Tell me what you are taking and I will give you an alternative.
If you mean alternative as in herb, vitamin or some other natural substance, give me more details about how high your numbers are and reasons you are looking for an "alternative".

My skeptical self agrees with Dr. Kumar, even though - like virtually all heart attack survivors, even those with normal cholesterol levels - I've been prescribed a daily statin since my heart attack last year.

It's important to remember that the class of cholesterol drugs called statins have been a goldmine for pharmaceutical companies. Lipitor, for example, at $26 billion in annual global sales is the world's biggest selling drug produced by the world's biggest pharmaceutical company, Pfizer.

Any drug that relatively young or middle-aged people can be convinced to take every day for the rest of their lives is very good for Big Pharma. Guidelines for treatment protocol are commonly written by doctors who have financial ties to the very drug companies who manufacture the drugs they are recommending. This type of blatant conflict of interest is a serious cause of concern for patients who are prescribed statins. Read more about Big Pharma marketing success at 'The Ethical Nag: Marketing Ethics for the Easily Swayed': http://www.ethicalnag.org

What statin drugs do, without a doubt, is lower our LDL (bad) cholesterol numbers in a way that cannot be touched even by aggressive lifestyle changes in diet or exercise. But the question is: do we really need to lower those numbers? A number of studies have already questioned the commonly held link between high LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular mortality, particularly for women as we age. Yet drug companies have done a truly spectacular job in convincing both physicians (through industry-funded ghostwritten articles in medical journals) and patients (through those "Direct To Consumer" ads you've seen on TV and magazines) that we MUST control our cholesterol levels in order to protect our hearts.

Stay tuned...

You seek "alternative medication" for high cholesterol, but as Edmund Hayes point outs, you don't mention if you are seeking an alternative medication to the one you are currently taking or perhaps a "natural" alternative to medication.

I will assume you are seeking a non-medication alternative for high cholesterol and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. For that, consider the research implicating several vitamin and mineral deficiencies, many of which are been associated not only with high cholesterol but also with high blood pressure, diabetes, and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

1. B vitamins.

In particular, Niacin (also known as vitamin B-3) can increase HDL or "good" cholesterol levels. You can take a supplement or find it in dairy products, eggs, fowl, fish, lean meats, and nuts. While some sources recommend niacin in isolation, know that this can create a "niacin flush," which other sources say is ill-advised, especially in regard to organ damage. Note that the non-flush types of niacin apparently do not have the same effect on HDL.

Folic acid (also a B vitamin) regulates homocysteine, a suspected marker for heart disease.

Rather than taking individual B vitamins, however, the conservative recommendation is to take a full B-complex supplement, since the Bs work better in combination and several other Bs are important in lowering homocysteine; not just folic acid.

2. Magnesium - Many studies have linked magnesium deficiency to high blood pressure, and some studies have linked magnesium supplementation to a decreased risk of death from heart disease. Magnesium is known as a natural calcium channel blocker. It balances excess calcium that can cause muscle spasms in the heart (a heart attack).

Magnesium also may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The American Heart Association names diabetes as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Magnesium research scientist Mildred Seelig writes about magnesium and disease in her 1980 book MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF DISEASE: Early Roots of Cardiovascular, Skeletal. and Renal Abnormalities, Mildred S. Seelig, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.N.
New York University Medical Center. It is available online here:

http://www.mgwater.com/Seelig/Magnesium-Deficiency-in-the-Pathogenesis-of-Disease/chapter5.shtml

You can learn more about magnesium's role in maintaining health and preventing disease at the website of the Nutritional Magnesium Association. This page lists several magnesium research studies:
http://www.nutritionalmagnesium.org/index.php?page=Research+Studies

I hope you find this information helpful.

Look into Red rice yeast -- but please note that the FDA made RRY producers in the US take out one of the key components of it because this oriental fermentation product was competing with the emerging statin drug industry (against lovastatin I believe). In the US, you can't get RRY with the key active ingredient, however, I have learned there are other active parts of RRY that may be benefit for lowering cholesterol.

You can get side effects from it even thought it's a natural supplement -- you should look into them. I have been told to watch your CoQ10 levels.

Also, look into plant sterols -- these are options. I give these to my kids.

You can read this article from Wash University St. Louis -- they are tops for cholesterol research:
http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/6744.aspx.