measure below 150 but sometimes I get that low.)

I agree that with the years over which the plaque has built up it's going to take a significant time to reduce it - even with effective medication. My cholesterol was up over 6 for tens of years.

An interesting thread.

heartcreature says:
"I do take Zocor and my LDL is below 70 so I'm hoping it's working."

That's a good result - but there must be something other than Zocor (simvastatin) that you are taking. How much are you taking? Can you elaborate a bit on what else you take, and your diet, if that's part of it?

Ken:
With regard to the Vytorin I think the HDL elevation comes mostly from the ezetimibe (10mg). They work well in combination and are better in raising HDL and lowering LDL than the Lipitor (atorvastatin) monotherapy. Of course the elevation of HDL is more important than lowering LDL at the sort of cholesterol levels you are obtaining.
You want to buy some time right now - to allow the medication and diet to do its work. That is long term - in the meantime you need solutions to the short term problem of stabilizing your condition. That may require different medication. I would just be careful not to cover all the bases by too many different medications - I cannot comment much further except to say that you should keep seeking advice. I'm surprised your cardio has not said do this and do that.
Lenin is your man here - he seems to have a vast knowledge on this. No doubt there are others too with experience, that have good advice.
Good luck mate with the rehab.