The real “disease” facing many prostate patients isn’t cancer — it’s regret.

It’s a deep regret that sinks in only too late, when you find yourself battling the lasting side effects of a surgery you never needed in the first place.

Now, a new survey shows how most men who undergo prostate surgery have no idea what they’re in for — and a year after the procedure, most of them are positively stunned by the loss in quality of life… not to mention all the adult diapers they need.

Researchers asked 152 cancer patients about to undergo a full or partial prostate removal what sexual and urinary functions they expected to have a year later.

Half expected to be just as good after as they were before…while 17 percent actually expected better sexual function.

Little did they know!

One year later, and these men were positively confused — because what they got didn’t come close to matching what they expected: Just 40 percent found their sexual function met expectations, while only 36 percent had the urinary function they thought they’d get.

Every man in the study actually went through counseling that was supposed to manage his expectations — but that didn’t stop most of them from feeling as if they were on the wrong end of a classic bait-and-switch scheme.

I’m sure more than a few weren’t just disappointed — they were ticked off, and I can’t help but wonder how much angrier these men would be if they realized they never even needed that life-wrecking surgery in the first place.

As I’ve told you before, the numbers behind prostate treatment just don’t add up: We’ve chopped up more prostates than ever… yet we haven’t made a dent in the disease’s death rate. (Read more here.)

That’s why most prostate cancers should just be left alone — and why you shouldn’t be so quick to blindly follow your doctor’s orders after any cancer diagnosis.

Instead of quickly signing up for surgery, drugs or radiation treatments, take some time to study your cancer and learn all your options — including doing nothing at all.

A great place to start your own cancer research is on the Web site of the Health Sciences Institute, which features an extensive free online library.

You won’t find any regrets there — just real answers.

Looks like computers are only human after all.

Computers were supposed to change healthcare permanently and forever, and in many ways they have.

But when it comes to slashing the number of medical mistakes, we still have a long way to go — because it turns out computers are just as likely as humans to botch drug prescriptions.

Researchers looked at data on 3,850 electronic prescriptions filled at pharmacy chain locations in three states during a four-week period in 2008.

The researchers say they found mistakes in 11.7 percent of all prescriptions and that four percent were serious enough
that they could have led to adverse events, according to the study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

That’s right in line with the error rate we’ve (sadly) come to expect from the traditional handwritten prescriptions –which proves that many of the problems don’t stem from a doctor’s poor handwriting.

They stem from a poor attention to detail.

Most of the mistakes were omissions: The researchers say more than 60 percent of the errors involved missing details
such as dose, frequency, and number of days.

Now, if you’re like me, you’re probably wondering why the software allows e-prescriptions to be sent to the pharmacy
with all those missing blanks.

Short answer: It doesn’t.

Just about all the programs used for electronic prescriptions have a setting that rejects the prescription if it contains missing data, forcing the doctor to fill it all in before it can be sent.

But docs aren’t using it — that setting is either being shut off, or it was never turned on in the first place.

These programs also have a setting that figures out possible drug interactions as well as the maximum dose of each med — and again, docs aren’t using it.

The researchers say simply switching on those two functions alone would have prevented 77 percent of the errors uncovered by their study.

I think it’s time someone rewrites the software so those functions can’t be turned off.

In the meantime, whether your prescription comes from a pen or a machine, the same rules apply: Ask your doctor what you’re taking, how much you should take and when you should stop.

Write it down if you have to.

And then make sure the drug label that ends up in your hands matches what you were told in the exam room.

I can’t think of anything less appetizing than a drink filled with thousands of worm eggs — but if it meant beating a serious and life-wrecking disease with limited options, I’d swallow it all without thinking twice.

I know — as far as the gross-o-meter goes, this one is off the charts… but a series of new studies finds that stomach worms can actually help defeat multiple sclerosis.

In one small study, four of the five MS patients who drank a solution of 2,500 pig whipworm eggs every two weeks for three months had fewer of the brain lesions that mark the condition.

In an upcoming study, 70 patients will let researchers infect them with hookworms. Instead of drinking eggs, these worms will burrow into the shoulder and wriggle their way to the stomach.

Both lines of research are promising, but there’s at least one big difference between the two: Your body will take care of whipworms on its own, but you’ll need de-worming tablets to flush out the hookworms.

So, of the two, it would seem as if the worm juice might be the better option — but I’m sure most MS patients would eat a plate live earthworms if it meant a cure for the disease.

I don’t think a trip to your doctor’s office will ever resemble an episode of “Fear Factor,” but stomach worms might be part of the mainstream care for this disease soon enough — because if earlier studies are any indication, the research under way now should get some serious results.

In one study out of Argentina just a few years ago, researchers compared 12 MS patients who suffered a parasite infection to 12 with no worms. Those with the worms had just three relapses over an average follow-up of 4.6 years
versus 56 among those without the parasites.

The worm patients also had less disability, fewer brain lesions as revealed on MRI scans, and measurable beneficial changes in the blood.

MS isn’t the only autoimmune disorder that you can worm your way out of. Other studies have shown that the creepy-crawlies can help fight Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome along with asthma and even some allergies.

These are all tough-to-beat conditions… yet some of the simplest creatures on the planet may be able to stop them cold.

That’s humbling… and yes, a little bit gross.

The U.S. Department of Justice has finally responded to a 2002 petition to reclassify marijuana as a medical treatment.

Nothing like a sense of urgency, right guys?

Of course, after sitting on this for nearly a decade, the department responded with the same old line — ruling against medical marijuana under no uncertain terms.

The DOJ even went as far as to state that “marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision.”

Sorry — as serious as this is, I can’t help but find that a little funny. Replace the word “marijuana” with the name of the useless Big Pharma med of your choice, and you might have something.

Antidepressants, painkillers, and ADHD drugs all spring immediately to mind.

In fact, studies have shown that medical marijuana is not only effective for many forms of pain, including cancer pain, it comes with few side effects — unlike the dangerous and addictive opioid painkillers openly and legally abused across the country.

Back in 1999, the Institute of Medicine — a part of the National Academy of Sciences — told Congress that pot can help keep pain and vomiting in check, and that even with all the risks we’ve come to associate with this stuff, it’s worth a try when other meds have failed.

The FDA has even approved of at least two synthetic drugs based on the ingredients in marijuana — which only proves
that if marijuana itself could be patented by Big Pharma, it would have been approved ages ago.

After all, the science is there: In addition to cancer pain, it’s famously effective against glaucoma — and studies have
shown that it can fight inflammation, mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease and more.

One review last year found that marijuana can even help multiple sclerosis patients with both pain and mobility issues. (Read about it here.)

But this is a political battle, not a scientific one — and all the research in the world won’t convince those who are against it otherwise.

The one bright side to the Department of Justice’s recent ruling is that medical marijuana backers can now take the issue to court — and maybe now we won’t have to wait a decade to see the science finally overcome the politics.