Navigating life with ADHD is already a journey filled with unique challenges. Managing inattentiveness, forgetfulness and fatigue can often feel overwhelming. But when perimenopause and menopause enter the mix, things can become even more complicated. For many women, these hormonal transitions can heighten ADHD symptoms, making it harder to maintain focus, manage emotions and deal with everyday life.
How Estrogen Impacts ADHD
As women enter perimenopause, usually starting in their 40s, the levels of estrogen in the body begin to change. Estrogen is important for brain function, especially for helping with focus and attention. For women with ADHD, this drop in estrogen can make symptoms like forgetfulness, brain fog and feeling disorganised much worse. Things that used to feel easy to manage might suddenly seem overwhelming.
Menopause and the Increase in ADHD Symptoms
During menopause, when estrogen levels drop even more, many women notice that their memory and attention get worse. Fatigue often becomes a big issue too. Menopause symptoms like trouble sleeping, hot flashes and night sweats can make you feel constantly tired. When you have ADHD on top of that, the exhaustion can feel overwhelming. Not getting enough sleep makes it harder to focus and can make you more irritable, which makes everyday tasks even tougher to handle.
Aches, Pains and Bloating
But that’s not all, many women also experience new symptoms during perimenopause and menopause, like aches, pains, bloating and feeling more sensitive to stress. These physical issues can be really frustrating, especially if you’re already dealing with ADHD. The stress of handling these new changes can make it harder to control emotions, which may worsen ADHD symptoms like impulsiveness and mood swings.
Support During Menopause and ADHD
Dealing with both ADHD and menopause can really affect your day-to-day life, but you’re not alone. These changes are real and with the right help, you can learn how to manage them. Support and new coping strategies can make this phase of life easier to handle.
If you’re finding it difficult to manage ADHD symptoms as you go through perimenopause or menopause, please reach out. I’m here to help you understand what’s happening and develop personalised strategies to regain control.
Let’s work together. If anything in this blog resonates with you, I encourage you to book a meeting with me.
Maggie
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