The little-known painful digestive problem linked to fat jabs and heartburn tablets that could affect millions – but is too often missed by GPs
The condition, SIBO, which stands for small intestine bacterial overgrowth, is soaring in the UK, thought to be due in part to widespread overuse of heartburn tablets. The increasing number of patients taking weight-loss injections such as Mounjaro and Wegovy have also been blamed.
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Daily Mail
32 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
£200 private health check gave incorrect blood pressure but I was denied a refund: SALLY SORTS IT
I had a private health assessment through Bluecrest Wellness in September. The results of my £199 check contained a blood pressure measurement, which was highlighted with a red flag and a comment that I was at an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. I thought I might have a stroke at any minute, so was shaking with shock for three hours until my daughter, a nurse, came to see me. She read the report and told me the result was impossible and that Bluecrest should have known this before sending it out to me. The top figure, the systolic measurement, was 140, and the bottom, the diastolic, was 185. The bottom figure can never be higher than the top figure. Readings taken at my GP surgery earlier in 2024 recorded 130 over 72. I expected a full refund because of the anxiety caused, but after going through the complaints process, I was offered only £50. Can you help? D.M., Ipswich. Sally Hamilton replies: If you'd tested your blood pressure on receipt of your scary results, I imagine it would likely have been through the roof. Not a calming prescription for a woman of 80 with a family history of heart attacks. I can understand how an off-the-scale figure gave you such a fright. Luckily, your daughter saw immediately there was a mistake and tried to reassure you. But I wondered why Bluecrest hadn't spotted the error just as quickly and intervened before the paperwork was sent. It wasn't just the BP error that upset you. You were unhappy with the complaints process that followed – and the way the company, of which you have been a customer for more than a decade, went silent when you said you weren't happy with the £50 payout. On my intervention, Bluecrest investigated swiftly. It admitted the health assessment specialist had mistakenly entered an incorrect number in your report but said this was corrected within three days and you were updated. However, it did confirm it had not responded to your last letter expressing discontent with the conclusion. This was because it considered your complaint closed and had informed you in that correspondence of your right to contact the Care Quality Commission should you be unhappy with the resolution. As a result of your experience, Bluecrest confirms it will now track letters that arrive after a complaint has been closed. It tells me your experience has led it to make improvements to its data input procedures. This includes making enhanced verification checks to stop results being submitted that fall outside expected and physiologically possible ranges, as happened with your BP readings. It is also refunding you the £199 cost of your assessment, offered you a further check free of charge should you want it, and donated £50 to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a charity you support. Openreach is bullying my 87-year-old mother In April, my 87-year-old mother received a request from Openreach to consent to a 'wayleave agreement' relating to the installation of fibre network cables on a route across her property to supply another customer. There was a lot of paperwork to review and she asked me to help. Three days after the first letter, she got a chasing letter saying it had heard nothing. A week later, a third arrived, this time mildly threatening, and a week after that a fourth advising they would take the matter to a tribunal and bemoaning the 'radio silence' on her part. My mother couldn't sleep with worry. I want an apology for the bullying approach. K.T., Norfolk. Sally Hamilton replies: Openreach is behind most of the country's phone and broadband infrastructure and is used by the likes of BT and Sky. When it needs to install, maintain or repair equipment on private land or inside a property such as a block of flats, it will often need permission from those not benefiting from the service. This comes in the form of wayleaves, which are written legal agreements. For individuals such as your mother, who have never come across these before, it can be bewildering. What might you be signing up to? Scam Watch Oasis fans who missed out on concert tickets are being warned about last minute scams. The band are currently on a sellout tour and will play Wembley, Manchester and Edinburgh, as well as shows overseas. Lloyds Bank says fans have lost £2 million buying fake Oasis tickets this year. The bank says 90 per cent of ticket purchase scams take place via fake ads and posts on social media. It warns fans only to buy tickets from official vendors – and never to send money to anyone you don't know and have only spoken to on social media. You were particularly aggrieved at the hectoring letters sent to your elderly mother and the lack of response as you tried to find out more from your sickbed. You called the number printed on the correspondence several times and only ever got an answer machine on which you left messages outlining the situation. You emailed, but also had no response. You only heard back from Openreach once you had emailed with the signed agreement on May 5, together with a formal letter of complaint about how the matter had been handled. Now it was Openreach's turn for radio silence. You have chased for a resolution to your complaint, but with no response. I agree it was over the top for Openreach to be sending four letters in a row with little appreciation that recipients might struggle to understand what was being asked of them – and who might need to ask for input from family or friends. In some situations, it can be sensible for a property owner to take legal advice before signing a wayleave agreement. Not many lawyers would move as quickly as Openreach was expecting your mother to. Openreach needed her permission because it involved her property being used to provide a service to another homeowner. Standard rates or recompense apply in these situations, which for your mother meant a one-off payment of about £184. But of more importance to her, and you, was an apology and a promise to improve the process. Once I contacted Openreach, it responded at lightning speed, sending a bunch of flowers, a note to say sorry and a promise of a gift card. An Openreach spokesperson says: 'This was a very unusual