The Laura Dowling Experience

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, Lynn Mac explains how her sensitivity works, how it once left her overwhelmed by other people's emotions, and how healing and boundaries let her choose when to switch it on.

Ever been told you're too sensitive? Lynn Mac used to think so too, until she realised it was never a weakness. Here's how she learned to protect her own energy without shutting herself off.

🔑Key Points

• Lynn describes her gift as a heightened version of the sixth sense everyone already has, like a gut feeling

• She used to absorb other people's emotions so heavily it felt overwhelming, especially early on

• She names this as being an empath: soaking in the energy and emotions of everyone around her

• Her people-pleasing meant she gave endless support to others until she couldn't cope anymore

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Louise Newson, GP, menopause specialist and founder of Newson Health and the Balance app, joins Laura Dowling for a frank conversation about hormone replacement therapy (HRT), the barriers women face in accessing treatment and the criticism she has faced for challenging established approaches to menopause care.

Louise traces her advocacy back to the 2002 Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study and the publication of NICE's first menopause guidance in 2015. She explains why she believes the risks of HRT have been misunderstood, why prescribing remains low, and why the distinction between different types of hormones matters.

Laura and Louise discuss testosterone for women, starting HRT later in life, individual responses to estradiol, and difficult questions around hormone treatment following breast cancer. Louise also explores progesterone, PMS, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and postnatal depression, including the influence of Dr Katharina Dalton's work. These are complex areas where treatment decisions require individual medical advice.

Louise speaks openly about professional opposition, BBC Panorama, correspondence involving the British Menopause Society and the scrutiny of her clinic. She reflects on the personal cost of speaking out, why she continues to campaign for better menopause education and what she hopes will change for women's healthcare.

🔑 Key Points

HRT prescribing fell off a cliff after 2002

Louise kept prescribing HRT as a GP for decades and only realised after NICE's 2015 guidance that many colleagues had stopped, while her friends were being given antidepressants instead.

Guidelines are only a guide

She says the NICE guidance mentions risk 22 times more than benefit and groups synthetic and bioidentical hormones together, which leaves busy clinicians confused.

The over-60 risk came from synthetic hormones

The heart attack signal in the Women's Health Initiative study was in women given horse-derived oestrogen and a synthetic progestogen, not the estradiol and progesterone she prescribes.

Testosterone has a long history in women

It was prescribed in the 1940s and '50s for period problems and menopausal symptoms, and she says its reputation comes from the synthetic anabolic steroids of the '60s and '70s.

Some women need more than the licensed dose

Skin varies in how much estradiol it absorbs, and her clinic's published data shows about a fifth of patients need a higher than licensed dose.

Progesterone changed her thinking on PMDD

A colleague's own postnatal illness led Louise to Katharina Dalton's work, and her clinic now prescribes progesterone for PMS, PMDD and postnatal depression.

Ten years of being targeted

Louise says the emails she obtained show people trying to silence her, and the pressure on her and her family brought her close to giving up.

Only 5% of menopausal women get HRT

Every menopause guideline calls HRT first-line treatment for most women, yet she says only 14% of menopausal women in the UK and 5% globally are prescribed it.

📚 Resources

Newson Clinic

The hormone clinic Louise co-founded with Dr Rebecca Lewis

Balance

Louise's free app for tracking symptoms and learning about hormone health

Confidence in Hormones

The hormone health education programme for doctors and healthcare professionals

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Welcome to The Laura Dowling Experience

03:47 — Rereading the WHI study after NICE's 2015 guidance

11:18 — Why HRT is scrutinised like no other medicine

15:43 — Testosterone's forgotten history in women

20:43 — Starting HRT after 60

24:43 — "A body of people trying to take me down"

29:33 — If she were a male gynaecologist

32:07 — Are her doses too high?

35:45 — HRT after breast cancer

39:43 — Progesterone, PMDD and postnatal depression

42:16 — The Care Quality Commission inspection

45:47 — Running a private clinic

48:27 — Has the pendulum swung too far?

53:02 — Advice for young people and the meaning of life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, Dr Clare Cromwell explains why muscle is just as important as bone in midlife, and lays out a simple twice-weekly strength routine that protects against falls and fractures.

We talk a lot about protecting our bones in midlife. But what if the real key to staying steady on your feet, and even to your brain health decades from now, is your muscles?

🔑Key Points

• As oestrogen drops, bone density naturally declines, but muscle loss speeds up too, especially after menopause

• Strong muscles improve balance and reaction time, so you're less likely to fall, and better protected if you do

• Aim for at least two strength sessions a week: roughly three exercises for your upper body and three for your lower body, a few sets of moderate reps

• It doesn't need to be heavy lifting or a gym membership; a couple of dumbbells at home can be enough, as long as you feel it

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Veterinary surgeon and founder of Village Vets, Charles Cosgrave, joins Laura to share what every pet owner should know about keeping their animals healthy, happy and safe — from neutering and pet insurance to behavioural problems, emergency care and the realities of life as a vet.

Growing up on a dairy farm in County Meath, Charles watched his father answer veterinary calls at all hours, even on Christmas Day. After qualifying from UCD and working in the UK, he returned to Ireland and helped build Village Vets, which has grown to 35 locations, including three 24-hour emergency centres.

Charles takes us behind the scenes of veterinary medicine, explaining what happens during overnight emergencies, why children can provide the most useful information about a sick pet and how veterinary care has evolved to include specialist treatment for conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy and cancer.

Laura also asks the questions many dog owners have: Should you neuter your dog? What should you look for in pet insurance? How can you prevent behavioural problems? And what needs to change to tackle puppy farming in Ireland?

They explore the responsibility of pet ownership, the importance of early training and socialisation, the challenges of treating seriously ill animals and the difficult decisions surrounding end-of-life care.

Alongside the practical advice, Charles shares the challenges of growing a family business, the shortage of vets in Ireland and why, despite running 35 practices, he still misses working directly with animals.

🔑 Key Points

Neutering and pet health:

Charles discusses neutering male dogs, potential health concerns and factors owners should consider with their vet.

Pet insurance:

Why Charles recommends insurance, what to check before choosing a policy and how switching providers can affect cover for existing conditions.

Training and behaviour:

The importance of socialising dogs early, establishing routines and helping them adjust to people, noise and unfamiliar environments.

Puppy farming and microchipping:

Charles discusses dog breeding in Ireland, existing microchipping requirements and the challenges of tackling irresponsible breeding.

When pets become seriously ill:

How vets manage chronic conditions including diabetes and epilepsy, treat cancer and approach difficult end-of-life decisions.

Inside veterinary medicine:

From overnight emergencies to specialist care, Charles explains the pressures facing vets and the growing demand for veterinary services.

📚 Resources

Village Vets

Charles's practice group, 35 clinics across Ireland and three 24-hour emergency centres

UCD School of Veterinary Medicine

where Charles trained, and still the main route into the profession

Dog microchipping

what's required in Ireland, and the measure Charles says would curb puppy farming

⏱️ Timestamps

02:37 – Growing up with a vet for a father

05:36 – How vets treat different animal species

07:30 – Building Village Vets

10:00 – Veterinary education and the shortage of vets

13:44 – Inside 24-hour emergency veterinary care

15:45 – Why children notice changes in sick pets

17:00 – Pet ownership and rehoming

19:20 – Neutering male dogs

21:09 – Puppy farming and microchipping

23:30 – The responsibility of owning a dog

26:30 – Unusual pets and animal stories

29:30 – Cats, dogs and different personalities

31:54 – Dog training and socialisation

33:41 – Pet insurance and switching providers

35:25 – Diabetes, epilepsy and chronic illness

37:20 – End-of-life decisions and cancer treatment

40:20 – Why Charles misses being a practising vet

43:00 – Growing Village Vets while maintaining quality

50:15 – Be bold, be brave and back yourself

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, Meghan O'Neill, online content creator and mother of two explains how she holds firm boundaries for herself, then how she is teaching her young children about consent, from everyday moments like a kiss or a tickle through to the bigger conversations about porn and never being with someone who is drunk.

What if the most important thing you teach your kids about sex has nothing to do with sex, and everything to do with the word no?

🔑Key Points

• Meghan will not be pressured into anything; she can walk away right up to the last moment if something does not feel right

• She wants her kids to know porn is not real, because no one ever told her that

• At home, her kids can say no to a kiss or a tickle, and that no is respected straight away

• She is direct with her son: never sleep with someone who is drunk, because they cannot consent

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#AD - This episode is sponsored by AstraZeneca

Dr Tonya Leonard was a GP when she found a lump she was sure was a cyst. By half past nine that morning, she was being told it was breast cancer and asked to decide by the following week whether she had finished her family. Her twin boys were just 18 months old.

Sixteen years, a second primary cancer and a diagnosis of advanced breast cancer later, Tonya joins Laura alongside Helen Forristal, Director of Nursing Services at the Marie Keating Foundation, for an honest conversation about living with advanced breast cancer.

They discuss metastatic or secondary breast cancer, breast cancer recurrence and the signs and symptoms women should be aware of, alongside treatment, scans, scanxiety, cancer fatigue and the difficulty of planning life beyond the next result.

Helen explains why advanced breast cancer remains largely invisible in Ireland, with no official count of how many women are living with it, and discusses the importance of specialist cancer support. Tonya shares the reality of living life in three-month segments, navigating mental health after diagnosis and learning that palliative care does not only mean end-of-life care.

The conversation is part of Living Loudly, Dying to be Heard, a campaign by AstraZeneca and supported by the Marie Keating Foundation, highlighting the experiences of people living with advanced breast cancer.

🔑 Key Points

Advanced breast cancer means it has spread

The cancer has moved from the breast to another organ; in Tonya's case, to lesions on her lung and under her arm.

Life in three-month segments

With a scan every three months, Tonya finds it hard to plan past the next result, the anxiety Laura calls scanxiety.

Fatigue is not the same as tiredness

Tonya describes cancer fatigue as like an injection of horse tranquilliser: once she feels it rising, she has minutes to lie down.

Women are living longer with it

Helen calls it the long middle, moving through lines of treatment; one woman in her group has lived with advanced breast cancer for 21 years.

Nobody is counting

Recurrences aren't recorded the way first diagnoses are; Helen's estimate is around 30% of women with primary breast cancer, and a University of Limerick project has started counting.

Know the signs of a recurrence

Symptoms depend on where it spreads, from a cough and breathlessness to weight change or bone pain; if something hasn't settled in three weeks, ask your doctor, "Could this be cancer?"

Mental health support needs to be specialist

Tonya waited eight weeks to see a psychologist; psycho-oncology services now run in Ireland's eight cancer centres.

Palliative care is not only for the end of life

Palliative teams help manage symptoms and support families, and the CLIMB programme supports children aged 5 to 12 who have a parent with cancer.

📚 Resources

Living Loudly. Dying to be Heard

A campaign by AstraZeneca and supported by the Marie Keating Foundation

Positive Living

The Marie Keating Foundation's support programme for people with advanced cancer

CLIMB

The HSE programme for children aged 5 to 12 affected by a parent's cancer

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Welcome

01:52 — Helen Forristal and the Marie Keating Foundation

02:51 — Dr Tonya Leonard’s breast cancer diagnosis

06:21 — Advanced cancer support and Positive Living

09:28 — Scanxiety and living between results

12:08 — Living longer with advanced breast cancer

17:14 — Cancer fatigue

22:58 — Fertility and “Have you finished your family?”

29:17 — How many women are living with advanced breast cancer?

30:41 — Signs and symptoms of recurrence

37:57 — Mental health and psycho-oncology

46:45 — What palliative care really means

51:40 — Family, milestones and living with uncertainty

56:28 — Advice for young people

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, Dr Clodagh Campbell shares two client stories about reclaiming time for yourself, then walks through the Four Ds, a simple way to sort an overwhelming to-do list into what to delete, delegate, delay or do.

When your life feels too full, the answer isn't to try harder. It's working out what can give. Psychologist Dr Clodagh Campbell shares two client stories and a simple tool for figuring out what to drop.

🔑Key Points

• When life feels too full, the question isn't how to cope better, it's what can change and what can give

• Alice, a successful business owner, worked herself into the ground out of a deep fear of letting her parents down

• By the end of their work together, Alice had hired a manager, taken a three-month sabbatical and learned that rest could be as simple as walks on the beach

• Nikki, a mother of three, couldn't imagine one hour a week for herself, until a small boundary around one yoga class let her husband step up too

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Dan McCartney, dietitian, lecturer in Human Nutrition and Dietetics and Programme Director of the Human Nutrition and Dietetics programme at TU Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, joins Laura to discuss the vitamins and minerals many of us simply aren’t getting enough of — and why that matters for our health.

Drawing on Ireland’s national food intake data, Dan reveals striking levels of inadequate intake across essential nutrients including vitamin B6, folate, vitamin C, vitamin A, zinc, magnesium and selenium. At least half of the Irish population have inadequate intakes of magnesium and selenium, while more than 40% have inadequate vitamin C intakes.

Laura and Dan also discuss the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and proposals to lower or restrict the levels of certain vitamins and minerals available through supplements. Dan questions the rationale for reducing these levels when nutrient intakes are already low, discussing proposed levels for vitamin D, as well as restrictions affecting magnesium and the importance of vitamin C. He explains why he believes a restrictive, one-size-fits-all European approach may not meet the nutritional needs of the Irish population.

They also explore whether some recommended daily amounts are focused more on preventing severe deficiency than achieving optimal health, including vitamin C recommendations based around preventing scurvy and vitamin D recommendations historically centred on bone health rather than immune function.

The conversation returns to Dan’s early research into vitamin D and COVID-19, before moving into nutrition and immunity, healthy ageing, dementia, pregnancy and epigenetics — and why the nutritional choices we make today can influence our health decades into the future.

🔑 Key Points

Half the population are falling short on key nutrients

Dan discusses inadequate intakes of magnesium, selenium, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin C, vitamin A and zinc in Ireland.

Why are nutrient intakes so low?

Poor diet quality, low fruit and vegetable intake, low wholegrain consumption and highly refined diets.

EFSA and proposed supplement restrictions

Laura and Dan discuss EFSA and proposed European changes affecting vitamin and mineral supplements, including vitamin D and magnesium, and why Dan is concerned about further restrictions.

Are recommended intakes actually optimal?

Dan questions whether some guidelines focus on preventing severe deficiency rather than supporting optimal health.

Vitamin D, immunity and COVID-19

Dan revisits the research that led him and Dr Declan Byrne to propose a link between vitamin D deficiency and severe COVID-19 in 2020.

Nutrition across a lifetime

From pregnancy and epigenetics to ageing and cognitive health, Dan explains why nutrition today can affect health decades later.

📚 Resources

Optimisation of Vitamin D Status for Enhanced Immuno-protection Against Covid-19

Dan and Declan Byrne, Irish Medical Journal, 2020

Vitamin D Deficiency and ARDS after SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Faul et al., Irish Medical Journal, 2020

Autocrine vitamin D signaling switches off pro-inflammatory programs of TH1 cells

Chauss et al., Nature Immunology, 2022

Nutrition, immunity and COVID-19

Philip Calder, BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, 2020

European vitamin D supplementation trials, meta-analysis

Rupprecht et al., Nutrients, 2023

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Cold open

02:07 — Meet Dr Dan McCartney

04:03 — Vitamin D and COVID-19

06:10 — The 2020 research

13:49 — Why vitamin D levels run low

19:08 — Vitamin D and immunity

32:00 — Ireland’s nutrient inadequacies

34:02 — Poor diet quality

35:09 — Zinc, magnesium and selenium

37:24 — Are nutrient guidelines out of date?

38:03 — Scurvy vs optimal health

45:48 — EFSA and proposed supplement restrictions

46:24 — Vitamin D supplement levels

50:11 — Magnesium restrictions

51:03 — Nutrition guidelines for Ireland

54:35 — Primates and vitamin D

55:51 — Ageing and dementia

57:39 — Pregnancy and epigenetics

1:02:43 — Why good habits compound

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, Dr Denis O'Driscoll, pharmacist working in the HSE addiction services gives a straight, compassionate answer on how hard it is to come off drugs and stay off, and why staying stable on treatment counts as success too.

Is staying on treatment for life a failure, or is that thinking part of the problem? Dr Denis O'Driscoll gives an honest answer.

🔑Key Points

• Coming off drugs and staying off is never easy, and that is worth saying out loud

• Recovery is not one straight line; staying stable on treatment is a positive outcome, not something to be ashamed of

• Coming off completely is wonderful when it happens, but it is very challenging, and it is not the only measure of success

• Relapse is part of recovery, not a failure, and the priority afterwards is getting people back into support quickly

💛 If you or someone you love needs support, the HSE Drugs and Alcohol Helpline is there on 1800 459 459.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kenneth Keavey has a PhD in chemistry and spent his early career in pharma and biotech. He now grows organic vegetables on twenty-five acres outside Galway, and he's the first to point out the irony: he was an organic chemist, and now he's an organic farmer.

In this episode he takes Laura through what's actually on the food we eat, and how little of it we're told. Around 95% of conventional fruit and veg has had some treatment or another. Citrus is dipped or sprayed after harvest in waxes containing quite toxic, in some cases carcinogenic, chemicals to stop fungus growing on the skin. Most of it is legal, disclosed somewhere, and almost never read.

Then comes the detail that stops the conversation. In the EU you're allowed 10mg of glyphosate per kilogram of wheat and 20mg per kilogram of oats — twice as much of a probable carcinogen in your porridge as in your toast. Kenneth and Darina Allen went to the Department of Agriculture to ask why. They were told that people eat less porridge than they do toast.

It isn't all alarm. Kenneth refuses to scaremonger and is as clear about what isn't known as what is. He's also quietly hopeful: his own land is full of insects and birdsong, and he has watched how fast nature comes back when you let it.

🔑 Key Points

He was an organic chemist before he was an organic farmer

His PhD is in chemistry and his first career was in pharma and biotech, which is where the caution comes from.

Around 95% of conventional fruit and veg has had some treatment

Post-harvest waxes on citrus contain toxic and in some cases carcinogenic chemicals, and some produce carries up to fifteen applications.

You're allowed twice as much glyphosate in porridge as in bread

The EU limit is 10mg per kilogram of wheat and 20mg per kilogram of oats. Kenneth and Darina Allen asked the Department of Agriculture why, and were told people eat less porridge than they do toast.

The safety data usually comes from the manufacturers

Unlike medicines, pesticide safety data is largely supplied by the companies selling the chemicals, and permitted limits have risen since the 1990s as application increased.

80% of the world's insect biomass is gone

A test anyone can run from memory: a windscreen after a night drive used to be covered in insects, and now there's virtually nothing on it.

Ireland has gone from 600 vegetable growers to about 60

The sector has hollowed out in twenty years, we import 85% of our fresh fruit and veg, and vegetables are the one thing that hasn't risen in price — which is why a 39c bag of carrots is a problem, not a bargain.

Nature comes back faster than you'd think

His farm is full of insects and birds, with nine native Irish honeybee hives that out-produce every other apiary his beekeeper runs.

📚 Resources

Green Earth Organics

Kenneth's organic farm and nationwide home delivery service in Co Galway

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson's book on the effects of blanket pesticide use, discussed in the episode

IARC (World Health Organization)

The classification of glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans

⏱️ Timestamps

01:26 — Twenty years of Green Earth Organics

02:35 — From a PhD in chemistry to organic farming

03:57 — Around 95% of conventional fruit and veg has had some treatment

06:34 — Glyphosate, the most applied chemical in history

06:59 — Twice as much allowed in your porridge as in your toast

07:17 — What the Department of Agriculture said when they asked why

10:39 — Silent Spring, and the year the birdsong stopped

12:25 — 80% of the world's insect biomass is gone

22:15 — From 600 vegetable growers to about 60

50:06 — Five summers of farm work, three sheep, and the leap

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, Prof Robert Kelly admits he lost his own balance after a TED Talk and book launch, then shares the pillars-of-life exercise and a patient's story that helped him refocus on family and friends.

What happens when a cardiologist looks at his own heart health and realises the answer isn't his diet, it's his diary?

🔑Key Points

• A busy run of a TED Talk, a book launch and Christmas left him with no space in his day for three months

• Taking one full week off showed him just how stretched he had become

• He learned a pillars-of-life exercise from another doctor's podcast: financial health, family, friends, own health and work

• Looking at his own pillars, he realised work was crowding out everything else, especially his own health

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, Siobhan Murray, psychotherapist and burnout strategist explains why she has banned the phrase self care, and shares the small daily habits, walks, box breathing and a mindfulness trick called the purple alien, that she uses instead to avoid burnout.

What if self care isn't a retreat or a spa day at all, but something you can do in the two minutes it takes to boil the kettle?

🔑Key Points

• Siobhan bans the phrase self care and replaces it with care of self, something practised daily, not as an occasional treat

• A one-off pilates class, a retreat or getting your nails done is maintenance, not care of self

• She does four ten-minute walks every day without fail, even in the rain, simply to change her physical state

• She practises box breathing, in for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four, while making a cup of tea

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura is joined by Dr Cillian Keogh, a GP and co-founder of Dublin City Clinic, for a frank and surprisingly funny conversation about haemorrhoids — what they actually are, who gets them, and why almost nobody wants to say the word out loud.

Cillian explains that haemorrhoids are anal cushions that swell under increased pelvic pressure, and goes through who is most at risk: pregnancy, obesity, chronic coughs, straining, long hours sitting and heavy lifting in the gym. He also describes a newer group he sees far more of now, people staying on the toilet much longer than they need to because their phone is in their hand.

From there, he walks the treatment ladder. Creams like Anusol and Preparation H settle a flare-up but, in his words, only paper over it. At the far end sits the haemorrhoidectomy, a hospital operation with weeks of recovery — the thing he says, with his GP hat on, you want to avoid. In between is the electrotherapy his clinic offers, where a small current constricts the blood vessel feeding the haemorrhoid so it shrinks, with no real downtime.

Underneath it all is why the episode matters. Haemorrhoids are, as Cillian puts it, the last taboo of healthcare, and people live with them for years rather than mention them. He also makes the case, carefully, that bleeding is worth having looked at rather than assumed.

🔑 Key Points

Haemorrhoids are not a growth, they are cushions under pressure

Cillian describes them as anal cushions that become engorged and swollen when pelvic pressure rises, which is where the bleeding comes from.

Almost everything that causes them works the same way

Pregnancy, obesity, chronic coughs, straining, long hours driving and heavy lifting in the gym all raise pelvic pressure.

Phones on the toilet are a genuinely new risk factor

Cillian sees a group he did not see ten years ago, people sitting far longer than they need to because they are still reading the headlines or scrolling.

