‘Once you make people aware, you empower them,’ says Dr Mary Ryan

Dr Mary Ryan is an Endocrinologist and Consultant Physician from Nenagh.

She works in Bon Secours Hospital in Limerick and recently launched her first book, It’s Probably Your Hormones.

Dr Ryan spoke to the Tipperary Star about hormones, her new book and how to live your best, most healthy life.

HORMONAL HEALTH

Dr Ryan said she wrote her book was to teach people to take control of their hormonal health.

She said that many people do not understand the role hormones play, and if they did, she said they would be able to live happier, healthier lives.

“Hormones control all those muscles and the immune system. I think we all use phrases like ‘we are hormonal,’ especially as women, but we don’t quite understand what it is.

“So if we realised how important hormones are, we would look after ourselves a lot better because the hormone control centre needs to be recharged at night just like the phone or the computer for it to work efficiently,” said Dr Ryan.

That control centre is called the pituitary gland, which is a pea-sized gland located above the nose at the base of the brain. It is responsible for the production of several important hormones like FSH, prolactin and oxytocin, among others.

It also tells other endocrine glands to release their hormones.

“The hormone control centre is at the top of our nose, and we all forget we are skeletons covered with muscle,” said Dr Ryan.

According to Dr Ryan if you don’t look after your pituitary gland, it can lead to lots of problems like fatigue, period problems and even cancer.

“The body is designed so well that you have lovely circadian rhythms with hormones, which work on every single muscle. We forget the bowel is muscle. The brain is a muscle, the heart is a muscle, so hormones are absolutely instrumental for everything in life and so important.

“People forget that hormones control the immune system, so if we want to keep away cancer and disease…all these things can occur as a result of an immune system gone wrong,” said Dr Ryan.

EASIER SAID THAN DONE

The issue is, of course that people may not know how to look after their hormonal health.

So, Dr Ryan wrote her book. She said that people can take control of their health, but only if they understand how.

“We doctors tell people all the time to eat healthy, exercise and get their sleep, but if they don’t understand the science behind it, they are not going to do it,” said Dr Ryan.

Some of the advice Dr Ryan gave us is to eat health, exercise and get eight hours of sleep a night.

The hormone melatonin is responsible for our sleep cycles. According to Dr Ryan melatonin levels are highest in the dark and lowest during the day. But artificial light, like the blue light in your smartphone can interfere with your body's regulation of melatonin, making it hard to sleep. And that's not all. Melatonin and sleep may have a gender factor.

“A lot of women will over do it, potter as we call it until 10pm and get then they get excessive adrenalin in their system, and that's actually stopping you from going into deep relaxation and sleeping.

“There is an awful lot of science. If people understood the science, they would understand why we say what we say as doctors, and they might comply better,” said Dr Ryan.

INEQUALITY

Melatonin aside, Dr Ryan is passionate about the gender gaps in healthcare and in society.

“It was inequality, and I see it all the time in society, and we are changing but men are more empowered in society, and boys are more empowered than girls in society.

“You only have to look at sport, you know, look at Sunday sport, it’s mens sport the whole time and the girls only get a look in.

“That has a huge impact on girls’ self esteem. And it’s a shame. I have twin boys and a little girl, and if you see how the boys are treated compared to the girls.

“That’s reflected on girls, and the girls down the road will have to try harder to get recognised, and we need to stop that because that leads to hormone imbalance,” said Dr Ryan.

A few years ago, this led her to travel around the country with broadcaster Lorraine Keane to teach women about menopause.

In 2021, Dr Ryan was invited to speak on Liveline with Joe Duffy.

The same year, RTE made a documentary on women’s struggle with menopause. Even the Government took notice.

“So I suppose I saw the value in public education in doing that because that’s what drove legislation and drove the government to take it seriously,” said Dr Ryan.

On International Women’s Day 2022, the Government launched the Women's Health Action Plan 2022 – 2023.

In summer last year, the Regional Hub for Women’s Health opened in Nenagh hospital.

The hub includes an Ambulatory Gynaecology Service, as well as menopause and fertility clinics.

The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said at its opening last year that it is a demonstration of how seriously his department takes women’s health.

CHANGING NARRATIVES

So, the narrative is changing around menopause, but there’s more work to be done. Dr Ryan thinks the next big conversation in women’s health is periods.

“I mean periods have been around since Adam and Eve. Menopause has been around since Adam and Eve, and yet it’s only now we are talking about it because we have brought it up.

“But periods and menopause are part of the evolution process, and without them we wouldn’t be able to to keep going as a society, and there wouldn’t be children born,” said Dr Ryan.

She said she has heard from women who hide their period towels under their shopping in the supermarket. She said education around what is normal, and what is not is severely lacking.

“I have also introduced the idea of what is a normal period. It’s never been talked about, and that is so wrong,” said Dr Ryan.

And if you don’t know what’s normal, you won’t recognise when something is wrong.

“I get patients coming in with seven day periods suffering terribly. That causes problems with fertility and pain with self esteem with sport.

“So if someone has a heavy period, it’s causing them awful problems.

They are worried it will show through the shorts and all these sorts of things that people don’t think about but actually cause terrible terrible suffering for the person involved. And that’s in addition to endometriosis and fibroids and so on.

“So, I really think it’s important that we bring this all out into the open,” said Dr Ryan.

MEN’s Work

While Dr Ryan has focused primarily on women for her book and outreach work, she said we mustn’t forget men have issues with hormones too. She said some of the issues she sees and deals with in her book are erectile dysfunction, libido and testosterone levels.

“People forget that your hormones control absolutely everything, your desires, your emotions, how you feel, absolutely everything.

“But there is so much we can control ourselves by pacing by resting by being informed about our hormones, so that’s what I feel was lacking, and that’s why I have written this book to educate people and empower them because once you make people aware you empower them,” said Dr Ryan.

It’s Probably Your Hormones is available now in bookshops nationwide.