Dr Mark Porter discovers that three quarters of people with diabetes who are likely to benefit from an insulin pump are not on one. He talks about the cancer that no one talks about - cancer of the penis. And he learns why you shouldn't wake your child during a night terror. GP and regular contributor Margaret McCartney investigates the growing incidence of self harming amongst the young as a new report on it is published.

Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking freefall from the edge of space was witnessed online by 8 million people around the world this week. The jump was well-planned and included equipment to enable him to breathe at high altitude and low pressure. Dr Kevin Fong is the Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fellow, and Associate Director of the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine at University College London. He says that a pressurised suit would prevent his blood from "boiling" at the so-called Armstrong line - where pressure in the atmosphere means that boiling point of water is the same as body temperature. A previous attempt in the 1960s almost failed - when the pressurised suit leaked, causing swelling in one hand. The chances of surviving a common type of emergency abdominal surgery are lower if you have the operation at night or over the weekend. The first report produced by the UK Emergency Laparotomy Network shows that the odds of survival vary tremendously between hospitals too - from a 96% chance of pulling through in the best units, to just 58% in the worst. The study involved 2,000 patients who had undergone the surgery at 35 different NHS hospitals. The patients who need this operation are often very sick - with a blocked bowel or suspected bleeding in the abdomen. Mike Grocott, who's Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Southampton believes that this type of case should be given the best care possible - by a consultant surgeon and consultant anaesthetist. The published results are anonymised - but Dr Dave Murray who's a Consultant Anaesthetist at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, says data will be collected nationally and published in 2015, including the names of the hospitals. One listener - a former artist and puppeteer - emailed Inside Health about his recent diagnosis of essential tremor. He's finding the shaking of his hands embarrassing and wonders what can be done about it. Professor Leslie Findley, who's Consultant Neurologist at the Essex Neurosciences Unit at Queens' Hospital in Romford, describes the options - from beta blockers to deep brain stimulation. If you've ever spent time in hospital you may have worn an open-backed hospital gown - which often gapes in an undignified manner. But if you are a man on the urology wards at Solihull hospital in the West Midlands then you are in for a treat - pyjamas designed by the staff to preserve dignity and reduce the likelihood of complications. Consultant urological surgeon Mr Dev Sarmah is one of the team who came up with new design in response to a spate of blocked catheters in patients wearing conventional pyjamas.

As the Nobel Prize for Medicine announced this week recognises stem cell research, Dr Mark Porter asks if it's already making a difference to patients.And imagine waking up with numbness in your face, by the end of the day with paralysis in your leg, all tests are normal and there's no apparent cause - Margaret McCartney reports from Edinburgh on a burgeoning field of medicine - functional disorders.Plus an Inside Health listener who has been taking epilepsy treatment for 35 years asks when is it safe to stop taking her medication? And do 'stop-smoking' campaigns really work? Kamran Abbasi looks at the evidence.

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.

Dr Mark Porter dispels myths about osteoarthritis. It is usually put down to ageing and the result of wear and tear with people told that the condition inevitably leads to surgery. Mark Porter investigates the latest research on the condition and discovers that a third of patients will get better through the natural repair process.