They can sit there silently for years

Internal haemorrhoids often go unnoticed until a flare-up, while thrombosed ones stay permanently outside, lose their blood flow and come close to a medical emergency.

Creams and suppositories only paper over the problem

Anusol, Preparation H and the prescription versions settle a flare-up without treating the cause, and once you have had them the threshold for getting them again drops.

The operation is the thing worth avoiding

A haemorrhoidectomy means a general anaesthetic, a hospital stay and weeks lying on your front, which is exactly why Cillian would rather catch it earlier.

Electrotherapy sits in the gap between creams and surgery

A small electric current constricts the blood vessel feeding the haemorrhoid so the tissue shrinks over a few weeks, and you go back to work the same day.

The real barrier is embarrassment, not treatment

Cillian calls it the last taboo of healthcare, because people cannot imagine raising it without being met with an eye roll.

📚 Resources

Dublin City Clinic

Dr Cillian Keogh's clinic in Dublin 2, where the electrotherapy is carried out

eXroid

The non-surgical electrotherapy treatment discussed throughout the episode

BowelScreen

Ireland's national bowel screening programme

⏱️ Timestamps

04:19 — What a haemorrhoid actually is

04:58 — Who is most at risk

05:12 — The newest risk group: phones on the toilet

08:33 — Anusol, Preparation H and the limits of creams

09:19 — Where electrotherapy sits on the treatment ladder

10:05 — The haemorrhoidectomy, and why you want to avoid it

11:40 — “The last taboo of healthcare”

17:54 — What applying an electric current actually does

24:06 — Bleeding, bowel cancer and when to get checked

29:01 — The privilege of being let into people's lives

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, former Connacht rugby player Fergus Farrell tells Laura what happened after he lifted a metal bench in his own yard in October 2018 — and severed his spinal cord by ninety per cent.

He was paralysed from the ribcage down and told he had a five per cent chance of walking again, on the condition he moved within seventy-two hours. He didn’t move. Instead he lay in a bed for twenty-one days and built a picture in his head: a circuit board for his brain, a light switch for his big right toe, and a wire he had to run between them. At half two in the morning on day twenty-one, the toe flickered. When the doctor came round, he watched it move three times before he’d call it anything other than a spasm.

Fergus is candid about what recovery costs — pain around the clock, no balance, no feeling from his feet to his waist, and the hidden disability nobody sees in a big man walking down the street. He talks about the businesses he lost, the family who carried it, the guilt of being one who got back on his feet, and why he now calls the accident the best thing that happened to him.

In August he set out from Brooklyn Bridge to walk 4,500 kilometres to Santa Monica Pier for Spinal Injuries Ireland — six million steps, and each one as important as the next.

🔑 Key Points

The injury came from lifting, not impact

He carried a 60–80kg bench about fifteen metres, dropped it, took a breath and lifted it again. The second lift ruptured a disc into his spinal column and severed the cord by 90%.

The five per cent came with a condition

A 5% chance of walking again if he moved within 72 hours. He didn’t. The toe moved on day twenty-one.

Visualisation was a tool he already had

He’d used it to win selection and to build his business. In hospital he made it concrete: a circuit board as his brain, a switch as his toe, and the work of wiring them together.

The doctor called it a spasm — twice

Dr Cullen made him move it three times before saying “that’s most unexpected, Fergus.”

Not every disability is visible

He walks, so people assume he’s fine. Zero balance, no feeling from his feet to his waist, constant pain on 3,000mg of gabapentin a day.

The people around an injury carry it too

His then-wife finished the house, worked and raised three young children. “The person that’s left behind injured affects so many different people.”

He never visualised himself walking

He started with the smallest thing he could actually see: one toe, with the blanket off. Setting the finish line at walking would only have set him up to fail.

The walk is the same method at scale

Brooklyn Bridge to Santa Monica Pier, 4,500km, six million steps, 75 days as a target rather than a deadline.

📚 Resources

Fergus Walks

Fergus’s walk across America for Spinal Injuries Ireland

Spinal Injuries Ireland

The only Irish organisation dedicated solely to supporting people living with a spinal cord injury and their families

Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation

Supporting the American leg of the walk

National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dún Laoghaire

Where Fergus did his spinal rehabilitation

Fergus Farrell on Instagram

Following the walk day by day

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Intro

02:10 — Lifting a metal bench in his own yard

05:35 — The disability nobody can see

06:44 — Pain 24/7, and refusing it attention

08:46 — A five per cent chance, and the seventy-two hours

10:00 — The circuit board, the switch and the wire

12:04 — Day twenty-one, half two in the morning

13:11 — Dr Cullen: “these could be involuntary spasms”

17:50 — The guilt of getting back on his feet

19:42 — What it did to his family

21:53 — Losing the businesses

25:09 — Walking across America

30:56 — “Every day is a new day to improve”

32:42 — Advice for young people, and the meaning of life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aimée Farrell-Courtney was six years old when she saw three girls playing the bodhrán in her school yard, the sun behind them and the sound going round the walls. She went home and announced she wanted to learn. Her mother's reply - "Oh my God, smelly pub" - is the first clue that this instrument arrived with a reputation attached, and with assumptions about who gets to hold one.

She learned anyway, was helping to teach by the age of twelve, and in 2010 won the World Bodhrán Championship. What she has spent the years since doing is quieter and, in its way, harder: asking why so many women take up the drum and so few are ever seen playing it.

She and Laura go from goat skin and tuning systems to the survey Aimée ran into women's experiences of trad sessions - the player left standing at the bar while everyone else is asked what they're drinking.

She talks about being told she only got a Royal Albert Hall booking because she could wear a dress, about designing a drum that fits the body holding it, and about the two communities she has built for people who want music without the judgement.

🔑 Key Points

She was six, and three girls in a schoolyard decided it

Aimée watched them rehearsing with the sun behind them and thought they looked like superwomen - with no idea yet that the bodhrán was a male-dominated instrument.

"My youngest student is four, my eldest student is 94"

The bodhrán is unusually easy to start, which Aimée sees as its gift and also the reason some people dismiss it without ever learning it properly.

A survey put evidence behind what women already knew

Working with a UK researcher, Aimée surveyed bodhrán players worldwide and found most women reported poor experiences bringing their drum to sessions.

"You only got that because you could wear a dress"

After a 2014 gig at the Royal Albert Hall, a peer told her the booking had nothing to do with how she played.

Male players are described by technique, women by appearance

Read how the two are written about online, Aimée says, and the difference is immediate.

The instrument was never designed around the body playing it

Smaller drums with deeper frames chase a sound, not a posture, so Aimée has been designing a bodhrán that works with the body rather than against it.

Music can be used, not only performed

Trained as a sound therapist, she works with frame drum, gong and singing bowls — and says three minutes of a slow, steady rhythm is enough to settle yourself at home.

Trad Drum and Drummy Mummy exist to take the judgement out of it

Trad Drum grew out of lockdown check-ins with her students; Drummy Mummy, launching shortly, is a drumming space for mothers — no children, no competition, nobody marking you.

📚 Resources

Aimée Farrell-Courtney

Bodhrán lessons, workshops and Traddrum Productions.

FairPlé

Campaigning for gender balance in Irish traditional and folk music.

Rhythm2Recovery

The Australian drumming programme for social and emotional development Aimée is certified in.

Basic Income for the Arts

The Irish scheme behind the conversation about supporting artists.

⏱️ Timestamps

02:30 — Three girls in a schoolyard

03:24 — "Oh my God, smelly pub"

08:02 — "It's just a frame drum, essentially"

10:32 — Designing a drum that fits the body

15:23 — Winning the world championship in 2010

17:32 — The survey into women and the bodhrán

18:50 — "My youngest student is four, my eldest is 94"

24:39 — "You only got that because you could wear a dress"

27:04 — Sound therapy, and what entrainment does

41:08 — Trad Drum, and the new Drummy Mummy

51:00 — The woman nobody spoke to at the session

01:01:44 — Trust yourself

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, consultant anaesthetist Dr Anne Doherty offers two simple, evergreen pieces of wisdom from the close of her conversation with Laura.

Nothing is as permanent as you think — the good times and the bad both pass — and almost every hard choice people make, even the ones you disagree with, comes from a place of love.

🔑Key Points

• Why the good times and the bad times both pass

• The freedom in not needing an answer for everything right now

• How love sits underneath even the choices we disagree with

• A gentler, more compassionate way to see people

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Buckley was thirty-two before he had a name for what was going on in his head. For as long as he could remember he had been restless, discontented, unable to sit still or hold his focus on anything that didn’t grip him - and he had simply assumed that was him. That was the way he was, and the way life was.

His wife Simone saw it long before he did. For more than a decade she told him something wasn’t right, that he couldn’t rest, that he had no structure. He wasn’t ready to hear it. The day before she died, after years of illness, she went through his symptoms one by one and asked him to get help for his ADHD.

Daniel tells Laura what happened next - the newspaper article that felt like a tap on the shoulder, the Irish clinics that never rang him back, the trip to England to be assessed at all. He is open about drinking to escape thoughts he had no other way of managing, about the day he stopped, and about the ordinary moment months later when he heard his son laughing outside an open window and realised he had never felt peace before. It’s also the story of what he built out of it: a service designed, in his words, to get people to a clinician in weeks rather than years.

🔑 Key Points

He spent thirty-two years assuming that was just who he was

Restless, discontented, unable to focus — Daniel had no framework for any of it until he was assessed at thirty-two.

Simone saw it more than a decade before he accepted it

He only heard it the day before she died, when she went through his symptoms and asked him to get help.

Undiagnosed ADHD and alcohol are closely linked

Daniel describes drinking to escape feelings he couldn’t regulate. He stopped in August 2022, so he could be the father his son deserved.

There was no route to a diagnosis in Ireland

Public waiting lists ran to years, and not one of the private clinics he rang or emailed came back to him. He was assessed in England instead.

He chose therapy and coaching over medication

Having stopped drinking, he worked weekly on emotional regulation, learning to recognise emotions he’d never had names for.

Peace arrived as an ordinary moment

Months after his diagnosis he heard his son laughing with friends through an open window and felt, for the first time, that he was all right.

A diagnosis is a turning point, not an end point

The piece of paper changes nothing on its own. What matters is the understanding and the support that come after it.

He built the service he couldn’t find

ADHD Now offers access to a clinician within seven days and has grown to over a hundred clinicians across ADHD and autism care.

📚 Resources

ADHD Now

Daniel’s online ADHD assessment and support service

AutismCare

The autism and AuDHD assessment service built alongside it

ADHD Ireland

The national charity, with support groups and information

Samaritans Ireland

Free, confidential support, any time, on 116 123

⏱️ Timestamps

02:54 — Diagnosed at thirty-two, and the bottlenecks he hit

03:38 — “That’s the way I am, that’s the way life is”

04:24 — Illness, Joey’s arrival, and Simone going on dialysis

07:33 — Drinking to escape, and the day he stopped

09:38 — A decade of Simone telling him something was wrong

10:05 — The day before she died: “please get help for your ADHD”

11:45 — The newspaper article that felt like a tap on the shoulder

12:23 — No one called back, so he went to England

16:55 — “A diagnosis is not the end point. That’s the turning point.”

19:35 — Hearing his son laugh, and feeling peace for the first time

21:12 — The stranger outside the hospital who became his business partner

40:00 — Advice for young people, and what he thinks life means

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, comedian and content creator Dympna Little shares how humour helped her family carry her mother's terminal illness and final days.

She describes laughing together even in the palliative care room, the moment her mother noticed and said "it's lovely," and the voice message her mother recorded that became her legacy. Tender, warm and bittersweet.

🔑Key Points

• How humour can hold a family together through the hardest time

• Why laughter and grief are not opposites

• The moment her mother noticed them laughing and said "it's lovely"

• The voice message her mother left, and what legacy can look like

💛 If you're grieving, be gentle with yourself. There's no right way to do it.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna Lechleiter works with people who have never been able to speak, and who have spent their lives being treated as though they had nothing to say. She is a Spelling to Communicate practitioner, and her job is to give non-speakers a way to tell the world what has been going on in their heads all along.

She explains why speech is a motor problem rather than a thinking one: the words are there, but the brain cannot reliably drive the body that produces them. That distinction changes how non-speaking people are assessed, educated and spoken to, because almost every standard autism assessment measures motor control and reports the result as intelligence.

Anna talks Laura through what happens in a session, from stencil boards to a keyboard, and tells the story that changed her mind completely: a young man called Caoimh, a letter board, and a freezing afternoon when he spelled out that he hoped it would snow. The last stretch belongs to the spellers themselves, as Anna reads the words of Max, Caoimh and Megha in their own language.

🔑 Key Points

Non-speaking is a motor problem, not a thinking one

The words are there. The difficulty is the brain reliably getting the body to produce them, which Anna describes as a brain-body disconnect rather than an absence of understanding.

Spelling to Communicate moves communication out of the fine motor

Speech, writing, texting and sign language all depend on fine motor control, so S2C uses the gross motor instead: a pointing motion towards letters on a board.

Assessments measure motor control and report it as intelligence

Because the tests need reliable motor responses, people who cannot produce them are recorded as profoundly intellectually disabled, and that label follows them for life.

Most non-speakers can already read

Text is everywhere, on signs, subtitles and packaging, and spellers have usually absorbed far more than anyone assumed. That is why sessions start with age-appropriate material rather than the basics.

Progress is built like any other motor skill

New neural pathways are created and then myelinated through repetition, so lessons change every session and words are never spelled twice, keeping the focus on the motor rather than the answer.

The spellers make the argument better than anyone

Max, Caoimh and Megha describe apraxia, sensory overwhelm and their own ambitions. Keith's line, that his mind works perfectly but the messages get mixed up on the way to his body, sums up the conversation.

📚 Resources

PALZ (Play and Language Zone)— Anna's hub in Naas, Co. Kildare

Spelling to Communicate at PALZ — how the method is taught in Ireland

I-ASC — the International Association for Spelling as Communication

Elizabeth Vosseller — the speech-language pathologist who developed S2C

AsIAm — Ireland's national autism charity, information and support line

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Max's message to the world

02:18 — The colleague's brother who suddenly had a voice

03:05 — What Spelling to Communicate actually is

07:24 — How assessments measure motor and report intelligence

09:37 — How many non-speakers there are in Ireland

10:10 — Inside a first session at the hub

17:21 — Neuroplasticity and building a brand-new motor skill

24:50 — Stencils, letter boards and moving to a keyboard

36:23 — Anna's ABA background, and why she moved away from it

44:01 — Keith, the letter board and "I hope it snows"

48:55 — Max, Keith and Megha, in their own words

53:54 — Art, an exhibition and the meaning of life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, preventive cardiologist Dr Paddy Barrett argues that most people chase health without ever defining it — like a blindfolded archer aiming at a target they can't see.

He lays out three things actually worth optimising, and tells the story of walking away from the peak of his career when he realised he'd climbed the wrong mountain.

🔑Key Points

• Why "I want to be healthy" means nothing without a target

• The blindfolded archer, and aiming at something you can actually see

• Three things worth optimising: how long you live, the quality of those years, and how you spend your time

• Why it's never too late to climb back down and start again

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vicki Notaro is back! Her new novel, Anywhere but Here, follows three friends all hovering around 40 and living completely different lives. As Vicki puts it, you can be 40 and you can be a granny, or trying to conceive, or single, or divorced. She and Laura talk about the pressure women feel to have everything sorted by a certain age, and why marriage or a mortgage was never meant to be a finish line.

Vicki also gives an honest update on her women's health journey: years of very painful periods, a suspected endometriosis that turned out to be ovarian cysts, a PMDD diagnosis and cyclical depression alongside lifelong anxiety, a coil, surgery, a recurrence, and the oral progesterone that cleared her brain fog within two days.

From there the conversation turns to what young people lost when magazines disappeared. Vicki spent four years at Kiss from the age of 22, acting as a "big sis" to teenage readers, and she makes a warm case for edited, expert-checked advice over the "wild wild west of TikTok" — before Laura hands her a pile of anonymous listener confessions to answer.

🔑 Key Points

Women the same age are living completely different lives

"You can be 40 and you can be a granny" — Vicki's novel follows three friends around 40 at entirely different stages, something she sees as new in Irish life.

Milestones are a beginning, not a finish line

Vicki talks about the pressure to have the house, the relationship and possibly a baby sorted by a certain age, and why she has never seen those moments as the end of the story.

Writing about being child-free by choice once brought hate mail

She first wrote about not wanting children at 22, when it was still taboo, and was told again and again that she just hadn't met the right man.

Years of pain, and a diagnosis that came later

Suspected endometriosis turned out to be ovarian cysts, and a PMDD diagnosis explained the low, cyclical days sitting on top of lifelong anxiety.

Hormones can lift brain fog within days

After a cyst returned, her consultant added oral progesterone alongside the coil she already had, and Vicki describes her brain fog clearing within two days.

Magazines did a job nothing has replaced.

At Kiss, Vicki answered readers' questions about periods, spots and first kisses as their "big sis" — advice that was edited, curated and expert-checked.

Confessions, answered without judgement

Laura hands Vicki anonymous confessions from the Love Your Vulva live show — desire, hygiene, being left out for not having children, Botox and breast reduction — and the answers stay kind throughout.

📚 Resources

Anywhere but Here

Vicki Notaro's fourth novel, published by Penguin

Endometriosis

the condition first suspected behind Vicki's years of period pain

Period problems and PMDD

HSE guidance on severe premenstrual symptoms

Love Your Vulva Live

Laura's live show, where the anonymous confessions were gathered

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Vicki takes over as host for the summer

06:23 — Anywhere but Here: three women, three different lives at 40

09:29 — The pressure to have it all sorted by a certain age

10:34 — Writing about being child-free at 22

13:30 — Kiss magazine and being everyone's "big sis"

21:51 — Writer's block in her mother-in-law's spare room

24:50 — Painful periods, suspected endometriosis and ovarian cysts

25:50 — A PMDD diagnosis and cyclical depression

26:39 — Oral progesterone and brain fog lifting in two days

28:27 — Listener confessions, answered honestly

35:40 — Botox honesty, and why Laura stopped

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, fitness coach, author and speaker Brian Keane tells the story of hating his first career as a teacher — and the line from his mum that changed everything.

He's honest that reinvention isn't instant (he went broke twice before it worked) and lands on a reframe anyone can use: it's not being stuck that traps you, it's the feeling of being stuck.

🔑Key Points

• The day Brian knew his first career was the wrong fit

• His mum's question: "what would you do for free?"

• Why it's the feeling of being stuck, not the situation, that holds you back

• How reinvention can take time, including failing along the way

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do you do when you feel stuck - in a job you hate, a relationship that has gone flat, or a version of yourself you no longer recognise? Life and business coach Mark Fennell joins Laura for a warm, practical conversation about how people actually get moving again - starting not with a grand plan, but with a single next step.

A qualified electrician who began as a youth volunteer worker, Mark shares how coaching became his life's work, and why identity - how you see yourself - sits underneath almost everything. He speaks with real tenderness about the loss he and his wife carried when they were told they couldn't have children, and how they slowly built a genuinely contented life by asking one question: what can we still do that brings us in that direction?

From the medical student who became a millionaire painter-decorator to the young carer who believed he would never laugh again, Mark's stories keep returning to the same truths: make the decision, take the action, and be careful what you define yourself as. Along the way, he and Laura take a more realistic look at manifestation, the fluff in the wellness world, and why, in relationships especially, action communicates far more than words.

🔑 Key Points

You don't have to figure out your whole life — just the next step

When a young medical student admitted he only knew what he didn't want, Mark's question — when were you last fully content? — led him to painting, and eventually to running a hugely successful painting and decorating business.

Identity is the most important vision board

How you see yourself matters more than any board on the wall — even a Fortune 500 CFO Mark worked with was gripped by imposter syndrome until she saw that her experience, not her credentials, had earned her the role.

Contentment can be rebuilt after loss

When Mark and his wife were told they couldn't have children, they refused to let it ruin their lives — and by taking small steps towards contentment, without putting a time on it, they reached a place with no void.

Take manifestation with a pinch of salt

What you focus on shapes what you notice, but thinking without action is dead — and the most important thing to manifest isn't the bigger house or the best job, it's a content life.

Burnout ends where honesty begins

Mark collapsed in the gym and was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack — what followed was health anxiety, and a recovery built on balance, movement and refusing to say "I am an anxious person".

Action communicates far more than words

A couple Mark worked with rediscovered each other not through big emotional talks but through a date night — a reminder that relationships, like gardens, need tending before you decide they're done.

Be careful what you define yourself as

Mark learned from his granny, who refused to see herself as a cancer victim, that the labels we accept shape how we live — and, as he reminds young people, nobody is confident all of the time.

📚 Resources

Breakthrough — Mark Fennell's book on moving from stuck to unstoppable, published by Gill

Mark's practical guide to getting unstuck.

Mark Fennell — coaching, courses and speaking

Also on Instagram and TikTok.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction

02:36 — From electrician and youth worker to coach

05:47 — Identity: the most important vision board

07:32 — Fertility loss and choosing contentment

10:00 — The med student who became a painter-decorator

13:07 — Manifestation with a pinch of salt

16:46 — How the book Breakthrough came about

19:15 — Is contentment actually realistic?

20:35 — The fluff in the wellness world

23:29 — The young carer who thought he'd never laugh again

30:13 — Burnout, the gym collapse and health anxiety

39:27 — The date-night story

57:32 — Advice for young people and the meaning of life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, former lawyer turned businesswoman Nikki Dwyer explains why coercive, narcissistic abuse rarely looks the way people expect — it's a slow erosion of confidence through criticism, gaslighting and isolation.

She speaks candidly about how losing nearly everything became the moment she could stop drifting and consciously choose who she wanted to be. It's honest, raw and ultimately hopeful.

🔑Key Points

• Why abusive relationships rarely look the way people expect from the outside

• How criticism, gaslighting and isolation slowly wear down confidence

• Why being capable or strong doesn't make you immune

• Turning the loss of everything into a chance to choose who you want to be

💛 If anything here feels close to home, it's not your fault. In Ireland, Women's Aid (womensaid.ie) offers free, confidential support.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Laura sits down with Dr John Loy, one of the busiest weight-loss surgeons working between Ireland and the UK. He grew up behind the bar of a family pub in County Down, which he says was the best training in medicine he ever had, before a chance meeting in New York changed how he thinks about the whole job.

It's a warm, funny and genuinely eye-opening conversation about obesity as a disease rather than a choice, and about the person on the other side of the desk. John explains why more than half of his patients cry at their first appointment, why he never asks how much weight they've lost, and why the goals that matter are seeing your own child's First Communion from behind the camera — not the number on the scales.

