Menopause, memory problems, motivation, anxiety and exhaustion it was ADHD all along!

[CestlaADHD]

I’ve been on a bit of a menopause journey trying to find answers to my symptoms mainly brain fog, memory problems, anxiety, lack of motivation, insomnia, exhaustion and lack of sex drive.

It turns out I have ADHD. I had no clue. I’ve had it all my life and had no idea!

Ive been on HRT for a year and testosterone for about 6 months and it didn’t do what I had hoped. I posted on here a few times under different user names. Women tend to internalise the Hyperactivity part (overthinking) and also overcompensate for the ADHD symptoms. For instance being super organised or always early, but this can be exhausting.

To make it even harder to spot ppl with ADHD also can ‘hyper focus’ on things they love. I never knew why I could spend hours doing new hobbies, but literally couldn’t pick up a sock!

Lots of women get diagnosed around menopause (in my case an early peri menopause), as the drop in hormones exacerbates ADHD symptoms.

If you have Spotify check out ADHDAF (ADHD as female). I think they are on instagram too. This website was useful too for women and masking.

https://www.theminiadhdcoach.com/

It explains all the problems I ever had and everything thing I’ve ever struggled with. I’m 45 ffs and had no idea that I’ve been essentially playing on ‘hard’ mode when everyone else got ‘easy’ mode. No wonder I felt shattered just living my life!!

If you have struggled and HRT hasn’t really helped please look into ADHD.

It can be both.

In retrospect when I had a nervous breakdown 7 years ago (late 40s) a couple of very specific symptoms were probably peri. The rest resulted in an ADHD diagnosis.

I made HUGE strides post diagnosis (unmedicated due no approved adult ADHD meds in Italy back then).

But those 2 couple of symptoms kept gnawing away quietly in the background.

They were helped a lot when the doc put me on anti depressants after covid gave me a TIA and I was struggling HARD with recovery.

But this year…. ouffff. Out of control. When I had an episode incompatible with staying alive long term I dealt with them by recognising that peri had kicked things up a massive notch.

Now on HRT me and my growing list of things that anre wrong with me are back to making great strides again.

Both are possible. You don’t grow out of ADHD. You can’t avoid aging into peri.

What works for one may leave you wide open for a massive spanner in the works with t’other. So leave room for peri potentially being the cherry on the diagnosis cake once you’ve got the ADHD sorted(ish).

Also… be wary of throwing money at coaches. It’s early days. Give yourself a minute to get to grips. Some post ADHD diagnosis over excitement is common and, well personally I didn’t make the best investments time, energy and money-wise right after.

Some of the ADHD content is great some of the time. It’s normal to hurl yourself into loads of it. Especially when it has you going “OMG ! That is so ME !”
But again, give yourself time to adjust before believing a lot of what is proffer as gospel.

Thank you.

Agree it’s both, but for me predominantly ADHD. I can see how it’s just been there all along. I’m keeping up with my HRT (as it has helped) and have taken Sertraline for years which has been most helpful too. I also am actually pretty good with healthy eating, exercise and sleep. I don’t drink either. I’ll probably be exploring meds, but using everything as part of a holistic approach.

I wasn’t looking at coaching, I just liked that site as it’s one of the very few sites that actually seemed to describe ADHD from a perspective that wasn’t about an 8 year old boy jumping off tables.

I am trying to pace myself, but also kinda hyper-focusing on it as well, as you said it explains ME! I’ve been going to the doctors for decades with problems with motivation, memory and anxiety/depression, it explains everything and has given my a new way to look at my life.

Glad you got diagnosed, albeit later in life too!