Symptoms of ADHD in Women
Women with ADHD often experience miscommunications or frustrations in their relationships. Symptoms like forgetting appointments, being late for meetings, or zoning out during conversations can be misinterpreted by others as disinterest or boredom.
Girls and women with ADHD also struggle to be assessed due to gender-based bias. Clinicians need to recalibrate approaches to identify and treat female patients.
1. Disorganization
You may find it difficult to keep track of your daily chores at work and school when you're not organized. You may also misplace or lose important items like your phone or keys. You may struggle to follow a schedule or forget important dates, like birthdays and anniversaries. You may also have difficulty remembering names. This can make it difficult to form new friends or keep relationships.
You may not realize that your problems with disorganization are ADHD symptoms However, there are a lot of options to help you. Start by talking to your primary healthcare provider. They might refer you to a mental health professional or a therapist with expertise in treating ADHD.
Girls and women with ADHD are often not diagnosed or misdiagnosed, which could be because they develop strategies to hide their symptoms. They may have low self-esteem or blame their problems on factors outside their control, like relationship problems or their gender.
Stereotypes about gender, sex and behavior can also make it harder for women suffering from ADHD to get the support they need. For instance, hyperactive and impulsive behavior is usually thought of as more appropriate for boys and men. In the end, many women with ADHD are able to hide or suppress their symptoms to fit in and avoid criticism and embarrassment.
While a diagnosis of ADHD won't fix these social and cultural problems however, it can help you learn to manage your symptoms more effectively. You can enhance your quality of life by getting treatment and making changes to your lifestyle by adhering to a schedule, practicing meditation, and eating an appropriate diet.
You can also increase your ability to focus and accomplish tasks by taking ADHD medication. It's important to discuss the medication with your healthcare professional and any possible side effects. They could adjust your medication, for instance cutting doses or altering the time you take them. They can also help you discover other ways to enhance your daily functioning, like making accommodations at school or at work to help you manage your ADHD symptoms.
2. Inattention
You could be someone with ADHD who is struggling with "time blindness" which means you are often late for appointments and aren't able to keep track of deadlines. You may also have difficulty concentrating or getting started, particularly on monotonous or easy tasks. These issues can be irritating to colleagues or family members. However, you're not deliberately rude or inconsiderate. You're simply dealing with the challenges that come with ADHD.
Females and females are more likely to suffer from inattentive ADHD than those with hyperactive or impulse-related symptoms. These traits are less readily evident, which makes it more difficult for girls and women to receive treatment. In addition, girls and women often develop coping strategies that cover the symptoms of ADHD, so they're misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed. For instance, signs of anxiety or depression could be misinterpreted as being due to the inattention deficit of ADHD, and these disorders are treated as.
In addition, it's possible that girls and women have difficulty getting diagnosed because they blame themselves for the issues caused by their ADHD. They may feel too embarrassed to miss appointments or not meeting deadlines that they don't tell an expert about the symptoms. If they do go to consult with a healthcare professional, it's likely they'll be told that their behavior is normal and not their fault, which could cause further stress and shame.
Although medication is the most effective treatment for ADHD in adults, it's essential to choose the right medication that are effective for you and your specific symptoms. If stimulant medications aren't working or you can't take them, your doctor may recommend antidepressants or non-stimulant drugs. They'll also take into consideration whether your symptoms may have been worsened by hormonal changes, such as those that occur during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy or menopause. These changes can alter the way your body process medication and their effectiveness. It's also important to get a proper diagnosis as soon as possible. Medication can help you manage your ADHD symptoms and increase your ability at work and home.
3. Impulsivity
Women who suffer from ADHD have difficulty regulating their emotions. Symptoms can include feelings of anger, anxiety, depression or mood swings. These emotions can negatively impact relationships and work performance. Women may also have difficulty maintaining friendships and may experience more volatile love lives, with more rapid romance and a higher risk of intimate partner violence.
The impulse-control symptoms of adhd in women can be more difficult to notice and identify than the hyperactive/impulsive symptoms seen in boys and men/people AMAB. This is because girls and women are more adept at devising strategies to manage or disguise their ADHD symptoms in order to comply with gender-specific societal expectations (Quinn & Madhoo 2014). This can lead to a misdiagnosis or inadequate treatment for adult women suffering from adhd.
For instance females with ADHD struggle to resist temptations or stay away from being emotionally driven, so they find it hard to control their spending habits. This can lead to financial difficulties, and also means they may neglect to pay bills or make payments on time. Women who are easily enticed are also more likely to shop when they are bored or seek excitement and stimulation, which could cause them to develop issues with their relationship with food. This can lead to unhealthy and unbalanced eating habits, which can cause other health issues.
Research on adults with adhd in women has been restricted, but we do know that symptoms are more common in females than males. This could be due to the fact that earlier research on ADHD was mainly focused on boys and men/people who had AMAB. It was therefore easier to recognize their symptoms. Also, inattentive adhd in women that the criteria for diagnosing ADHD is not as useful in identifying females suffering from the disorder.
The diagnosis of adhd can be a game changer for women, particularly if it comes late in life. It can help them realize the person they are and why they behave the way that they do. It can make them feel like a lightbulb went off, giving them a reason to their struggles.
4. Anxiety
Women who suffer from ADHD often struggle with anxiety and stressful situations. Anxiety can lead to problems in relationships, at work, and at school. It can manifest itself in physical ways, like rapid heartbeat, shallow breathing, muscle tension or headaches. It can also disrupt sleep. Sleep deprivation can exacerbate anxiety, making it more difficult to manage. Procrastination can be an endless cycle, with anxiety fueling procrastination as well as fear of not completing tasks correctly.
It is important to be aware of yourself and recognise if you have an anxiety disorder. Consult an expert in mental health or a doctor if you are experiencing symptoms that interfere with your daily activities. They will assess your condition and apply a set of accepted criteria to determine if you suffer from an anxiety disorder. You could be asked how long you've been experiencing symptoms and how intense they are. They might suggest different tests and tools to rule out other illnesses which could be causing the symptoms.
Women with ADHD may have a harder time to get a diagnosis than men due to the fact that they tend to be better in masked symptoms. They may develop coping mechanisms to function but these strategies could become ineffective or exhausting over time. Women who suffer from ADHD can manage their impulsiveness by planning ahead for meetings or by using a phone reminder. These coping mechanisms are, however, not able to deal with the underlying causes of their ADHD. This can result in issues at work, home and at school.
Getting a proper diagnosis can be difficult because many rating scales for ADHD are skewed toward male behavior and symptoms. Women are also less likely to seek treatment if they aren't convinced they have ADHD, or if they believe it will negatively impact their professional and personal relationships.
It is also essential to raise your voice and seek assistance from supervisors, colleagues, and teachers if you suffer from ADHD symptoms that interfere with your studies or work. They're likely to be willing to provide accommodations for you to enable you to achieve success at school or at work.