rimonabant - Risks too high

Rimonabant (also known as Acomplia) is a drug which is used to treat obese patients with a risk of developing diabetes.

As I blogged about a month or so ago, the drug is considered controversial. There is now evidence to suggest that one in every ten people that take the drug suffer from some kind of psychiatric side-effect.

We say this is too high! Mental health issues are not taken seriously enough, and any drug which has this much potential to cause psychiatric side-effects should be banned (as it is already in the USA).

Treating diabetes and obesity related cardiovascular disease is important, but not at the risk of causing suicidal thoughts, depression, and, in one known case, self-harm.

It is time for some joined up thinking when it comes to medication which effects how our brain functions. The organisations and bodies that licence drugs need to be better prepared to stop harmful drugs reaching patients. This habit of stopping drugs which have now been used , and done harm, for some time has to be replaced by a more efficient system.

Perfectionists IBS link

Researchers from Southampton university have found a link between stress and IBS.

For a long time many people who suffer from IBS (and many self-styled nutritionists) have suspected that the symptoms are caused, exacerbated, or lead to stress.

The study found that those people who were anxious about their symptoms or who were generally stressed in terms of pushing themselves at work were more likely to suffer from IBS.

There could well be 3 million people in the UK with IBS, many of whom contracted it after a gut infection.

The type of person who does suffer from IBS is likely to be "driven", carrying on regardless until they were forced to rest.

Dr Rona Moss-Morris commented that "These people were not hypochondriacs. But they did have a negative attitude towards their symptoms."

She added: "These are people who have high expectations of always doing the right thing - and going off work goes against their beliefs."

It is thought that CBT might help bring anxious and perfectionist thinking under control.

Professor Robin Spiller gave two possibilities:

"It might be that stress and anxiety affects the immune system. "But it could also be that if you don't rest, it might do you more harm."

The important things are to get checked out, rest until you completely recover from gut infections, and learn to relax and let go.