He also gives one of the clearest explanations you'll hear of how weight-loss surgery actually works - the gastric balloon, the sleeve and the bypass - why a bypass is like "a free GLP-1 injection every day for life", and why, despite the rise of the weight-loss injections, demand for surgery is climbing rather than falling.

🔑 Key Points

Obesity is a disease, not a choice

John argues it should be treated in stages, like cancer, and that denying people care on a BMI cut-off is simply wrong.

A gastric bypass is like "a free GLP-1 injection for life"

The surgery isn't just about a smaller stomach; it changes the gut hormones that tell your brain you're full.

The weight-loss injections haven't ended surgery — the opposite

Many patients try the injections first, stall or can't afford them, and find a sleeve pays for itself within a few years.

Three procedures, three different jobs

The swallowable balloon, the sleeve and the bypass each suit a different stage — John explains who each one is for.

Blood sugar settles before the weight comes off

Diabetes can resolve within days of surgery, long before any weight is lost — proof of how closely the gut and brain talk.

The best consultation starts with "why are you here?"

Rather than judging, John asks patients their story — and finds the roots often reach right back to childhood.

Non-scale victories are what matter

He never asks how much weight a patient has lost; he asks whether they can finally take their kids to Disney World.

A childhood in the pub was the best training he ever had

Learning to talk to people across a bar counter, he says, taught him more about medicine than any exam.

📚 Resources

Auralia

Dr John Loy's clinic in Dublin, offering gastric sleeve, bypass and balloon procedures

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction

00:50 — The cruise-ship patient who thought it was his last trip

04:23 — Why half his patients cry at the first appointment

05:20 — Obesity: the last acceptable prejudice

06:52 — From a County Tyrone pub to the operating theatre

09:29 — The gut-brain link: why blood sugar settles first

10:20 — Sleeve, bypass and "a free GLP-1 for life"

10:48 — Are the injections ending surgery? The opposite

13:47 — The balloon, the sleeve and the bypass explained

19:42 — New York and the philosophy of surgery

22:52 — Non-scale victories and the surgical-cat tattoo

34:34 — Ikigai, travel and the meaning of life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, broadcaster and mental health advocate Keith Walsh shares what it was like to be diagnosed with ADHD in his late forties — and how going through his son's assessment led to his own.

He's honest and funny about what undiagnosed ADHD looked like day to day, the small systems he built to cope, and why a diagnosis can feel like relief rather than a label.

🔑Key Points

• How going through his son's assessment led to his own diagnosis

• The everyday reality of undiagnosed adult ADHD

• Why a diagnosis can feel like relief rather than a label

• The small systems that helped him cope

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahead of National Sisters Day on Sunday 2 August, Laura hands the mic to the one guest who has known her longest - her younger sister Rachel, making her podcast debut. What follows is less an interview than a lifetime of shared history: the smear tests they were both booked in for that morning, Laura's abandoned marathon training, the running mishap Rachel has never been allowed to live down, and the commentary only a sister can give.

Then, halfway through, Laura mentions something she assumed Rachel already knew - that their dad wasn't there when she was born. He was at home with the other two. Rachel had no idea. What happens next is the reason this one is worth listening to: Laura calls their mother into the studio, live, to confirm it.

From there it's the full archive — the crooked teeth and the orthodontist bill that nearly cost their parents the house, the green gabardine Laura convinced her was school uniform, growing up around a mother working night shifts as a midwife, and the football trials Rachel was told she'd have been sent to if she'd been a boy. Underneath the slagging is the thing sisters rarely say out loud, and by the end they both say it.

If you have a sister, this is one to send her before Sunday.

🔑Key Points

Some family history only surfaces by accident

Rachel had never been told her father missed her birth — it came out mid-conversation, not through any big reveal.

Ask the person who was actually there

Rather than leave it hanging, Laura brought their mother into the room to confirm the story first-hand.

Sisters keep the receipts

Years on, the teeth, the gabardine and the running stories are all still admissible evidence.

Childhood teasing lands differently in hindsight

The stories that were mortifying at the time are the ones they now tell most fondly.

Growing up in an older sister's shadow shapes you

Hand-me-downs, comparisons and a very particular sense of humour come with the territory.

Girls were quietly steered away from sport

Rachel was told that if she'd been a boy she'd have been sent for trials — a throwaway line that stayed with her.

A parent's shift work sets the tone of a house

Their mother working nights as a midwife shaped how the siblings behaved, argued and looked after each other.

Slagging can be its own love language

As they put it themselves, it was mostly slagging — sprinkled with a lot of love.

📚Resources

CervicalCheck

Ireland's free cervical screening programme

ADHD Ireland

Support and information on adult ADHD

⏱️Timestamps

01:00 Why this one — National Sisters Day, and Rachel's debut

02:10 Both booked in for smear tests on the same morning

04:05 Laura's abandoned marathon training — and Rachel's running mishap

11:23 "Dad wasn't even there for your birth" — Rachel finds out

12:02 Laura calls their mother into the studio to confirm it

15:14 A female version of Rod Stewart: the crooked-teeth years

16:49 The gabardine that wasn't school uniform

19:45 Mark's first day at school — and Laura stepping in

24:40 "If you'd been a boy, you'd have been sent to trials"

27:00 What having a sister teaches you about conflict

34:13 Slagging, sprinkled with a lot of love

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, psychiatric nurse and intuitive eating counsellor Sinéad Crowe explains what intuitive eating really is — a way of caring for yourself, not another set of rules.

She shares why letting go of the diet mentality comes first, and how making peace with food can quiet years of guilt and reconnect you with your body's own signals.

🔑Key Points

• What intuitive eating actually means (a self-care framework, not a diet)

• Why "rejecting the diet mentality" is the starting point

• How making peace with food can ease guilt around eating

• Reconnecting with the body's own signals

💛 If anything here resonates, you're not alone. In Ireland, Bodywhys, the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland (bodywhys.ie), offers support and information.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bob Cullen isn't a doctor or a traditional academic — he's a man who spent his early life around violence and addiction, spent years in prison, and has spent the time since trying to understand where that violence actually comes from. Now finishing a master's and preparing to start a PhD, he leads the Success Stories Programme, running workshops with men — including in prisons and on probation — about patriarchy, masculinity and the beliefs that quietly shape how boys become men.

In this conversation, Bob and Laura trace violence back to its roots: the way boys are taught that emotion is weakness, how shame and poverty drive harm, and why Bob believes we can't reduce violence against women without understanding masculinity itself. He's honest about the misogyny he still hears from men when no women are around, and clear that shaming men or simply telling them to "talk more" misses how the harm is learned in the first place.

The episode also turns inward. Bob speaks openly about the drugs, the self-harm and the years he couldn't look at himself in the mirror, and about the education, meditation and steady relationships that slowly turned things around. It closes on regret, accountability and self-forgiveness — and why, after all the work he's done, he still chooses to hold on to some of the guilt he carries.

Please note: this episode discusses violence, prison, abuse, misogyny and suicide, and may be difficult to listen to. Support links are included below.

🔑 Key Points

Violence has roots we rarely look at

Bob argues we'll never reduce violence against women by focusing on it alone — it has to be traced back to patriarchy and how masculinity is formed.

Boys learn early that emotion is weakness

From "boys don't cry" to the fear of being called weak by friends, boys are taught to suppress feeling and to prove they'll use violence if needed.

Shame is one of the biggest drivers of violence

Drawing on James Gilligan's work, Bob links most harm to shame, poverty and exposure to violence, and notes people are usually victims before they become perpetrators.

Misogyny didn't start with social media

He traces how men talk about women when none are around back through history, rather than blaming figures like Andrew Tate alone.

"Just get men talking" isn't enough

Bob explains why shaming men or telling them to open up misses how the harm is learned, and why his work is built on accountability and community instead.

Change came through education and connection

Getting clean in prison, meditation, journaling and a teacher named Andrea opened a path into study, feminism and the Success Stories work he now leads.

Accountability over easy self-forgiveness

Bob speaks honestly about the guilt he still carries, and why he chooses to hold it: not to punish himself, but as a reminder of who he doesn't want to become.

📚 Resources

Violence: Our Deadly Epidemic and Its Causes — James Gilligan

On shame, poverty and the roots of violence.

The Will to Change — bell hooks

On men, masculinity and love.

The Patriarchs — Angela Saini

How patriarchy took hold.

Success Stories Programme

The anti-patriarchy, anti-violence programme Bob runs with men.

Samaritans Ireland

Free 24/7 on 116 123.

Pieta

Free 24/7 crisis support on 1800 247 247.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction and the Success Stories Program

03:52 — Patriarchy, domination and masculinity

06:34 — Why focusing only on violence against women falls short

09:56 — "Boys don't cry" and the fear of weakness

12:45 — Shame, poverty and the roots of violence

13:40 — Misogyny's long history, from Pandora to Descartes

27:40 — Why "men just need to talk" isn't enough

32:56 — Victims before perpetrators

41:30 — Accountability, integrity and community

50:00 — Drugs, self-harm and going to prison

63:00 — The teacher who changed everything

79:23 — Regret, accountability and self-forgiveness

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, child and adolescent psychotherapist Dr Coleman Noctor explains why so many of us feel anxious and "behind," even when life is objectively fine.

He shows how the gap between expectation and reality fuels anxiety, why chasing "exceptional" leaves us discontent, and how aiming for his "four to seven zone" can bring us back to balance.

🔑Key Points

• Why anxiety often lives in the gap between expectation and reality

• How "demonising average" sets most of us up to feel like we're failing

• Why happiness is a passing moment, not a permanent state

• The "four to seven zone" as a practical way to aim for balance

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Becca Maberly did everything "right." An A-grade student with an obstetrician father, she got to the hospital, had her baby with no pain relief, and was home for lunch - certain she was going to be brilliant at motherhood. Then the postnatal period arrived, and she went, in her words, straight to the bottom of the class.

In this honest, funny and disarming conversation, Becca and Laura pull apart the gap between what we're told motherhood will feel like and what it can actually be. Becca talks about feeling like an unnatural mother, the loneliness of the long hours in between, and the maternal rage that surges from nought to a hundred over spilled milk. She shares the day she asked her GP for help and was sent to a psychiatric unit, only to be handed a leaflet and told to count to ten.

She also names something few people hear about: D-MER, or dysphoric milk ejection reflex - the wave of crushing sadness that hit her at every let-down, which she only understood years later. The conversation moves on through renegotiating a relationship after a baby, a ruptured ectopic pregnancy that nearly went unnoticed, and why Becca now believes the meaning of life is simply finding your own balance. It's a reminder that if you're not loving every moment, you're not failing - and you're far from alone.

🔑 Key Points

From A-grade student to the bottom of the class

Becca sailed through pregnancy and birth, then found the postnatal period the hardest thing she'd ever done — and the mismatch between expectation and reality floored her.

"Enjoy every moment" can do real harm

Being told to treasure a stage you are quietly struggling through can leave mothers feeling ashamed and isolated rather than supported.

Not bonding straight away is more common than we admit

Becca loved her son but didn't feel the instant, overwhelming rush she'd been promised — and says a baby can feel like a stranger for a long time.

D-MER is real and rarely talked about

Dysphoric milk ejection reflex brought a homesick, crushing sadness at every let-down; naming it, years later, changed how she understood it.

Maternal rage often comes from feeling unsupported

The nought-to-a-hundred surge over something tiny is frequently about exhaustion, unmet expectations and carrying too much alone.

Asking for help doesn't always get the right response

When Becca told her GP she was angry and shouting, she was sent to a psychiatric unit and handed a CBT leaflet — a reminder of how far perinatal support still has to go.

Talking openly is its own kind of therapy

Ranting honestly online led Becca to realise she wasn't the only one — and connecting with other women became the support she couldn't find elsewhere.

Honesty is the most useful thing we can offer new parents

Not to frighten anyone, but to sit somewhere between "you'll be great" and "this could be the hardest thing you ever do" — the truth is usually in between.

📚 Resources

A Mother Place

Becca's platform for honest, unfiltered motherhood

Postnatal Depression (HSE)

HSE information and support

Talk Therapy (HSE)

Talk therapy and counselling options

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Intro

01:51 — From A-grade student to the bottom of the class

04:00 — Calling BS on "enjoy every moment"

04:52 — The feeding nobody warns you about

09:31 — Loneliness and the hours in between

11:58 — The GP, a psychiatric unit and a CBT leaflet

15:13 — D-MER: the sadness that comes with let-down

19:19 — Maternal rage and the spilled-milk surge

22:16 — When your baby feels like a stranger

24:02 — Renegotiating the relationship after a baby

37:11 — Her book, and a ruptured ectopic pregnancy

42:28 — The meaning of life is balance

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, skin expert and Skin Nerd founder Jennifer Rock explains why so much health and skincare advice online is built to entertain rather than educate — and how to tell the difference.

She makes a straight-talking case for checking qualifications, standards and the source behind any advice before you act on it, so the next viral "must buy" doesn't catch you out.

🔑Key Points

• Why qualifications and standards matter in skincare and health

• How social media is designed to entertain, not educate

• Why you should always check the source of your advice

• A simple filter for viral trends and "must buy" claims

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura sits down with community pharmacist Darragh Connolly, who has built a men's health service — Men's Health Downunder — around something most clinics rush past: helping men get their sexual function back after prostate surgery. It's a candid, frequently very funny conversation about a subject usually wrapped in silence and shame.

Darragh explains the male anatomy in plain (and memorable) terms, why nightly "micro-erections" keep the penis healthy, and what actually changes after a prostatectomy. He walks through how a penis pump works, what constriction rings are for, and why this isn't only for men who've had cancer surgery — smoking, diabetes, spinal injury, certain medicines and simply getting older can all play a part.

Running through all of it is a hopeful message: a prostate diagnosis or surgery is not the end of sex, intimacy is far more than penetration, and men well into their 80s can still enjoy a full sex life. Darragh also makes the case for meeting men's sexual health at the pharmacy counter, not only the consultant's clinic.

🔑 Key Points

Sexual health is health — and still taboo

There's deep shame and silence around men's genitals and sexual function, and Darragh's whole approach is to demystify it, often with humour, so men actually seek help.

Micro-erections keep the penis healthy

Men have around five micro-erections a night that bring blood, oxygen and nutrients to the tissue; without them it's "use it or lose it", and the penis can shrink and lose function.

Erectile dysfunction has many causes, not just prostate surgery

Ageing, smoking, diabetes, lower-back trauma, spinal injury and some medications can all affect erectile function.

How a penis pump actually works

Used for five to ten minutes a day, it draws blood into the penis like training a muscle, improving vascular and nerve health over time.

Constriction rings let men maintain an erection for sex

Paired with the pump, a constriction ring traps blood to hold an erection for penetrative sex — but should never be left on more than six to eight minutes.

A prostate diagnosis is not the end of sex

With the right tools, men who hadn't had an erection in months or years can have penetrative sex again — and intimacy is always more than penetration.

Know the warning signs of prostate trouble

Dribbling, a weak stream, going more often (especially at night) and "stage fright" can point to an enlarged prostate; Movember is a good place to learn the signs.

📚 Resources

Men's Health Downunder

Darragh Connolly's Irish men's health service and the surgical-grade penis pumps discussed

Movember

the men's health charity Darragh recommends for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and male suicide awareness

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Welcome and sponsor

01:36 — Why a pharmacist is talking about men's health

03:24 — How Darragh got into men's health

04:32 — What a prostatectomy actually involves

07:28 — Male anatomy explained simply

13:48 — Micro-erections and "use it or lose it"

20:55 — How a penis pump works

24:31 — Constriction rings and maintaining an erection

38:33 — The prostate and its warning signs

52:44 — How Viagra and Cialis were discovered

57:00 — Low-dose Cialis, the pump and the post-surgery "void"

1:01:24 — Couples, intimacy and a hopeful note

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, GP Dr Mick Crotty explains why weight is far less within our conscious control than we are led to believe — and why so many people carry a load of self-blame they never deserved.

He walks Laura through the genetics of appetite, the brain's reward response to food, and the "set point" it quietly defends, which is why weight so often returns after a diet. It's a clip that gently takes apart the "just eat less and move more" myth.

🔑Key Points

• Why "just eat less and move more" is an oversimplification

• How genetics and the appetite system shape hunger and fullness

• What the brain's "set point" is, and why weight often returns after dieting

• Why this is a medical issue, not a personal failing

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many women quietly put up with heavy bleeding, painful periods or a difficult coil fitting, telling themselves it is just part of being a woman?

In this episode, Laura sits down with obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Áine Dempsey, who works at BlackRock Women's Health and at the Rotunda, for an honest, practical conversation about the things women are so often told to live with - and what can actually be done about them.

Áine explains what a hysteroscopy really involves, why polyps and fibroids drive heavy bleeding, and when the Mirena coil is the right first step before ablation or surgery. She is candid about pain relief during coil fittings, the six-month settling period, and where the copper coil fits in.

The conversation moves into perimenopause and HRT, smear tests, HPV and colposcopy, and the realities of painful sex, vaginismus and caring for women who carry past sexual trauma. She closes on labour ward life, her own two pregnancies, the magic of epidurals, and why no woman should feel she has to suffer in silence.

At its core, this episode is about taking your own symptoms seriously and making your gynae health a priority.

🔑 Key Points

Heavy bleeding is not something to put up with

changing a pad every hour, bleeding for more than five days, or planning your life around your period all count, and there is plenty that can help.

Flooding is a symptom women rarely volunteer

Áine asks directly because most women never mention soaking through their clothes or sheets.

A hysteroscopy is not as frightening as it sounds

a thin camera and a well-briefed team can investigate bleeding, polyps and fibroids, usually without a general anaesthetic.

You deserve proper pain relief for a coil fitting

from paracetamol and ibuprofen beforehand to numbing gel and a local cervical block.

The Mirena coil takes about six months to settle

bloating, tenderness or mood changes often ease, and it can be used as part of HRT.

HRT is about long-term health, not just symptoms

beyond brain fog and night sweats, it supports heart and bone health.

Painful sex is not normal

whether it stems from low oestrogen, endometriosis or past trauma, there are options that help.

You do not have to suffer in silence

if something is affecting your quality of life, make your gynae health a priority.

📚 Resources

BlackRock Health Women's Health Centre

Hysteroscopy (HSE)

The Mirena and copper coils (HSE)

HRT and menopause treatment (HSE)

Cervical screening and HPV (CervicalCheck, HSE)

⏱️ Timestamps

02:04 - Inside a day at BlackRock Women's Health

03:23 - What a hysteroscopy actually involves

06:21 - Polyps, fibroids and heavy bleeding

09:02 - Heavy bleeding and flooding in perimenopause

10:11 - The Mirena coil as a first-line treatment

13:56 - Pain relief and what to expect from a coil fitting

18:02 - The Mirena as part of HRT, and sleep

20:04 - Mental health support through menopause

22:35 - Smear tests, HPV and colposcopy

24:35 - Painful sex and trauma-informed care

29:18 - Vaginismus, physio and the pelvic floor

33:34 - Her own pregnancies and epidurals

37:56 - Don't suffer in silence

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aimee Donnellan joins Laura to talk about her new book Off the Scales: The Inside Story of Ozempic and the Race to Cure Obesity, and the much bigger story sitting underneath it - how generations of women learned to live with food.

Through interviews with women across the world, Aimee found the same pattern repeating. A trip to a dietitian around the age of seven. A mother quietly carrying her own dieting story, passing it on through Weight Watchers, rice cakes and "don't think cute clothes mean you can come off your diet." For some, GLP-1 medications like Wegovy and Mounjaro have quietened the food noise for the first time in their lives. For others, the more confronting realisation is how differently the world treats them when they shrink.

Aimee also explores how the men in her book relate to their bodies very differently, the rising scale of childhood obesity and the shame attached to it, and why the food industry has barely adjusted to a world where appetite itself is shifting. She and Laura reflect on body positivity, menopause and the pressure women carry at every stage of life, before closing on something simpler - why she thinks the meaning of life comes down to picking up the phone.

🔑 Key Points

1. Dieting often starts in childhood — Many of the women Aimee spoke to were first sent to a dietitian around age seven, framing food as something to manage rather than enjoy.

2. Mothers carry the story forward — Weight Watchers, calorie counting and "good" and "bad" foods pass quietly from mother to daughter across generations.

3. Food noise can dominate a life — Constant thoughts about food and shame-based self-talk shape how many women move through the world.

4. GLP-1 drugs change more than weight — When the food noise quietens, work, relationships, shopping and how others treat you can all shift.

5. Men and women relate to weight differently — Men often seek treatment for health reasons, while women carry decades of body criticism and comparison.

6. These drugs are not a quick fix — Muscle loss, side effects, cost and the reality of injecting long-term are rarely talked about honestly.

7. Childhood obesity is rising — Shame and clinics that don't fit larger bodies stop many families seeking help early.

8. The food industry has barely adjusted — Cheap, ultra-processed food still fills shelves, and meaningful change runs into cost and lobbying.

📚 Resources

Off the Scales: The Inside Story of Ozempic and the Race to Cure Obesity — Aimee Donnellan

⏱️ Timestamps

01:00 — Welcome and the focus of the book

03:00 — Why the dieting story starts at age seven

04:30 — Rice cakes, Hershey's sauce and a mother's diet

06:00 — Sarah's first Wegovy injection

07:00 — Losing 70 pounds and a life that changes overnight

12:00 — Menopause, microdosing and Ozempic on the black market

14:00 — Body positivity, celebrity bodies and the shift back

22:00 — Plateaus, muscle loss and life-long drugs

28:00 — A Mars executive on a pharma board

36:00 — How men relate to their bodies differently

41:00 — Childhood obesity, shame and small clinic rooms

44:00 — Food deserts and the cost of real change

56:00 — Picking up the phone and choosing connection

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Darragh Fleming went viral last year for a poem — but this conversation is about everything that came before it. The Cork writer talks to Laura about a childhood spent lost in books, a long detour through sport and self-doubt, and the years he spent convinced he wasn't creative at all.

At seventeen, Darragh lost his close friend Irby to suicide, and the grief changed him profoundly. For years afterwards he felt almost nothing — a numbness he didn't recognise as depression — while quietly performing the emotions other people expected of him. He's honest about the survivor's guilt that made him sabotage his own happiness, the panic attack that became his rock bottom, and how therapy and journaling slowly led him back to writing.

