It looks like you are quoting the information that the drug company puts out about the drug, is that correct?

The life extension properties of the drug are typically more beneficial than the side effects are detrimental. The manufacturer of any product cannot be held liable for the possible damages that customers are fairly forewarned about; imagine if that were to happen, why every business would go bankrupt with in 6 months, if our legal system were somehow propped up we would be driven back to the stone age before it would stop.

Lipitor (a.k.a. "Lipator", "Lipatore") is not an herbal remedy and it's hard to see why the original poster is promoting it in an herbalism forum.

My father in law took lipitor and ended up with muscle problems in his legs. Definitely not worth the risk in my opinion. I think he regrets it now. We have tried to help them by educating them re: herbal remedies but sometimes people get scared into supporting drug companies to their own detriment.
I would try garlic and cayenne and change to healthier diet 1st.

herbalistic, Lipitor is not a drug designed to replace a low cholesterol diet, in fact if you are not on a low cholesterol diet already you should not be on lipitor (Although statins are probably going to be up and coming drugs to treat bacterial infection). So you need to show that Garlic and cayenne together help lower the bodies production of cholesterol in a manner similar to lipitor before you are really providing an alternative. Certain types of Rice and Oyster mushrooms also produce statins, but they also have the same side effects when you get a high enough dose to function.

Is'nt it strange that you have to be on a chlosterol lowering diet to take lipitor? Which really works?
ERIC, why should a medical person be here on an herbal forum downing the use of herbs and promoting a broken healthcare system. Thought you needed a taste of your own medicine. Pardon the pun.

It would be nice if we could have a forum devoted to aspects of herbalism, uninterrupted by threads about prescription drugs and Bad Evil Doctors.

For starters, there's this thread about Andrographis where relevant comments would be helpful.

Eric, I had trouble breathing I was laughing so hard when I read your post. It seems like most of gardenweb has been whithering and dyeing since spike sold it to iVillage. They just don't care and are doing everything they can to suck it dry.

OakLeif- Lipitor alters the bodies metabolism, it works when a low cholesterol diet doesn't. How it works is by stopping the body from adding more cholesterol, which does very little if the diet is providing cholesterol in excess. Imagine if you will a sink with two taps, one is diet and one is the body, but the drain is clogged so it cant keep up. Changing the diet shuts off the diet tap, and most people only have the body tap on low to begin with. But some people have the body tap on high and statin drugs are the pipevwrench that turns down the body tap. however it doesn't matter if you turn off the body tap if you have the diet tap going full blast anyways.