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Some of you may remember my little rant against a product called Digestrol, which was marketed with the biggest pile of unadulterated tripe I have ever seen (take Digestrol now or you will need surgery to cure your IBS!). Well, the FDA discovered why it was such tripe – the company owners were criminals, and they’ve now been thrown in jail. Hurray!

The facts of the case show just how easy it is to peddle lies on the internet. Charles Thao and Tony T Pham sold almost $12 million worth of product in two years. Digestrol was just one of their products, sold through a company called Techmedica. They claimed that every pill and potion had been clinically tested, when no testing had been carried out at all. Thao has been sentenced to eight years and Pham to three years, both in federal prison without parole.

So how did they manage to con so many people? They just faked everything. This is a quote from the FDA website: “Pham admitted that he used Techmedica to repackage, sell, market, and distribute unapproved new drugs and misbranded drugs over the Internet. Websites used by Techmedica contained materially false testimonials, product information, and identification of medical professionals.”

The conmen simply made up customer testimonials and put them online against stock photos. They even made up a doctor and a nurse to sell their diabetes treatment – Dr Judy Hamilton was actually a Californian model. As was nurse Bethany Hunt.

Every single aspect of their website was garbage. No wonder they didn’t seem to know the first little thing about IBS.

So what have we learned from this little escapade? Well, if you didn’t know before, please take note now – it is phenomenally easy to lie on the internet. It costs almost nothing to buy a domain name. You read a couple of books and you’ve got the basics of html. And then you just make stuff up.

Please, please don’t buy anything, or swallow anything, or change anything in your own IBS treatment without knowing exactly why you’re doing it, and exactly who is advising you to do so. The net has made life so easy for criminals, and the only way to defeat them is to keep our wits about us.

In the meantime, let’s just be glad that these particular scumbags are now exactly where they belong.

(You can read more about the case on the FDA website here.)

My new book, Sophie’s Story: My 20-Year Battle with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, was added to Amazon.com a few weeks back and experienced a bit of a rush of orders, so was showing as “Temporarily Out of Stock” for a while – my apologies to anyone who wanted to order the book and was disappointed.

I am pleased to say though that Amazon have now got some more stock in, and you can order just by clicking here.

We’re still working on getting the book onto the UK and Canada versions of Amazon – ooh, it’s hard work this publishing lark!

If any of you do get hold of a copy of the book and have a read I would love to hear from you! And, frankly, I would love for you to write a review on the Amazon site too. (Well, gotta ask for the things you want in life, right?!)

And of course if you have any questions about the book please don’t hesitate to ask.

A new documentary DVD on probiotics is now available from the lovely publishers of Sophie’s Story.

Probiotics are used by millions of people around the world to combat digestive symptoms and other health problems. But how do they actually work – and can they genuinely improve your digestive health?

The DVD, entitled Microwarriors, takes a close look at these beneficial bacteria and tells you how probiotics were discovered, how they are tested and produced, and how effective probiotics are according to the very latest scientific evidence. It also asks the all-important question – are all probiotics equally effective?

For more information, please visit the Microwarriors website.

I am very excited to announce that my brand-new book, Sophie’s Story: My 20-Year Battle with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, is now available to order from Amazon.com!

Click here to buy Sophie’s Story from Amazon.com

Sophie’s Story chronicles my entire IBS experience, from horrific food poisoning at the age of 12 through to my recent years of good health. It describes the long years of battling with the symptoms of intense pain, diarrhea, bloating and constipation that we all know so well.

It also describes the many doctors who were dismissive and patronising, and the battle all IBS sufferers fight against people who believe that IBS is “all in your head” or a mild problem that causes a bit of a stomachache and nothing more.

To read more about the book, including a sneak peek at the contents page and introduction, click here.

How to order

Click here to buy Sophie’s Story from Amazon.com

Can you help?

If you are on Facebook please spread the word about Sophie’s Story by pressing the “Like” button below. Thanks!

Those of you who are signed up to my mailing list will remember my little run-in with a company called Sukondee. Basically, the delightful people at Sukondee decided that they would book some advertising space with me and then, once I had already provided the advertising, not bother to pay for it. Or answer their emails. Or acknowledge I exist in any way.

I mentioned this charming experience in my newsletter, partly to get it off my chest and partly to warn others about the Sukondee company. And do you know what happened?

The lovely people at Help for IBS, Heather and Will Van Vorous, sent me a cheque for the entire amount I had lost. The whole shebang, with no strings attached, just to make sure that I wasn’t out of pocket. (And, in case anyone’s wondering, they definitely didn’t ask for this blog post either.)

Isn’t that one of the sweetest things you’ve ever heard? I’m still a bit gobsmacked.

So just to sum up – if you’re looking for an IBS company with some real heart, try Helpforibs.com.

If you’re looking for some people to steal from you, try Sukondee.