From there the conversation opens out into the work Darragh is known for now: poetry that reimagines what it means to be a man. He and Laura discuss why anger is so often the only emotion men feel allowed to show, how language like "toxic masculinity" can shape the way boys see themselves, and why he believes emotionally healthier men make life safer for everyone. Warm, funny and full of hope, it's also a conversation about creativity in everyday life and Darragh's belief that the meaning of life is found in the people we share it with.

🔑 Key Points

Grief can arrive as numbness, not sadness

After losing his friend Irby at seventeen, Darragh didn't feel constant sadness but a flatness he didn't recognise as depression for years.

Survivor's guilt can quietly sabotage a life

He describes an unconscious sense that he wasn't allowed to be happy, which led him to undo good things whenever they started going well.

Writing became a way back to feeling

Journaling suggested by his therapist turned naturally into poetry, helping him name emotions he otherwise couldn't reach.

Anger is often the only emotion men feel permitted

Darragh argues that sadness, rejection and disappointment frequently come out as anger because men aren't given other outlets.

Language shapes how boys see themselves

Hearing "toxic" almost always paired with "masculinity" can lead young men to believe masculinity itself is something bad.

A lighthouse, not a lifeboat

Rather than trying to rescue everyone, Darragh sees his public work as showing people a way through and reminding them they're not alone.

Success can arrive at the right time

He reflects on being glad his career didn't take off in his twenties, when he wouldn't have been ready to carry it.

📚 Resources

Thoughts Too Big — Darragh's long-running mental health blog

If I Ever Have Boys — Darragh Fleming

If I Ever Have Girls — Darragh Fleming

Waiting for the Good Guys — Darragh Fleming

The Hole — Darragh Fleming, a poem on depression and coping

Dangerous Men — Lucas Jones, the poem Darragh's "If I Ever Have Boys" responded to

Mental health support — Samaritans, freephone 116 123; Pieta, freephone 1800 247 247 or text 51444

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — "My Dad Could Beat Up Your Dad" (cold open)

01:13 — Welcome and introduction

05:40 — Going viral with "If I Ever Have Boys"

14:53 — Why he started writing

17:31 — Losing Irby at seventeen

18:42 — The numbness he didn't know was depression

21:45 — The panic attack, therapy and journaling

33:35 — A lighthouse, not a lifeboat

35:23 — Masculinity, the manosphere and raising sons

42:42 — Language, mental illness and "toxic masculinity"

50:30 — "A Snake Named Snake" and his dad

01:01:36 — Darragh reads "My Dad Could Beat Up Your Dad"

01:03:09 — Advice for young people and the meaning of life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Fadi joins Laura for an open, practical conversation about pelvic floor health, incontinence, prolapse and the realities of modern obstetrics.

Dr Fadi explains how childbirth, ageing and menopause affect the pelvic floor, and why so many women end up living with stress incontinence, prolapse and faecal incontinence in silence. He walks through the full range of treatment options — from physiotherapy and pessaries to urethral bulking, Botox, sacral neuromodulation, robotic surgery, and the mesh procedures paused in Ireland since 2018.

The conversation also takes in interstitial cystitis, vaginal oestrogen, the impact of long inductions on older mothers, and the trade-offs women now weigh up between a vaginal delivery and a caesarean section. Dr Fadi closes with a reflection on his time working with Syrian refugees, where he met 13-year-old mothers and a 26-year-old grandmother.

🔑 Key Points

1. Pelvic floor problems are common and treatable — Stress incontinence, prolapse and faecal incontinence are usually linked to childbirth, not an inevitable part of being a woman.

2. Mesh for incontinence has been paused in Ireland since 2018 — Ireland is the only country in the world where this procedure is currently unavailable, and patients are being sent to Spain to access it.

3. There is no single fix for incontinence — Treatment depends on the type, from physiotherapy and urethral bulking to mesh slings, Botox into the bladder wall, and sacral neuromodulators.

4. Prolapse is not just the womb — Bladder, womb and rectum can all prolapse, each with their own grade and treatment pathway.

5. Pessaries give women back some control — Different types of pessary can hold a prolapse in place, and many women can learn to manage their own at home.

6. Faecal incontinence is more common than women admit — Third and fourth degree tears at delivery can damage the anal sphincter, and primary repair at the time of birth gives the best outcome.

7. Vaginal oestrogen is a low-risk, high-impact tool — It can ease overactive bladder, recurrent UTIs, dryness, and slow the progression of prolapse after menopause.

8. Older mothers face different trade-offs — Long inductions, instrumental deliveries and unplanned caesareans are more common, which is why some women are now actively asking for a planned section.

📚 Resources

Love Your Vulva — Laura Dowling

fabÜ Hello Healing

Continence Foundation of Ireland

⏱️ Timestamps

01:46 — Introducing Dr Fadi and urogynaecology

02:49 — Why pelvic floor problems happen

04:14 — Assessing pelvis and baby size before delivery

05:09 — Robotic surgery and vault prolapse

06:34 — Stress incontinence and mesh as the gold standard

09:01 — Why mesh has been paused in Ireland

12:31 — Sending Irish patients to Spain for mesh

14:25 — Botox for overactive bladder and Interstim

15:43 — Faecal incontinence and tears at delivery

19:17 — Interstitial cystitis and hyaluronic acid

21:21 — Types and grades of prolapse

24:25 — How a pessary works

28:01 — Surgery for prolapse

34:18 — Vaginal oestrogen and pelvic floor

36:08 — Epidurals and instrumental delivery

37:25 — Why more women are asking for caesareans

45:00 — Working with Syrian refugees

48:32 — Advice for young people and the meaning of life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, GP Dr Sarah Carty explains why ADHD looks so different in girls and women — and why so many only recognise it years, sometimes decades, after it first showed up.

She tells Laura how the "quiet" presentation — daydreaming, internal restlessness, working twice as hard to look fine — slowly turns into anxiety, perfectionism, and a quiet erosion of confidence. It's a clip that gives language to something a lot of women have silently carried for years.

🔑 Key Points

🎧Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does proper midlife care actually look like, and who keeps getting left out of it?

In this episode, Laura sits down with Dr Caoimhe Hartley - founder of Menopause Health in Dalkey, clinical lead of the Complex Menopause Clinic in the Rotunda, and clinical lead for women's medicine at the new BlackRock Health Women's Health Centre.

They talk about the women being told no - those over 60 who feel they have missed the boat on HRT, and those who have come through breast cancer and are still struggling with symptoms. Caoimhe explains where the evidence actually sits on bones, blood vessels and brain, why so much of what gets repeated still comes from the Women's Health Initiative, and how modern HRT differs from the older oral preparations.

The conversation moves through midlife weight gain and changing body shape, the rise in adult ADHD diagnoses, and the link between oestrogen and dopamine. They also dig into osteoporosis screening in Ireland, why there is no national DEXA programme, dietary calcium, and the histamine flare some women notice on HRT.

Throughout, Caoimhe keeps coming back to the same point - care should be personal, joined up and built around the woman in front of you.

🔑 Key Points

Guidelines are broad, not personal

They are starting points, not prescriptions, and individual risk-benefit has to lead the conversation.

Women over 60 are not automatically locked out of HRT

There is no longer evidence that starting later raises heart attack risk, and bone benefit is available at any age.

The WHI still shapes the conversation

A flawed 1990s study using Premarin and older progestins is still behind fears that do not map onto modern HRT.

The brain adapts after menopause

Hot flushes, night sweats and brain fog are not designed to last forever, and most women in their 70s and 80s are not symptomatic.

Breast cancer survivors deserve a real menopause conversation

Vaginal oestrogen is generally safe, complex menopause clinics exist for a reason, and non-hormonal options matter.

Body shape change is real and largely hormonal

Central weight gain is one of the top three things women raise, and no specific HRT fixes it, though better sleep and mood help.

ADHD is being unmasked in midlife

As oestrogen falls, dopamine regulation shifts and previously well-managed traits can come to the surface.

Ireland has no national DEXA screening

Despite international guidance over 65, screening here is opportunistic and goes through your GP.

80% of bone density is genetic

Peak bone density is in your 30s, with the remaining fifth shaped by vitamin D, calcium, weight-bearing exercise and not smoking.

📚 Resources

Menopause Health Clinic, Dalkey

BlackRock Health Women's Health Centre

Women's Health Initiative (WHI)

Danish Osteoporosis Prevention Study (DOPS)

International Osteoporosis Foundation calcium calculator

British Menopause Society

National BreastCheck

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Why joined-up midlife care matters

03:20 — Women over 60 and HRT

05:10 — Bones, brain and the limits of the 60 cut-off

07:50 — Why the WHI still shapes the conversation

13:00 — The brain adapts after menopause

16:00 — Breast cancer and complex menopause care

20:30 — Cardiovascular health and nitric oxide

23:00 — Body shape change and central weight gain

27:00 — Ozempic and oral progesterone

28:30 — ADHD, oestrogen and dopamine

33:00 — Osteoporosis and DEXA screening in Ireland

41:00 — Histamine, HRT and hay fever

43:00 — Later motherhood and perimenopause overlap

54:30 — Advice for younger women

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, menopause specialist Dr Deirdre Lundy walks Laura through how decisions about HRT and family history of breast cancer actually get made in clinic — and why a blanket "no" rarely tells the full story. If you've ever been handed that flat refusal, this is for you.

She unpacks the difference between "a family history" and a strong family history, why outdated fears around HRT and breast cancer have cost women years of their lives, and why surviving cancer shouldn't mean accepting a wrecked quality of life with no support.

🔑 Key Points

🎧Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pamela Deasy was in her early 40s, working full time and volunteering with the RNLI, when fatigue started dragging her back into bed in the middle of the day. Her bloods were clear. She was told it was perimenopause, then depression. Months passed before a kinesiologist, of all people, pointed at her pancreas — and within days she was in a Cork hospital being told she had a tumour.

In this episode, Pamela sits down with Laura to walk through what happened next: the chemotherapy that made her legs turn to jelly, the five and a half weeks of daily radiotherapy that put her on her back in hospital, and the Whipple surgery that took out the head of her pancreas, part of her stomach, part of her intestine, her gallbladder and her spleen. Then the slower, quieter battle that came after — the seven and a half stone she lost, the survivor guilt nobody warned her about, the Survive and Thrive programme that helped her step back into the world, and the small camping toilet she now keeps in her car because that is the honest reality of life after Whipple surgery.

Pamela also shares why she co-founded Pancreatic Cancer Ireland, what the signs of pancreatic cancer actually look like, and why "listen to your gut and keep going back" might be the most important sentence you hear this week.

🔑 Key Points

📚 Resources

Pancreatic Cancer Ireland

Survive and Thrive

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Welcome

00:27 — Blackrock Health Women's Health Centre

01:34 — Introducing Pamela and trusting your gut

02:13 — 2018: fatigue, busy work and the RNLI

03:04 — Going back to the GP again and again

05:01 — A kidney scan and "the good news is there's no cancer"

06:00 — Being told she might be depressed

06:16 — A kinesiologist who pointed at her pancreas

07:17 — Jaundice and the alarm bell

08:51 — Friday 7th December: into hospital in Cork

09:22 — "You have a tumour in your pancreas"

12:02 — What Whipple surgery actually is

13:00 — Six rounds of chemotherapy

13:30 — Side effects: falling, neuropathy, Raynaud's

17:48 — Radiotherapy, gemcitabine and six weeks in hospital

21:51 — Whipple surgery on 15 August 2019

23:20 — What was removed during Whipple

24:17 — Losing seven and a half stone and severe cachexia

26:14 — Ascites and the slow road back

29:48 — From patient to survivor

30:23 — Survivor guilt and finding therapy

31:11 — The Survive and Thrive programme

31:38 — Life after a rewired digestive system

34:55 — Pancreatic cancer statistics in Ireland

36:00 — The signs and symptoms worth knowing

42:00 — Setting up Pancreatic Cancer Ireland

47:58 — Where to find Pamela

49:25 — Advice for younger people, and the meaning of life

51:38 — Blackrock Health Women's Health Centre

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, endocrinologist Dr Mary Ryan opens up about losing her husband unexpectedly while raising three small children, and what grief actually looked like for her in the years that followed.

She tells Laura about the shock, the anger, and the long fog of those first two years — and the small, practical things that helped: leaning into bonding routines with her kids, accepting help from family, friends and even her own patients, and letting people in when every part of her wanted to push them away.

🔑 Key Points

🎧Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anxiety author Caroline Foran joins Laura for a deeply personal conversation about parenting a young son recently diagnosed as autistic with a PDA profile, alongside her own long history with anxiety.

Caroline talks openly about the years before the diagnosis, the blame she turned inward, and everything she has had to unlearn about parenting. She explains what PDA — Pervasive Drive for Autonomy — actually looks like day to day, why traditional approaches can make things worse, and the social pressure of being seen to "manage" a child whose nervous system is set on high alert.

She also shares her own anxiety story, from a frightening breakdown at sixteen in Italy through to the severe physical anxiety that took over her twenties. Caroline talks about medication, CBT, and the years of work behind her new book Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety, and why so much of recovery came from showing her body safety rather than trying to outthink her own mind.

🔑 Key Points

Discovering a PDA profile — Caroline explains Pervasive Drive for Autonomy and what it means for her son's nervous system day to day.

Why traditional parenting backfires — Holding firm boundaries can push a PDA child straight into fight or flight, even at five.

Lowering the demands — A low-demand, declarative-language approach has reshaped everyday life at home.

Performative parenting — The urge to respond to her son for the benefit of onlookers, even with close friends.

The years before the diagnosis — A bumpy COVID start, severe separation anxiety and two preschool attempts that left him distressed.

Caroline's anxiety story — A breakdown at sixteen in Italy and a severe physical episode at twenty-five.

Medication, CBT and self-compassion — Prozac, behavioural therapy and learning to respond to anxiety with kindness rather than self-attack.

Showing the body safety — Why walking, rhythm and bottom-up regulation worked better than trying to master her thoughts.

The cost of constant stimulation — Social media, the pleasure–pain balance and collective anxiety since COVID.

📚 Resources

Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety

Owning It

PDA Society

Casey Ehrlich (Peace Parents)

Dr Anna Lembke — Dopamine Nation

⏱️ Timestamps

02:00 — "Is he non-verbal?" introducing her son

02:30 — Autism with a PDA profile

03:00 — What PDA stands for

04:30 — Nervous system disability and perceived demand

06:00 — Why traditional parenting can backfire

08:00 — Performative parenting in public

10:00 — A pillow on the grass and what dysregulation looks like

13:00 — Blaming herself before the diagnosis

17:00 — Sensory overwhelm and rethinking exposure

20:00 — Preschool, school and what comes next

30:00 — Family life, marriage and never a date night

33:30 — Caroline's anxiety story begins in Italy

39:00 — A severe breakdown at twenty-five

45:00 — Starting medication and what Prozac actually did

51:00 — CBT, behavioural experiments and getting her life back

56:00 — Showing the body safety

59:00 — Social media and the pleasure–pain balance

01:04:00 — Caroline's new book

01:05:30 — Advice and the meaning of life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, comedian Kyla Cobbler shares an honest, no-frills account of how her drinking quietly turned into dependency — while she was still training, working, and gigging five nights a week.

She tells Laura how being a regular performer in Barcelona blurred the lines between socialising and self-medicating, and how Dry January cracked the whole thing open. What started as a simple challenge ended in withdrawal, therapy, AA, and a completely new relationship with fear, nerves, and joy on stage.

🔑 Key Points

🎧Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Barbara Scully sits down with Laura for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with her own recent run-in with the medical system and opens out into what it actually means to age as a woman in Ireland today.

Barbara talks about months of hip pain, a string of MRIs, a suspected stroke that turned out to be nothing, and the moment she decided to step off the treadmill of tests, hand back the prescription and rebuild her strength in the gym. She also shares her type 2 diabetes diagnosis in her mid-50s and the two years of remission she achieved through diet and exercise before her mother died and life became harder again.

The conversation moves into menopause, brain fog, mood swings and the language used about older women. Barbara reframes brain fog as an information retrieval slowdown, makes the case that women's anger after menopause is real and warranted, and argues that being underestimated as you get older is closer to a superpower than to invisibility.

There is also room for the story behind it all. Growing up tall in a male-dominated house. Becoming an unmarried mother in 1987 and listening to politicians and clergy describe women like her as a scourge on the radio. The close, unconventional friendship she had with her mother, who set up her own business teaching women word processing in the late 1980s. And the comedy career she fell into in her 60s, now touring with her one-woman show Older Bolder Wiser. Her best-selling book ‘Wise Up’ is available now in Irish bookstores nationwide & on Amazon.ie 📚

🔑 Key Points

Trusting your gut with healthcare

After months of MRIs and a hip replacement referral, Barbara declined the surgery and rebuilt her strength through physio and the gym.

A diabetes diagnosis as a wake-up call

A type 2 diagnosis in her mid-50s pushed her into healthier habits and into remission for two years.

Brain fog reframed

Women in their 60s have decades more information stored than younger people; what is labelled brain fog is information retrieval slowdown.

Anger after menopause is real

As life pressures lift, you have the headspace to notice ongoing inequalities, and that anger is not a hormonal mood swing.

Underestimated, not invisible

Being overlooked as an older woman gives you the element of surprise and the freedom to take risks without caring what people think.

The cost of conformity

A senior CEO told Barbara she would love to let her hair go grey but feared not being taken seriously at work.

Becoming an unmarried mother in 1987

Barbara remembers her father going upstairs to be sick, three weeks of silence, then a quiet "we'll stand by you" on a snowy morning.

A friendship with her mother

Her mother bought her her first baby cham at 12, set up her own business in her 50s and was a collaborator throughout Barbara's life.

📚 Resources

Wise Up — Barbara Scully

Memoir reflecting on the years after menopause.

Older Bolder Wiser

Barbara's one-woman comedy show currently touring Irish theatres.

Funny Women Ireland

Set up by Orla Doherty and Val Troy to promote women in comedy.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 — Hip pain and the MRI run-around

03:00 — Stepping off the treadmill of tests

07:30 — Type 2 diabetes and remission

09:30 — Why brain fog is not what we are told

11:00 — Anger after menopause is real

13:00 — Underestimated rather than invisible

17:00 — Letting the hair go grey

22:00 — The freedom of getting older

28:00 — A first smear test in the 80s

36:00 — Growing up tall and the slow set

44:00 — Giving up red wine and finding gin

48:00 — Her mother as collaborator

56:00 — Losing her mother in 2022

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, GP and menopause specialist Dr Sarah Callaghan explains why perimenopause so rarely arrives with a bang — and why so many women spend years "muddling through" before they realise what's actually going on.

She tells Laura about the slow, sneaky creep of symptoms, the patterns she sees most often in clinic, and the women who mistake their perimenopause for postnatal anxiety, burnout, grief, or "just life". It's a powerful reframe: if something feels off, you deserve more than "just cope".

🔑 Key Points

🎧Listen to the full episode here.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura sits down with MEP Maria Walsh for a wide-ranging conversation about women, power and what is shifting in Europe right now. Maria has just returned from the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York, where for the first time in seventy years member states could not agree a final text on access to justice for women.

She talks honestly about online misogyny, the deepfakes already circulating in Irish secondary schools, conversion therapy, and the website created about her during the 2019 election that is still live today. Alongside that, she opens up about internalised homophobia, the loneliness of political life, and growing up as the gay Rose of Tralee at a time when Ireland was shifting on marriage equality.

The conversation also moves through period poverty, FGM, the underfunding of women's healthcare, the pink tax, and what it would take to close the gap on cardiovascular care, menopause and reproductive health. It is a frank look at the work still ahead and the toll it takes on the women trying to do it.

🔑 Key Points

The UN couldn't agree on access to justice for women — For the first time in seventy years the Commission on the Status of Women failed to find consensus, after the US tabled eight late amendments including the definition of a woman.

Deepfakes are already in Irish secondary schools — 99% of generated deepfakes are pornographic and 96% of victims are women and young girls, with nudification apps making explicit content from a single photo.

Online attacks follow women in politics

A website created during the 2019 election is still live, and Coco's Law catches those who share content but not those who build or host the apps.

Conversion therapy is still legal in most of the EU

Only eight EU countries have banned it, and Ireland's commitment sits inside the programme for government.

Women's healthcare is underfunded

More research funding has gone into male baldness than endometriosis, and there are only six menopause clinics across Ireland.

Cardiovascular care is still built around men

Heart attack symptoms are taught through male presentation, leaving women under-treated when it matters.

The pink tax keeps quietly costing women

Razors, dry cleaning and a 23% VAT rate on sunscreen all add up across a lifetime.

Politics takes a real personal toll

Maria speaks openly about loneliness, comfort eating, and learning to take up space in Brussels.

📚 Resources

UN Commission on the Status of Women

Coco's Law

ILGA-Europe

Belong To

Women for Election

See Her Elected

Riley

Hope Foundation

Ruhama

Esker House

Her Last Search (Croí)

⏱️ Timestamps

03:39 — Back from the UN Commission on the Status of Women

07:33 — Why the US tabled eight amendments at the eleventh hour

12:37 — Deepfakes, disinformation and the 90% statistic

15:04 — Conversion therapy and the EU debate

19:23 — The Burke website that is still live

27:38 — Deepfakes in Irish secondary schools

35:43 — What policy needs to do, and Ireland's chance to lead

40:53 — Cardiovascular care and Her Last Search

45:06 — Pink tax, menopause clinics and the funding gap

49:29 — Why women are still underrepresented in politics

53:01 — Period poverty, Riley and Any Time of the Month

58:25 — Loneliness and learning to take up space

59:30 — Calcutta, Hope Foundation and human trafficking

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

In this episode, Michelle Flynn shares her deeply personal and professional insight into birth trauma, and why it’s not always about what happens, but how it’s experienced.

Drawing on her own journey through pregnancy anxiety and her work as a perinatal psychotherapist, Michelle explains how trauma can live in the nervous system, showing up long after the moment has passed. From hypervigilance and intrusive thoughts to sensory triggers that bring the body straight back into the experience, she breaks down why these reactions happen and what they actually mean.

Together, Michelle and Laura unpack the importance of feeling safe, seen and supported, both for patients and for healthcare professionals. This really comes back to understanding your body and how trauma can show up differently for each of us.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Postnatal Depression

A type of depression that can occur after childbirth, affecting mood, energy, and ability to care for yourself or your baby.

Postnatal Anxiety

A condition involving excessive worry, fear, or intrusive thoughts during the postpartum period.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A mental health condition involving intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviours, which can present during pregnancy or postpartum.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, including childbirth.

Perinatal Mental Health

Mental health during pregnancy and the early years after birth, typically up until a child is around two years old, when individuals may be more vulnerable to anxiety and mood disorders.

Somatic Experiencing (Peter Levine)

A body-based trauma therapy focused on how the nervous system stores and processes traumatic experiences.

