Feelgood 30-09-2011

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Feelgood

Friday, September 30, 2011

Veg out in the kitchen Campaigning TV cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall gives meat the chop in his latest book: 4, 5

RESTING PLACE

New hospice allows children to spend ďŹ nal days in peace: 8, 9

Picture: Getty Images

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SWEET PRESERVES Eight fruit jams put to the taste test: 12

COVER UP

Top moisturisers to weather-proof your skin: 14

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2 News front Kate O’Reilly WHAT’S ON ■ CORK PAST: Celebrating Cork Past is an annual family heritage festival which takes place today in the Millennium Hall, City Hall, Cork from 10am to 8pm.

Over 40 heritage organisations for the city and country will showcase the history and culture of their local area at this free event.

■ POSITIVE AGEING: The central aim of Positive Ageing Week is to dispel the negative perceptions that surround ageing and to transform attitudes towards ageing and older people. This is the ninth year that Age Action has marked UN International Day of Older Persons (tomorrow) and more than 1,000 events have been planned for the week which ends on Sunday. See ageaction.ie.

■ TREE DAY: Tree Day which will take place on October 6, is a Tree Council of Ireland initiative which aims to educate primary school children about the importance of trees and forests in Ireland.

The website www.treeday.ie has been developed to provide teachers and parents with the tools to engage children with the importance of trees and forests in a fun and meaningful way. On Tree Day, schools can also take the opportunity to participate in guided woodland walks at over 120 locations.

■ SOMALIA HEAL-ATHON: A heal-athon in aid of the crisis in Somalia will take place at the Clarion Hotel, Cork on Sunday from 10.30am to 6pm. IET, reiki, reflexology, massage, EFT and card readings are among the treatments which will be available by donation. For further details contact Gretta 086-8347729 or www.alchemygretta.com.

■ RETINAL RESEARCH: Irish charity Fighting Blindness will hold its AGM at the Gresham Hotel, Dublin tomorrow starting at 1pm. The meeting will begin with a public discussion by world experts on retinal research, to which all are welcome. For more information visit www.fightingblindness.ie.

■ DENTAL ROADSHOW: The Colgate Roadshow will be in SuperValu Carrigaline, Cork, today offering visitors the chance to talk to oral health experts and brush up on their oral health. The toothpaste manufacturer’s roadshow will also be at Dunnes, City Square, Waterford on Sunday. Visit www.colgate.ie for more details.

■ HEART CLINIC: The Irish Heart Foundation will hold free blood pressure and cholesterol testing clinics at the Irish Heart Foundation Office, 42 Penrose Wharf in Cork from 10am to noon on Tuesday (October 4) and in Midleton at the Family Resource Centre on Wednesday from 2.30pm to 4pm. For details call 021-4505822 or contact the Helpline 1890-432787.

■ Friends of Breastfeeding are co-ordinating the Irish leg of the World Breastfeeding Challenge tomorrow. Participants can meet at Citywest Shopping Centre, Dublin; Mahon Point Shopping Centre, Cork; Cafe4U, The Bridge Shopping Centre, Tullamore, Co Offaly. Registration from 9.30am. Latch on is at 11am sharp. See: www.friendsofbreastfeeding.ie ● Items for inclusion in this column can be sent to koreilly8@gmail.com

FeelgoodMag

Feelgood

FeelgoodMag

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Smokers could lose up to one third of their everyday memory, research has found. Arlene Harris reports on a new study

It’s a no brainer S

TUDENTS who smoke often rely on a restorative cigarette before heading into a stressful exam, but if new reports are to be believed — those last-minute puffs could be hindering their ability to remember vital facts.

A study from the University of Northumbria has revealed smokers could lose up to one third of their everyday memory.

The research, which involved 70 people aged 18 to 25 was led by Dr Tom Heffernan who said the findings could help further educate people about the dangers of smoking. “We already know that giving up smoking has huge health benefits for the body, but this study also shows how stopping smoking can have knock-on benefits for cognitive functions too,” he said.

Dr Dennis Eustace runs a memory clinic at Highfield Hospital in Dublin. He specialises in cognitive function and says while he has yet to be convinced smoking actively affects memory, there could be physiological reasons why this might happen.

“Everyone knows the negative physical side effects of smoking and we know smokers will eventually get hypertension and a hardening of their arteries which weighs heavily on brain function. Smoking is not good for the brain — or any part of the body — that is a fact we can be sure about.

“Unfortunately there is no tried and tested treatment for preventing memory loss or the onset of dementia but it is all about sense and sensibility,” he continues. “Keep-

IT’S A DRAG: Over 25% of Irish people smoke. It not only damages their health but it can also lead to cognitive impairment.

Picture: iStock

ing a healthy mind for longer can be achieved by the same means as keeping a healthy body — maintain a good diet and lifestyle, get involved in moderate daily exercise, cut down on alcohol and quit smoking.

“If you have a history of early-onset dementia or Alzheimer’s, make your family doctor aware of it.”

According to ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) over a quarter of the Irish population is addicted to cigarettes and although that figure has been dramatically reduced in recent times, there is still a long way to go.

“Over 25% of Irish people smoke,” says a spokesman. “This is considerably better than it was before the ban, when half of the pop-

ulation was smoking, but levels have become stagnant in recent times. Hopefully studies like this (Northumbrian research) and the message from the HSE that one-in-two smokers will die from smoking-related diseases, will encourage more people to quit the habit.

“If that isn’t enough, a leaked document from Philip Morris tobacco company to the Czech government (written in 2001) which claimed that smokers will lose at least five years from their lives, should also help people to make the decision to give up.” ● National Smokers Quitline — 1850 201 203 or visit www.ash.ie

HEALTH NOTES HONEY FOR MONEY: Amy Purcell from Kildare, David Wallace, Munster and Ireland international rugby player and David O’Brien from Glasnevin help launch Down Syndrome Ireland annual Boyne Valley Honey Days campaign. Picture:

DOWN Syndrome Ireland annual Boyne Valley Honey Days campaign, runs throughout the month of October. Support the charity by picking up a mini Boyne Valley Honey pot, on sale for €2 from volunteers nationwide. You can also help the campaign online by purchasing a virtual Honey pot at www.downsyndrome.ie or text Honey to 57252.

Down Syndrome Ireland’s services are 95% funded by the public. All monies raised will go directly to support vital local and national services, including a new nationwide literacy programme for adults with Down syndrome that is launching this autumn.

Can’t get through he day without a coffee fix? Here’s another good reason to keep up the habit: it can lower the risk of depression.

Harvard University researchers found that women who drank two to three cups of caffeinated coffee a day had a 15% lower risk of becoming depressed than those who did not drink it. It got even better: those who sipped there way through four or more cups a day had a 20% lower risk.

“Our results support a possible protective effect of caffeine, mainly from coffee consumption, on risk of depression,” the researchers reported this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The team trekked more than 50,000 participants in the US Nurses Health Study for 10 years. www.irishexaminer.com www.irishexaminer.com

Mark.Maxwell

Irish people would prefer to eat a piece of fruit with their elevenses cup of tea than a chocolate bar or bacon sandwich.

The Red C research, commissioned by Lyons Tea, found that more than one in three (38%) of Irish tea drinkers opt for a small snack such as a biscuit to accompany their tea but surprisingly 25% of our tea-drinking nation claim to eat nothing at all.

The research also revealed that 40% regularly make homemade treats for share with others during their tea break and when focusing on the under 24s, this figure jumps to one in two.

www.irishexaminer.com feelgood@examiner.ie

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Recent surveys have shown that just under half of sexually active young people surveyed have had unprotected sex with a new partner.

To mark World Contraception Day on Monday, Bayer Healthcare has launched an iPhone app, which will discreetly remind you to take your daily Pill.

The Pill Reminder app is a free and easy to use and is designed for use with combined oral contraceptive pills. Helpful features include daily reminders, a customised reminder time, counting remaining pills in your pack.

The App is available from the App Store.

Editorial: 021 4802 292

Advertising: 021 4802 215

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In Profile

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THE SHAPE I'M IN

Eamon Lawlor

In sound health

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TÉ Lyric FM presenter Eamonn Lawlor is a patron of the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year competition, which takes place over two dates in early October.

Eamonn, who presents The Lyric Concert from Monday to Thursday — as well as the regular Friday night RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra concerts live from the National Concert Hall — is proud to be a patron of the Young Musician of the Year competition.

“RTÉ had a Young Musician of the Future competition up to about 11 years ago but it fell victim to budgetary constraints. A couple of years ago, the Masons came to us, wanting to fill the gap. They were thinking of the same type of young performer, who was in third level education and on the verge of a performing career. It fitted perfectly with something we wanted to go back to,” says Eamonn, who celebrates his 60th birthday next month.

One of Ireland’s best-known news and current affairs broadcasters, Eamonn was European Correspondent for RTÉ for 10 years and also presented Six One news and Prime Time.

“I miss the exciting bits of doing current affairs. I don’t miss the waiting around for it to get exciting. I’m very happy with what I do now,” says the Westmeath-born man, who has been married to Marie for 36 years — the couple have one son, Edward.

■ The Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year competition takes place as follows: Semi-Finals – Thursday, October 6 (1.30pm and 7pm); Finals – Saturday, October 8 (7.30pm). Venue is Freemasons’ Hall, 17 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.

What shape are you in?

I wish you’d asked me two months ago — right now I’m still in my post-summer holiday slippage period. I very successfully got my weight down in the early part of the year to the weight I’d been in my 40s. It’s still down but it has crept up more than I like.

Do you have any health concerns?

Not particularly, touch wood.

What are your healthiest eating habits?

I eat very little meat of any kind. I eat a lot of salads and fresh vegetables. I could easily be vegetarian. When I was first working for Lyric, I lived in Limerick and Tipperary Monday to Friday and as an experiment I was vegetarian and tee-total five days a week. It left me with no difficulty around doing without meat.

weeping but the tear ducts have always functioned well.

There was a bereavement in the last few years. I can cry over big and little things. I often go misty-eyed at opera.

What would you change about your appearance?

I’d like a full head of good hair and I’d like to be as thin in the face as I am in the rest of my body.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Placido Domingo because — though I hugely admire him — he would go out of his way not to make me feel small. And George Bush junior, but I wouldn’t have the two at the same dinner party. Bush and I wouldn’t agree on anything but I think I’d really like him.

What’s your favourite smell?

Old-fashioned roses.

What trait do you least like in others?

