Can probiotics clear my bad wind condition? DR MARTIN SCURR answers your health questions –

I recently had a colonoscopy. Despite the sedation, it was the most painful procedure I’ve ever had. Worse still, it left me with terrible winds. I am 80 years old otherwise fit and healthy. My doctor recommended probiotics.

Name and address reserved.

I’m sorry you experienced such discomfort during and after your colonoscopy. The good news is that there were no signs of a disease like cancer.

But as for your current problem, I agree with your primary care doctor: The extremely irritating gas you describe in your longest letter is caused by a disruption in the microbiome, which is a wide variety of tiny organisms that live in our guts.

Somehow, the balance of these organisms has shifted, such that those producing malodorous gases such as hydrogen sulfide and methane are more common.

Taking probiotics as prescribed by your doctor is a sensible way to do this. Look for products with a high count (at least ten million) of bacteria per dose. Also, try to eat fermented foods daily as they will add more “good” bacteria to your microbiome. I recommend live yogurt and kefir (fermented milk commonly available in supermarkets now).

Sauerkraut is another option, but it should come fresh from the refrigerator rather than a jar, as pasteurization can kill any bugs you want.

And consider adding prebiotic foods to your diet. These contain fiber that “feeds” the friendly bacteria you want to stimulate.

Good sources of prebiotics are Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, garlic, onions, asparagus, bananas, oats and apples. But, as always, more does not necessarily mean better – introduce these foods gradually so as not to aggravate existing bloating.

It may take months to make changes to your microbiome, but there is every reason to be optimistic.

Three months ago I got dizzy and ended up in the hospital. I was then told that a CT scan showed a calcified meningioma. [brain tumour], it was a real shock. My doctor told me it’s 8mm and it’s in the right anterior region of my brain.

Jean Morgan, Bournemouth, Dorset.

Meningiomas are the most common type of brain tumor and are usually only discovered when the brain is scanned for other reasons. I guess that was to rule out a stroke in your case.

First of all, I can assure you that the word “tumor” means a lump, not cancer. Meningiomas are slow-growing benign lumps in the meninges, the membrane that covers the brain. One study suggests it occurs in about 1% of the population, especially those over 65.

Meningiomas don’t usually cause any symptoms — dizziness only occurs in a meningioma in the lower part of the brain. For those with the frontal lobes like yours (and especially the smaller ones like yours), I wouldn’t expect any symptoms.

“Calcified” means that your meningioma has hardened and will not grow or grow at all.

For these reasons, I recommend that the doctors in the hospital not take any further action, but I think the professional approach would be to call you and explain the results. Another scan is recommended a year later, with more scans depending on whether there is an increase in size.

In a study of 400 patients, only 11% of meningiomas enlarged.

Treatment is only necessary if a meningioma grows large enough to cause a neurological impairment, followed by radiation or surgery.

In my nearly 40 years of primary care practice, I have never seen a case of malignant meningioma.

As a result, it’s best to wait and see with a timely follow-up scan.

write to scer

Email your question to Good Health, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email drmartin@dailymail.co.uk. Answers should be taken in a general context. Consult your doctor if you have any health problems.

In my opinion: patients lose their traces

One of the best things about being a family doctor is the feeling that we are doing something useful, not least in our role as a fellow doctor and a doctor who advocates for patients, fighting around the corner for patients in need.

An important part of this is having patients available when they need you. But that has changed a lot, accelerated by the pandemic. This was reflected in the news last week that the valuation of GP services fell to its lowest level ever.

However, it is very simple to blame the pandemic alone – it was the last straw for a public increasingly dissatisfied with general practices, something long predicted by those of us who remember it in the days leading up to a shift to more limited service. .

This has forced us through a number of changes, including ending 24-hour care and leaving patients with a family doctor. As a result, patients no longer have access as before and continuity of care is lost.