The Body Keeps the Score - Dr Bessel van der Kolk

A widely recognised book exploring how trauma is stored in the body and how it can be treated.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)

A psychotherapy approach used to help people process and recover from traumatic memories.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

A structured therapy that focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thought and behaviour patterns.

MBRRACE-UK Report

A UK report examining maternal deaths and inequalities, including higher risks among Black and ethnic minority women.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - What is birth trauma

02:00 - Michelle’s personal pregnancy experience

04:00 - Pregnancy anxiety and early fears

07:30 - Feeling dismissed and unsupported

10:30 - Who is more vulnerable to trauma

20:00 - PTSD in healthcare professionals

24:00 - Communication and consent in care

28:00 - Can trauma be prevented

36:00 - The lemon experiment and body response

45:00 - Understanding somatic therapy

50:00 - Why CBT may not work for trauma

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

How many women have been told that pain is just part of being a woman?

For many women, painful or heavy periods become something they learn to live with. In this conversation, periods are reframed as something far more important - a vital sign that reflects what’s happening across the whole body, not just a monthly inconvenience.

Through real clinical stories, we hear how women can spend years feeling exhausted, run down, or unwell without ever realising the root cause. These symptoms are normalised, when in reality they need to be recognised and supported much earlier.

Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Mary shares how early intervention can prevent long-term conditions like PCOS and endometriosis. The discussion also expands into menopause, hormone therapy, and the importance of lifestyle - from nutrition and sleep to stress and daily habits - in supporting the body.

Alongside the science, the episode reflects on modern life - the pressure to do too much, the importance of boundaries, and the need to delegate and share the load.

At its core, this episode is about listening to your body, questioning what doesn’t feel right, and giving yourself permission to take your health seriously.

🔑 Key Points

Your period is a vital sign

Your menstrual cycle reflects overall health, yet many women are never taught what is normal and what isn’t.

Severe pain and heavy bleeding aren’t normal

Symptoms like prolonged periods, extreme pain, or vomiting are often dismissed, but they signal underlying imbalance that should be investigated.

Early intervention changes everything

Addressing irregular periods in teenage years can prevent long-term conditions like PCOS and endometriosis.

Hormones affect the whole body

Imbalances don’t just impact periods - they influence energy, mood, weight, skin, and long-term health outcomes.

Lifestyle is the foundation of hormone health

Nutrition, sleep, exercise, and gut health all play a key role in regulating hormones and supporting the body.

Conditions like PCOS are often missed

Weight gain, acne, and irregular cycles are common early signs, yet many women go undiagnosed for years.

Hormonal support can restore balance

Treatments like progesterone and metformin can help regulate cycles and improve symptoms when used appropriately.

Women are doing too much

Chronic stress, over-responsibility, and lack of boundaries can impact hormone health and overall wellbeing.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

It’s Probably Your Period by Mary Ryan

Mary’s book focused on understanding menstrual health and early intervention

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

A hormonal condition that can affect periods, weight, skin, and fertility

Endometriosis

A condition where tissue similar to the womb lining grows outside the uterus, often causing severe pain

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

Treatment used to relieve symptoms of menopause by replacing hormones

Progesterone

A hormone involved in regulating the menstrual cycle and supporting pregnancy

Metformin

A medication commonly used for type 2 diabetes, also used in managing PCOS

Insulin Resistance

A condition where the body doesn’t respond properly to insulin, often linked to PCOS

Prostaglandins

Hormone-like substances that can cause inflammation and menstrual cramps

⏱️ Timestamps

01:00 – Periods as a vital sign

02:30 – What a normal period looks like

04:00 – Severe pain and inflammation

06:30 – Early intervention and prevention

08:30 – PCOS, weight gain and acne

11:30 – Treatment and metformin

14:30 – Hormone balance and long-term health

16:30 – Menopause and progesterone

18:30 – Spotting, flooding and hormone changes

20:30 – HRT and hormone therapy

22:30 – Testosterone and brain fog

24:00 – Fibroids and prevention

25:30 – Women doing too much

27:00 – Delegation and sharing the load

28:30 – Relationships, stress and health impact

30:00 – Raising resilient children

31:30 – Loss, grief and perspective

33:30 – Life lessons and self-worth

35:00 – Final advice for young people

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

Hannah Daly talks openly about the long path to understanding her brain. Growing up, she knew she experienced the world differently, but dyslexia and dyspraxia seemed to explain enough at the time. It wasn’t until much later that she began to question whether there was more to it.

A period of intense physical and cognitive symptoms during perimenopause became a turning point. As her ability to cope and mask began to unravel, it led her to seek answers - and eventually to diagnoses of ADHD and autism. What follows is a process of looking back, reinterpreting her life, and starting to understand herself in a completely different way.

🔑 Key Points

Growing up feeling different without the language for it

Hannah describes always experiencing the world differently, but early diagnoses of dyslexia and dyspraxia seemed to explain enough at the time.

Masking and the effort of trying to fit in

Much of her life was shaped by adapting to environments and expectations, often suppressing her own needs.

Perimenopause as a turning point

A sudden wave of physical and cognitive symptoms made it harder to cope and brought everything to the surface.

The link between hormones and neurodivergence

Hormonal changes intensified underlying ADHD and autistic traits, including memory issues, overwhelm, and sensory sensitivity.

Late diagnosis of ADHD and autism

Through seeking answers, Hannah went through an assessment process and received both diagnoses.

Looking back with new understanding

She began to reinterpret her life, recognising patterns that had always been there but previously misunderstood.

Unmasking and redefining identity

Diagnosis allowed her to move away from people-pleasing and start living more in line with who she is.

Understanding your brain as self-compassion

Learning how her brain works helped her develop better strategies and a more supportive way of living.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

A neurodevelopmental condition affecting attention, impulse control, and energy regulation.

Autism (Autism Spectrum Condition)

A lifelong condition affecting communication, sensory processing, and social interaction.

Perimenopause

A hormonal transition phase that can impact mood, cognition, and physical wellbeing.

ADHD, Autism, and Hormones (Emerging Research Area)

Growing research explores how hormonal changes can intensify neurodivergent traits.

ADHD Ireland - Support & U-Map Programme

Resources and support for ADHD in Ireland.

Autism and Menopause (Further Reading)

Explores how menopause can affect autistic individuals.

Odd Girl Out - Laura James (Book)

A memoir about late autism diagnosis.

Dr Mary Doherty - Autistic Doctors International

Advocate and founder supporting autistic professionals.

Wim Hof Method

Breathing and cold exposure techniques.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Asking for accommodations and sensory needs

02:30 – What masking looks like in everyday life

04:00 – Growing up feeling “othered”

07:00 – Finding purpose through occupational therapy

10:30 – Writing her book and sharing her story

11:30 – Sudden health episode and onset of symptoms

14:30 – Perimenopause, HRT, and turning point

17:00 – ADHD and autism diagnosis

19:00 – Reframing her life after diagnosis

23:00 – Sensory needs, routines, and daily coping

27:00 – ADHD traits, focus, and conversation style

31:00 – Energy, burnout, and pacing

36:00 – Managing overwhelm and regulation strategies

42:00 – Sleep, routines, and nervous system support

47:00 – Parenting, relationships, and support systems

52:00 – Medication, exercise, and what helps

56:00 – Final reflections and helping other women

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

This conversation with Ger Killian offers a thoughtful and honest look at what it really means to feed children in today’s world. As co-founder of The Lunch Bag, Ger has spent years navigating the realities of school meals - from supply chains and budgets to the emotional responses of parents and children alike.

What emerges is a story not just about food, but about trust. Trust from parents who want reassurance their child will eat. Trust from children learning to try new things. And trust in a system that is still evolving, trying to balance immediate needs with long-term impact.

This episode gently challenges assumptions, reminding us that meaningful change takes time. It invites us to think more deeply about how we support children - not just nutritionally, but emotionally and socially too.

🔑 Key Points

Why “safe foods” matter

Removing familiar foods like chicken goujons revealed how important predictable meals are for children, especially those under stress.

The complexity of feeding children at scale

Delivering meals involves logistics, cost pressures, regulations, and nutritional standards that most people never see.

The unintended consequences of a welfare model

Targeting meals at certain children can create stigma and affect how children engage with food in school.

The role of culture in what children eat

Historical and cultural influences shape how children respond to unfamiliar foods and new meals.

Parental instinct and food security

Parents often send extra lunches not out of distrust, but from a deep instinct to ensure their child is fed.

The importance of education around food

Without teaching children what they are eating, meals can feel unfamiliar and disengaging rather than supportive.

A long-term opportunity for change

School meals have the potential to improve not just nutrition, but equality, behaviour, and future outcomes.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

The Lunch Bag

A leading Irish school meal provider delivering fresh, nutritionally balanced lunches to schools nationwide.

Website - https://www.thelunchbag.ie/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thelunchbag_/

Healthy Ireland Guidelines

National nutritional standards that define what a balanced school meal should include in terms of protein, vegetables, and overall health.

World Food Programme

A global organisation that highlights how access to school meals, particularly for girls, can improve education and long-term outcomes.

EU Child Guarantee

A European initiative focused on ensuring children have access to essential services, including nutritious food and education.

Ballymaloe

An Irish food producer and cookery school that supported the development of nutritious sauces for school meals.

Spice of Life (Cork)

A food supplier that helped create large-scale, nutritionally balanced sauces for school meal programmes.

Willowbrook (Belfast)

A supplier providing fresh fruit and vegetables used in school meals across Ireland.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction to Ger and The Lunch Bag

03:00 - Building a school meal service from scratch

07:00 - The rollout of free school meals

10:00 - Welfare vs progressive school meal models

13:00 - Why children disengage from meals over time

18:30 - How school meals are produced and delivered

27:00 - Food culture and food neophobia in Ireland

32:00 - The chicken goujon controversy

36:00 - Reformulating “safe foods” for children

40:00 - Nutrition, lentils, and hidden improvements

48:00 - Food waste and misunderstanding the system

54:00 - What needs to change moving forward

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

This episode traces Dr Andy Hogan’s path into immunology, from a childhood curiosity to a career exploring how the immune system shapes our health. Growing up in a challenging environment, the Access Programme gave him a route into higher education - highlighting the impact of support and opportunity.

Alongside his story, Andy explains the immune system not just as a defence against illness, but as something deeply involved in everyday health. He explores how obesity, ageing, and chronic inflammation affect immune function, and how these links connect to conditions like diabetes, cancer, and infection.

There’s also reflection on COVID-19, vaccines, and the future of medicine - from why pandemics were expected to how immunity develops over time. It’s a conversation that blends scientific insight with real-world impact.

🔑 Key Points

A single opportunity can reshape a future

The Access Programme gave Andy a pathway into higher education.

A childhood moment led to a scientific career

Early curiosity about genetics sparked a lifelong interest in biology.

The immune system shapes everyday health

It regulates metabolism, tissue health, and overall balance - not just infection.

Obesity and immune ageing are linked

Obesity can accelerate immune decline and affect disease response.

COVID-19 exposed immune vulnerabilities

The pandemic showed how differently populations respond to new threats.

Medical research is opening new possibilities

Immunology is unlocking new treatments for complex diseases.

Vaccines protect communities, not just individuals

They play a key role in protecting the most vulnerable.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Andy’s work in immunology

01:30 – Obesity and immune health

02:30 – GLP-1 therapies

04:00 – Early life and biology

06:00 – Access Programme

10:30 – Finding immunology

14:30 – Immune system basics

18:30 – COVID-19 insights

21:00 – Age and immune response

24:00 – Vaccines

28:00 – Future of medicine

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

Occupational therapist Martina Tierney joins the podcast to share how something as ordinary as a chair can profoundly shape a person’s health, independence and dignity.

After witnessing older people being sold expensive but inappropriate equipment, Martina set out to change the system. What followed was the creation of Seating Matters, a company grounded in clinical evidence, compassion and respect. In this conversation, she explains how posture affects breathing, swallowing, pressure injuries, cognition and even a person’s sense of self.

From the woman who could finally lift her head and make eye contact, to the man who believed he would die in bed until he was helped into a supportive chair and wheeled outside, this episode is a powerful reminder that dignity is often found in the smallest details.

🔑 Key Points

From Frustration to Innovation

Martina recognised that people were being sold expensive equipment without proper assessment, sparking the creation of Seating Matters.

The Woman Who Could Finally Lift Her Head

A properly fitted chair restored eye contact, safety and dignity to someone previously slumped and disengaged.

“I Thought I Was Going to Die in Bed”

A hospice patient’s simple wish to sit outside highlighted how seating can transform end of life experience.

The Psychological Power of Sitting Upright

Being out of bed shifts someone from passive patient to active participant in their own care.

Reframing Dementia Behaviours

What is labelled as aggression may be sensory disorientation. Understanding this changes how we respond.

Health Consequences We Overlook

Poor seating can contribute to pressure injuries, swallowing difficulties and recurrent urinary infections.

Equity in Equipment

People of size deserve equipment that fits them properly and respectfully.

Family, Loss and Perspective

Martina reflects on building the business with her husband and the importance of not postponing life.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Seating Matters - A global seating and posture company founded by occupational therapist Martina Tierney, focused on improving dignity, independence and clinical outcomes through proper supportive seating.

https://seatingmatters.com/gb-ie

Pressure Injuries - National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP) - Also known as bed sores, pressure injuries occur when prolonged pressure reduces blood flow to skin and underlying tissue, most commonly around bony areas such as the sacrum and coccyx.

https://npiap.com/page/PressureInjuryStages

World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) - The international body representing occupational therapists worldwide, promoting the role of OT in enabling independence, participation and meaningful daily life.

https://wfot.org/

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - From Frustrated OT to Founder

06:00 - “What Matters to You?” The OT Philosophy

12:00 - A Family Business Is Born

15:10 - The Man Who Thought He Would Never See Outside Again

18:45 - The Woman Who Could Finally Lift Her Head

21:10 - Why Getting Out of Bed Changes Everything

27:20 - Understanding Dementia Differently

33:00 - Designing Chairs for People of Size

40:45 - Losing James and Rethinking Work

51:10 - What Really Matters in Life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

What does it really take for women to enter politics today?

In this special edition from the European Parliament, Laura Dowling speaks with MEPs Kathleen Funchion and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú on International Women’s Day about their experiences of political life and the wider landscape for women entering leadership roles.

Through personal stories and candid reflections, they discuss how they each found their way into politics and why there is no single blueprint for women who want to lead. The conversation explores the growing issue of online misogyny, the importance of representation in shaping policy on issues such as domestic violence, and the role Irish political parties must play in supporting more women to participate and progress into leadership positions.

Together, they reflect on the resilience required to remain in public life and why creating a more inclusive political culture matters not only for women, but for democracy itself.

🔑 Key Points

The reality of online misogyny in politics

Both guests speak openly about the misogynistic abuse female politicians face online and how social media harassment has become a serious barrier discouraging women from entering public life.

There is no single path into politics

Kathleen Funchion and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú reflect on their personal journeys into politics, showing that women often arrive through very different life experiences and career paths.

Why representation in politics matters

The conversation highlights how having more women in political leadership influences the issues that receive attention, including policies that directly affect women’s lives.

The impact of abuse on families and future candidates

Online harassment does not only affect politicians themselves - many women hesitate to run for office because they worry about the impact on their families and children.

Turning experience into political action

Rather than ignoring abuse, the guests discuss how they channel these experiences into advocacy and policy work aimed at addressing misogyny and harassment.

The role of political parties in supporting women

Irish political parties, they argue, must do more to actively encourage and support women who want to enter politics and progress into leadership roles.

Domestic violence and policy responsibility

The discussion touches on how political representation can shape legislation and awareness around issues such as domestic violence and safety for women.

Resilience in public life

Remaining in politics often requires resilience and support networks, especially for women navigating hostility in public spaces.

⏱️ Timestamps

05:10 - Kathleen and Cynthia share how they first entered politics

11:40 - Why there is no single blueprint for women entering political life

14:10 - Confidence, opportunity, and why women hesitate to run

19:20 - Online misogyny and the abuse women face on social media

28:10 - The impact of online harassment on families and future candidates

36:50 - The importance of representation in politics and policymaking

49:00 - Domestic violence and the role of policy leadership

55:00 - Encouraging more women to participate in political leadership

59:20 - Resilience, public service, and the future of women in politics

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

Laura sits down with comedian Aoife Dunne for an honest and humorous conversation about everything from grief and fear to the unexpected turns life can take.

Aoife opens up about the sudden loss of her mum while she was backpacking in her early twenties - a moment that changed the course of her life. After spending time in therapy and trying to make sense of the fear she carried, she eventually travelled to Brazil and took part in an ayahuasca ceremony with the hope of letting go of something she felt was holding her back.

Alongside moments of humour, Aoife speaks candidly about fear, self-doubt, and what can happen when we stop trying to control every step of the journey. She shares how her unusual route into comedy emerged from years of searching, reflection, and gradually learning to trust where life might lead her.

🔑 Key Points

Losing her mum while travelling

Aoife reflects on receiving the news of her mother’s death while backpacking in her twenties and the shock of navigating grief far from home.

Learning to live with loss

Aoife talks about how grief shaped her twenties and how it continued to influence the way she approached life and relationships.

The fear that held her back

Aoife talks about the deep sense of fear she carried for many years - something she felt stopped her from fully pursuing the things she wanted in life.

Travelling to Brazil for an ayahuasca ceremony

Aoife explains why she eventually chose to take part in the ceremony and what she hoped to release.

An unusual route into comedy

Aoife reflects on how she ended up performing comedy despite never initially seeing it as her path.

A new perspective on what matters

Aoife reflects on how grief and reflection helped her appreciate the deeper value of love, relationships and everyday life.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Aoife Dunne – Official Website & Tour Dates

Find Aoife’s upcoming shows, including her stand-up show Good Grief, and buy tickets here:

https://aoifedunnecomedy.com/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGncw1_OANO5trgzPuPL8lgOyBgmPgZt5OmJPMsxM0zj5P22v0kv5jsSqtynaw_aem_CrTmYABNtRBRDzzKsiU62g

Aoife Dunne on Instagram

Follow Aoife for updates, clips and tour announcements:

https://www.instagram.com/aoife_is_never_dunne/

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction and meeting Aoife Dunne

06:00 – Growing up, family stories and humour

12:30 – “Aoife Dunne is a slut”

18:40 – Losing her mum while travelling in South America

27:00 – The lasting impact of grief

33:10 – Argentinian men vs Irish men

44:00 – Deciding to try ayahuasca in Brazil

50:30 – The emotional experience during the ceremony

58:20 – A new way of seeing her life

01:11:40 – An unusual path into comedy

01:28:00 – Not needing a perfect life plan

01:45:30 – The pressure of expectations in your thirties

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

Arriving in Ireland from Somalia as a child after years of displacement, Nadia grew up watching her mother sacrifice everything to create stability through education. That path led her into finance and onto a trading floor surrounded by high earners and high pressure — a version of success that looked impressive but never fully felt aligned.

What began with selling her own 08 BMW after a disappointing dealer offer gradually turned into something bigger. From selling cars on her drive to leasing a yard just before the pandemic, Nadia shares the discipline, doubt, criticism and resilience behind building Ashford Motors.

🔑 Key Points

Displacement and Determination

Nadia shares how early instability and migration shaped her resilience.

The Weight of Expectation

Growing up with a mother who sacrificed everything created both pressure and motivation.

Success That Didn’t Feel Like Success

Despite qualifying as a stockbroker, something felt missing.

An Accidental Entrepreneurial Spark

Selling her own BMW revealed a different path.

Building From Her Own Drive

Before Ashford Motors, she was learning, reinvesting, and doing everything herself.

The Shock of the Pandemic

Opening a yard just before lockdown threatened the business before it had momentum.

Visibility Through Social Media

Turning to TikTok became a lifeline when no one knew who she was.

Choosing Belief Over Approval

Receiving SIMI accreditation marked a turning point in confidence.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Ashford Motors – Founded by Nadia, a luxury and premium car dealership.

https://www.ashfordmotors.ie/

Ashford Approved (AM Approved) – Nadia’s second garage, offering more affordable and accessible vehicles alongside her premium range.

https://www.amapproved.ie/

SIMI (Society of the Irish Motor Industry) – The official representative body for the motor industry in Ireland, providing accreditation and governance standards for dealerships and motor businesses.

https://www.simi.ie/

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – From Somalia to Ireland

06:30 – Education and the Path Into Finance

13:00 – Inside the High-Pressure Trading Floor

21:00 – Reselling the 08 BMW

29:00 – Reinvesting Profits and Learning the Trade

36:00 – Opening Ashford Motors

41:00 – Lockdown Shock

46:00 – Marketing Through Social Media

54:00 – Reputation, Criticism and Credibility

01:01:00 – SIMI Accreditation

01:08:00 – Building a Business With Discipline

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

Eating disorders are complex, layered, and often hidden in plain sight. In this episode, psychiatric nurse Laura Casey helps us understand the difference between disordered eating and a clinically diagnosed eating disorder - and why that distinction matters.

Drawing on years of frontline experience, Laura explores the psychological roots of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and ARFID. She explains how these illnesses are not about vanity, but instead are coping mechanisms linked to trauma, anxiety, perfectionism, grief, and the need for control. She also sheds light on the physical risks - from refeeding syndrome to bone density loss - and why early intervention dramatically improves the chances of full recovery.

Alongside clinical insight, this episode gives voice to the lived experience of those struggling in silence. It addresses stigma within healthcare, the pressure of social media, the rise in cases during COVID, and the heartbreaking reality that Ireland currently has only three public adult inpatient beds.

🔑 Key Points

1. When Food Becomes an Internal Battle

Eating disorders often involve a powerful internal voice that overrides rational thinking and drives secrecy, rigidity, and isolation.

2. ARFID and Neurodivergence

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder is increasingly recognised, particularly in neurodivergent individuals, and deserves equal seriousness and support.

3. The Role of Trauma and Anxiety

Experiences such as grief, bullying, family breakdown, or suppressed emotions can contribute to the development of disordered eating behaviours.

4. The Hidden Physical Toll

Malnourishment affects cognition, heart function, bone health, sleep, fertility, and digestion - and purging behaviours can cause serious internal damage.

5. Why Families Matter

Family dynamics can influence recovery - both positively and negatively - and family therapy can play a crucial role in long-term progress.

6. Relapse Is a Blip, Not a Failure

Recovery can include setbacks. Early warning signs and relapse prevention planning are key to sustaining progress.

7. Stigma Within Healthcare

Many people feel dismissed or reduced to their diagnosis when seeking treatment - highlighting the need for holistic, compassionate care.

