Adult Women With ADD Face Daily Challenges
Adult women suffering from ADHD face challenges every day. They often get misdiagnosed and ignored because many doctors think of ADD as a disorder that affects only males and boys. Many ADD symptoms in females change with hormones. They become more prominent in puberty, and decrease when estrogen levels drop during PMS or perimenopausal.
add and adhd in women and symptoms
Women with adult ADD tend to be impatient, easily angry, and indecisive. They tend to be impulsive and jump into projects, such as careers or relationships without planning them in advance. Many of them have a high level of sensitivity to rejection which makes it hard for them to cope with actual or perceived rejection. These women are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior than women who do not have ADD, such as early sexual activity, casual sex multiple partners and unprotected births. Depression often coexists with or is a result of ADD and needs to be treated in conjunction with it. ADD symptoms are more evident in girls at puberty, during PMS and as estrogen levels drop during menopausal or perimenopausal.
Diagnosis
While the ADD symptoms of women are similar to those seen in men, doctors may not recognize the symptoms due to misconceptions that ADD is more prevalent in boys. Women with ADD are more emotional than other women, especially when they enter puberty, experience PMS, or enter perimenopause or menopause. They may be highly emotional and impulsive, and can be caught in the full swing instead of planning their lives carefully. Depression is often a co-occurring disorder or a result.