13/10/2025
Feel like your ADHD gets a little crazy when your hormones are shifting? You are not imagining this!
Estrogen and progesterone levels have a direct effect on neurotransmitters such as dopamine. Highly fluctuating levels of these hormones can happen during:
* Puberty (when many girls are first diagnosed with ADHD)
* Right before the start of the menstrual cycle (luteal phase) - PMS, PMDD
* Pregnancy (or during things like IVF treatments for infertility)
* Post-partum
* Perimenopause
These hormonal changes can directly affect cognition, mood, energy levels and memory. Executive function, including planning, organization skills, time management and emotional control can also be highly affected. 🧠
If you have ADHD, these changes may hit you much harder than for a neurotypical woman. However, it’s not just your brain that’s affected, the entire body and brain can be hit with heightened levels of pain, increased occurrence of anxiety or depression, and mood changes that are more than just “minor.” 😫
It’s not your fault.
Talk with your healthcare team about adding or adjusting medications for ADHD and/or hormonal treatments during these times. And build out your toolkit of balanced nutrition, key supplements, exercise, sleep and stress management to help support you when times get tough. You don’t have to suffer. 💕
Reach out to me for a personalized nutrition and lifestyle plan. 📋
p.s. Don’t have an ADHD diagnosis, but all this sounds super familiar? Many women go undiagnosed until perimenopause hits. Talk to your doctor. 🤗
Study: Front. Glob. Women’s Health, 07 July 2025, Volume 6 - 2025, https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2025.1613628