" And after April when May follows and the whitethroat builds and all the swallows. ....". May swooped in with the swallows - whirling and wheeling above my house as if truly joyful and relieved to have survived their migration of thousands of miles.
On a sunny day I took a trip up to a place called O Rourke's Table which is a hill near Dromahair, a village near me. It is off the beaten track but well marked and pathed once you get there. To get to it you drive part way round by Lough Gill a magical, glass like lake that houses Yeat's famous Innisfree island .
I stopped the car in a lay by by the lake and walked the rest of the way to the table veering off up a side lane .I was glad to see the pinkish white blush of blossoms against the black branches of blackthorn. Alongside,the hawthorn was also beginning to erupt into flower. I reached the beginning of the ascending path to O Rourke's Table running alongside a house. The path had been kindly reinforced with wooden steps and railings for the ascent is steep.
A 10 minute ascent up this path brings me to O Rourke's Table which is a flat topped hill . It is said that the chieftain O Rourke who lived back in the 12th century came up here to lament his wife Dervorgilla being spirited away by the Leinster chieftain Dermot Mac Murrough. The table top is dome shaped and looks like a small raised bog. It is covered in billberry and other bushes with grassy paths weaving in and out. As it is raised the views to the surrounding mountains and Lough Gill below are breath taking. When you enter the table through a small gate it is as if you are entering a secret fairy glen. It has that hushed other worldly aspect to it. I passed along the grassy paths and gazed around at the surrounding mountains ranges with their peculiar shapes. Straight across was a line of mountains called "The Sleeping Giant" named because it is shaped in the form of a giant lying down, his head, feet and stomach clearly outlined.
Down below is a pastoral scene of fields with sheep, woolly dots in the distance ,bordering the vast mirror still expanse of Lough Gill . I sat on a convenient stone and I imagined O Rourke sitting in the same spot fuming and lamenting the loss of his wife to Mc Murrough. It all felt very significant as when you think about it a piece of history was made here that would change life in Ireland for centuries to come. O Rourke in his bitterness was probably plotting his revenge up here on the table, maybe even sitting on the stone I was sitting on. Mc Murrough, afraid of the wrath he had probably incurred by his actions then decided to enlist the help of the English in order to support him for any reprisals on the part of O Rourke. And so like something out of a wicked witch story full of curses and the like, the fate of Ireland was changed for hundreds of years .......
I got a bit of a land recently to discover that I have osteopenia which means the early stages of having porous bones ie: osteoporosis. It is a silent disease and not usually diagnosed until a fracture occurs An ultimately serendipitous fracture of my wrist meant that I had a bone scan which revealed this. So lucky I discovered it before it progressed to osteoporosis. Although I am a nurse and have a background in public health nutrition I was horrified to discover the following:
- 1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men will a sustain a fracture due to osteoporosis.
-During the first few years of menopause you can lose up to 20% of your bone density
- Many people do not consume enough calcium to maintain bone health, most of which is found in dairy products. If you do not consume dairy products it is difficult to reach the 1000mg to 1200mg of calcium per day needed.Calcium can also be found in dark green leafy vegetables but you would need to consume 34 cups of raw kale to meet the aforementioned amounts of calcium needed.
Most of the population is deficient in Vitamin D which is essential for successful absorption of calcium. This is exacerbated in the northern populations of Scandinavia, UK and Ireland where Vitamin D levels plummet in those sunless months between September and March. Most Vitamin D is obtained from the action of sunlight on a substance in the skin as few foods contain Vitamin.Thus it can be difficult to obtain sufficient quantities of calcium and Vitamin D without some form of supplementation. For females over 50 the recommended intake of calcium rises to 1200mg daily due to declining levels of oestrogen which causes the removal of calcium from the bones at an accelerated rate thus reducing bone density.Only 30% of people aged over 60 regain their independence following a hip fracture and approximately 90% of fractured hips in senior citizens are due to osteoporosis.
Recommendations to reduce developing osteopenia and subsequently osteoporosis include:
- Getting the calcium and Vitamin D that you need every day
- Regular weight bearing and muscle strengthening exercises
- Not smoking or drinking too much alcohol.
- Working out with your GP if and when you should have a bone scan especially coming up to those pre menopause years of your late thirties/early forties ( most bone loss occurs in the early years of menopause so good to be prepared)
- Take medication if and when it is the right choice for you.
So ....... why am I writing about all this. As someone in their fifties now with osteopenia - the same as much of the female over fifty population I would have liked to have had this information back in my late thirties/early forties and more important to take note of it. The information was out there but:
- considering what a common silent disease this is the information is not out there in the mainstream public health domain
- in your late thirties/ early forties the menopause is something way off in the distance shaking it's fist at you. You still feel like you are in your twenties. Some head burying in sand can go on and unless it is in your face ( like the public health campaigns around protecting your self against or early detection of cervical and breast cancer ) - it is easy to let it all go under the radar - even if in your heart of hearts you know there are some disturbing things around osteoporosis out there that will probably affect you down the line.