A bullying nature — people who get their way by shouting louder and longer than others.

What trait do you least like in yourself?

I wish I was better at seeing when I’m in danger of getting so carried away in my own enthusiasm that I steamroll over other people’s opinions, scruples and doubts.

Do you pray?

I meditate, which is not the same thing though it’s close.

What would cheer up your day?

Meeting someone unexpectedly.

MUSIC MAN: Lyric FM presenter Eamon Lawlor is battling to lose the pounds he piled on during his summer holidays.

Earlier in the year he reached his ideal weight.

The

Feel Good Personals FOR COST EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING Phone: LORI FRASER Tel. 021-4802265 Fax 021-4273846 lori.fraser@examiner.ie

ARTHRITIS IRELAND CORK BRANCH Ms Simone Sheehan Senior Occupational Therapist Bon Secours Hospital will talk on Occupational Therapy and Arthritis Wednesday, 5th October, at 8pm Brú Columbanus Cardinal Way, Wilton All Welcome Tel: 086

2676717

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE ADVERTISING

Target more females in Munster and Cork than any other daily newspaper.

To reach them, advertise in ‘Feelgood’.

Call Lori Fraser

Tel: 021 4802265 lori.fraser@examiner.ie

Helen O’Callaghan

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What’s your guiltiest pleasure?

If I do eat meat, fat is no problem. I’ll have pork belly, rashers, the fatty bits of duck. The vegetarian in me is revolted but something primeval makes me eat it. I also love butter.

What would keep you awake at night?

Unresolved conflict — going back over something that wasn’t settled during the day.

Something that was said or done that won’t go away, I’d be a bit prone to gnawing away at it during the night. But as you get older, you become better at putting problems in context and taking a longer view. In my late 30s and early 40s, I’d have been aware of good and bad days — it’s much more even nowadays.

How do you relax?

I walk every day. I also do long-distance walking as often as I can. I get away once a year for a big walk of several days.

When did you last cry?

It happens quite a lot — not self-indulgent

Feelgood

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Outdoorsy, earnest and frighteningly self-sufficient, cook and food campaigner Hugh World Vegetarian Day 2011 Sunday, October 2. ● For Irish events see: www.vegetarian.ie.

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So Hugh is

ADIATING a healthy vitamin-induced glow, Mr River Cottage, aka Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall slurps happily on a fruity smoothie.

Looking tanned, slim and smartly groomed (those trademark curly locks were snipped off months ago), his three-month old vegetarian diet is clearly working wonders.

“I think this is the result of longer than that actually,” he says, referring to his overtly rude health. “The cookbook’s been more than a year in the making, although I officially went veggie when I started filming the TV series at the start of the summer.”

He’s certainly on form to beat off any criticisms his latest venture, River Cottage Veg, might elicit.

Since June, the TV chef ’s been cooking up meat-free meals, to prove to himself, and viewers, that veggie cooking is no dull alternative.

“I’ve always promoted eating more vegetables. In fact the first line of my meat cookbook says we’re all eating far too much meat,” says the cook defensively, in response to any critics who may point out that, conversely, he’s just spent the last year encouraging the public to eat sustainable fish, such as sardines, herring and mackerel, as part of his Fish Fight campaign.

“This book is the natural companion to all those campaigns,” he explains, also referring to Chicken Out, the free-range farming initiative he began three years ago.

While Fearnley-Whittingstall’s not claiming to have converted to vegetarianism forever, he is hoping his latest endeavour will encourage people to cook more veg.

“But it’s not a new soap box. I just hope if I put the book and TV series out there, they will percolate into peoples’ cooking long-term.”

Without being “too po-faced about it” Fearnley-Whittingstall says he’s keen for our culinary culture to evolve.

“We’ve got the balance fundamentally wrong and I think in our heart of hearts we all know that. We need to raise a generation of cooks for whom vegetables are their first stop and everything else comes after that.

“When we have meat and fish, it should be a wonderful treat once or twice a week.”

While his River Cottage may have a freezer full of home-reared meat, Fearnley-Whittingstall’s been serving up beetroot salads instead.

“One of the hits of the summer were the deep fried courgette flowers. The kids loved them,” he says.

But “easy wins” such as deep-frying veggies and adding cheese are not the only way to make veg delicious, he adds. The best way is to treat them like meat.

“Burning vegetables is a really good idea.

Not to a cinder, but by grilling, roasting, barbecuing, and getting those crispy chargrilled edges. It creates a whole new flavour because it burns the sugars.

“If you fry courgettes in olive oil, perhaps with a touch of garlic and chilli, you’ll get a lovely savoury exterior and the inside remains very tender and yielding, as if it’s been steamed.”

Feelgood

Top veggie cooking tips ■ Become Enlightened!

Put three or four different veggie dishes on the table, so none are dominant. They’ll get passed around, shared and you’ll discover a new approach to eating.

■ Let The Pulses In Have a reasonable store cupboard of pulses.

Popping open a tin of chickpeas can turn a simple dish into a hearty meal.

■ Buy Whole Seeds Cumin, coriander, caraway and fennel seeds are actually still alive, just dormant. You could sow them in your garden. Grind them to release their aromatics, rather than buying pre-ground spices.

And unlike meat, all vegetables should be served up equally.

“Meat is quite tyrannical. It sits in the middle of the plate and demands your attention.

Vegetable cooking is more democratic.

“Just think of a salad with courgettes, beans, leaves, tomatoes and tahini dressing — none are the vital ingredient, they blend together and each bit delivers, so it’s important to encourage this balance in your vegetarian cooking.”

While he’s expecting a certain amount of stick for his apparent U-turn on eating meat, the cook has little time for veggie prejudice by mainstream chefs.

“I think it’s a slightly male thing, ‘Yeah let’s get the vegetarians’. You know, ‘If you’ve never eaten a raw steak or bleeding grouse, you haven’t lived’. It’s nonsense, macho posturing.

“It’s also a sign of weakness. If you have to attack a whole area of cooking, it’s not very grown-up. So let’s not make this an ascetic, do-goody thing, let’s make it an enjoyable feast.” ● River Cottage Veg Everyday by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is published by Bloomsbury, €26.99. Available now

MEAT OUT: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is vegging out with his latest cookery book.

Picture: PA

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A no-meat lifestyle

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Fearnley-Whittingstall tells Sarah O’Meara why he’s turned his back on meat

for veg then?

Raid-the-larder bean and spelt broth

(Serves 2) 750ml vegetable stock 50g pearled spelt (or pearl barley) A few leaves of cabbage, kale or greens, or a couple of handfuls of spinach, washed 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced 100g frozen peas or petits pois 400g tin cannellini or other white beans, drained and rinsed Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Extra virgin olive oil

Red cabbage, parsnip, orange and date salad (Serves 2) 1 large or 2 small oranges ¼ small red cabbage, core removed, finely shredded 1 small-medium parsnip, peeled and coarsely grated 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 dates, stones removed, sliced A couple of sprigs of thyme, leaves only, chopped Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Slice the top and bottom from the orange.

Stand it upright on a board and work your way around it with a sharp knife, cutting off the skin and all the pith.

Cut out the segments from between the membranes, working over a bowl to save the juice, letting the segments fall into the bowl. When you’ve finished, squeeze the juice from the remaining membrane into the bowl too.

Put the finely shredded cabbage and grated parsnip into another bowl, add most of the orange juice (not the segments yet) and trickle over the olive oil.

Add a little salt and pepper, toss the lot together with your hands, then transfer to serving plates. Scatter the orange segments and date slices over the red cabbage and parsnip, then finish with a scattering of thyme.

Serve straight away.

Spiced spinach and potatoes (Serves 4) 400g waxy or new potatoes 400g spinach, stripped of any coarse stems 2tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil 1 onion, thinly sliced 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 1tsp freshly grated ginger 2tsp garam masala 2-3tbsp double cream or coconut cream (optional) Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Halve or quarter larger potatoes so that all the pieces are roughly the same size. Put into a saucepan, cover with water, add salt and bring to the boil.

Simmer for eight to 12 minutes, until tender. Drain. (You can use leftover cooked potatoes for this dish too.) Wash the spinach thoroughly, then pack it, with just

Feelgood

Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan. Add the spelt (or barley), reduce the heat and

simmer until almost tender, (this should take about 15 minutes, or a bit longer for barley). Meanwhile, remove any tough stalks or ribs from the greens or spinach and shred the leaves roughly. Add the carrot, peas and beans to the broth.

Once it returns to a simmer, add the greens or spinach and cook for a further two to three minutes, until just tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then ladle into bowls. Finish with a generous trickle of olive oil and serve.

YOUR MYSTERY PAIN COULD HAVE A NAME

the water that clings to it, into a saucepan.

Cover and put over a medium heat until the spinach has wilted in its own liquid — just a few minutes.

Drain and leave in a colander until cool enough to handle, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can with your hands.

Chop the spinach roughly.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently sweat the onion for 10 minutes or so, until soft.

Add the garlic, chilli, ginger and garam masala. Cook for a couple of minutes more, then thickly slice the potatoes into the pan.

Cook for a couple of minutes before adding the chopped spinach and cook briefly to warm through.

The dish is lovely like this, or you can make it a little richer and more luxurious by stirring in the double cream or coconut cream with the spinach. Either way, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

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Burning pain

Crawling pain

Stabbing pain

Shocking pain

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND SUPPORT VISIT

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

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A no-meat lifestyle

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5

Fearnley-Whittingstall tells Sarah O’Meara why he’s turned his back on meat

for veg then?

Raid-the-larder bean and spelt broth

(Serves 2) 750ml vegetable stock 50g pearled spelt (or pearl barley) A few leaves of cabbage, kale or greens, or a couple of handfuls of spinach, washed 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced 100g frozen peas or petits pois 400g tin cannellini or other white beans, drained and rinsed Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Extra virgin olive oil

Red cabbage, parsnip, orange and date salad (Serves 2) 1 large or 2 small oranges ¼ small red cabbage, core removed, finely shredded 1 small-medium parsnip, peeled and coarsely grated 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 dates, stones removed, sliced A couple of sprigs of thyme, leaves only, chopped Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Slice the top and bottom from the orange.

Stand it upright on a board and work your way around it with a sharp knife, cutting off the skin and all the pith.

Cut out the segments from between the membranes, working over a bowl to save the juice, letting the segments fall into the bowl. When you’ve finished, squeeze the juice from the remaining membrane into the bowl too.

