Hello. Thank you for your question and welcome to HCM. I understand your concern.
Yes, you can discontinue taking your
statin (I assume you were put on a statin).
Diabetes mellitus and dislipidemia are strong and independent factors for
cardiovascular disease. I think it is a good choice that measures were taken to lower your cholesterol levels. With some changes in diet and physical activity/sedentary lifestyle, you should be able to control your cholesterol levels without taking medicine. Therefore, I recommend you to have a 60-minute a day physical activity like biking, jogging, walking, hiking, swimming etc. As you are a diabetic patient, I assume you are fairly regular in not skipping any meals. Also, a diet rich in fibers (green leafy vegetables and certain fruit), removing animal fat and cooking with olive oil and eating more fish and chicken or anything from poultry, and less red or raw meat (maximum once a week), would help. I suggest you to check your cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels three months after you have adhered to this diet and lifestyle. If, besides all these measures, you still have
high cholesterol, then I would recommend you to start taking the statin again.
I hope I was helpful. Take care.
Best regards,
Dr. Meriton