📚 Mentioned in This Episode

DSM-5 - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

ICD Codes - International Classification of Diseases

Eating Disorders

Anorexia nervosa/Bulimia nervosa/Binge Eating Disorder/Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder - ARFID

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/anorexia-nervosa/

Refeeding Syndrome

CBT - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

DBT - Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Bodywhys - The Eating Disorders Association of Ireland

https://bodywhys.ie/

+353 01 210 7906

Samaritans Ireland

jo@samaritans.ie

Freephone: 116 123

Pieta House

Freephone: 1800 247 247

0818 111 126

HSE Eating Disorder Teams (Public Health)

1800 111 888

(Referral must be made through GP)

Lois Bridges (Private/Self pay/HSE funding)

manager@loisbridges.ie

www.loisbridges.ie

+353 87 653 9747

CARED Ireland

(Caring About Recovery from an Eating Disorder)

CAREDireland@gmail.com

Supporting Families

zuzanna.deirdre@gmail.com

Family Therapist

Lana Galkovskaja

info@loisbridges.ie

⏱️ Timestamps

03:00 – Disordered Eating vs Eating Disorders

07:00 – ARFID and Sensory Restriction

13:00 – Trauma, Perfectionism and Control

18:30 – Medical Risks and Refeeding

24:00 – Specialist Therapies and Medication

29:30 – The Gap in Irish Services

34:00 – What Parents and Friends Can Do

40:00 – Relapse Prevention and WRAP Planning

46:00 – Hope at Any Stage of Life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

Liz Dwyer joins the podcast to discuss what life looks like when separation doesn’t bring closure. Still legally married six years on, she reflects on the gaps in Ireland’s divorce process and the contradictions of being asked to co-parent calmly while fighting legal battles behind the scenes.

Beyond the courtroom, Liz talks about the coping tools that kept her going, from the books that helped her make sense of what she was living through to the unexpected fun of dating again.

Liz also speaks about later marriage and family-building in Ireland, and her work on the Future Fertility Show, which focuses on education, access, and support around fertility and reproductive health. 

Key Points

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Broken Open – Elizabeth Lesser

A reflective book about how major life upheavals such as divorce, loss, or illness can break familiar structures and open the door to growth, meaning, and change. It explores resilience, identity, and rebuilding after rupture.

Future Fertility Show

A fertility-focused event covering education, clinics, talks, and support services.

📍 Location: RDS, Dublin

📅 Dates: March 21–22

🎟️ Tickets: https://www.futurefertilityshow.com/

Future Beauty Show

A medical-led beauty and health event focused on hormones, wellbeing, and evidence-based education.

📍 Location: RDS, Dublin

📅 Dates: March 21–22

🎟️ Tickets: https://futurebeautyshow.com/

Future Men’s Health Show

An event dedicated to men’s health, hormones, longevity, and wellbeing, developed in response to growing demand for accessible expert-led information.

📍 Location: RDS, Dublin

📅 Dates: March 21–22

🎟️ Tickets: https://www.futuremenshealth.com/

⏱️ Timestamps

03:10 – Trying beauty treatments to give honest advice

06:05 – Why divorce in Ireland is so difficult

14:10 – Court delays and legal limbo

17:45 – Co-parenting pressures

26:30 – Psychological toll of uncertainty

31:10 – Lack of support structures

36:45 – Books and coping tools

45:50 – Dating after separation

50:40 – Future Fertility Show

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

This conversation brings together Eimear McCrann, Director EY Entrepreneur Of The Year and Anne Heraty, EOY Judge and Founder CPL Resourced, to unpack the realities of entrepreneurship from two deeply experienced perspectives – one from building and leading a business over decades, and the other from supporting hundreds of founders through every stage of growth.

Anne reflects on the long arc of her entrepreneurial journey, from early beginnings to international expansion, public markets, and ultimately stepping back from the business she built. She shares honest insights into resilience, leadership under scrutiny, and the personal trade-offs that come with responsibility.

Eimear shares what she has learned from working at the heart of the Entrepreneur of the Year programme, including why women often hesitate to put themselves forward despite strong businesses. Together, they explore how community, shared learning, and trusted relationships can make entrepreneurship more sustainable – especially during periods of uncertainty and change.

🔑 Key Points

Leadership Requires Comfort With Uncertainty

Entrepreneurs must make decisions without full information, learning to respond rather than react when things change.

Building Through Cycles of Change

Businesses move through booms, crashes, and reinvention, requiring resilience and adaptability at every stage.

Confidence Gaps Still Affect Female Founders

Women tend to underestimate their readiness, particularly when recognition or visibility is involved.

Peer Networks Accelerate Better Decisions

Access to founders with lived experience helps entrepreneurs navigate challenges more effectively.

Letting Go Is a Leadership Skill

Stepping back from a business requires trust, planning, and an identity shift, not just financial readiness.

Entrepreneurship Is Ultimately About People

Teams, trust, and shared values shape sustainable businesses.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

CPL

Founded by Anne Heraty in 1990, CPL grew from a small recruitment firm into a large international recruitment and outsourcing group employing thousands of people across multiple countries.

EY Entrepreneur of the Year

Ireland’s flagship entrepreneurship programme supporting founders through a year-long process focused on community, learning, and long-term impact.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction and Focus on Female Entrepreneurship

03:10 – What the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Programme Really Is

06:20 – Anne Heraty’s Early Business Beginnings

10:15 – Scaling, Market Crashes, and Reinvention

15:30 – Confidence, Timing, and Women Putting Themselves Forward

20:10 – The Value of Entrepreneurial Community

24:40 – Expanding Into New Markets and Cultural Differences

29:30 – Leadership, Uncertainty, and Decision-Making

33:45 – Letting Go of a Business and Life After Exit

38:10 – Advice for Young People and Building Relationships

42:30 – Reflections on Meaning, Legacy, and Impact

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

In this episode, Laura sits down with Síle Seoige to talk about a period in her early thirties when everything changed at once. Síle speaks about being diagnosed with thyroid cancer, the impact that had on her work and personal life, and how it forced her to stop and reassess in a way she hadn’t before.

She talks about anxiety from the inside, not recognising it at the time, only later, and how listening to other people’s stories during the making of her documentaries made her re-examine her own experiences. The conversation also moves through parenting, work, and the practical decisions Síle has made around boundaries, time away from home, and what she will and won’t say yes to now.

The discussion is closely tied to Síle’s new documentary series Séalaí le Síle, filmed over several months and exploring three major themes: parenting, anxiety, and bullying. The series airs on TG4 on Wednesday nights, beginning on Wednesday 11 February, with each episode focusing on one topic. Drawing on conversations with families, experts, and people sharing their own lived experiences in Ireland and abroad, Síle describes the project as an attempt to better understand why so many people are struggling in the world as it is now.

🔑 Key Points

A year that changed everything

Síle speaks about a period when illness, work, and personal life collided, forcing her to stop and take stock in a way she hadn’t before.

Living with anxiety without naming it

She describes experiencing anxiety for years without recognising it at the time, only understanding it later through hindsight and listening to others.

Illness as a line in the sand

A thyroid cancer diagnosis brought clarity about what mattered, what didn’t, and what could no longer be ignored.

Parenting in a pressured system

The conversation looks at how modern parenting is shaped by time, money, childcare, and expectation.

Learning to set boundaries

Síle talks about becoming more boundaried around work, travel, and time away from home, and why saying no has become necessary.

Listening to other people’s experiences

Making the documentaries prompted Síle to reconsider parts of her own life she hadn’t fully examined before.

Bullying beyond childhood

Bullying is discussed as something that affects adults too, particularly in workplaces and public-facing roles.

Questioning what we call ‘normal’

The episode repeatedly returns to the idea that many struggles make sense when placed in the context of modern life.

⏱️ Timestamps

04:20 – The documentaries and why these topics mattered

06:30 – Parenting, pressure, and guilt

08:10 – Parenting today and the pressure parents are under

17:00 – Anxiety and missing language

25:10 – Illness, shock, and being forced to stop

37:20 – Parenting decisions and limits

44:00 – Media exposure and public life

52:10 – Identity and reflection

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

In this episode, Laura explores why dating so often feels exhausting, confusing, or discouraging, particularly when one person is ready for commitment and the other is not in the same place.

Drawing on insight from Mairead the Matchmaker, the conversation looks at how timing, life stage, and emotional readiness shape modern relationships. It reflects on patterns that come up again and again, including men waiting until life feels secure before committing, women staying open to connection despite setbacks, and how early communication often sets the tone for what follows.

Rather than offering quick fixes, this episode focuses on clarity and self understanding, recognising when a situation is not aligned with what you want, and trusting that dating should not require you to minimise yourself. It is a thoughtful, grounded conversation for anyone navigating modern dating with honesty and intention.

🔑 Key Points

Readiness matters more than chemistry

Strong attraction does not lead anywhere if two people are not emotionally or practically ready at the same time.

Men and women often date differently

Men often wait until life feels stable before committing, while women tend to stay open to connection.

Communication sets the tone early

How someone communicates at the beginning usually reflects how they will communicate long term.

Dating is a numbers game, without being unkind

Meeting the right person requires consistency while still treating people with respect.

Not every relationship should last

Staying in something unhealthy can be more damaging than leaving.

The right relationship allows you to be yourself

A healthy partnership feels supportive rather than constraining.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction and why dating feels difficult

03:30 – Why people are marrying later in Ireland

08:00 – Readiness and timing

12:00 – When one person is ready and the other is not

16:00 – Using dating apps properly

19:30 – Communication patterns and early red flags

26:00 – Dating as a numbers game

33:30 – Confidence built through action

39:30 – How the wrong relationship affects wellbeing

43:00 – Five questions to assess a relationship

49:30 – Knowing when to walk away

56:00 – Staying open without burnout

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

Laura is joined by dental hygienist Eimear for a clear, practical conversation about oral health and why it connects to the rest of the body, not just your teeth. They talk about plaque, tartar and gum disease, what causes bleeding gums, and why brushing your teeth without brushing your gums misses half the problem.

Eimear explains why interdental brushes work better than floss for most people, how electric toothbrushes remove far more plaque than manual ones, and why soft brushes are better than hard ones. She also talks about mouth breathing, tongue scraping, night guards for grinding, and what happens when plaque is left to harden under the gums.

The conversation then moves into some of the less expected links between oral health and things like menopause, pregnancy, arthritis, diabetes and cancer treatment. Throughout it all, Eimear keeps coming back to prevention, showing how small, realistic habits can reduce risk and protect your teeth and gums over the long term.

🔑 Key Points

Most people are not cleaning where it matters most

Bacteria sits along the gumline and between the teeth, which is why brushing only the visible surfaces leaves disease behind.

Plaque becomes harmful when it is left too long

Soft plaque hardens into tartar and creates a protected space where more aggressive bacteria can grow and damage gums and bone.

Tools matter more than people realise

Electric toothbrushes and interdental brushes remove far more bacteria than manual brushing and flossing.

Saliva plays a major role in oral health

Dry mouth, common during menopause, illness and medication use, changes the balance of bacteria and increases the risk of decay and gum disease.

Gum disease is not just a mouth problem

Inflammation and bacteria are linked with conditions like diabetes, arthritis, pregnancy complications and Alzheimer’s.

Grinding and clenching cause real damage

Night-time grinding can shorten teeth, irritate gums and strain the jaw.

Consistency beats perfection

Regular, simple habits protect the mouth better than occasional intense cleaning.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Why gum disease is linked to Alzheimer’s

01:00 – Porphyromonas gingivalis and how it damages the brain

02:00 – The vicious cycle between Alzheimer’s and oral health

03:00 – Why dentists avoid scaring patients with the 70% statistic

17:00 – Diabetes, arthritis and bidirectional gum disease

22:00 – Menopause, hormones and dry mouth

26:00 – Teeth grinding, night guards and jaw damage

28:00 – Mouth breathing and gingivitis

30:00 – Tongue scraping and bad breath bacteria

45:00 – Mouthwash, chlorhexidine and staining

56:00 – Adapting dental care for people with extra needs

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

In this episode of The Laura Dowling Experience, Laura is joined by Ciara Mangan, founder of Beyond Surviving. Ciara reflects on the gaps in long-term trauma support, the challenges survivors face once formal services fall away, and why survival is so often treated as the endpoint rather than the beginning of healing.

She speaks about navigating the justice process, the emotional toll of prolonged legal proceedings, and the ways trauma can ripple through families and relationships. Ciara also explores post-traumatic growth, describing how meaning, connection, and purpose became possible over time - without minimising the pain that came before.

This episode centres on healing beyond crisis, the importance of survivor-led support, and the understanding that recovery is deeply personal and looks different for everyone.

🔑 Key Points

Survival is often treated as the finish line

Ciara reflects on how recovery is expected to be complete once immediate danger has passed, even though healing is only beginning for many survivors.

The gap in long-term trauma support

She speaks about feeling lost once formal services fell away, highlighting how many survivors are left without guidance or connection after crisis support ends.

The emotional toll of the justice process

Ciara shares the impact of navigating prolonged legal proceedings and how systems intended to protect can sometimes retraumatise survivors.

How trauma ripples through families and relationships

The conversation explores the long-term effects of trauma on trust, intimacy, and family dynamics.

Post-traumatic growth without minimising pain

Ciara discusses growth as something that can emerge slowly over time, without pressure to reframe trauma as a positive experience.

The importance of being believed

Validation from family, professionals, and the justice system is shown to be central to rebuilding self-worth and safety.

Why survivor-led support matters

Ciara explains the value of spaces shaped by lived experience, where understanding, safety, and choice are prioritised.

Turning lived experience into purpose

The episode closes on Ciara’s decision to found Beyond Surviving, using her experience to support others navigating life after trauma.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Beyond Surviving – Survivor-led charity supporting healing beyond crisis. https://beyondsurviving.ie/ 

Beyond Surviving – Survivors Hub – Resources + community support. https://beyondsurviving.ie/survivors-hub/ 

Rape Crisis Ireland – 24-hour helpline + links to local support. https://www.rapecrisisireland.ie/ 

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) – Support services and info. https://www.drcc.ie/ 

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Opening reflections on survival and recovery

06:20 – Reaching the end of crisis support

12:40 – Workplace response and social fallout

18:00 – Telling her parents what happened

25:40 – Deciding to pursue justice

30:10 – The trial process

35:50 – Being believed and legal validation

38:40 – Why survivor-led spaces matter

44:10 – The origins of Beyond Surviving

45:20 – Exploring post-traumatic growth

50:30 – Relationships and rebuilding self-worth

57:00 – Closing reflections on healing

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

This episode offers an unflinching look at the realities of Irish healthcare - especially child and adolescent mental health - through the eyes of someone who’s been on the front line for decades. Laura is joined by Martin Daly, a rural GP in County Galway and a TD (Teachta Dála), to explore what it feels like to advocate for children and families inside systems that are overstretched, slow, and often unresponsive.

Martin shares a deeply affecting account of a nine-year-old boy experiencing severe OCD, including the barriers faced when trying to access CAMHS - from repeat assessments, to letters being returned, to referrals being deemed “not appropriate”, even as the child’s distress escalates. The story becomes a window into the human cost of rigid thresholds and administrative dysfunction, where families are left carrying fear and uncertainty while clinicians try to push against closing doors.

From there, the conversation widens into the bigger picture: the lack of digitisation in the HSE and how basic inefficiencies create real harm; why housing insecurity and “stuck” young adults ripple into mental health and relationships; and what Martin believes Ireland needs to do differently if it wants to protect wellbeing, not just respond to crisis. It’s warm, candid, and grounded in lived reality - ending with a reflective final stretch on kindness, purpose, and what it means to live a good life.

⸻

🔑 Key Points

Advocating for children inside broken systems

Martin describes the emotional and professional strain of repeatedly trying to secure care for children while working within rigid, under-resourced structures.

When mental health support depends on thresholds

The conversation explores how eligibility criteria can exclude children who are clearly distressed but not yet deemed to be in crisis.

A nine-year-old living with severe OCD

A real case highlights how delayed intervention intensifies suffering for both the child and their family.

The hidden burden placed on parents

Families are left holding fear, responsibility, and risk while waiting for services that may never arrive.

Housing insecurity and mental health

Martin connects the housing crisis to rising anxiety, stalled independence, and a growing sense of hopelessness among young people and families.

HSE digitisation and administrative failure

Basic inefficiencies - from paper-based systems to disconnected services - are shown to cause real harm and delay care when timing matters most.

Moral injury in clinical practice

Martin reflects on the ethical toll of knowing what care is needed, but being unable to access it for patients.

Social media and youth mental health

Constant exposure and online pressure are discussed as compounding factors in rising anxiety and distress.

⸻

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Martin Daly – Rural GP and TD (Teachta Dála), sharing frontline experience of Irish healthcare

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) – Referral pathways, thresholds, and access issues

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – Childhood presentation and impact when left untreated

ADHD – Diagnosis pathways and pressures on assessment services

Health Service Executive (HSE) – Structure, capacity issues, and lack of digitisation

Housing crisis in Ireland – Links to anxiety, delayed independence, and mental wellbeing

Social media and youth mental health – Ongoing exposure and rising emotional distress

⸻

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Martin’s opening reflections and background

04:45 – Life as a rural GP on the frontline

09:30 – Accessing child mental health services in Ireland

15:10 – How CAMHS thresholds work in practice

21:40 – A nine-year-old with severe OCD

28:30 – Referrals returned and care denied

35:20 – The emotional toll on families

41:50 – HSE digitisation and systemic inefficiency

48:10 – Housing insecurity and its impact on mental health

54:30 – Social media, anxiety, and young people

59:40 – Responsibility, kindness, and what a good life means

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

In this reflective episode, Laura sits down with Kathryn Thomas to talk about change - the kind you choose, the kind that’s forced upon you, and the kind that quietly reshapes you over time. Kathryn shares her journey through career transitions, from national broadcasting to creative independence, and what it’s like to make bold decisions in midlife while balancing motherhood, identity, and self-trust.

Much of the conversation centres on health and how our understanding of it has evolved. Kathryn speaks openly about her years on Operation Transformation, the backlash she faced, and why she felt compelled to explore the science and controversy around GLP-1 medications and Ozempic through documentary work. Together, they unpack how the obesity conversation has shifted, including the role of biology, food environments, and access in shaping long-term health.

The episode also moves into ageing, menopause, sleep, aesthetics, and longevity. Kathryn reflects honestly on contradiction - wanting to age well while questioning the systems that profit from fear - and on the small, practical changes that have made the biggest difference to her wellbeing. Grounded, thoughtful, and deeply human, this is a conversation about agency, perspective, and learning when to let go of certainty.

🔑 Key Points

Choosing change later in life

Kathryn reflects on making major career decisions in her mid-40s and stepping outside long-established systems.

The cost of visibility

Public scrutiny, online criticism, and resilience are explored through Kathryn’s lived experience.

Operation Transformation revisited

A nuanced look back at the show’s evolution, cultural impact, and the stigma that surrounded it.

Rethinking obesity

The conversation moves beyond willpower, focusing on biology, metabolic adaptation, and prevention.

Food deserts and ultra-processed foods

Kathryn and Laura discuss how access, environment, and the dominance of ultra-processed food shape health outcomes, particularly for children, highlighting why individual choice alone is an incomplete explanation.

GLP-1 medications and Ozempic

Kathryn explains why open, responsible discussion around these treatments matters.

Health, hormones, and sleep

Menopause, exhaustion, and the underestimated power of routine and rest are discussed honestly.

Ageing, aesthetics, and contradiction

From Botox to longevity science, the episode holds space for complexity rather than judgement.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Introductions and setting the tone

03:00 – Career longevity and public visibility

06:00 – Leaving RTÉ and taking a midlife leap

09:30 – Operation Transformation and public scrutiny

13:30 – How the weight conversation has changed

18:00 – GLP-1 medications and Ozempic

23:30 – Metabolic adaptation, food environments, and prevention

30:30 – Food deserts, inequality, and access

35:00 – Ageing, aesthetics, and contradiction

40:00 – Longevity, medicine, and living well

46:00 – Menopause, sleep, and routine

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

Donal O’Shea has spent a lifetime working at the sharp end of endocrinology- and in this conversation, he brings that perspective with clarity and honesty. Laura and Donal explore how dramatically medicine has changed, from early diabetes care rooted in fear and compliance to modern treatments that prioritise quality of life and long-term health.

The discussion moves through hormones, obesity, and the rise of GLP-1 medications, examining how new treatments exposed long-held misconceptions about appetite, behaviour, and responsibility. Along the way, they confront stigma, access to care, and the cultural tendency to reduce complex conditions to willpower. Thoughtful and grounded, this episode invites a more humane way of thinking about health- one led by evidence, humility, and compassion.

🔑 Key Points

How diabetes care used to work - and why it didn’t

Donal reflects on fear-based approaches from earlier in his career and contrasts them with today’s technology-driven, compassionate care.

Hormones quietly run the show

The episode unpacks how chemical messengers regulate appetite, mood, energy, and long-term health.

GLP-1s changed more than blood sugar

Originally developed for diabetes, these treatments revealed unexpected effects on appetite and behaviour.

Why “eat less, move more” falls short

Obesity is explored as a biologically regulated, chronic condition rather than a failure of willpower.

When medicine collides with culture

Laura and Donal discuss how effective treatments risk being misunderstood in a thinness-obsessed world.

Access isn’t equal

Cost and prescribing rules shape who receives care and who is left behind.

Weight loss doesn’t erase identity

The psychological impact of changing bodies is often overlooked.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

OSheaHoganLabs - Donal’s educational presence on TikTok and Instagram addressing medical misinformation

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - A lifetime inside changing medicine

04:10 - Diabetes before technology

07:30 - Why fear was never good healthcare

12:00 - GLP-1 and a shift in understanding obesity

17:45 - Appetite, behaviour, and biology

23:30 - Stigma, thinness, and misuse of treatment

30:15 - Identity after weight change

36:40 - Menopause, hormones, and long-term thinking

43:20 - Battling misinformation online

50:00 - Who gets treatment - and who doesn’t

57:00 - Looking to the next generation

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

This conversation traces the path that brought Eoin Cluskey to where he is today- not only as the founder of Bread 41, but as someone who thinks deeply about community, responsibility, and the kind of impact a business can have. He talks openly about struggling through school, finding his footing in kitchens abroad, and eventually discovering purpose through business.

Eoin also reflects on the parts of his story that don’t get talked about as often- the pressure of building something from nothing, the moment his partner told him the work was breaking their family, and the shift that followed. His stories from his work in prisons, schools, and the community show a consistent thread of noticing people who are often overlooked, and making small interventions that can have big impact.