Put the finely shredded cabbage and grated parsnip into another bowl, add most of the orange juice (not the segments yet) and trickle over the olive oil.

Add a little salt and pepper, toss the lot together with your hands, then transfer to serving plates. Scatter the orange segments and date slices over the red cabbage and parsnip, then finish with a scattering of thyme.

Serve straight away.

Spiced spinach and potatoes (Serves 4) 400g waxy or new potatoes 400g spinach, stripped of any coarse stems 2tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil 1 onion, thinly sliced 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 1tsp freshly grated ginger 2tsp garam masala 2-3tbsp double cream or coconut cream (optional) Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Halve or quarter larger potatoes so that all the pieces are roughly the same size. Put into a saucepan, cover with water, add salt and bring to the boil.

Simmer for eight to 12 minutes, until tender. Drain. (You can use leftover cooked potatoes for this dish too.) Wash the spinach thoroughly, then pack it, with just

Feelgood

Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan. Add the spelt (or barley), reduce the heat and

simmer until almost tender, (this should take about 15 minutes, or a bit longer for barley). Meanwhile, remove any tough stalks or ribs from the greens or spinach and shred the leaves roughly. Add the carrot, peas and beans to the broth.

Once it returns to a simmer, add the greens or spinach and cook for a further two to three minutes, until just tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then ladle into bowls. Finish with a generous trickle of olive oil and serve.

YOUR MYSTERY PAIN COULD HAVE A NAME

the water that clings to it, into a saucepan.

Cover and put over a medium heat until the spinach has wilted in its own liquid — just a few minutes.

Drain and leave in a colander until cool enough to handle, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can with your hands.

Chop the spinach roughly.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently sweat the onion for 10 minutes or so, until soft.

Add the garlic, chilli, ginger and garam masala. Cook for a couple of minutes more, then thickly slice the potatoes into the pan.

Cook for a couple of minutes before adding the chopped spinach and cook briefly to warm through.

The dish is lovely like this, or you can make it a little richer and more luxurious by stirring in the double cream or coconut cream with the spinach. Either way, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

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Burning pain

Crawling pain

Stabbing pain

Shocking pain

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND SUPPORT VISIT

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

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Hormonal imbalance

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Robert Brady has battled pituitary issues since childhood, writes Arlene Harris

No stroll in the park

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OBERT BRADY had always been small for his age and for a while, no-one thought too much about it. By the time he was seven, his six-year-old sister was looking down on him and his five-year-old brother was the same height.

Naturally, his mother was concerned about his lack of development but she assumed he would begin to grow as he got older. However, he also began to experience a host of other symptoms — blurred vision and headaches — over the course of the next few years. When he was 11 years old, she took him to the doctor where he underwent a series of investigative tests.

The results were shocking: a tumour on the pituitary gland.

“I always had stunted growth and was only four stone by the time I was 12 years old,” recalls the Roscommon man, who is now 31.

“When I was young, I lacked energy and would go to bed much earlier than anyone else. Then I started to get headaches when I played football and blurred vision in one of my eyes.

“My mum had been worried about my growth and people kept telling her that I would get bigger when I hit puberty but before I was 12, she took me to the doctor and asked him to do some blood tests. These showed that I had a hormonal imbalance so I was sent to Galway for more tests and a CAT scan. The scan showed up a tumour in the pituitary gland in my brain.”

Robert was put on a growth hormone immediately and then referred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin to await surgery.

“My parents were told the news first and wanted to break it to me in such a way that I would understand,” says Robert. “My father was a long distance lorry driver so I went with him for a drive and I remember him giving me a booklet which explained all about the surgery I would need.

“I didn’t believe that there was anything serious wrong with me and was devastated at the thought of having my head opened up — I said I would rather die than go through surgery.”

But with gentle coaxing, the 12-year-old realised that this was the best solution and agreed to undergo the operation.

“I spent two months in Beaumont having tests and preparing for surgery, then a further month in hospital recovering after the operation,” he says. “I had to learn how to walk again before I was let out and then when I got home, I was very weak for a while and had a seizure not long afterwards which landed me back in hospital. But that was just a side effect of the operation and I was home again before too long.”

The seriousness of Robert’s condition meant he was on continuous medication and had to return to the hospital every six months for tests and MRI scans to ensure the tumour hadn’t returned.

“I was doing very well for the first year or so after surgery. Then when I was about 14, my eyes began to deteriorate and I was sent to have an eye test,” he says.

“This showed up some abnormality so I was sent back for further tests and doctors discovered that the tumour had returned.

“I was absolutely devastated — I had just

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FIGHTING BACK: Robert Brady had tumours on his pituitary gland when he was 12 and 14 years old. He will be on hormone replacement therapy for the rest of his life.

Picture: Andrew Fox

gone into Junior Cert and was busy with school when I was told that I would need another operation on my head. I was so upset and left the room in tears. It was too traumatic for me so I said I just couldn’t go through it again. Luckily, the doctor agreed to let me try a course of radiotherapy.”

So in November 1994, the teenager spent 30 days in Beaumont having radiotherapy and after a Christmas and New Year in hospital, he was discharged.

“The radiotherapy erdicated the tumour and thank God it hasn’t come back since,” he

says. “Now I am on hormone replacement therapy for life and it is a small price to pay for good health. Mind you, a few years ago, I decided I had enough of medicine and stopped taking my pills for a couple of months. That resulted in a relapse where I started having headaches and getting dizzy and disorientated. It was a good lesson to learn, as I now know the benefit of medication.

“Tumours in the pituitary gland are very rare and for years, I knew no-one else who had one. But I contacted an awareness group

Pituitary disease: the facts THE pituitary gland is responsible for the production of hormones necessary for growth, thyroid function, ovarian function, lactation and sperm production.

■ It controls the adrenal gland.

■ It controls our ability to process water — without which we would be constantly dehydrated.

■ It processes messages from the brain and other parts of the body to regulate hormone levels.

■ Pituitary disease can affect anyone of any

age and although there are thousands of sufferers in Ireland, there is no official register.

■ Some of the symptoms of pituitary problems can include: headaches, visual loss, absence of periods, low sperm count, growth failure, over production of breast milk and over production of growth hormone.

■ Treatment includes: medical therapy, surgery and/or radiotherapy. ● If you are worried about pituitary dysfunction, seek medical advice from your GP.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

in Britain and through them, met some people in Ireland who were setting up a support network here. Now I know quite a few people in the same situation and with Pituitary Awareness Week coming up, it will be good to let others know that they are not alone.

“My tumour was caught early and with surgery and medication, I now live a normal, healthy life — I am in a relationship, am working in retail sales and have a good future ahead of me.”

Dr Donal O’Halloran of Cork University Hospital runs one of the two specialist pituitary clinics in the country. He says awareness is vital as the pituitary gland plays an important role in the smooth running of our bodies and if it is not functioning properly, many problems can arise.

“The pituitary gland is a small pea-sized gland at the base of the brain and despite its size, it is the master switchboard for the whole body,” he explains. “It is responsible for the production of vital hormones — which are crucial to the efficient function of the body.

“Awareness of the role of the pituitary gland and the symptoms of its malfunction will help to ensure correct treatment and medication for sufferers of pituitary dysfunction.” ● Pituitary Awareness Weeks runs from October 2 to 8. For more information call 01-2831060 or visit www.pituitary.org.uk

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Psychology

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Sexuality is only a part of our identity and must not be confused with the true self

Not the full story Tony Humphreys

S

EXUALITY belongs to each one of us and is a joy and pleasure when we are emotionally and socially ready for carnal relations. However, while I have sexual energy, I am not my sexuality. This statement can be a source of confusion but actually the real confusion is to enmesh my sexuality with my person.

This is true for all the self-expressions, so it follows that: ■ I have a body but I’m not my body.

■ I have feelings but I’m not my feelings.

■ I have sexual energy but I’m not my sexual energy.

■ I have thoughts but I’m not my thoughts.

■ I engage in behaviours but I’m not my behaviours.

■ I long to belong but I’m not my longings.

■ I create many things but I’m not my creations.

■ I have spiritual experiences but I’m not my spiritual experiences.

The enmeshment with self with any one of its expressions indicates a disconnection from my real self and an obsession or addiction to the particular expression with which I am most identified. So, for example, there are many young and, indeed, older women, who identify with their bodies and go to extremes — cosmetic surgery, strict diet, intense exercise regimens, liposuction — in order to have the ‘perfect’ body. A similar phenomenon is beginning to emerge for young men. Certainly, enjoy your body, look after it, feed it wholesome food, rest it, keep it fit, but all in moderation.

Another example arises with spiritual self-expression. It is wonderful to experience transcendence — a peace and tranquillity, a silence that is timeless — but the danger is when I become addicted to having such experiences I engage in what has become known as spiritual materialism. What transpires is that I neglect all else in pursuit of spiritual ecstasy and lose connection with the true source of spirituality — my unique being.

Similarly, if I feel my sexuality is my way of getting attention in this world or it has become a substitute for the joy of being unconditionally loved, then I become obsessed

Feelgood

with pornography, seduction, orgasm and driven to have sexual conquest after sexual conquest. There is no peace or security when I confuse my person with anything that I feel, think, say and do. Enjoy your sexual energy, share it respectfully with another, but be sure you haven’t lost connection with your authentic self in a sea of sexual obsession.

There is a fundamental belief underpinning the above: it is not what I do or don’t do, it is not with whom I do it or don’t do it, it is who I bring to it. The who — my soul, my deep emotional self — is the crucial issue.

So, if I’m physically hugging someone or sexually engaged with myself or another or expressing a feeling or thinking or talking about a particular idea or cooking a meal or having a relationship with someone or writing a book or engaging in deep meditation, who is present is the essential question.

When I’m separate from all the self-expressions — not identified with any one of them — I am present; when I’m enmeshed with any one or more of the self-expressions, the self is absent, hidden behind the defensive walls of possession, obsession, confusion and unrequited longings.

There are two other confusions to be considered: sexuality with sexual behaviour and sexuality with another’s attraction to you. There exist the protective beliefs that unless somebody finds me sexy then I’m not sexual and if I have not engaged in sexual interaction with another I’m not sexual.

Having been celibate for seven years of my life did not mean I was not sexual. On the contrary, sexuality is there, whether I’m sexually active or not or whether or not somebody finds me sexually attractive.

Individuals can suffer greatly when they are waiting for another to make them feel sexual and can feel tremendously let down — even suicidal — when, as they perceive it, the other rejects them. However, what another person says is about him or her and not about the other. It is authentic for another person to say, “I don’t feel sexually attracted to you”.

