Inside Health Folgen

The latest addition to the burgeoning ranks of health magazines on the newsagent's shelves is called What Doctors Don't Tell You. The headlines on the front of this month's edition promise to help you sunbathe your diabetes away, end your child's wheezing without drugs, reverse bone loss for good, and avoid hysterectomy by changing your diet. Lynne McTaggart who edits the magazine with her husband responds to the views of Inside Health's resident GP, Dr Margaret McCartney. The commonest cause of hepatitis in the UK isn't A,B or even C - it's Hepatitis E. Although it may not have the profile of the better known strains it is causing more than its fair share of problems. Dr Harry Dalton who's a consultant gastroenterologist at The Royal Cornwall Hospital is a senior lecturer at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health and a world authority on Hepatitis E. He says we still don't fully understand what the long term effects of hepatitis E may be, particularly on the brain and nervous system. A listener contacted Inside Health about unpleasant dizziness that happens when she turns over in bed or straightens up after bending down. She wanted to know whether it was likely to be low blood pressure, or a problem with her ears. Dr Mike Jeffreys, a Consultant physician in the Department of Healthcare for Older People at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital explains how benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV could be behind her symptoms. And how it can be effectively treated with a simple series of movements to the head called the Epley manoeuvre.

In Inside Health this week Dr Mark Porter asks whether headlines identifying a 'SARS Like' virus may cause unnecessary alarm. While this new virus and SARS are both members of the same family, virologist John Oxford explains that they are more like cousins that behave differently. And should you be worried about the shape of your baby's head? Lots of parents are. Margaret McCartney questions the growing trend for corrective helmets to treat so called 'flat head syndrome'.Plus Mark Porter visits the first NHS hospital to offer a new approach to treating heartburn.

Ovarian cancer is known as the silent killer - because its symptoms can often be vague - bloating, abdominal discomfort and feeling full after eating. An American medical body says that screening all women for this cancer does not save lives - and may cause more harm than good. The US Preventive Services Task Force were responding to the latest results from the PLCO study - which included 80,000 women over 55. There was no difference in outcome between the women who were offered screening and those who just carried on as normal. Around a thousand of the women who were screened had surgery after testing positive - only to find they didn't have cancer. And 1 in 7 of them had at least one serious complication following their unnecessary surgery. Professor Usha Menon from University College London says that screening could be used in women with abdominal symptoms to help spot the cancer. One Inside Health listener got in touch about his risk of developing cardiovascular disease - after his GP based his risk on his very high blood pressure reading - despite the fact that he's managed to reduce it by taking medication and exercising more. Dr Margaret McCartney says that charts in the the British National Formulary's charts are often used to assess these risks - but that other resources like QRISK can be used instead. A niggling dry cough or a constant feeling like you need to clear your throat may have been diagnosed as a post-nasal drip. But cough expert Professor Alyn Morice says many people plagued by these symptoms are in fact affected by a "leaky" valve at the top of their stomach - creating a mist of partly-digested food which triggers the cough reflex. The benefits of a vegetarian diet are often publicised - but how much does not eating meat improve your health? Dr Kamran Abbassi searches the medical literature and finds that there are modest benefits to cardiovascular risk, blood pressure and Body Mass Index. For parents who may be anxious when their children announce they want to turn veggie - one Vietnamese study found no difference between the growth rates of vegetarian and meat-eating children. Another listener Georgina Abrahams emailed to ask about treating gallstones. Does the gallbladder need to be removed surgically or can dietary changes help to alleviate symptoms? At least 1 in 10 of us will develop gallstones at some stage. Professor Hugh Barr is an upper gastrointestinal specialist in Gloucester. He explains how a low fat diet can help to prevent gallstones - which are usually deposits of cholesterol - but that once they're causing symptoms surgery is the most effective solution.