🔑 Key Points

School never fit, but it pushed him to think differently

Eoin explains how feeling behind in education stayed with him and later influenced how he approaches people who struggle in traditional systems.

Finding belonging through craft

Food became a place where he could build discipline, confidence, and a sense of identity.

The personal cost of ambition

Eoin names the moment he realised that relentless work was pulling him away from his family and needed to change.

Understanding dignity through prison work

His experiences with incarcerated men opened his eyes to circumstance, accountability, and the meaning of opportunity.

What teachers experience behind the scenes

Spending time with educators gave him a clearer picture of the pressures and expectations they carry.

Encouragement as a turning point

The schoolboy who doubted his own ability shows how a few honest words can change someone’s trajectory.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Bread 41 / Breaducation Programme

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Welcome & Eoin’s Background

04:10 – Growing Up Outside the System

08:20 – Finding Direction in Kitchens Abroad

14:25 – Lessons from Ballymaloe

18:40 – Starting Bread 41 from Scratch

24:30 – A Family Wake-Up Call

29:45 – Rethinking Ambition and Balance

32:10 – Experiences Inside Mountjoy Prison

42:30 – Teachers, Pressure & the Breaducation Programme

48:25 – A Small Moment That Changed a Young Person’s Path

54:10 – The Responsibility of Being a Business That “Sees” Peopl

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

This episode is an emotionally rich, thoughtful exploration of motherhood, storytelling, friendship, and addiction. Sophie reflects on how her podcast began long before podcasting was popular- born out of frustration and a desire for honesty. Instead of curated perfection, she and co-host Jen offered chaos, humour, truth, and community and thousands of women saw themselves reflected, often for the first time.

Sophie also shares deeply personal experiences with mental illness, alcoholism and self-loathing, describing how shame can follow us from childhood into adulthood until compassion interrupts the pattern. Through laughter, vulnerability, and storytelling, she shows how honesty can become a form of healing.

⸻

🔑 Key Points

🎙 Podcasting with No Blueprint- A movement born from instinct, not strategy.

👭 Friendship as Creative Foundation- Trust, humour, and emotional safety.

👶 Motherhood Without Filters- Breaking away from curated Instagram motherhood.

🧠 Postnatal Depression & Mental Health Struggles- Real emotional aftermath of motherhood.

🍷 Addiction & The First Drink at 13- Relief, identity, and survival.

✨ Compassion Through Seeing Children Clearly- Realising nothing was her fault.

📢 Women’s Voices & The Power of Being Heard - Solidarity and storytelling.

⸻

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Mother of Pod / Stop the Madness Podcast

⸻

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00- How the podcast unexpectedly began

05:10- “Be my pod wife” moment

08:40- Building Patreon & creative freedom

13:20- Irish storytelling culture

18:10- Postnatal depression & emotional reality

23:50- When listeners share their truth

30:20- Addiction & first drink story

33:00- Breastfeeding pressure & guilt

40:00- Addiction, breakdown & survival

52:30- Women’s safety & public space

59:00- Parenting, screens & doing our best

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

What started as a simple moment in Lidl — noticing the word “style” on a yogurt label — turned into a viral movement. In this heartfelt conversation, Sophie Morris shares how her honest, practical videos helped people understand not just what’s in their food, but how to shop with confidence, protect their health, and even support small producers.

Sophie explains how clever swaps, label awareness, and small decisions can lead to powerful changes — physically, mentally, and emotionally. She shares real stories from families, teenagers, and everyday shoppers who say her content didn’t just change their eating habits, but changed how they feel. This is more than food education — it’s empowerment.

⸻

🔑 Key Points

From Local Coaching to Viral Impact

Sophie began by helping confused shoppers understand food labels and trends.

Greek vs. Greek-Style — The Moment Everything Changed

Her first viral video showed how one tiny word can change the whole meaning of a product.

Clever Swaps, Not Shame

She believes in empowering people with realistic, often cheaper swaps — not food fear.

Profit vs. Nutrition

Big companies aren’t evil, but operate in a system built for profit, not health.

Food and Mental Wellbeing

People report better mood, clarity, and energy after reducing ultra-processed foods.

Responding to Criticism

Sophie explains why she avoids ingredient fearmongering and never singles out additives.

Consumer Power

Her audience helped small Irish producers thrive — proving demand drives change.

⸻

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Greek-style yogurt and how it all began

03:20 – When the videos went viral

06:00 – Clever Swaps explained

08:00 – Who really makes our food?

10:40 – Criticism, trust, and staying independent

15:00 – Why ingredient awareness matters

19:00 – Real stories: food and mental health

23:20 – KitKat, Activia & misleading marketing

28:00 – Policy, labeling & regulation

30:10 – The Sophie Effect: small brands rising

31:40 – Why she refuses sponsorships

40:00 – Protein hype and sugar sneaking

48:20 – Food access and affordability

49:50 – Where food awareness is headed

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

In this deeply moving and human conversation, Tammy Darcy opens up about the defining experiences that shaped her life- from the powerful bond with her sister Shona, her traumatic teenage years, bullying, and becoming a single mother at 18, to transforming pain into purpose by founding The Shona Project. She shares how her sister’s brain tumour, family breakdown, and years of emotional isolation shaped her desire to create a community of support for young girls- one rooted in courage, authenticity, and belonging.

With tenderness and honesty, Tammy reflects on self-worth, shame, resilience, and why young people don't just need motivation- they need community, compassion, and a strong sense of who they are. At its core, this episode is about showing up for one another, embracing vulnerability, and believing that our greatest pain may one day serve a greater purpose.

🔑 Key Points

Trauma, Loss & a Sister’s Legacy

Tammy shares the life-changing impact of her sister’s brain tumour, the emotional fallout, and how the loss shaped her outlook on compassion, purpose, and human connection.

Turning Pain into Purpose

Instead of being defined by tragedy, Tammy built The Shona Project- a nationwide movement supporting young girls through workshops, festivals, and leadership programmes.

Bullying and Its Lifelong Effects

She describes years of bullying, hiding in school toilets, and losing trust in other girls, realising that relational harm can sometimes take longer to heal than trauma itself.

Courage Over Confidence

Tammy explains why we should focus on building courage rather than confidence because courage is what allows us to act even when we're unsure.

Why Values Matter More Than Achievements

She explores how helping teenagers identify their personal values gives them a lasting compass for decision-making, identity, and self-worth.

Authenticity as Freedom

Tammy reflects on how embracing her authentic self, rather than trying to be “perfect”, has been liberating and transformative in both life and leadership.

Creating Safe, Supportive Communities

She shares how The Shona Project helps girls recognise that they can both harm and heal and that change begins with accountability, compassion, and kindness.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction & Early Confidence

08:10 – Shona’s Diagnosis & Family Breakdown

13:00 – Trauma, Grief & Feeling Lost

16:00 – Becoming Pregnant at 18

23:00 – Bullying, Isolation & Self-Worth

30:00 – How The Shona Project Was Born

45:00 – 500 by 500 Vision & Community

51:00 – Talking to Young People About Values

57:00 – Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

In this powerful and deeply human conversation, Breda O'Toole shares her extraordinary journey of trauma, survival, and ultimately, healing. Her life was marked by poverty, abuse, war-related family trauma, institutional mistreatment, and years of being misdiagnosed within psychiatric care. For 23 years, she was prescribed heavy medication, underwent 29 shock treatments, and spent time in psychiatric institutions — including being restrained in a straitjacket for 11 days. Yet none of it treated the real wound: trauma.

Breda explains how no professional ever asked about her life or experiences — only symptoms. She felt unseen, unheard, and misunderstood. The turning point came when a priest told her: “Take back control of your life.” That moment sparked her recovery journey — off medication, back to herself, and finally into true healing.

This episode is painful, inspiring, and illuminating — a moving reminder that trauma is not mental illness, and recovery is possible when we are truly seen, heard, and believed.

🔑 Key Points

Trauma vs. Mental Illness

Her suffering was rooted in trauma, not a disorder.

Misdiagnosis & Overmedication

She lived under 8+ incorrect diagnoses and was on up to 15 tablets daily.

Electric Shock Therapy (ECT)

29 ECT sessions — each followed in her records by: “Still depressed.”

The Straitjacket

She was involuntarily restrained for 11 days — until her father rescued her.

Loss & Grief

She lost three baby boys — through negligence, miscarriage, and stillbirth.

The Words That Changed Everything

“Take back control of your life” — the moment her recovery truly began.

Recovery Begins With Being Heard

One doctor finally asked: “What happened to you?” — not “What’s wrong with you?”

📚 Mentioned in This Episode

• Unseen — Breda’s memoir

• St. Patrick’s Institution, St. Brigid’s, St. Vincent’s

• Valium, Lithium, Optimax

• Straitjacket institutional practices

• Father Walsh, Father Pat

• Tommy — Breda’s husband

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Introducing Breda & her story

01:00 – Childhood trauma: war, poverty, abuse

08:00 – First Valium prescription & addiction

10:00 – Misdiagnosis & medication spiral

13:00 – Shock therapy and lost identity

16:00 – Being detained & rescued by her father

24:00 – Loss of her babies & emotional impact

33:00 – Straitjacket and institutional trauma

40:00 – “What happened to you?” — turning point

46:00 – Coming off medication & reclaiming life

52:00 – Real recovery, healing, and hope

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎧 Episode Description

In this powerful and deeply human conversation, Miriam O’Callaghan opens up about the defining moments that shaped her life — from navigating high-pressure live television, to facing unimaginable personal loss, to raising eight children while working in the public eye.

Miriam speaks candidly about the ups and downs of her pregnancies and births, the chaos of live political debates, grief, resilience, menopause, and what it’s really like to live so much of her life under intense public scrutiny. She shares the heartbreaking story of losing her sister and father within weeks of each other, her legal fight against an online scam using her name, and the grounding philosophies that have kept her centred through it all.

This episode is raw, emotional and filled with wisdom — a rare look at one of Ireland’s most beloved broadcasters, beyond the headlines and beyond the studio lights.

🔑 Key Points

Writing a memoir after 20 years of hesitation

Why Miriam avoided writing her book, the emotional weight of telling her own story, and what finally pushed her to begin.

The pressure and chaos of live TV

Behind the scenes of major political debates, on-air confrontations, and the mental load of broadcasting to millions.

The year everything changed

Losing her sister at 33, losing her father shortly after, and how grief reshaped her perspective on life and motherhood.

Fertility struggles, pregnancy trauma & raising eight children

Candid reflections on secondary infertility, complex pregnancies, motherhood, and letting go of perfection.

Menopause, HRT & women’s health

Why she advocates openly for hormone therapy, vaginal oestrogen, and breaking the silence around women’s health.

The Facebook “face-cream” scam

How scammers used her name for years, how it affected her family, and what happened when she took Facebook to court — and won.

Gratitude, grounding & implacable courtesy

The philosophies that guide her relationships and keep her anchored through chaos.

📚 Mentioned in this Episode

• Life, Work, Everything — Miriam’s memoir (print & audiobook)

• Paul Read — the solicitor who represented Miriam in her Facebook/Meta scam case

• Holles Street Maternity Hospital & The Coombe

• Prof. Caher & Dr. Colm (Miriam’s obstetricians)

• Evorel Conti Patch & Vagifem (HRT mentioned)

• John Hume, Pantibliss (Rory O’Neill), Leo Varadkar, Tommy Tiernan, Roy Keane

• Ireland’s Marriage Equality referendum & key cultural moments

• “Implacable courtesy” — Seamus Heaney’s advice

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction & Miriam’s Early Career

06:50 – The Loss of Her Sister & Father

12:30 – Navigating Motherhood & Raising Eight Children

16:45 – Pregnancy Complications & Birth Stories

22:10 – Handling Pressure in Live Broadcasting

27:55 – The Haemorrhage During Pregnancy

34:40 – Surviving Public Scrutiny & Balancing Family

38:10 – The Facebook Scam & Taking Meta to Court

43:30 – Gratitude, Faith & Daily Grounding Rituals

48:20 – Reflections on Resilience & What Truly Matters

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

📝 Episode Description:

In this fascinating and refreshingly honest conversation, Laura Dowling sits down with physiotherapist Siobhan O'Donovan, better known as The Boobie Physio, to unpack the hidden physical and emotional impact of breast weight on women’s lives.

From posture and pain to sport, confidence, and hormonal changes, Siobhan reveals why so many women — regardless of cup size — are living with discomfort that’s completely preventable. She explains the science behind breast support, the myths around bra sizing, and how simple changes in alignment can boost everything from performance to self-esteem.

This episode is part education, part revelation — and it might just change how you think about your body forever.

⏱️ Key Points & Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction: Who is The Booby Physio?

02:00 – Why posture still matters (and how gravity works against us)

06:00 – Bone health, hormones, and how movement can prevent osteoporosis

09:00 – The hidden weight women carry: breast movement in three planes

13:00 – How breast pain and embarrassment push teenage girls out of sport

17:00 – The psychology of confidence and body awareness

23:00 – Why so many women are wearing the wrong bra size

29:00 – How outdated measuring methods are still being used

35:00 – The physics of breast support: posture, shape, and comfort

43:00 – How to actually fit a bra properly — and why black ones feel tighter

49:00 – Caring for your bras: resting elastic, avoiding fabric softener

55:00 – Asymmetry, teabag tits, and why most lingerie models are wrong

1:00:00 – Why wired bras aren’t the enemy

1:05:00 – The link between back pain, confidence, and breast support

1:10:00 – How the right bra can literally improve your performance

1:15:00 – Final takeaways: lifting women up — physically and emotionally

💡 Actionable Tips:

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deirdre O’Kane joins Laura for a funny, honest and wide-ranging conversation about what it was really like being one of the few women in stand-up when she started out.

She talks about the early days of breaking through in a male-dominated industry, finding her own voice, the reality of long-term relationships, raising kids in the age of WhatsApp chaos, and using humour to get through tough times.

This is a brilliant mix of personal stories, cultural insight and big laughs.

🕒  Timestamps & Key Points

00:00 — Pre-chat & setup: A warm, relaxed start as Laura and Deirdre banter about microphones, lighting, and jawlines.

04:00 — Wild beginnings: Boarding school, being part of “the bold gang,” and discovering performance through impersonating teachers and nuns.

06:00 — Acting vs. stand-up: Early love-hate relationship with stand-up and what made it so tough starting out.

08:20 — Women in comedy: Audience groans, breaking barriers, and how social media helped shift the landscape.

11:00 — Self-censorship: Why she avoided certain topics early on — and how that’s changed.

14:00 — Touring life: What it’s really like on the road as a comic, from long drives to late nights.

17:00 — Irish vs. UK audiences: How humour translates across borders and why Irish audiences are special.

20:00 — Long-term relationships: Honest reflections on discomfort, denial, and doing the work over decades together.

23:00 — Expectations in love: Balancing domestic reality with romantic ideals — and keeping individuality.

27:30 — The Magdalene Laundries bit: Taking on a taboo topic and walking a fine line between darkness and humour.

30:00 — Phone bans and stand-up: How comics protect their material from leaking online.

33:00 — Comedy as a lifeline: How stand-up kept her family afloat when her husband was ill.

36:00 — Motherhood & identity: Returning to stand-up after kids and why motherhood fuelled her next show.

43:00 — Modern motherhood rant: Emails, WhatsApp groups, class reps, and why it’s all too much.

48:00 — Quick fire: Worst gig ever, sharing the stage, favourite punchlines, and industry reflections.

53:00 — Politics & culture: A candid take on the current Irish political climate and cultural shifts.

🧠 Key Themes

🪄 Actionable Takeaways

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

📝 Episode Description

In this powerful episode of The Laura Dowling Experience, Laura sits down with advanced nurse practitioner and child psychotherapist Deirdre Mellet to unpack what’s really going on for teenagers today.

From self-harm and emotional dysregulation to ADHD, anxiety, and the pressure of living in an overwhelming world, Dearbhla brings deep professional insight — and a lot of heart — to the conversation.

This episode is essential listening for parents, caregivers, teachers, and anyone who wants to better understand and support young people.

🧠 Key Points

🛠️ Actionable Tips

🕛 Timestamps

00:00 — “There’s no such thing as normal” — Why we need to rethink mental health

02:05 — Why so many young people are struggling today

03:30 — Understanding self-harm and emotional overwhelm

05:45 — Getting into CAMHS: criteria, challenges & real experiences

08:00 — Girls vs boys: how ADHD can present differently

10:00 — What anxiety really feels like for young people

12:00 — Accessing services: what parents can do while waiting for support

13:45 — How to teach emotional regulation (and why “fixing” doesn’t work)

17:00 — What’s really behind teen anger and emotional outbursts

23:00 — “Be the lighthouse, not the anchor” — A powerful parenting metaphor

29:00 — Why ADHD medication isn’t a quick fix (finding the sweet spot)

36:00 — Tools like ear loops & OT support that can make a difference

40:00 — Motivation struggles in teens with ADD/ADHD

42:00 — How to respond if your child shares or writes about dark thoughts

44:00 — The emotional weight of the world on young people

47:00 — How to find a qualified therapist you can trust

50:00 — Why therapist fit matters more than people think

53:00 — Misconceptions around “lack of empathy” in young people

55:00 — Sextortion & online risks: what parents need to know

58:00 — Final reflections: why connection is everything

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this podcast episode, host Laura Dowling interviews Andrew Dunne, a former professional rugby player turned physiotherapist and founder of a clinic in Rathmines, Dublin. Andy discusses his transition from rugby to physiotherapy, driven by his own injury experiences and a pivotal conversation with a team doctor. He shares insights into his clinic's work, which focuses on helping patients, particularly those with cancer and other serious health conditions, improve their quality of life through tailored exercise regimens and lifestyle changes. They also explore the broader healthcare system's challenges, the importance of attitude and connection in life, and the need for a holistic approach to patient care.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:19 From Rugby to Physiotherapy: Andy's Journey

01:21 Dealing with Injuries and Rehabilitation

02:47 Life After Rugby: Personal Reflections

07:08 Challenges in the Healthcare System

11:56 The Importance of Lifestyle Medicine

32:44 Exercise as a Standard of Cancer Care

36:14 Addressing Lifestyle in Cancer Treatment

36:45 Baseline Assessment and Fitness Trials

39:32 Understanding VO2 Max and Fitness Measurement

41:09 The Importance of Compassion in Healthcare

42:18 Role of Occupational Therapy

44:15 Health Coaching and Sustainable Change

46:26 Heart Rate Zones and Exercise Prescription

52:10 Challenges in Managing a Healthcare Clinic

55:15 Increasing Cancer Diagnoses in Younger Populations

57:50 Exercise and Neuroplasticity in Parkinson's

01:00:13 Sexual Dysfunction and Quality of Life

01:01:24 The Paving Wheel: A Tool for Wellness

01:03:25 Clinic Information and Social Media Presence

01:05:07 Advice for Young People and the Meaning of Life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Eileen shares her powerful story of overcoming a challenging upbringing in Ballymun, Dublin, during the heroin epidemic of the 1980s and 90s. She discusses her 14-year struggle with drug addiction, her journey to recovery, and how she found solace and a new path in hairdressing. Eileen is now the founder of 'Hair Together,' an award-winning social enterprise that teaches hairdressing and barbering with integrated personal development and well-being programs to young people from challenging backgrounds and women exiting the prison service. Eileen talks about the impact of her programs, the importance of community and support, and her ongoing mission to help the next generation. She also touches on the challenges of running a social enterprise and her hopes for further expansion and community support.

Timestamps

00:00 – Opening Poem & Introduction

00:38 – Meeting at the PWC Women in Business Awards

00:48 – Eileen’s Work: Hair Together & Social Enterprise

01:21 – Focus on Young People & Women Exiting Prison

02:01 – Eileen’s Background: Growing Up in Ballymun

02:25 – Struggles with Addiction & Finding Hairdressing

03:47 – Recovery, Fashion Weeks, and Giving Back

04:50 – Starting Hair Together: The Early Days

06:09 – How the Program Works & Impact

08:41 – Staying Connected with Graduates

10:15 – Opening the New Salon & Academy

12:14 – Age Range & Types of Participants

13:12 – The Impact on Young People’s Lives

15:54 – Social Enterprise Model & Funding

18:39 – Eileen’s Childhood & First Experiences with Drugs

24:25 – Selling Drugs & Addiction Deepens

31:35 – Family Intervention & Going to Greece

34:00 – Detox, Rehab, and Recovery Journey

41:14 – Life After Rehab: Moving to Waterford

44:07 – Motherhood, Relapse, and Final Recovery

48:41 – Mental Health, Therapy, and Spirituality

54:46 – Advice for Young People

55:53 – The Meaning of Life & Closing Thoughts

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this engaging podcast episode, Miriam Hussey, a former pharmacist who transitioned from traditional pharmacy to holistic health, discusses her transformative journey. Miriam shares her 'aha moment' that led her to realise that true health goes beyond prescriptions and requires addressing lifestyle and preventative measures.

Highlighting the interconnectedness of the mind, body, and soul, Miriam elaborates on the concept of dis-ease, emphasising the need to look beyond mere symptoms to find the root causes of health issues. She outlines her approach through key pillars: physical health, mental well-being, and soul nourishment. She also offers insights into overcoming emotional eating, achieving balance in modern life, and the importance of self-love and care.

This episode underscores the necessity of holistic wellness in achieving a balanced, fulfilling life, and it encourages listeners to make meaningful changes to align with their true selves.

Timestamps

04:00 Introduction to Miriam Hussy's Journey

04:35 The Aha Moment: Realising the Need for Change

05:51 The Concept of Dis-ease and Its Roots

07:59 Exploring the Three Pillars of Wellness

09:20 The Importance of the Soul in Modern Wellness

13:19 Personal Struggles and Overcoming Challenges

14:14 The Impact of Early Life Experiences

16:31 The Role of Energy and Ancestral Trauma

17:48 Navigating Life's Difficult Decisions

18:59 The Butterfly Analogy: Embracing Transformation

19:47 The Power of Listening to Your Soul

21:57 Balancing Practicality and Passion

24:17 The Interconnectedness of Mind, Body, and Soul

35:40 Finding Joy and Regulating Your Nervous System

36:20 Choosing Your Path: Following Your Passion

37:11 Understanding Emotional Eating

39:22 The Vicious Cycle of Overeating

44:32 Healing Through Mirror Work

48:25 Balancing Primary and Secondary Foods

01:04:32 Advice for Young People: Staying True to Yourself

01:06:30 The Meaning of Life: Joy and Peace

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Laura Dowling Experience, Matt Kaeberlein, a global leader in ageing science, discusses his mission to help people and animals live longer and healthier lives by modifying the biological mechanisms of ageing. Matt, CEO of Optisan, a healthcare technology company, talks about his transition from academia to entrepreneurship and highlights the importance of lifestyle factors—nutrition, exercise, sleep, and social connection—in maximising health span. The conversation explores emerging approaches to longevity, including hormone therapy, therapeutic plasma exchange, and the use of drugs such as rapamycin and SGLT2 inhibitors. Matt shares personal experiences with ageing-related health strategies and offers valuable insights into the role of love and altruism in achieving a fulfilling life.