Attraction to another is defined by many factors — mostly unconscious — and is about the person themselves. When we personalise what another says, we manifest the confusion of sexuality being determined by another seeing him or her as sexually attractive.

The truth is that attractiveness is a given and it is up to each one of us to live out of that place and not be waiting for another to ignite us. When we struggle with accepting our own attractiveness, there is a sad story that explains how that came about and the source is in early relationships. The challenge here and now is to find your own unconditional holding of self or if this proves too threatening, to seek out a mature professional who can provide the unconditional holding for you to realise your inherent attractiveness.

Dr Tony Humphreys is a consultant clinical psychologist, author and speaker.

7

Public Information Meeting Do you have a carcinoid (neuroendocrine) tumour or do you know someone affected by it?

Would you like more information about this?

Do you want to meet others affected by this disease?

Then why not come along to the public meeting at the third annual Southern Symposium on Foregut Cancers in University College Cork on Saturday 15th October 2011?

Local and international medical experts in the field of carcinoid (neuroendocrine) tumours will attend along with Tommie Gorman, RTE’s Northern Ireland Editor, who will share his own experience of living with a carcinoid tumour. Together, they will provide information and advice on this cancer and will answer any questions you may have about dealing with the diagnosis of a neuroendocrine carcinoid tumour.

Saturday 15th October 2011: 4pm – 6pm Boole Lecture Theatre I, University College Cork

For further information please contact Anne Bedford on 086 386 0754

SOUTHERN SYMPOSIUM ON FOREGUT CANCERS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

CORK 2011

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Cover story

Dignity to the end

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Ireland’s first hospice for young people, finally opened this week. Arlene Harris talks to parents about finding the perfect place for their terminally ill children

ONE DAY AT A TIME W ITH her chestnut curls, deep blue eyes and wide smile, Ellie Cunningham looks likes any other five-year old with a long life stretching out before her.

But Ellie, who was born with a rare disorder, is fighting a losing battle and has been coping with multiple disabilities every day of her short life.

Now her treatment has come to the end of the road and doctors don’t know how much longer she will live — but it is unlikely she will last another year.

Understandably distressed, her mother Amy takes some comfort from the opening this week of LauraLynn House, Ireland’s first hospice for children.

It was founded by Jane McKenna after the death of her two beloved daughters (her only children) Laura and Lynn, who passed away within two years of each other. Laura was born with a hole in her heart and didn’t survive the complicated surgery to repair in 1999 when she was four years old. The night she died, her older sister, Lynn, was diagnosed with leukaemia and fought the disease for two years before passing away aged 15.

During this unbelievably difficult time, Jane and her husband Brendan gave their daughters all the love and support they could. But despite the professionalism and dedication of the medical staff involved, there was no facility which specialised in caring for children with a terminal illness. (Britain, in comparison, has 45 hospices for children, the first opening in 1982).

So instead of surrendering to the understandably overwhelming grief, Jane channelled her energies into setting up a hospice dedicated to children.

“After we lost our beautiful daughters, I had the dream of setting up a foundation in their name which would help other families in the same situation,” says Jane. “Now, thanks to all the wonderful support and fundraising over the years, the dream which began in 2003 has become a reality.

“The enormous love you feel when you become a parent is hard to describe to someone who hasn’t had children, and the enormous pain you feel when you lose a child is just as difficult to describe. So my heart really goes out to anyone with a seriously sick child and my greatest wish would be that there was no need for a children’s hospice at all — but unfortunately there is a great need.”

With equal amounts of courage and determination, Jane has achieved a momentous result.

Since she conceived the idea in 2003,

Feelgood

MY GIRL: Amy Cunningham and her five-year old daughter Ellie, who, along with other disabilities, is deaf and blind. LauraLynn House, Ireland’s first hospice for children will offer Ellie dignity and peace during her final days.

Picture: Barbara Lindberg. her fundraising efforts have amounted to €5.5 million, which funded the two-year project opened by President Mary McAleese on Tuesday.

The completed building is an eight-bedroomed dedicated facility which will cater for up to 300 families per year.

“The aim at LauraLynn House is to offer support, love and care for families experiencing enormous sadness at the end of their child’s life,” says Jane. “And although we are unable to put days into that child’s life, we can put life into their final days.”

Broadcaster and mother-of-eight, Miriam O’Callaghan is patron of the Laura Lynn Foundation.

She turned the first sod in

HOSPICE FOUNDER: Jane McKenna, who established LauraLynn after the death of her two beloved daughters, Laura and Lynn.

2009 and, along with President McAleese, helped to open the much-needed facility.

“Jane McKenna is the most incredible woman and I can’t tell you enough how much I admire her,” she says.

“She lost both of her children and instead of lying down in a darkened room and giving up on life — which she was more than entitled to — she got up and founded a charity for other sick children.

She really is my hero.”

Despite the harsh reality of death, LauraLynn House is a happy place, says Miriam.

“I can hardly bear to think about this, but for someone who has a terminally ill child, the opening of a hospice dedicated to children makes a world of difference,” she says.

“It is hard to believe it, but LauraLynn House is a happy and beautiful environment which offers so much support to families during horribly tragic circumstances.

“Jane McKenna and her husband Brendan put so much of themselves into this project and I know times are very hard for

people, but in order to keep this hospice running, they need as much funds as possible, so I would urge people to stop and think whenever they see a fundraiser for this charity — even the tiniest amount will make a difference.”

The hospice will make all the difference to 26-year-old Amy Cunningham who knows that when the time comes for Ellie to prepare to leave this world, she will be loved and respected by LauraLynn staff and given a dignified and peaceful farewell.

“Ellie doesn’t have much longer left to live and although it is utterly heartbreaking for me to acknowledge that, I am so grateful that she will be able to spend time at LauraLynn House,” says Amy. “And if God forbid, I am not there when she passes, I know that her last moments will be special,” says Amy, a single parent from Dublin. Ellie’s condition was not recognised until she was born. “When I was pregnant with Ellie, everything went perfectly,” recalled Amy. “There was no sign whatsoever that anything was wrong and

even after she was born, she looked fine.

But a few hours after the birth some doctors came to talk to me about the possibility of rubella and other long words that I had never heard of before. I was very frightened.

“So they took Ellie off to do some tests and discovered that she had cytmegalo virus (CMV), which is a rare infection that can be contracted during pregnancy.

There are no symptoms and it can get triggered by something as simple as unclean cutlery in a restaurant or through the air conditioning on a plane, because it is airborne.”

The tests also revealed that Amy’s placenta was infected with CMV when she was eight weeks pregnant. This meant that her unborn baby was exposed to the disease for practically the whole gestation period, resulting in severe abnormalities and a

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

combination of life threatening conditions at birth.

“Ellie was born deaf and blind,” says her mother. “On top of that, she has cerebral palsy, severe brain damage and delayed global development. She also has liver problems and oesophageal varices (OV) — these are like little growths (over dilated sub-mucosal veins) which burst and cause spurts of blood to come out of her mouth.

When this happens it is very scary and I have now been told that she has a big one (OV) there which can’t be treated and when it bursts she will die.

“It is a waiting game and something I dread every single day.”

Looking after Ellie is a full-time job. She relies on touch for communication and needs round-the-clock care. “She only sleeps for an hour or two every night so neither of us gets much rest. She is in constant pain, has to be fed through her tummy and can’t be left alone for a minute as she could have a seizure or start bleeding at any time.

“But although she takes up every moment of my life, if I had my time over again, I wouldn’t change anything about her. The only thing I would want to be different is the amount of time I have with her — I know I’m going to lose her soon and that is really hard.

“When Ellie was a tiny baby, The Jack and Jill Foundation took us under their wing and have been an amazing help over the past few years. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have survived without their help,” says Amy. “Then last winter, Ellie was given six months to live and was moved to palliative care at the Sunshine Home in Foxrock, Dublin — LauraLynn House is next door and this is where we will be going from now on.

“I had a tour of the hospice last week and it’s fantastic — it felt like the time when Ellie to Disneyland — but I got very upset at first and came out roaring crying as the reality of the situation really hit home.

“Ellie is the happiest and most loving child you can imagine and losing her is going to break my heart. But knowing she will be cared for in Lauralynn House makes it a little bit easier to bear.”

■ For more information or to make a donation, see www.lauralynnhospice.com

PROUD PATRON: Miriam O’Callaghan turned the first sod in 2009 and, along with President McAleese, helped to open the facility.

We have been given a chance for Taha to survive for longer

M

AHMOUD and Nada Al Tarabin will also be using the new hospice facilities. Born at just 27 weeks, their son Taha has cerebral palsy combined with severe physical and possible mental difficulties.

The couple also has a three-year-old daughter, Orjwan, but when Nada was pregnant with Taha, he had a twin who died at birth. 25-year Mahmoud says life has been very difficult since their son was born almost a year ago, but the new hospice facilities will greatly enhance the family’s life.

“Taha was very weak when he was born and has continued to be very stiff and unable to move,” says Mahmoud, originally from Israel. “He will never be a normal boy and we don’t know how big the problems will be as he gets older.

“Neither my wife nor I can work because we both have to

look after Taha — he cries all the time and always needs to be held, so we have to be there to help each other.

“We have been taking him to The Sunshine Home for four days each month and this has been really important for us. Now that LauraLynn House is open, he will be getting treatment in there and it will make such a change to our lives.

“Imagine being alone in a desert without any help or means of escape — this is what life was like for us before. Now we have been given the opportunity for our son to survive for longer.”

NEW HOPE: Mahmoud Al Tarabin with his son Taha who is 11 months old and has cerebral palsy. Picture: Maura Hickey

9

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Zone:XH

8

Cover story

Dignity to the end

XH - V1

Ireland’s first hospice for young people, finally opened this week. Arlene Harris talks to parents about finding the perfect place for their terminally ill children

ONE DAY AT A TIME W ITH her chestnut curls, deep blue eyes and wide smile, Ellie Cunningham looks likes any other five-year old with a long life stretching out before her.

But Ellie, who was born with a rare disorder, is fighting a losing battle and has been coping with multiple disabilities every day of her short life.

Now her treatment has come to the end of the road and doctors don’t know how much longer she will live — but it is unlikely she will last another year.

Understandably distressed, her mother Amy takes some comfort from the opening this week of LauraLynn House, Ireland’s first hospice for children.

