Have you been walking into rooms lately and realizing you have no idea why you’re there? Or maybe you set out to fold the laundry, and half an hour later you’ve started six unrelated projects and have exactly two folded towels. If you’re a woman in your late 30s, 40s, or early 50s, join the club. Cognitive hiccups are a common—and annoying—phenomenon of perimenopause.
But here’s something else to consider: Studies show that the number of women being diagnosed with ADHD has skyrocketed in recent years. The classic “disruptive schoolboy” stereotype is starting to shift as researchers learn more about ADHD and how it presents in adults. As a result, more women are recognizing ADHD symptoms in themselves.
Both ADHD and perimenopause can mess with focus, memory, organization, and emotional regulation. Both can make you feel scattered, forgetful, and not quite like yourself.
“I’ve actually had quite an uptick in the last few years of women in perimenopause and menopause, just because there’s more awareness surrounding ADHD now,” Sanam Hafeez, PsyD, a neuropsychologist at Comprehend the Mind in New York, tells SELF.
To be clear, ADHD isn’t something you suddenly develop in midlife. It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder, which means you have it when you’re born. But in past years, girls were less likely to get an ADHD diagnosis as kids because their symptoms weren’t disruptive or hyperactive in stereotypical ways. Instead, they’re often daydreamy, disorganized, chronically overwhelmed, or constantly overcompensating.
Sound like you? Read on.
Two different conditions with some similar symptoms
In order to understand the link between perimenopause and ADHD, it’s important first to understand how both impact brain and cognitive function.
Perimenopause is the long, confusing stretch of time leading up to menopause (one full year without a period). It can be hard to tell when you’re perimenopausal, because there’s no official diagnostic test for it. And the time period varies wildly from person-to-person.
During perimenopause, hormones like estrogen start fluctuating unpredictably. Estrogen receptors exist all over your body (including your brain), and those shifts can affect way more than your cycle. These shifts impact cognitive function.
“Some of these symptoms can last for seven to 10 years on either side of when that last period is,” Sara Deatsman, MD, a certified menopause practitioner through the Menopause Society and clinical assistant professor of ob-gyn at the University of Florida College of Medicine, tells SELF.
