ADHD And Estrogen (Hormonal Impact on ADHD Symptoms)

if you have adhd and you menstruate you might have noticed that your symptoms get worse in the lead up to and during your period this can be extremely frustrating especially if you haven't made a link between your hormone fluctuations and your adhd symptoms and you're wondering why you're struggling so much this is what happens to me except i didn't realize it was my adhd symptoms getting worse i just knew that at a certain time each month i was completely derailed from my goals by my adhd symptoms lying on the floor unable to function wondering why

i even bothered derailed i recently started counseling with a therapist who's experienced in working with neurodivergent people during a session i was remarking on how my week had been really difficult and i also commented that i was on my period she told me that there was a link between hormone fluctuations and adhd and she signposted me to a podcast by dr sandra kugi a dutch psychiatrist who specializes in this area oh boy has listening to this podcast helped me to understand what's happening to me and the link between my hormone fluctuations and my adhd and

sometimes just knowing why something's happening makes it that little bit easier to cope with you know this has definitely been the case for me because now at least if i know why and what is happening i can adjust my life at that time of the month to help me cope with it apart from when my periods become completely unpredictable and there's no way for me to predict the crazies but there's the breaks you know in dr coogie's clinical practice she had noticed that her patients who had adhd and menostrate were noticing more severe premenstrual mood

instability and an increase in their adhd symptoms as well as reporting increases in their adhd symptoms her patients were also reporting depressed mood sleep disturbance anxiety and panic attacks and suicidal thoughts they noticed that their symptoms reoccurred during every premenstrual period and that their adhd meds seem to be less efficient in addition she noticed that her patients seem to experience more severe postnatal depression and perimenopausal depression so she performed several studies to answer the question are hormonal mood problems more severe in people who menstruate and have adhd than in people who menstruate and don't have

adhd the first study was in 2016 200 patients attending an adhd conference were asked to self-report on a questionnaire on mood changes during the menstrual cycle the postnatal period and the perimenopausal period she then replicated the study with another 209 participants who were patients at an adhd clinic in the netherlands the results were as follows compared to the control of three to eight percent of people who menstruate experiencing premenstrual dysphoric disorder the questionnaires completed by people with adhd reported 62 percent experiencing pdd in the first study and 46 in the second study and compared to

a baseline of 13 to 19 of people experiencing postnatal depression the studies showed 67 in the first study and 58 in the second study finally the study reported people experiencing symptoms of perimenopausal anxiety and depression increased two-fold in the first study and three-fold in the second study so the next question is why is this happening and are there some treatment options that could help and this is a super interesting bit involving the hormone estrogen okay so most people know that estrogen is the hormone that brings around puberty in people who are born female we're also

aware that estrogen controls the menstrual cycle and is an important aspect of child bearing but what i didn't know is that estrogen promotes the release of dopamine in the brain and dopamine is one of the neurotransmitters associated with adhd with current thinking being that low levels of dopamine are part of the picture of what adhd is so after your period is finished estrogen levels begin to rise and this is good news for your adhd brain which is why during that part of our cycle we tend to be more productive and calm later in the cycle

estrogen levels start to fall this impacts the dopamine and we start to struggle in addition estrogen levels fall dramatically after you give birth and if you breastfeed they continue to fall and estrogen levels decline during perimenopause falling to very low levels after the menopause in addition it's possible that these fluctuating hormone levels can impact the efficiency of adhd medication now if you are anything like me this is a hallelujah moment for you right now hallelujah when i first heard this information it was like my life was being explained with actual reasons for the issues that

i've had and continue to have like being hospitalized with postnatal depression after the birth of each of my babies struggling to function prior to and during my period and now continuing to struggle even further during what i can only assume is the perimenopause it's similar to actually getting my adhd diagnosis in that now i know that many of these troubles were not and are not my fault i'm not particularly lame and unable to function because i'm an inferior human i'm being impacted by my neurology my fluctuating hormone levels and their impact on my neurology in

the podcast which i'll link to in the description box dr kuji mentioned that some women were taking the combined estrogen and progesterone pill throughout their cycles without a break and this was helping with these issues by keeping estrogen levels stable throughout the month the pill was reducing the impact of these fluctuations she also mentioned that some women were trialling increasing their adhd medications at that time of the month to see if that might help as always definitely discuss these options with your doctor if you think that this is something that might help you in addition

i'm hoping that just knowing this information will help you to give yourself a break when you're struggling at these particular times as always i encourage you to be kind and compassionate to yourselves and that if you find for whatever reason your brain is just not cooperating that you care for yourself as gently and as lovingly as you would care for a good friend going through these difficulties i hope that this video has been helpful if it has please consider clicking the like button and subscribing to my channel for more of this kind of content if

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