It was founded by Jane McKenna after the death of her two beloved daughters (her only children) Laura and Lynn, who passed away within two years of each other. Laura was born with a hole in her heart and didn’t survive the complicated surgery to repair in 1999 when she was four years old. The night she died, her older sister, Lynn, was diagnosed with leukaemia and fought the disease for two years before passing away aged 15.

During this unbelievably difficult time, Jane and her husband Brendan gave their daughters all the love and support they could. But despite the professionalism and dedication of the medical staff involved, there was no facility which specialised in caring for children with a terminal illness. (Britain, in comparison, has 45 hospices for children, the first opening in 1982).

So instead of surrendering to the understandably overwhelming grief, Jane channelled her energies into setting up a hospice dedicated to children.

“After we lost our beautiful daughters, I had the dream of setting up a foundation in their name which would help other families in the same situation,” says Jane. “Now, thanks to all the wonderful support and fundraising over the years, the dream which began in 2003 has become a reality.

“The enormous love you feel when you become a parent is hard to describe to someone who hasn’t had children, and the enormous pain you feel when you lose a child is just as difficult to describe. So my heart really goes out to anyone with a seriously sick child and my greatest wish would be that there was no need for a children’s hospice at all — but unfortunately there is a great need.”

With equal amounts of courage and determination, Jane has achieved a momentous result.

Since she conceived the idea in 2003,

Feelgood

MY GIRL: Amy Cunningham and her five-year old daughter Ellie, who, along with other disabilities, is deaf and blind. LauraLynn House, Ireland’s first hospice for children will offer Ellie dignity and peace during her final days.

Picture: Barbara Lindberg. her fundraising efforts have amounted to €5.5 million, which funded the two-year project opened by President Mary McAleese on Tuesday.

The completed building is an eight-bedroomed dedicated facility which will cater for up to 300 families per year.

“The aim at LauraLynn House is to offer support, love and care for families experiencing enormous sadness at the end of their child’s life,” says Jane. “And although we are unable to put days into that child’s life, we can put life into their final days.”

Broadcaster and mother-of-eight, Miriam O’Callaghan is patron of the Laura Lynn Foundation.

She turned the first sod in

HOSPICE FOUNDER: Jane McKenna, who established LauraLynn after the death of her two beloved daughters, Laura and Lynn.

2009 and, along with President McAleese, helped to open the much-needed facility.

“Jane McKenna is the most incredible woman and I can’t tell you enough how much I admire her,” she says.

“She lost both of her children and instead of lying down in a darkened room and giving up on life — which she was more than entitled to — she got up and founded a charity for other sick children.

She really is my hero.”

Despite the harsh reality of death, LauraLynn House is a happy place, says Miriam.

“I can hardly bear to think about this, but for someone who has a terminally ill child, the opening of a hospice dedicated to children makes a world of difference,” she says.

“It is hard to believe it, but LauraLynn House is a happy and beautiful environment which offers so much support to families during horribly tragic circumstances.

“Jane McKenna and her husband Brendan put so much of themselves into this project and I know times are very hard for

people, but in order to keep this hospice running, they need as much funds as possible, so I would urge people to stop and think whenever they see a fundraiser for this charity — even the tiniest amount will make a difference.”

The hospice will make all the difference to 26-year-old Amy Cunningham who knows that when the time comes for Ellie to prepare to leave this world, she will be loved and respected by LauraLynn staff and given a dignified and peaceful farewell.

“Ellie doesn’t have much longer left to live and although it is utterly heartbreaking for me to acknowledge that, I am so grateful that she will be able to spend time at LauraLynn House,” says Amy. “And if God forbid, I am not there when she passes, I know that her last moments will be special,” says Amy, a single parent from Dublin. Ellie’s condition was not recognised until she was born. “When I was pregnant with Ellie, everything went perfectly,” recalled Amy. “There was no sign whatsoever that anything was wrong and

even after she was born, she looked fine.

But a few hours after the birth some doctors came to talk to me about the possibility of rubella and other long words that I had never heard of before. I was very frightened.

“So they took Ellie off to do some tests and discovered that she had cytmegalo virus (CMV), which is a rare infection that can be contracted during pregnancy.

There are no symptoms and it can get triggered by something as simple as unclean cutlery in a restaurant or through the air conditioning on a plane, because it is airborne.”

The tests also revealed that Amy’s placenta was infected with CMV when she was eight weeks pregnant. This meant that her unborn baby was exposed to the disease for practically the whole gestation period, resulting in severe abnormalities and a

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

combination of life threatening conditions at birth.

“Ellie was born deaf and blind,” says her mother. “On top of that, she has cerebral palsy, severe brain damage and delayed global development. She also has liver problems and oesophageal varices (OV) — these are like little growths (over dilated sub-mucosal veins) which burst and cause spurts of blood to come out of her mouth.

When this happens it is very scary and I have now been told that she has a big one (OV) there which can’t be treated and when it bursts she will die.

“It is a waiting game and something I dread every single day.”

Looking after Ellie is a full-time job. She relies on touch for communication and needs round-the-clock care. “She only sleeps for an hour or two every night so neither of us gets much rest. She is in constant pain, has to be fed through her tummy and can’t be left alone for a minute as she could have a seizure or start bleeding at any time.

“But although she takes up every moment of my life, if I had my time over again, I wouldn’t change anything about her. The only thing I would want to be different is the amount of time I have with her — I know I’m going to lose her soon and that is really hard.

“When Ellie was a tiny baby, The Jack and Jill Foundation took us under their wing and have been an amazing help over the past few years. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have survived without their help,” says Amy. “Then last winter, Ellie was given six months to live and was moved to palliative care at the Sunshine Home in Foxrock, Dublin — LauraLynn House is next door and this is where we will be going from now on.

“I had a tour of the hospice last week and it’s fantastic — it felt like the time when Ellie to Disneyland — but I got very upset at first and came out roaring crying as the reality of the situation really hit home.

“Ellie is the happiest and most loving child you can imagine and losing her is going to break my heart. But knowing she will be cared for in Lauralynn House makes it a little bit easier to bear.”

■ For more information or to make a donation, see www.lauralynnhospice.com

PROUD PATRON: Miriam O’Callaghan turned the first sod in 2009 and, along with President McAleese, helped to open the facility.

We have been given a chance for Taha to survive for longer

M

AHMOUD and Nada Al Tarabin will also be using the new hospice facilities. Born at just 27 weeks, their son Taha has cerebral palsy combined with severe physical and possible mental difficulties.

The couple also has a three-year-old daughter, Orjwan, but when Nada was pregnant with Taha, he had a twin who died at birth. 25-year Mahmoud says life has been very difficult since their son was born almost a year ago, but the new hospice facilities will greatly enhance the family’s life.

“Taha was very weak when he was born and has continued to be very stiff and unable to move,” says Mahmoud, originally from Israel. “He will never be a normal boy and we don’t know how big the problems will be as he gets older.

“Neither my wife nor I can work because we both have to

look after Taha — he cries all the time and always needs to be held, so we have to be there to help each other.

“We have been taking him to The Sunshine Home for four days each month and this has been really important for us. Now that LauraLynn House is open, he will be getting treatment in there and it will make such a change to our lives.

“Imagine being alone in a desert without any help or means of escape — this is what life was like for us before. Now we have been given the opportunity for our son to survive for longer.”

NEW HOPE: Mahmoud Al Tarabin with his son Taha who is 11 months old and has cerebral palsy. Picture: Maura Hickey

9

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10

Medical matters

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Q

Has there been any trauma or injury to the leg? If your child has just started walking and is limping, he should see his doctor as soon as possible.

Sometimes a child is born with a dislocated hip, that may go undetected until he starts to walk. Other causes of limping include a toddler fracture or “spiral” fracture of the tibia (the leg bone extending A. Pregnancy can make you more from the knee to the ankle), which can susceptible to urinary tract infections occur with minor accidents such as slipof all kinds. Cystitis means infection ping on the floor or jumping from a of the lower urinary tract causing inporch step or swing. This usually results flammation of the bladder. But bactein the child suddenly limping or refusing ria can infect any part of the urinary to bear weight. tract — if bacteria continue to travel To find the cause of your child’s limp, up the ureters towards the kidneys, your doctor will ask other questions. this can lead to a serious condition When did the limp start? Is it present all called pyelonephritis. the time or only at certain parts of the During pregnancy, higher levels of day? Are there signs of other illnesses, the hormone progesterone relax the such as fever, weight loss, loss of appetite muscles of the ureters, causing them or rashes? to stretch out. Also, your growing The most common cause of limping in uterus may press on the ureters, makchildren who are otherwise well, is a ing it difficult for urine to flow condition called “transient synovitis of the through them as quickly and freely as hip”. This usually affects boys between it normally does. Towards the end of the ages of two and 12 years. Typically, pregnancy, the baby presses on your the child suddenly begins to complain of bladder, making it difficult to compain in the groin or knee at the end of pletely empty it when you urinate. the day. The next day the pain can be so These factors give bacteria more time severe that the child refuses to walk, or to multiply and cause infection. walks slowly with a limp. It is caused by a Your doctor will routinely test your viral infection which produces inflammaurine for bacteria during your antenation of the lining of the hip joint. tal visits, whether you have symptoms Most children recover within two to or not. three days with no long term problems.

Some pregnant women develop TOPPING UP: Pregnant women can be more More severe infection of the joints or asymptomatic bacteraemia this means susceptible to urinary tract infections. Drinking plenty bones of the leg can cause septic arthribacteria are present without causing of water can help to combat this. Picture: iStock tis. Usually your child will feel unwell symptoms. If you test positive for uriwith temperature, pain, swelling and nary tract infection, you’ll be given a course redness in the skin over the infected area. of antibiotics (there are a number of antibiAdmission to hospital for intravenous antibiotics safe to take during pregnancy). After otics is needed with septic arthritis. treatment, you’ll be tested again to make Perthes disease, where the blood supply to cranberry juice — while this won’t cure an sure the infection has gone. existing infection, it can reduce bacteria lev- the top of the thigh (femoral bone) is interUp to 40% of pregnant women who get rupted, is a rare condition that always needs els. an infection of the urine will develop anto be considered when a child limps. It is other infection — so you will need to be more common in boys than girls (ages four tested at regular intervals throughout the rest Q. I have noticed that my 18-month-old to 10). Consultation with an orthopaedic of your pregnancy. Untreated upper urinary son is limping. I am wondering if this is surgeon is necessary because if left untreated tract infections are associated with low birth normal? this disease can lead to serious disability. weight, premature labour, high blood presAnother cause of limp in children is A. Limping in children is never normal. It sure and pre-eclampsia. may be due to something as simple as a blis- “slipped capital femoral epiphysis”. This To help reduce your chances of developusually occurs in overweight male teenagers. ing a urinary tract infection: drink plenty of ter on the foot or a pulled muscle. But a limp can also be a sign of more serious trou- The top of the femoral bone slides into an water, don’t ignore the urge to empty your bladder and make sure it is completely emp- ble, such as a broken bone or an infection, so abnormal position causing an abnormal fit of the hip joint. Again surgical repair is your son needs to be examined and treated ty. Wipe yourself form front to back after needed to prevent permanent deformity. by his doctor. going to the toilet. Drink unsweetened I AM prone to getting cystitis and am now in the early stages of my first pregnancy. Does pregnancy make you more likely to get urinary tract infections?