If I could go back in time to my late thirties/early forties, maybe having dinner one night with my friends etc, I would be wondering with them why osteopenia/osteoporosis is not more in the public health domain considering it affects most of the female population of a certain age and the drastic outcome it could ultimately have. I would relate how working in a nursing home I have seen a few ladies whose lives have completely changed due to osteoporosis. Some of these ladies in their eighties lived a busy happy seemingly healthy life.Then that dreaded event happened. They fell and fractured their hip and lost their independence. It would be discovered that they had advanced osteoporosis and far far too late would be started on various bone strengthening medications and calcium supplements. In a year someone could go from living a happy independent life at home to advanced immobility and dependence in a nursing home. I remember one such lady who was in the nursing home a year before she passed away her heart as broken as her bones.
I would also say that already I was carrying out a lot of the recommendations around maintaining bone health so I should not have developed osteopenia. But I would also express surprise that genetics play a large part and that it can be surprisingly difficult to maintain adequate calcium and especially Vitamin D levels from your diet. I would also express surprise that taking a calcium and Vitamin D supplement would help with this and thus maintain bone strength for as little as 8 euros a month. That is a snappy, easily achievable public health message that would make me sit up and take note. I would also express relief that there are other bone strengthening medications out there that you can take if you do have osteopenia but it is better to take them earlier rather than after you have fractured your hip and lost your mobility.
Finally before being berated by my friends to lighten up and drink some more wine I would express regret that either I had not been more aware of this information on osteopenia/osteoporosis through a much better public health promotion on this than we have at present. Also if I and I suspect others were being truly honest we do not want to acknowledge the first signs of impending menopause because in our late thirties/early forties we still feel in our twenties and in a bit of a Never Never Land denial - Peter Pan like gut reaction ..... want to stay like that for ever.
That old school yard chant of " sticks and stones can break my bones but words cannot harm me" stay true ........... but we have to take note of those words , find and put into action the words and information that will keep us healthy. There needs to be more effective public health campaigns out there on osteoporosis especially given the bit of denial that may go on. No one in their heart of hearts wants to start stockpiling for the side effects of being older. But we have to face up to things. An in your face public health campaign can jolt you into doing just that.
On my side I was gobsmacked by:
- how common and how ultimately damaging osteoporosis is in both men and women
- the probable gaps in our calcium and Vitamin D intake
- how simple and cheap it is to maintain bone health by taking a supplement along with the other recommendations around preventing osteoporosis.
- how little I knew about all this.
So all women young and not so young need to have this information otherwise , silence, like the silent disease of osteoporosis , like sticks and stones will also break our bones.
On a sunny day I took a trip up to a place called O Rourke's Table which is a hill near Dromahair, a village near me. It is off the beaten track but well marked and pathed once you get there. To get to it you drive part way round by Lough Gill a magical, glass like lake that houses Yeat's famous Innisfree island .
 |
| Lough Gill at sunset |
 |
| Steps up to O Rourke's Table |
A 10 minute ascent up this path brings me to O Rourke's Table which is a flat topped hill . It is said that the chieftain O Rourke who lived back in the 12th century came up here to lament his wife Dervorgilla being spirited away by the Leinster chieftain Dermot Mac Murrough. The table top is dome shaped and looks like a small raised bog. It is covered in billberry and other bushes with grassy paths weaving in and out. As it is raised the views to the surrounding mountains and Lough Gill below are breath taking. When you enter the table through a small gate it is as if you are entering a secret fairy glen. It has that hushed other worldly aspect to it. I passed along the grassy paths and gazed around at the surrounding mountains ranges with their peculiar shapes. Straight across was a line of mountains called "The Sleeping Giant" named because it is shaped in the form of a giant lying down, his head, feet and stomach clearly outlined.
 |
| The Sleeping Giant |
 |
| View from the Table to Lough Gill below |
I got a bit of a land recently to discover that I have osteopenia which means the early stages of having porous bones ie: osteoporosis. It is a silent disease and not usually diagnosed until a fracture occurs An ultimately serendipitous fracture of my wrist meant that I had a bone scan which revealed this. So lucky I discovered it before it progressed to osteoporosis. Although I am a nurse and have a background in public health nutrition I was horrified to discover the following:
- 1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men will a sustain a fracture due to osteoporosis.