Timestamps

02:48 – Introduction: Meet Matt Kaeberlein, global leader in ageing science

03:13 – What does Matt Kaeberlein do? Biological mechanisms of ageing

04:40 – The concept of health span vs. lifespan

06:55 – Four pillars of health span: Eat, Move, Sleep, Connect

09:04 – The importance of human and animal connection

11:06 – Beyond lifestyle: Hormones and health span

16:06 – Menopause, HRT, and women’s health

24:55 – Testosterone therapy for men: Risks and benefits

31:35 – Alcohol, lifestyle, and longevity

34:34 – Environmental exposures: Heavy metals, microplastics, and health

39:44 – Therapeutic plasma exchange and ageing research

47:09 – Rapamycin: The science, trials, and potential for longevity

59:46 – Diet, fasting, and inflammation: What Matt Kaeberlein eats

1:07:32 – Continuous glucose monitoring and behaviour change

1:14:07 – SGLT2 inhibitors and other promising drugs

1:19:07 – Final advice: Choose love, not fear; the meaning of life

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Laura welcomes Melissah, whose daughter Evie has Down Syndrome. Melissa shares her personal journey from pregnancy and the unexpected postnatal Down Syndrome diagnosis, to raising Evie and balancing life as a mother of three. The conversation highlights the importance of awareness and education about Down Syndrome, including Melissah's efforts through the annual Purple Run fundraiser. The discussion covers various aspects of Evie's life, from her rapid birth and initial health challenges to her school experience and relationship with her sisters. Melissa also discusses societal perceptions, the importance of inclusive language, and her hopes for Evie's future. Listeners are encouraged to support the Purple Run and Down Syndrome Ireland, organisations that have played a significant role in Melissah's journey.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and Welcoming Melissa

03:24 Discussing Down Syndrome Awareness and Fundraiser

04:59 Melissa’s Journey to Motherhood

05:40 Evie’s Birth and Diagnosis

09:48 Adjusting to Life with Down Syndrome

12:14 Evie’s Development and Family Dynamics

15:10 Navigating Education and Services

21:07 Language Sensitivity and Advocacy

24:03 Challenges and Triumphs of Parenting a Child with Down Syndrome

25:06 Community Support and Public Perception

26:25 Future Concerns and Independence

27:20 Educational Talks and Menopause Awareness

32:14 Fundraising and Support Services

35:08 Daily Life and Personal Stories

42:17 Final Thoughts and Advice

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keith Walsh is a broadcaster, writer, actor and mental heath advocate. We discuss how he self medicated with drugs, alcohol, exercise and food restriction until a diagnosis in his late forties of ADHD and autism.

We chat about his childhood trauma his mental health struggles and advocacy and how he is ok with having no friends.

This is a podcast for anyone who has ADHD or suspects that they or a loved one has ADHD. It is a podcast that shows you there is hope and light and love for us all. This is a podcast for anyone who is searching for something, but are unsure what that something is.

Keith has an upcoming show, Kinda Mental on Saturday April 22nd 2023 in the Whale theatre in Greystones. You should check it out!

The Laura Dowling Experience is brought to you by fabÜ R&R RELAX. A unique formulation of premium grade botanicals- ashwagandha, L-theanine from green tea, chamomile and melissa. These were blended together with magnesium and B vitamins for a less stressful day and a more restful sleep. Non-sedating and non-addictive. Read the reviews on www.fabuwellness.com. Available on www.fabuwellness.com and pharmacies and healthfood stores nationwide.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m taking a two-week break from the podcast to complete my new book, 'Love Your Vulva', and its audiobook, which will be released on September 23rd. In the meantime, explore the podcast archives with 133 episodes on topics like menopause, ADHD, sexual wellness, cardiology, physiotherapy, and more. For new listeners, I encourage you to start from the beginning to catch some great episodes. I'll be back with a new episode on September 11th. Stay fabulous!

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Harris, an influential autism advocate from Ireland, shares his personal journey from childhood through to establishing the organisation 'As I Am'. The discussion touches on his early life, the challenges he faced as a child with autism, his education experience, and the development of his advocacy to promote autism awareness and inclusion. Adam highlights the significant progress made in Ireland, the ongoing need for better support and services, and the various societal and personal challenges faced by autistic individuals and their families. He also talks about the impact of autism on family life, the intersectionality of being autistic and LGBTQ+, and the importance of continued advocacy and education in ensuring equality and acceptance for autistic people.

Find all the information on the upcoming Autism Europe International Congress, taking place in Dublin from 11th-13th September 2025, here: https://autismcongress2025.org/

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and Welcoming

03:36 Early Childhood and Autism Diagnosis

04:58 Challenges in School and Social Life

06:51 Transition to Mainstream Education

09:16 Adolescence and Self-Advocacy

11:48 Founding 'As I Am' and Advocacy Work

13:44 Progress and Challenges in Autism Awareness

15:24 Autism Friendly Communities

21:19 The Importance of Data and Diagnosis

26:33 Support for Non-Verbal Autistic Individuals

28:39 Resources and Future Plans

29:14 Funding Challenges and Community Support

30:08 Addressing Misinformation About Autism

30:43 Public Attitudes and International Perspectives

34:43 Mental Health and Autism

35:57 Structural Discrimination in Healthcare

39:24 Personal Experiences with Autism

41:27 Financial Strain on Families

43:43 Supporting Autistic Families and Friends

44:59 Assessment and Diagnosis of Autism

46:01 Debunking Myths About Autism

47:58 Genetics and Autism

48:31 Intersectionality: Autism and LGBTQ+

51:17 Corporate Support and Advocacy

53:07 Upcoming Autism Europe Congress

54:12 Final Thoughts and Advice

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Description:

In this inspiring episode, Nicola shares her personal journey from being an anxious child and teacher to becoming a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) therapist. She explains the core principles of CBT and how it can help with anxiety, stress, low mood, menopause symptoms, parenting challenges, and more.

Nicola also discusses the power of self-compassion, mindfulness, and resilience, offering practical tips you can apply to everyday life. Whether you’re managing daily stressors, navigating parenting, or seeking strategies for better mental health, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you lead a healthier, more balanced life.

Key Topics:

Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction and Welcoming Nicola

00:06 – Understanding CBT: Basics and Personal Experiences

02:18 – From Teacher to Therapist: Nicola’s Journey

06:00 – CBT Applications: Anxiety, Parenting, and More

06:37 – CBT for Menopause: Managing Symptoms and Strategies

09:13 – Techniques for Brain Health and Cognitive Function

12:33 – Practical CBT Techniques for Everyday Challenges

22:20 – Managing Sleep and Pain with CBT

34:57 – Addressing Libido and Relationship Dynamics

38:04 – Balancing Life’s Demands

38:50 – The Importance of Self-Care

39:52 – Navigating Relationships and Communication

43:48 – Understanding CBT and Low Mood

50:56 – Parent-Led CBT for Children

57:17 – Addressing Bullying and Anxiety in Children

01:09:38 – Building Resilience and Authenticity

01:14:37 – Final Thoughts and Advice

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when grief collides with a broken mental health system? In this raw and powerful conversation, Mary Ann Kenny shares the devastating journey that began when her husband died suddenly, leaving her alone with two young children. What followed was unimaginable - a psychotic episode triggered by medication side effects that led to her hospitalisation and a harrowing fight to keep her children.

Mary Ann reveals with striking clarity how a single "false confession" made under duress transformed her from grieving mother to perceived threat, resulting in her children being placed on an at-risk register until adulthood. Her account of being questioned by teams of professionals without therapeutic support, experiencing severe physical suffering that went untreated, and fighting to reclaim her identity as a mother challenges everything we believe about mental healthcare.

What makes this conversation extraordinary is Mary Ann's ability to articulate her experience of psychosis from the inside - the delusional conviction of guilt she developed, her eventual recovery, and her painstaking work to understand what happened by obtaining her medical records. Beyond the trauma, this is ultimately a story of incredible resilience, as Marianne not only recovered but transformed her experience into her memoir "The Episode."

This discussion goes far beyond a personal story to expose critical gaps in mental healthcare and question how we support those experiencing psychosis. For anyone who has faced mental health challenges, supported someone through crisis, or simply believes in more compassionate care, Marianne's journey offers profound insights into the human capacity to shatter and rebuild. Her voice speaks not just for herself, but for countless others who haven't found the words to tell their stories.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Journalist and beauty editor Edwina Ings-Chambers shares her refreshingly honest take on body image and the concept of body ownership rather than confidence. She opens up about feeling she's never had full agency over her body, even when slim, and how menopause has brought both new challenges and unexpected freedom.

Key Points:

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

Cancer has overtaken cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death in Ireland, yet our mortality rates are falling faster than anywhere else in Europe. What's driving this paradox? Professor Deirdre Murray, Director of the National Cancer Registry of Ireland, pulls back the curtain on how cancer data is transforming healthcare in this country.

Every year, the Registry captures data on approximately 24,000 new invasive cancer cases, plus 11,000 skin cancers. While this might sound alarming, Murray explains how this comprehensive collection method actually provides Ireland with more accurate statistics compared to countries that only sample portions of their population. The registry tracks three vital metrics: incidence rates, mortality figures, and survival statistics – all essential for effective cancer control.

The conversation takes fascinating turns through Ireland's screening programmes, where cervical screening has already begun reducing cancer incidence, and the revolutionary impact of the HPV vaccine, which is projected to make cervical cancer a rare disease by 2040. Murray dismantles common misconceptions about cancer, explaining why most patients are over 60 despite media portrayals focusing on younger patients, and why early diagnosis remains so crucial: "The earlier you go to get things checked out, the earlier the stage you are diagnosed, the less treatment you're going to need."

Perhaps most striking is Murray's revelation about Ireland's technological challenges. Despite being a tech-literate nation, Ireland ranks last among 22 developed countries for health digital policy and data linkages. With over 800 different systems operating across our public health sector alone, the fragmentation prevents the seamless information flow that could transform cancer care. As Murray puts it, "My local Tesco knows more about me than my local hospital does."

Whether you're concerned about cancer risk factors, curious about screening programmes, or interested in how data shapes healthcare policy, this episode offers invaluable insights into the present and future of cancer control in Ireland. Listen now to understand the remarkable progress we've made and the challenges that still lie ahead.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

Dr Natasha Langan, a chartered clinical psychologist and accredited psychosexual therapist, explores how childhood sexual abuse impacts intimacy, and how ADHD in women can increase vulnerability to traumatic relationships and sexual exploitation.

• Women with ADHD face higher rates of sexual victimization, unplanned pregnancies, and relationship dissatisfaction
• Trauma includes both major events (sexual assault) and smaller experiences that accumulate over time (public humiliation, feeling "different")
• Shame plays a central role in both ADHD and sexual trauma, creating beliefs that "something is wrong with me"
• Compassion-focused therapy helps address shame by understanding our "tricky brains" that evolved for survival, not happiness
• Vaginismus involves involuntary pelvic floor muscle spasms making penetration painful or impossible
• Women's pain has historically been dismissed by healthcare providers, creating barriers to proper treatment
• Sexual healing requires broadening ideas about what constitutes sex beyond penetration
• A multidisciplinary approach combining physiotherapy, psychology, and sometimes medical care is most effective
• Sexual health is a fundamental human right that includes pleasure, not just prevention of STIs or pregnancy

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

Navigating separation and divorce is emotionally charged and legally complex, requiring careful consideration of finances, children’s needs, and your own well-being throughout the process. Family law solicitor Hilary O’Connor offers clear guidance on managing this challenging life transition.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

Dr. Darragh McCashin joins us to explore how the online world affects our boys' mental, emotional and social development, offering insights on navigating digital challenges while supporting healthy masculinity.

• Different responses to toxic online content: some boys consume and ignore, others parrot without understanding, some believe and embody, and some gradually adopt beliefs over time
• Research shows social media bans don't reduce overall usage—children simply "make up for lost time" outside restricted hours
• Critical digital literacy is more effective than restriction, teaching young people to recognize manipulation and question sources
• The term "toxic masculinity" can be counterproductive, potentially pathologizing boyhood itself
• "Pre-bunking" techniques can help children identify misinformation patterns before encountering them
• Open conversations about masculinity provide space for boys to develop healthy perspectives
• Screen time is less important than what it's replacing—sleep, physical activity, in-person social connections
• Collaborative approaches to setting digital boundaries work better than unilateral restrictions
• The psychological impact of digital communication patterns on Gen Z's workplace preferences and social interactions
• Prevention strategies for online harms must consider individual differences and family dynamics

Check out the Anti-Bullying Centre website and search "Masculinity Influencers" for free resources to help navigate these conversations with the young people in your life.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

Rereleasing this podcast as it was so popular and really demystified genital health!

Dr. Aisling Loy, consultant in genitourinary medicine, debunks common misconceptions about sexual health and provides practical advice on addressing genital concerns with compassion and expertise.

In this episode, we explore some of the most common myths and overlooked truths in vaginal and sexual health. From the misdiagnosis of chronic candida to the effects of grooming habits on vulval skin, we discuss how everyday routines can impact intimate wellbeing. We cover the sharp rise in STI rates among young women, the importance of HPV vaccination for both boys and girls, and why regular testing is essential, even when there are no symptoms. We also look at conditions such as bacterial vaginosis and herpes, and how changes in condom use are influencing infection rates, all through the lens of the vaginal microbiome.

Book your STI screening at guideclinic.ie or sticlinicdublin.ie. Home testing kits are available through SH24.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

Niamh Tallon, founder of Her Sport, is on a mission to change how we see women in sport through media coverage, education, and challenging the gender gap that exists across all levels of sport.

• One in five girls drop out of sport between primary and secondary school compared to one in twenty boys
• 94% of women in executive managerial positions have a background in sport, showing the professional benefits of athletic participation
• Body image concerns, period stigma, and lack of appropriate facilities are major barriers for female athletes
• Female athletes face disproportionate focus on their appearance rather than their performance in media coverage
• Her Sport has featured over 900 different female athletes, creating visibility and representation across all sports
• Women's teams at all levels frequently receive less resources, poorer facilities, and fewer opportunities than male counterparts
• The Her Sport Foundation provides workshops, grants, and advocacy to support female athletes from grassroots to high performance

Our vision is equal opportunity in sport, regardless of gender. Support female athletes by following Her Sport, joining our MVP platform, or getting in touch at hello@hersport.ie.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

Vicki Notaro shares her journey from leading magazine editor to successful novelist with two published books and a third on the way. She discusses how she always knew she wanted to be childless by choice and normalizing this decision for women.

• Moving from journalism to fiction writing after experiencing burnout in the publishing industry
• Finding medication helpful for managing anxiety and prioritizing mental health
• Being offered a publishing deal from Penguin at the perfect moment after leaving her job
• Drawing inspiration from growing up as an only child and her fascination with friendship dynamics
• Creating characters in her novels who reflect aspects of her personality and experiences
• Exploring the theme of being childless by choice in her debut novel "Reality Check"
• Finding inspiration from authors like Marion Keys, Judy Blume, and Jackie Collins
• How her second novel "Long Story" explores the complexities of long-term friendships
• Valuing real connection over constant social media engagement

If you like this podcast and I know so many of you do, you could really help me out by giving it a nice rating, sharing it with your friends and subscribing to the podcast.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

Ophthalmic surgeon Dr. Micheál O'Rourke takes us through the fascinating world of eye health, sharing insights from cataracts and macular degeneration to aesthetic procedures and vision preservation.

• Eyes constantly move and blink even during sleep, requiring high energy and thin skin for optimal function
• Cataracts are an inevitable part of aging, involving protein misalignment in the lens requiring surgical removal and prosthetic lens replacement
• Macular degeneration comes in dry (less treatable) and wet (treatable with injections) forms that affect central vision but preserve peripheral sight
• Blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery) is becoming popular at younger ages, removing excess skin around the eyes for a refreshed appearance
• Women experience a dramatic drop in tear production during menopause, making HRT one of the most effective treatments for menopausal dry eye
• Increased screen time reduces our blink rate and contributes to vision problems including the evolutionary shift toward myopia in children
• Thyroid eye disease primarily affects young women, causing protruding eyes and altered appearance that can be addressed with surgery
• Eye floaters result from changes in the eye's jelly-like vitreous humor and should be evaluated if they suddenly increase or appear with flashing lights
• The eye cannot be temporarily removed during surgery as once believed, as nerve tissue damage is permanent

For more eye health insights, follow proper eye protection practices, get regular check-ups, and be aware of symptoms that might indicate serious conditions.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

Sinéad Hingston-Green shares her heartbreaking journey of losing her husband Jeff while 19 weeks pregnant and how she rebuilt her life through grief, motherhood, and eventually finding love again. Her powerful story illustrates how we can honor those we've lost while still embracing new beginnings and finding purpose in our pain.

• Sinead's husband Jeff died suddenly during a boat trip in Portugal when she was 19 weeks pregnant
• The traumatic experience of witnessing his medical emergency and the aftermath of being kept away from him
• Challenges of bringing Jeff's body home to Ireland and navigating funeral arrangements while pregnant
• Birth complications resulting in severe physical trauma alongside the emotional trauma of grief
• Finding love again with Michael ("Green") two years after Jeff's death
• Balancing honoring Jeff's memory while building a new life and blended family
• Multiple pregnancy losses before having their third child, which led to creating the "Spark a Life" initiative
• The importance of finding the right grief counsellor and support system
• How Ireland's culture handles funerals well but struggles with long-term grief support
• Advice on trusting that your power is in your reaction to life's challenges

Join Sinead on the Camino walk this September with Good Grief, her initiative to help others through grief by creating community and understanding.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

James Green's honest conversation reveals how movement and authenticity can transform both physical and mental wellbeing. His personal journey through chronic illness, grief, and sexuality creates a powerful narrative about finding strength in vulnerability.

• Athletic therapy specializes in musculoskeletal care, focusing on injury assessment and rehabilitation
• Most effective rehabilitation comes from education and rebuilding strength rather than passive treatments
• Progressive overload through increased weight, reps, or time under tension is key for continued strength gains
• Exercise significantly benefits chronic illness management beyond physical improvements
• Living with ulcerative colitis taught James how to navigate triggers while maintaining quality of life
• Losing his sister at age 27 forced a reevaluation of priorities and authentic living
• Coming out as gay after years of hiding brought tremendous relief and freedom
• Sports and fitness environments can perpetuate homophobic attitudes through casual language and locker room culture
• Teaching cadaveric anatomy provided unique perspective on mortality and human individuality
• Life's meaning ultimately comes down to loving and being loved by those closest to us

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

"What if your darkest moment became the catalyst for your greatest transformation?"

This question lies at the heart of my profound conversation with Niall Harbison, whose remarkable journey from corporate success to rock-bottom alcoholism to purposeful revival might just change your perspective on what truly matters in life.

Niall's story begins as a private chef for billionaires aboard luxury yachts, where million-dollar fuel bills and private jets delivering Italian cheese were commonplace. He witnessed firsthand the hollow nature of extreme wealth before returning to Dublin to build his own successful businesses. Yet beneath this veneer of achievement lurked depression, anxiety, and a growing dependence on alcohol.

When COVID struck, Niall's life spiraled into a six-week bender in Thailand that nearly killed him. Lying in a hospital bed, certain he was dying, he experienced a revelation that would transform everything: the corporate success, social media followers, and material possessions he'd chased meant absolutely nothing. What flashed through his mind instead were simple moments of childhood joy and connection.

That rock-bottom moment became what Niall now calls "the best thing in my life." Upon recovery, he discovered purpose in rescuing Thailand's street dogs. What began as feeding a few hungry canines has expanded into a charity that feeds 1,200 dogs daily, performs thousands of sterilizations monthly, and has built a hospital named after Tina, a special rescue who lived just six months in freedom after a lifetime of abuse.

Niall's transformation at age 41 stands as powerful testament that it's never too late to reinvent yourself. His advice resonates with brutal honesty: "Follow your own path. Take risks. You don't have to do the life that's mapped out for you."

Whether you're questioning your purpose or just need a reminder of what truly matters, this conversation might be exactly what you need to hear. Subscribe now and join the thousands finding inspiration in these authentic human stories of transformation.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a text

From Being Dismissed by Doctors to Revolutionising Menopause Care in Ireland – Loretta Dingham’s Journey Is One Every Woman Needs to Hear

When Loretta experienced her first hot flushes after her periods stopped at age 49, she thought she must be the youngest woman in Ireland to go through the menopause. Little did she know that the constellation of symptoms she had battled throughout her 40s – headaches that led to brain scans, recurrent urinary tract infections, dry eyes that landed her in A&E three times, weight gain, and skin breakouts – were all connected to perimenopause, a term she had never even heard before.

After years of medical gaslighting and being told she was simply “having a bad run of things,” Loretta decided to take matters into her own hands. Her frustration turned into determination after meeting a successful professional woman who had been suffering with menopausal symptoms for over a decade without knowing where to turn.

Within months, Loretta founded The Menopause Hub – Ireland’s first dedicated menopause clinic – long before celebrity campaigns and public discourse made menopause a mainstream topic. What began as a personal mission has become a nationwide movement.

Today, The Menopause Hub provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary care through clinics in Dublin and Cork, with virtual consultations available across the country. But Loretta’s vision goes well beyond clinical care. Through The Menopause Hub Academy, she is transforming workplaces to better support women going through the menopause, aiming to halt the alarming exodus of experienced female talent from the workforce.

Her pioneering efforts have not gone unnoticed. Loretta was recently recognised by Forbes as one of their Top 50 Over 50, honouring her groundbreaking work and continued advocacy.

In this eye-opening conversation, Loretta discusses the barriers women still face in accessing proper menopause care, the life-changing benefits of personalised treatment, and her campaign for free women’s health checks. Her message is clear and urgent: women deserve better, and no one should suffer in silence.

Whether you're navigating menopause yourself or supporting someone who is, this episode is filled with invaluable insights into reclaiming your vitality and advocating for your health. Subscribe now and share this conversation with every woman in your life.

Thanks for Listening!

You can watch the full episode on YouTube [here].

Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review – it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.