Dr Niamh Houston

FAMILY

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Dr Niamh Houston is a GP with a special interest in integrative medicine. If you have a question about your child’s health email it to feelgood@examiner.ie or send a letter to Feelgood Irish Examiner City Quarter Lapps Quay Cork

NOTE: The information contained in Dr Houston’s column is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a doctor first

J

Catherine Shanahan MUM’S WORLD Feelgood

ST when I thought I’d cracked this parenting lark, along came a piece of research that bulldozed any notion of finally lifting that mother-of-the-year trophy.

This study, Growing up in Ireland, contained the kind of findings that could bring a tear to the eye of those who believe that loving your children is the most precious gift you can give them.

It took a nine-year-old to blow a hole in that fantasy. Asked to describe the traits that make the “perfect” parent, the child replied “A clean house, well-dressed, perfect children, everything.” A second child said her ideal was the parent who did everything for them: “They’d be always doing the cleaning, the cooking, making sure that you get to school, making sure you have everything, making sure everything is fine, making sure all your homework is done, making sure you are happy going to school …”

There’s only one interpretation of this level of expectation: to live the perfect life, a child requires either a slave or Stepford Wife and anything less cannot guarantee success as a parent.

I considered throwing in the towel but the words of a third child threw me a lifeline.

Her idea of the complete parent was “Someone who cares for you and loves you and knows what is best for you.” A boy suggested a good parent was approachable and

supportive. Another suggested that good parents are protective. Maybe I wasn’t such a failure after all. I read on.

I took heart from their reactions to cigarettes and alcohol. Smoking was a definite no-no, none had ambitions to smoke. “I might be tempted but I wouldn’t do it,” one boy said.

Another questioned how smokers get into the habit. He came up with his own answer, cinematic as it was: “They might see other people doing it and like over in America years ago they, teenagers, used to sneak cigarettes and hide them under the pillow or something, so their parents won’t know.”

Drink was acceptable in moderation: “I would kinda like to drink … but if you drink too much you could become an alcoholic,” one child said.

That these kids showed so much good sense sort of meant their parents were not in fact failures, even those who fell short of a lifelong commitment to slavery or whose homes would never ever feature in Town & Country or whose clothes would never showcase on Saville Row. Kids might think they want Posh and Becks for parents — and who’s to say their childrearing methods aren’t flawless — but who among us has at their disposal the resources to fund that kind of “perfect” lifestyle? Besides there are some things money can’t buy, including your love and your time.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

That these kids showed such good sense meant their parents were not in fact failures, even those who fell short of a lifelong commitment to slavery or whose homes would never feature in Town & Country

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Learning to cope 11

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Tricia reaches out to others coping with IBD, writes Helen O’Callaghan

Sharing my story

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OLIDAYING with her boyfriend in Cyprus, Tricia McArdle realised what she was experiencing wasn’t normal.

For about a year leading up to the holiday, the Galway woman — then in her early 20s — had endured extreme tiredness, nausea, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps. “I was constantly in and out of the loo. The cramps were very bad. Just going for a short walk, I’d be doubled over.”

Repeated visits to her GP over the course of that year yielded the same opinion: Tricia had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). “But it really hit home on that holiday in Cyprus. I wasn’t able to do anything. I was constantly sick and was stuck indoors until 2pm every day of the two weeks.”

A GP referred Tricia to a consultant gastroenterologist who recommended a colonoscopy to investigate for irritable bowel disease (IBD). More serious and debilitating than IBS, IBD causes inflammation of the intestine.

“I was lying in a public day ward when the consultant came around. He said ‘I’ll have to come back to you — you’re a bit worse than the girl beside you’.

He told that girl he’d taken a biopsy, that further investigation was necessary and there was a possibility of cancer. I was petrified. When he came to me, he handed me a prescription, told me I had Crohn’s disease and said I’d be on medication for the rest of my life.”

Crohn’s disease involves inflammation of any part of the digestive tract from mouth to anus, but the consultant explained nothing of this.

Tricia was due to start as a trainee chartered accountant in an accountancy practice in Dublin just two days later. But instead of having to deal with the usual first job nerves, she had to grapple with a devastating diagnosis — and little information. “I went to a pharmacy next day. They were surprised I didn’t know how expensive the medication was, that it would cost a couple of hundred euro. I thought ‘Oh God, how can I afford this every month for the rest of my life?’

“I remember walking through a shopping centre in floods of tears. That night I went on the internet. There were no Irish information sites so I was on US websites, looking at blogs and all I could see was people going for surgery. I hadn’t known that was a potential outcome.”

With hindsight, Tricia, now 28, realises she should have taken time to adjust to her diagnosis.

Instead, she plunged straight into a job that demanded long hours and weekend work. And while she confided her condition to her boss, she didn’t want anybody else to know.

“The symptoms aren’t the nicest — I didn’t want

to explain them. I told none of my friends. The only person who knew was my mum.”

After several months and no improvement, Tricia sought a second opinion. The consultant refused to believe she had Crohn’s (“He said I looked too healthy”) so she had to undergo the same invasive tests again. Re-diagnosed with Crohn’s, her consultant advised a career change. “I was devastated. But then I got an offer from a public service body to train to be a chartered accountant through them.

There were no overtime requirements. I didn’t have the same hours.”

A multi-strand approach helped get her health back on track. “The consultant put me on Asacol medication as well as steroids for a month. I improved quickly. I found a diet that’s healthy but not so fibrous. I changed my pace of life, reduced stress, started doing pilates and yoga and walked a lot. It took a few years to feel fully better and I still got relapses.”

Last year her health deteriorated. “It was worse than the regular flare-ups so I was on a longer dose of steroids. That meant side-effects — bloating, not being able to sleep because of night sweats. When I’m not well, I have to use the bathroom six to eight times a day. I could have nausea for an entire day.”

Right now, Tricia feels quite well. But she admits the condition has taken a personal toll.

Her relationship with the boyfriend she holidayed with in Cyprus ended. She finds the condition hard to explain to potential boyfriends. “I’ve gone through so much that I’m cautious about who I might go into a relationship with. I’ve been in relationships where my having Crohn’s did affect the guys.

“My hope is I’ll keep well, never have to go for surgery, have a successful career and eventually a successful relationship.”

Tricia helped found the Irish Society for Crohn’s and Colitis (ISCC) youth group in 2010. Last year, she spoke to medics at the Irish Society for Gastroenterology November meeting about communicating an IBD diagnosis in a private, sensitive way — not in the middle of a busy hospital ward.

A special support day for young people with IBD is planned for Saturday, November 5, at the YMCA on Dublin’s Aungier Street. The IBD Awareness Get Gutsy Campaign is running this week. It reaches out to people experiencing symptoms including nausea — especially after eating — a change in bowel habits, urgent diarrhoea, rectal bleeding, extreme tiredness and unexplained weight loss, encouraging them to visit their GP and get checked for IBD. ● Visit www.getgutsy.ie; also www.iscc.ie.

I told none of my friends. The only person who knew of my diagnosis was my mum

Inflammatory Bowel Disease: the facts ■ Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a group of disorders that cause inflammation of the intestine, includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC). UC affects the large intestine’s inner lining, while Crohn’s affects any part of the digestive tract from mouth to anus.

■ About 15,000 people in Ireland have IBD. Diagnosis comes at any age but people often discover they have it when they’re between 15 and 30. It affects men and women equally.

■ Exact cause of IBD isn’t known. Experts believe environment, diet, smoking, viruses, bacteria and

Feelgood

genetics all play a role.

■ Tests to diagnose IBD include blood tests, stool samples and colonoscopies. This checks for inflamed tissue, ulcers and abdominal growths.

■ Medical treatments include steroids, immunomodulators and antibiotics. Surgery may be recommended for severe cases — 25% to 40% of people need surgery. Most common type is proctocolectomy and involves removing both colon and rectum. About 65-75% of people with Crohn’s need surgery. Possible procedures include partial bowel resection and draining of abscesses.

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: Tricia McArdle recently helped launch the Get Gutsy public health awareness initiative for young people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Picture: Jason Clarke Photography

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

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12

Food survey

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Jam packed

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T’S a great time of year to think about making jam. The early autumnal weather has us reaching for saved jam jars and picking whatever is to hand to gather comfort food for the colder months. This age-old kitchen craft is enjoying a welcome revival. Sales of jam covers, jelly bags and Kilner jars have soared as the age of make-and-do is here again.

There may still be blackberries on the bushes as you read this, but there are crab apples aplenty which make the most delicious jelly. Add a little grated ginger, sage or rosemary to vary the flavours and provide an excellent accompaniment to cold meats and on bread with a slice of ham.

If time or inclination doesn’t allow, our survey of bought jams may help to decide which one is best for you. Most of them were pretty good.

Meanwhile, I picked up windfalls of crab apples and made apple jelly and was loath to discard the pulp left behind. Instead I made a mixture and liquidised it to make a paste. This mixture is similar to a fruit cheese such as the Spanish membrillo made from quince. These pastes are simply a mixture of pureed fruit with the juice strained off (for jelly making). My version uses less sugar than many recipes I have found and has added citrus fruit which gives it a lively taste.

1. Weigh the fruit pulp of crab apples or cooking apples and add half its weight in granulated sugar. Liquidise until a smooth puree, sieve and place in a saucepan.

2. Quarter a whole orange and lemon or lime (de-pipped but not peeled). Liquidise with a

Roz Crowley teaspoon each of dried ginger and nutmeg to 1kg of fruit until smooth, then pass it through a sieve. Sieving all the fruit is the most laborious part, but is necessary as there will be seeds and skin in the unpeeled and halved cooked crab apples.

