Barbara Scully | The Things They Don't Tell You About Getting Older #169

Barbara Scully | The Things They Don't Tell You About Getting Older #169

From The Laura Dowling Experience by Laura Dowling

May 14, 2026 · 1h 30m · Episode 169

About this episode

Barbara Scully discusses the realities of aging as a woman in Ireland, sharing personal experiences with health and societal perceptions.

Barbara Scully sits down with Laura for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with her own recent run-in with the medical system and opens out into what it actually means to age as a woman in Ireland today. Barbara talks about months of hip pain, a string of MRIs, a suspected stroke that turned out to be nothing, and the moment she decided to step off the treadmill of tests, hand back the prescription and rebuild her strength in the gym. She also shares her type 2 diabetes diagnosis in her mid-50s and the two years of remission she achieved through diet and exercise before her mother died and life became harder again. The conversation moves into menopause, brain fog, mood swings and the language used about older women. Barbara reframes brain fog as an information retrieval slowdown, makes the case that women's anger after menopause is real and warranted, and argues that being underestimated as you get older is closer to a superpower than to invisibility. There is also room for the story behind it all. Growing up tall in a male-dominated house. Becoming an unmarried mother in 1987 and listening to politicians and clergy describe women like her as a scourge on the radio. The…

People in this episode

Host: Laura Dowling

Guest: Barbara Scully

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Irish bookstor

More episodes of The Laura Dowling Experience

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Laura Dowling Experience podcast page.