Could the onset of perimenopause exacerbate ADHD symptoms ? All her life, Rosie* felt there was something wrong with her. “I couldn’t really ‘get it together’ like most other people did, and I just felt different.” For as long as she could remember, she’d had a head full of “constant, indecipherable chatter”.
“Someone else said all the metaphorical tabs on the computer are open at once but you can’t remember why or which you’re meant to deal with first. It manifests in a feeling of real overwhelm when things pile up and that’s when I shut down and kind of crash.” By the time she reached her 50s , she felt exhausted by living in a constant state of chaos.
When one of her children was tested for ADHD, everything suddenly made sense. “I was reading up about their issues that I thought, s***, that sounds like me!” She was diagnosed with ADHD at 52. Like Rosie, it was only when Kate* had her daughter tested for ADHD that she realised she had it herself .
As a kid, she’d been a daydreamer and easily distracted. At 43, she realised she was trying to teach life skills such as self-regulation, organisation and sticking to routines that she couldn’t model herself. After a two-year “rollercoaster” of trialling various drugs, she landed on a brand and dosage that worked.
Her social anxiety subsided and she could juggle work and parenting “like a normal person”..
