women and adhd With ADD Face Daily Challenges
Adult women who suffer from ADHD face daily challenges. They are often misdiagnosed and ignored because many doctors view ADD as a condition that affects only boys and men. Many ADD symptoms in females change with hormones. They become more prominent in puberty, and decrease as estrogen levels decrease during PMS or perimenopause.
Signs and symptoms
Women with adult ADD are easily irritated and impulsive. They are more likely to get involved in projects, like relationships or careers without planning them in advance. A lot of them also suffer from rejection sensitivity, which makes it difficult to cope with the real or perceived rejection. They are more likely than women who do not have ADD to engage in risky behaviors, such as early sex or casual sexual activity. They may also have multiple partners, unprotected pregnancy, or multiple partners. Depression is often a co-existing condition or result of ADD, and must also be treated. ADD symptoms are more apparent when girls reach puberty, during PMS and as estrogen levels drop in menopausal perimenopausal women or during menopaus.
Diagnosis
Doctors can miss diagnosing ADD in women because they are mistakenly thinking that it is more common in boys. Women who suffer from ADD are more emotional than other women, particularly when they enter puberty, suffer from PMS or enter menopausal or perimenopausal phases. They can be extremely impulsive and jump into things with a flurry instead of planning their lives carefully. Depression is often a co-existing disorder or a result.