and unfortunate situation, and we're really sorry for causing such distress. We want to thank K.T. and her mother for their feedback and we've sent them a gesture of goodwill. We're also using their feedback to review and improve our wayleaves processes.' Straight to the point In December, I booked a two-night stay in a Liverpool apartment for June through But in March I was told the reservation was cancelled and my £183 would be returned to me. I have supplied all of the information has requested numerous times but my money has not been repaid. Last time I called, it could not find the reservation. D.E., via email. apologises for the delay and says a technical error deleted it from its system. It is getting confirmation of the charge from you and will then process the refund. *** I Bought a new car from a dealership for £52,000 in December and agreed to pay a £5,000 deposit along with £500 each month on finance. After driving just 200 miles, one of the wheels fell off while I was going over a speed bump. My breakdown cover engineer said the nuts must have been loose. I returned the car to the dealership and would like to either get a new one or get the money back I've paid so far. I'm still paying £500 a month. I've now had to put a deposit down on a new car. E.D., Leicester. You have been refunded the £6,500 you have so far spent on the vehicle and also been handed back the £7,157 you had splashed out on the deposit for your new car. Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@ — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Britain's Moore handed four-year ban after CAS upholds ITIA appeal
July 15 (Reuters) - Britain's Tara Moore, who was previously cleared of an anti-doping rule violation, was handed a four-year ban on Tuesday after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal filed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency. Moore, Britain's former number one-ranked doubles player, was provisionally suspended in June 2022 due to the presence of prohibited anabolic steroids Nandrolone and boldenone. Moore said she had never knowingly taken a banned substance in her career and an independent tribunal determined that contaminated meat consumed by her in the days before sample collection was the source of the prohibited substance. Moore lost 19 months in the process before she was cleared of the ADRV but CAS upheld the ITIA's appeal against the first instance "No Fault or Negligence" ruling with respect to nandrolone. "After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the CAS Panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat," CAS said in a statement. "The panel concluded that Ms Moore failed to establish that the ADRV was not intentional. The appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld and the decision rendered by the Independent Tribunal is set aside." Moore had previously said how she saw her reputation, ranking and livelihood "slowly trickling away" for 19 months during her initial suspension. The 32-year-old had also filed a cross-appeal at CAS "seeking to dismiss the ITIA appeal, dismiss the nandrolone result in the ADRV or alternatively confirm that she bears no fault or negligence". However, CAS said the cross-appeal was declared inadmissible and her four-year period of ineligibility would start from July 15, with credit for any provisional suspension that has already been served. "Our bar for appealing a first instance decision is high, and the decision is not taken lightly," ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse said in a statement. "In this case, our independent scientific advice was that the player did not adequately explain the high level of nandrolone present in their sample. Today's ruling is consistent with this position."
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Sick crimes of morgue rapist David Fuller ‘could be REPEATED unless bodies are better cared for'
THE sickening crimes of morgue rapist David Fuller could be repeated unless bodies are better cared for, an inquiry has warned. Fuller, 68, was jailed for life in 2021 for sexually assaulting 101 female corpses while working as a maintenance engineer at NHS hospitals. The inquiry has already ruled better management and security could have prevented his crimes at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in Kent. Now it has concluded regulation of the care of people after death is 'partial, ineffective and, in significant areas, completely absent'. Chairman Sir Jonathan Michael said: 'I have come to the conclusion that the current arrangements for the regulation and oversight of the care of people after death are partial, ineffective and, in significant areas, completely absent. 'I have concluded that it is entirely possible that such offences could be repeated, particularly in those sectors that lack any form of statutory regulation.' More than half a million British people die every year, with 568,613 in England and Wales in 2024. Sir Jonathan added he was concerned there are no industry standards for caring for dead people, and that anyone could become a funeral director without any qualifications. He said there is a 'cultural reluctance' to accept bodies can be abused. He went on: 'I am not confident arrangements currently in place satisfactorily protect the deceased from the risk of abuse.' 'I urge all those involved in the care of people after death to question whether they uphold the same standards as they would if that person were alive. 'The deceased are as vulnerable as the living and they are worthy of the same protection. 'The harm inflicted on David Fuller's victims and the hurt and trauma experienced by their families must never be repeated.' MORGUE monster David Fuller was free to assault dead women for 15 years due to 'serious failings' at the hospitals where he worked, a report found. The double killer abused at least 101 women while working at mortuaries in Tunbridge Wells Hospital and at the former Kent and Sussex Hospital. A probe found there were "missed opportunities" to stop the necrophiliac's 15-year rampage. His youngest victim was a nine-year-old girl and the oldest was 100 years old, with Fuller sometimes violating the bodies more than once. Inquiry chairman Sir Jonathan Michael said: "Failures of management, of governance, of regulation, failure to follow standard policies and procedures, together with a persistent lack of curiosity, all contributed to the creation of the environment in which he was able to offend, and to do so for 15 years without ever being suspected or caught. "Over the years, there were missed opportunities to question Fuller's working practices. "Had his colleagues, managers and senior leaders been more curious, it is likely that he would have had less opportunity to offend."