-During the first few years of menopause you can lose up to 20% of your bone density
- Many people do not consume enough calcium to maintain bone health, most of which is found in dairy products. If you do not consume dairy products it is difficult to reach the 1000mg to 1200mg of calcium per day needed.Calcium can also be found in dark green leafy vegetables but you would need to consume 34 cups of raw kale to meet the aforementioned amounts of calcium needed.
Most of the population is deficient in Vitamin D which is essential for successful absorption of calcium. This is exacerbated in the northern populations of Scandinavia, UK and Ireland where Vitamin D levels plummet in those sunless months between September and March. Most Vitamin D is obtained from the action of sunlight on a substance in the skin as few foods contain Vitamin.Thus it can be difficult to obtain sufficient quantities of calcium and Vitamin D without some form of supplementation. For females over 50 the recommended intake of calcium rises to 1200mg daily due to declining levels of oestrogen which causes the removal of calcium from the bones at an accelerated rate thus reducing bone density.Only 30% of people aged over 60 regain their independence following a hip fracture and approximately 90% of fractured hips in senior citizens are due to osteoporosis.
Recommendations to reduce developing osteopenia and subsequently osteoporosis include:
- Getting the calcium and Vitamin D that you need every day
- Regular weight bearing and muscle strengthening exercises
- Not smoking or drinking too much alcohol.
- Working out with your GP if and when you should have a bone scan especially coming up to those pre menopause years of your late thirties/early forties ( most bone loss occurs in the early years of menopause so good to be prepared)
- Take medication if and when it is the right choice for you.
So ....... why am I writing about all this. As someone in their fifties now with osteopenia - the same as much of the female over fifty population I would have liked to have had this information back in my late thirties/early forties and more important to take note of it. The information was out there but:
- considering what a common silent disease this is the information is not out there in the mainstream public health domain
- in your late thirties/ early forties the menopause is something way off in the distance shaking it's fist at you. You still feel like you are in your twenties. Some head burying in sand can go on and unless it is in your face ( like the public health campaigns around protecting your self against or early detection of cervical and breast cancer ) - it is easy to let it all go under the radar - even if in your heart of hearts you know there are some disturbing things around osteoporosis out there that will probably affect you down the line.
If I could go back in time to my late thirties/early forties, maybe having dinner one night with my friends etc, I would be wondering with them why osteopenia/osteoporosis is not more in the public health domain considering it affects most of the female population of a certain age and the drastic outcome it could ultimately have. I would relate how working in a nursing home I have seen a few ladies whose lives have completely changed due to osteoporosis. Some of these ladies in their eighties lived a busy happy seemingly healthy life.Then that dreaded event happened. They fell and fractured their hip and lost their independence. It would be discovered that they had advanced osteoporosis and far far too late would be started on various bone strengthening medications and calcium supplements. In a year someone could go from living a happy independent life at home to advanced immobility and dependence in a nursing home. I remember one such lady who was in the nursing home a year before she passed away her heart as broken as her bones.
I would also say that already I was carrying out a lot of the recommendations around maintaining bone health so I should not have developed osteopenia. But I would also express surprise that genetics play a large part and that it can be surprisingly difficult to maintain adequate calcium and especially Vitamin D levels from your diet. I would also express surprise that taking a calcium and Vitamin D supplement would help with this and thus maintain bone strength for as little as 8 euros a month. That is a snappy, easily achievable public health message that would make me sit up and take note. I would also express relief that there are other bone strengthening medications out there that you can take if you do have osteopenia but it is better to take them earlier rather than after you have fractured your hip and lost your mobility.
Finally before being berated by my friends to lighten up and drink some more wine I would express regret that either I had not been more aware of this information on osteopenia/osteoporosis through a much better public health promotion on this than we have at present. Also if I and I suspect others were being truly honest we do not want to acknowledge the first signs of impending menopause because in our late thirties/early forties we still feel in our twenties and in a bit of a Never Never Land denial - Peter Pan like gut reaction ..... want to stay like that for ever.
That old school yard chant of " sticks and stones can break my bones but words cannot harm me" stay true ........... but we have to take note of those words , find and put into action the words and information that will keep us healthy. There needs to be more effective public health campaigns out there on osteoporosis especially given the bit of denial that may go on. No one in their heart of hearts wants to start stockpiling for the side effects of being older. But we have to face up to things. An in your face public health campaign can jolt you into doing just that.
On my side I was gobsmacked by:
- how common and how ultimately damaging osteoporosis is in both men and women
- the probable gaps in our calcium and Vitamin D intake
- how simple and cheap it is to maintain bone health by taking a supplement along with the other recommendations around preventing osteoporosis.
- how little I knew about all this.
So all women young and not so young need to have this information otherwise , silence, like the silent disease of osteoporosis , like sticks and stones will also break our bones.
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