Adult Women With ADD Face Daily Challenges
Adult women suffering from ADHD face daily challenges. They are often misdiagnosed or mistreated because many physicians still think of ADD as a disorder that affects males and boys. Many ADD symptoms in females vary in response to hormones. They become more noticeable in puberty, and decrease when estrogen levels drop during PMS or perimenopausal.
Signs and symptoms
Women with adult ADD tend to be irritable, impatient, irritated, and indecisive. They are more likely to get involved in projects, such as relationships or careers, without planning them out. Some also have sensitivity to rejection which makes it hard to handle real or perceived rejection. Women with ADD are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors than women who don't have ADD like early sex, casual sex, multiple partners and unprotected pregnancies. Depression is often a co-existing condition or a result of ADD and should be treated. ADD symptoms are more evident in girls at puberty, during PMS and when estrogen levels decrease in menopausal perimenopausal women or during menopaus.
Diagnosis
While the ADD symptoms in women are similar to those of men, doctors could miss the diagnosis because of misguided assumptions that ADD is more prevalent in boys. Women who suffer from ADD tend to be more emotional, especially during puberty, PMS and in menopausal and perimenopausal hormone levels change. They may be impulsive, and rushing into things without planning. adhd in young women is often a co-occurring disorder or a result.