3. Put it on the heat, slowly at first to dissolve the sugar.

Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for about 10 minutes until all the excess liquid disappears and it is a smooth pulp, almost sticking to the saucepan.

4. Pot in clean jars as usual. This is delicious as the base of a fruit tart, or warmed and poured over ice-cream. It’s also good on the side with pork and ham dishes.

The paste in this photograph looks a little green as I made crab apple jelly with fresh sage leaves which gave it a strong green colour. It’s my latest invention and is delicious.

Picture: iStock

Bonne Maman Blackberry Conserve, 370g €2.50

Real Irish Food Co blackcurrant jam, 340g €3.17

St Dalfour Raspberry & Pomegranate, 284g €2.44

Wexford Home Preserves Rhubarb & Ginger, 400g €2.99

These 10-sided jars with their chequered lids are my favourite for recycling when making jam at home.

And what they contain has a consistently high standard. This one has 50% blackberries which are not quite as flavoursome as other samples. The texture is good with a welcome jelly-like setting, though with a lot of seeds which are natural, but not desirable.

Blackcurrant is a strong tasting fruit so we could forgive the comparatively lower fruit content of 43%. However, the flavour is lacking, though the texture is good. A little expensive compared to others, but a good product.

The combination of 34.5% raspberries and 16.5% pomegranates works well.

With no added sugar, sweetness is provided by the addition of unsweetened grape juice concentrate.

The main flavour is of raspberry, but the pomegranate helps.

Those who try to avoid sugar will be pleased, but it is still calorific. Not too many seeds is commendable and the texture is more a paste than a jelly. Very good, but not cheap.

With 50% fruit with sugar, lemons and just a slight hint of ginger, this has the natural strand texture of stewed rhubarb. I would have liked a little stronger flavour of ginger, but younger tasters thought it had enough.

Score: 7

Score: 7

Score: 7.75

Score: 7.5

Chivers Blackcurrant jam, 454g €2.55

Marks & Spencer Hedgerow Conserve, 340g €2.19

With a heavy texture, there is only 25% fruit which is not surprising as it has the least flavour of the selection.

Glucose-fructose syrup is used and it gives the jam a heavy sweetness. The tough blackcurrant skins make this a disappointing product. Expensive for low quality.

10% each of blackcurrants, apples, blackberries, raspberries and boysenberries results in a nicely set, rich, fruity jam with quite a lot of seeds. If any flavour dominates it’s the boysenberries which give it a good kick. Good set texture helped by the apples and there are nice small chunks of apple too. The sugar is Fairtrade which is always good to see.

Score: 4

Score: 8.25

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Grandessa Autumn Fruits Irish Conserve, Aldi, 370g €1.49 30% blackcurrants, 9% blackberries, 9% strawberries and 4% raspberries is a little more than some jams which claim to have extra fruit. The high fruit content shows and the combination of fruit works well with nice chunks of strawberries to vary the texture. A favourite and very fair value.

Score: 8.5

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Folláin Blackberry jam, 370g €2.19 Fruity and flavoursome, the blackberries here are as they would taste if we made the jam ourselves. 50% blackberries are used with sugar (no glucose or fructose added) and the old fashioned taste works well here. A good, slightly firm texture is provided by added pectin and there are quite a few seeds as expected. Delicious.

Score: 8

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Male health

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Focus of attention F

OR Cillian Heffernan (17), time management remains a daily hurdle.

Diagnosed with ADHD — Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder — when he was in primary school, he is now in fifth year. “For me, things like turning up to the right class at the right time, remembering my timetable and which books to bring home are a struggle,” says Cillian.

ADHD is a medical/neurobiological condition in which the brain’s neuro transmitter chemicals, noradrenalin and dopamine, do not work properly. It is a long-term condition which affects learning and behaviour right through the school years and, in many cases, beyond into adulthood.

“In primary school, I didn’t concentrate as well as others, I was always hyper, fidgeting, and interrupting the class. I had a very short-attention span. If I was writing down my homework from the board, it would take 10 minutes because, with any noise, my attention was gone,” says Cillian, adding that medication to stimulate the brain’s neuro

Deirdre O'Flynn

MOSTLY MEN transmitter chemicals has calmed his mind.

Cillian is highlighting the launch of ‘The A to Zee of ADHD’, a guide to ADHD services for people living with ADHD in Ireland produced by the HADD (Hyperactivity Attention Deficit Disorder) Family Support Group. The guide outlines the diagnosis and treatment pathway for people living with ADHD in Ireland. ADHD affects 3%–7% of school-age children, or between 25,000–60,000 children.

Even still, ADHD remains an issue for Cillian. “If I’m writing an essay, my mind is thinking so fast, that I forget half of what I’m

LIVING WITH ADHD: Time management is a daily hurdle for 17-year-old Cillian Heffernan, who was diagnosed with the long-term condition in primary school.

Picture: BARRY CRONIN thinking, so I only get half the points written down,” he says, adding that his parents, Alan and Mary, were always open with him about ADHD. A rugby player and fan of music, he has carried that openness with him into his friendships. “I’ve had a positive experience with my friends. They know if I’m having a good day or a bad day, and they’ve got used to me if I’m being fidgety.”

Cillian would urge parents — and children

Lymphoma seminar

Breathing difficulty could lie beneath sleeping problems

THE Irish Cancer Society will hold a lymphoma seminar at the Alexander Hotel, Dublin 2, tomorrow, October 1. This event will be free of charge and open to all affected by or with an interest in lymphoma.

The seminar will be addressed by Liz Atkinson, head of care services, Ulster Cancer Foundation; Olwyn Ryan, patient support services manager, Irish Cancer Society; a cancer patient; Dr Greg Korpanty, registrar medical oncology, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin; and a counselling psychologist.

BRITISH Labour Party leader Ed Miliband recently underwent an operation to cure his obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) — a condition that affects 4% of middle-aged men, but only 25% of whom are diagnosed.

Despite being as common as diabetes, awareness of OSA and the effect it can have on a sufferer is far lower.

Obstructive sleep apnoea affects one in 25 middle-aged men, but many do not realise they have it. It causes you to stop breathing temporarily while you sleep, as your throat collapses and you momentarily choke.

This causes your brain to

TAKE 1

4

TRAILS DAY: Now in its fourth year, National Trails Day this Sunday, October 2 is an opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the Irish countryside. From canoeing on the Liffey to an edible trail around Cape Clear, family orienteering to walking workshops and equestrian trekking, there are over 200 free events nationwide to chose from and thousands of people are expected to take part. Full details are available on www.nationaltrails.ie.

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13

wake up and get you breathing again, but your body stays asleep, so you do not realise it has happened. However, this can happen as frequently as 100 times every hour — meaning you never truly sleep.

Sufferers wake up feeling tired and unrefreshed, despite having seemingly slept through the night.

■ For more information about obstructive sleep apnoea, contact the Irish Sleep Apnoea Trust or log on to www.hiddenhearingisat.ie.

— not to be afraid of a diagnosis of ADHD. “There’s nothing bad about it. If you can’t concentrate on something, like maths, it might be because you’re not interested in it.

But you could be really interested in something like science and your hyper-focus would help you to learn a lot about that.” ● To receive a copy of The A to Zee of ADHD, contact HADD Family Support Group on 01-8748349 or download a copy at www.hadd.ie.

DId you know...

One in four men don’t have either a medical card or private health insurance Source: Central Statistics Office, Ireland

RESTLESS NIGHTS: Sleep apnoea sufferers often wake up feeling tired. Picture: iStock

National Trails Day

2

WALK FOR LIFE: The Go ahead! Walk for Life, in partnership with Unislim, takes place on October 2 in aid of the Marie Keating Foundation at 12 noon in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, entry €15 (to register visit www.mariekeating.ie). To help people get the most out of the 5k walk, Unislim (www.unslim.com) offers some easy walking tips: — Lengthen your stride, quicken your pace, keep going and do it regularly.

— Walk faster than a stroll and be slightly breathless but comfortable and be able to talk in short sentences. Up your speed when you no longer feel challenged; reduce it if you feel tired.

— Good shoes are a must.

They should feel roomy around the toes

3

SUPER SOAK: Ease away any aches and pains after a day of exercise with Nelsons Arnicare bath and massage balm. Add two caps to your bath and let the natural properties of arnica soothe away tension.

This balm also contains Evening Primrose and sweet almond oil and lavender and grapefruit essential oils and you can also massage it directly onto the skin to ease stiff aching muscles. Arnicare balth and massage balm costs €9.95 from health stores and pharmacies.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

4

RIGHT FOOTWEAR: Light, waterproof and breathable, ECCO Hill boots and designed for warmth and comfort.

These lace-up boots are available in both women’s and men’s sizes in either ankle, €145 or calf length, €180.

They are made of quarry leather and textile uppers, with a wool-covered insole to keep feet cushioned and toasty and are available in a choice of colours from ECCO stores and stockists nationwide.

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14 Beauty

Emily O’Sullivan

Solve those dehydration problems with plenty of facial TLC this autumn

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The news on...

Whip out the cream

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GOT a close-up view of my skin in the bathroom mirror the other day — it did not do much for my self-esteem.

Normally, I’m not prone to excessive self-examination, but my skin had been feeling particularly rough for a few days, so I thought it best to have a good look.

And there it was: skin that had the texture of parchment paper. It almost looked as if someone was about to take a quill to it and pen a sonnet or two. Of course, age has a part to play, but the main reason for it was dehydration (it didn’t help that I had gone out and drank my own body weight in Belgian beer the night before either).

Dehydration is a familiar problem in autumn. Not that we even had a summer in the first place, but once autumn kicks in our skin immediately feels it and it becomes pretty much essential to move to a heavier day and night cream. There’s a good reason for this and it’s not rocket science: the cold, coupled with central heating. Our skin needs more than just a light slather of lotion. We need the serious stuff — the cream that’s so creamy it looks like it’s been whipped.

First up on the lust list is Nuxe’s new Rêve de Miel Ultra Comfortable Face Cream. Oh yes please. I knew I’d like this one the minute that I opened it. Maybe it’s the heavy, substantial feel of the bottle with its cool frosted glass. Or maybe it’s the insanely gorgeous scent of the cream, but I’m smitten, and it’s already on my top five moisturising creams list. Rêve de Miel is blessed with a truly fondant-style texture — rich, unctuous and very luxurious, with over 91% of the ingredients from natural origins.

