People with ADHD who are also dealing with the impacts of ADHD may have difficulty determining what symptoms are for due to what condition and how the fluctuating hormones may impact their ADHD and brain functioning. Let’s chat about it.

Importance of understanding the intersection between ADHD and menopause

Understanding the way ADHD and menopause interact is imperative for accurate diagnosing, best and most effective treatment options, improved life quality, and better brain function for people experiencing both ADHD and menopause.  Without a clear understanding of how they impact and interact with each other, the risk of misdiagnosis or ineffective treatment increases dramatically. 

Some people attribute their symptems solely to one or the other incorrectly, leading to treatments that are less than effective. Fully understanding the intersection can help allow people to get a more tailored treatement approach that will effectively increase their quality of life.

ADHD and the impact of menopause and hormones

People going through the hormonal fluctuations of menopause are dealing with several different hormonal challenges. 

Estrogen, which is related to regulating the dopamine levels in the brain, fluctuates, causing disruptions to dopamine functioning which can lead to decreased focus, motivation, and other ADHD related symptoms.

Progesterone levels also change and shift during menopause, leading potentially to increased anxiety when progesterone levels dip. This can lead to increased anxiety and agitation in people with ADHD.

General hormonal imbalances during menopause can disrupt neaurotransmitter activity in the brain leading to an increase in many of the symptoms folks with ADHD already experience, and in some cases adding new symptoms a person has not previously experienced.

Common challenges people with ADHD face during menopause.

These are some of the more commonly reported challenges the people with ADHD face during menopause.

• Attention Struggles – people with ADHD may experience brain fog, increased difficulty maintaining focus and attention, and hormonal fluctuations can exacerbate distractibility.
• Impulsivity – people with ADHD who are already impulsive may struggle even more with this during the hormonal fluctuations that accompany menopause. This can lead to poor and impulsive decision making, risky behavior, or increased difficulty controlling their impulses.
• Restlessness – adults with ADHD often report a decrease in hyperactive sypmptoms with age; however – people going through menopause may experience increased restlessness and agitation.
• Forgetfulness – People with ADHD often struggle with working memory and people going through menopause may have an increase in forgetting appointments and deadlines, or in remembering important information. 
• Fluctuationg Emotions – people going through any type of hormonal fluctuations, including menopause, often have difficulty regulating their emotions. People with ADHD often already struggle with emotions, rejection sensitivity, anxiety, and depression; throwing menopause into the mix can increase all of those types of emotional side effects.
• Sleep Struggles – hormonal changes can impact sleep patterns and increase sleep dificulty in people with ADHD. Sleep struggles like poor quality of sleep and disruptions in your sleep-wake cycle can worse ADHD sytmptoms like working memory, attention, and emotional regulation. Hormonal fluctuations can cause difficulty staying asleep, regulating body temperature or regulating your sleep health.

What’s Next

Next month I will bring you part two of this discussion with tips on how to manage living with both ADHD and menopause. Make sure you come back to chat about that.  If you are struggling with ADHD and menopause, let’s chat about how we can partner together to make sure you are living your best life!  Book a free, no obligation discovery call today.

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Have an amazing day, friend!

PS – if you haven’t read it yet, here’s another blog you may enjoy – ADHD and Working Memory