HIV testing The first over-the-counter DIY testing kit for HIV is expected to go on sale in America in the next month. It's said to allow people to screen potential sexual partners for HIV before deciding to have sex them - all in the comfort of their own home. But sexual health consultant from London's Chelsea and Westminster hospital Ann Sullivan believes that the idea is flawed as someone could be recently infected and still show a negative result. Her hospital offers an HIV test to all patients who are admitted to the Emergency Department. A positive result is picked up in around 4 people in every thousand tested. Glasgow GP Dr Margaret McCartney analyses the latest HIV figures for the UK - which are on the rise. She advises that safe sex should be practised even with a negative result to help protect people from all sexually transmitted infections. Vitamin D and TB As much of the UK enjoys the last of the summer sun, Vitamin D is back in the headlines. The body makes its own Vitamin D with sun exposure - but supplements in tablet form can be taken by anyone who's deficient. A dose of the Vitamin D was given to patients with tuberculosis - along with the regular antibiotics - and it helped to speed up their recovery. Dr Adrian Martineau, who's a Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Infection and Immunity at Queen Mary University, London, says that the Victorian idea of giving "consumptive" patients of sunshine was spot on. Vitamin B12 A growing number of people believe they're deficient in another Vitamin - B12. Sources of the vitamin include meat, fish and dairy products - so strict vegans can be at risk of deficiency. The vitamin is crucial in the production of red blood red cells and for the normal functioning of the brain and nervous tissue. Symptoms of low levels can include anaemia, tiredness, pins and needles, memory loss and confusion. If it's not addressed promptly the damage can be irreversible. John Hunter who's Professor of Medicine at Cranfield University sees many patients who can't absorb the vitamin because of problems with their gut like Crohn's or Coeliac disease. Another condition - pernicious anaemia - is caused by the lack of a protein required to make absorption possible. As many as 1 in 30 adults have B12 deficiency - rising to 1 in 16 in the over 65s. A blood test which is used to check levels is thought by many doctors and patients to be inaccurate. The top-up injections of B12 are usually given every 2 or 3 months, in spite of many patients saying that their symptoms return well before their next one is due. Martyn Hooper from the Pernicious Anaemia Society says that testing and treatments need to be improved - to stop patients resorting to their own drastic solutions outside mainstream medicine.Mouth Ulcers One in 5 of the UK population will get mouth ulcers at some stage of their lives. For some, they can recur every month or so - in painful crops that can take a fortnight to heal. Some are associated with underlying problems such as inflammatory bowel disease, or vitamin and mineral deficiencies, but in many cases no cause is found. Patients like Ruth have to avoid certain foods - like chocolate and fruit - to reduce the risk of recurrence. She's had ulcers since her teens and now takes immunosuppressant drugs to reduce their impact on her life. Tim Hodgson who's a consultant in oral medicine at the Eastman Dental Institute in London has had some success treating them with drugs like thalidomide. He says that some patients fear that their recurrent ulcers could develop into oral cancer - but that simply isn't the case.

As many as 2 million people in the UK may have been misdiagnosed with high blood pressure - getting treatment they don't need. But how many of them have so-called "white coat hypertension" - where their blood pressure shoots up at the very sight of their doctor or nurse? For patients with high readings in the surgery doctors can offer "ambulatory" machines for them to take home, which monitor blood pressure round-the-clock. Bryan Williams who's professor of medicine at University College, London, led the team which drew up the latest blood pressure guidelines for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, or NICE. He says that anyone considering monitoring their own blood pressure at home should take measurements both in the morning and evening whilst sitting down - and work out the average over four days. The British Hypertension Society has a list of approved home blood pressure monitors on their website.NICE has also just approved the use of Botox injections to help people with chronic migraine that hasn't responded to other treatments. But it's been a controversial decision - Botox is expensive, and no miracle cure. It was initially rejected and is still not endorsed by NICE's equivalent in Scotland. Consultant neurologist Dr Fayyaz Ahmad has had some success with patients at his private clinic outside Hull. One of them is Dawn Cook, who's just had her third round of injections. She's suffered from headaches since she was 7 years old.Would you like to read your medical notes? The Government has pledged that everyone will have online access to NHS records by October 2015. So will this change the way doctors write about their patients? Professor Steve Field - who's Chair of the NHS Future Forum and one of the driving forces behind the plan - hopes that it will mean more plain English that's easy to understand. His own surgery will give patients online access early next year.One in 4 women develop fibroids at some time - benign, non cancerous growths in the wall of the uterus which can cause heavy painful periods. Surgery might be suggested to help wtih the discomfort - using keyhole techniques via the abdomen or vagina - a procedure known as myomectomy. But in recent years some less invasive techniques have become available to help relieve symptoms.

Dr Mark Porter asks whether doctors can try too hard in the early detection of disease and investigates the overdiagnosis of hypertension. This week he discovers that as many as 3 million people who have been told they have high blood pressure may not actually have it - could you be one of them?