My parched skin truly loved it. It sank in without any greasiness and kept the skin feel-

L’Occitane Immortelle Precious Skincare L’OCCITANE is a brand that is more commonly known for its great hand creams, soaps and body lotions, but the French brand is also rather good at face creams. This lovely rich anti-ageing moisturiser, Immortelle Precious Cream for Day, €48.50, uses immortelle, a natural plant extract which apparently stimulates collagen production. Best of all, it feels silky soft on the skin. Lovely.

Take three...

Alternative blues SO Chanel has set the pace this season with the sexiest denim blue nail collection around. Don’t have the money to scrape together for a new Chanel nail polish? Relax, there are lots of mid-range buys that will score you the look for a fraction of the price.

Ciaté Nail Polish in Skinny Jeans, €10.50. Ciaté nail polishes are a bit of a weakness for me at the moment because there are so beautifully packaged and come in such a great array of shades.

Be totally “on trend” this autumn with this indigo blue shade, Skinny Jeans.

Picture: iStock

ing wonderfully hydrated and looking healthy.

For skin that is dehydrated, my money is on skincare companies that take a more natural approach to skincare. Of course, I have absolutely no scientific experience to back this up, just anecdotal evidence — natural skincare products have always been the ones I have turned to when my skin is a dried-up mess. Clarins’s Hydra Quench Cream never fails to sort out issues of dryness (in fact, Clarins is rapidly becoming our favourite cosmetic brand across the board), while Phyt’s organic Creme Hydrante is great for sorting out the most fragile and weather beaten skin.

The best way of injecting moisture into the

skin is at night. There’s nothing quite like smoothing on a really rich cream and waking up in the morning with utterly transformed skin.

Origins’ High Potency Night a Mins is not only great for giving your skin a boost of hydration, but also a glow of radiance — it’s got a really fabulous rich, creamy texture and a great smell (the smell of a skincare product should matter, but when it has a really rich natural aroma it’s so much better than chemical additives). My favourite winter skincare treat is to use a few drops of a face oil, wait a couple of moments for it to dry in, and then smoothe on a deep, rich moisturiser. It’s making me feel sleepy already.

and there’s really no point in going near it unless you’re in very cold weather conditions, or you have very dry skin. BUt if you tick the dry skin box, this one will sort you out. It leaves skin very soft and supple and is wonderful to use at night.

Trilogy Ultra Hydrating Face Cream, €24.33. Rosehip, avocado and evening primrose oil combine together to give lasting softness to the skin in this very pleasant, natural moisturiser.

Essie Lapis of Luxury, €11.42. Dreamy and creamy, this milky shade of blue is good enough to jump into. It’s lighter than Skinny Jeans above, but still makes the grade for a sexy autumn shade.

Topshop Nails in Awol, €9. This shade hits the denim mark this season, and it’s a definite winner — not too royal, not too azure, not too aqua. It’s got a good glossy finish, too. Score.

STUFF WE LIKE Nuxe’s new Rêve de Miel Ultra Comfortable Face Cream, €27. A great skincare product — not least because it’s addressing the problem of the diminishing bee population. In partnership with “Un Toit Pour Les Abeilles”, an organisation dedicated to preserving bees, Nuxe has sponsored six beehives in the Vosges region of France.

The cream itself is truly scrumptious, enriched with sunflower and precious plant oils.

Clarins Hydra Quench Rich Cream, €47. This is a serious cream

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Phyt’s Crème Hydratante, €47. Phyt’s is a lovely, if rather little known French organic brand that takes the organic side of things seriously. This is one of their best creams — excellent at acting as a barrier to cold weather and keeping skin supple and comfortable.

Liz Earle Superskin Moisturiser, €38.75. Good for mature or dry skins, Superskin is our fave Liz Earle Cream and definitely in our top five.

It’s got a really lovely texture that sinks beautifully into the skin and is boosted with Omega3, pomegranate fruit extract and natural source vitamin E.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Origins High Potency Night a Mins, €42. There’s a “resurfacing” ingredient in this cream that is supposed to help your skin shed the dry flaky bits that are making it look dull and lifeless, and it does it all while you sleep, which is rather considerate of it.

Whatever about the hi-tech vitamins and minerals aspect, this is a lovely cream with a substantial whipped texture that sinks into the skin and helps you wake up looking refreshed. Love it.

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Q

Megan Sheppard Do you have a question for Megan Sheppard?

Email it to feelgood@examiner.ie or send a letter to Feelgood Irish Examiner City Quarter Lapps Quay Cork

I AM in my mid 30s with a healthy diet and balanced lifestyle. I eat healthily and exercise regularly. Over the past few years, I have been having a lot of problems with my gums. I suffer from mouth ulcers too. I go to my dentist regularly, brush my teeth twice a day as well as floss. However, during brushing, I am regularly prone to bleeding gums.

Sometimes my gums are so sore that I cannot brush my teeth. I have tried different toothpastes, mouthwashes and toothbrushes (including an electric brush). Any suggestions on what I should do differently to stop this problem?

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world! They come in a range of sizes to suit a range of tooth spacing — initially this may cause a lot of bleeding from the gum pockets, but this is just a sign that you are dislodging the harmful bacteria and will lessen each time you use them.

Finally, a salt water mouth rinse helps immensely — make it up yourself using a teaspoon of Himalayan or Celtic sea salt to 250ml of water and keep it in a glass bottle by the bathroom basin. Use this rinse before you floss, brush and interdental brush, and once again after you have finished.

Q. Are homeopathic remedies safe for people with wheat and dairy allergies?

A. It is interesting that you begin by mentioning your diet and lifestyle, as A. While homeopathic remedies these are crucial factors in oral and are considered to be a safe and efdental health. More and more people fective alternative to conventional are realising that health and nutrition medication, they can pose a probare not only essential for the body’s lem for individuals who are intolhealing process, they are also the erant or allergic to wheat or dairy. most effective prevention against illTablets and pillules/globules typiness in the first place. cally have substances such as lactose I wonder if you have tried tooth or wheat-derived products as part soap? I am a huge fan of this natural of the base for the remedy, so these soap, although I have not found any would be best avoided. However, locally and order it from the US via you can also get homeopathic the website at www.toothsoap.com. remedies as liquid drops, creams, My gum and tooth health has imand sprays — so these may provide proved considerably since using this a suitable option for you. (for around six years now).

Having said that, the amount of The tooth shreds are the most ecolactose or wheat found in the nomical form of this product, since tablets and pillules is tiny, so if you you only use a small piece (1/3 to ½ are able to consume either of these of the longer shreds) the jar will last substances in miniscule amounts, for up to a year. Tooth soap also then you needn’t be concerned. comes as liquid, gel or a whipped People who have a higher sensitiviform. ty to these substances should avoid When I first bought this product these particular forms of homeothere was a choice of three flavours pathic remedies.

— now there is a boggling array to Even with the alcohol-based suit all palates: peppermint, preparations, such as sprays and liqspearmint, cinnamon, sweet fennel, peppermint and honey, cinnamon ORAL HEALTH: When brushing your teeth make sure to use a soft uid drops, you will need to check and honey, chocolate mint, ginger, brush to protect your gums.

Picture: iStock that it is derived from sugar rather than grains. citrus, juicy grape, black cherry, fruit The process of distillation removes punch, salty mint, passionfruit, and all gluten from the alcohol, so if it is for those who would prefer a a gluten intolerance then you are in the clear. proach. flavour-free option, plain Jane. many homeopaths prepare remedies using Along with the flossing, you will need to Flossing certainly helps when it comes to brandy as the stabiliser for the preparation, brush very gently with a soft brush in curved gum health, as most oral conditions such as strokes upwards/downwards from the gums to which is another safe option since the alcotender bleeding gums and even mouth ulcers hol is derived from grapes rather than grains. the top of the tooth. Effectively, you will be are in part a response to the harmful bacteria If your allergy is severe then you will thriving in those hard-to-reach spots between twisting from the wrist to achieve this effect already be familiar with doing your own to minimise the pressure on the gums and the teeth. With stubborn bacteria, gum inresearch into the ingredient panels of everymaximise the benefits of brushing. tegrity can suffer, with the gums becoming thing you consume (or apply), and suppleIn addition to this, using an interdental more soft and loose around the tooth base. ments, remedies and medicines are no brush can make a significant difference — This means that there is even more scope for exception. they look like the tiniest bottle brushes in the bacterial infection, requiring a proactive ap-

■ NOTE: The information contained above is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a doctor first.

Megan puts the spotlight on:

D

IABETES is on the rise, with nearly 350 million people worldwide affected by this chronic condition. Diabetes means the body is unable to sufficiently produce and/or effectively utilise insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas to assist in the conversion of glucose into energy.

Type I diabetes, usually occurring in children and young adults, is responsible for only 5%-10% of all cases. Type I sufferers have had their beta cells (responsible for producing insulin in the pancreas) destroyed by their own immune system. Type II diabetes accounts for the other 90%-95% of cases, and occurs when the body is unable to use the insulin made by the pancreas. Most Type

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II cases occur as a result of diet and lifestyle, but around 8% are linked to a genetic predisposition.

1. Get to know your numbers If you feel that you are at risk of developing Type II diabetes, you will need to screen via a fasting blood glucose test (FBG) or oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). If your FBG is greater than 7mmol/L or your OGTT is higher than 11.1mmol/ L, this indicates the presence of diabetes.

2. Move it to lose it Excess abdominal fat, or the so-called ‘apple’ fig-

TOP 5 DIABETES TIPS ure, specifically interferes with insulin production and the ability to utilise sugars from the diet. Resistance training is thought to be the most effective method for losing the ab flab and improving insulin sensitivity.

3. Get spicy Cinnamon has been shown in clinical trials to reduce fasting glucose levels and reduce total cholesterol. Cloves have also been shown to reduce the insulin-sensitising effects in abdominal fat cells and liver cells.

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4. Herbal helpers Goldenseal, a bitter

bright yellow herb, contains a plant alkaloid called berberine which performed extremely well during randomised double-blind trials — reducing fasting blood glucose, triglyceride, and haemoglobin A1C more effectively than the pharmaceutical alternatives.

5. Ditch the diet foods Foods containing artificial sweeteners can often contribute to obesity, and therefore increase the risk of Type II diabetes. Diet soft drinks are among the worst offenders in this category.

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011