Symptoms of ADHD in Women
Women with ADHD often experience miscommunications or frustrations in their relationships. Symptoms like not remembering appointments, being late for meetings, or zoning out during conversations can be mistaken by others as lack of interest or boredom.
Due to gender discrimination, females and girls with ADHD have a hard time being referred for evaluation. Clinicians must recalibrate their approaches to identify female patients and treating them.
1. Disorganization
If you are struggling with disorganization it may be difficult to keep the track of your daily obligations at work and school. You could also lose or lose important items like keys or your phone. It might be difficult to stick to a schedule or you may forget important dates or appointments, such as birthdays or anniversary celebrations. You might also have trouble remembering names, which could cause you to have difficulty making new acquaintances or maintain relationships.
There are many sources that can assist you if you don't realize that your disorganization is ADHD. You can start by talking to your primary care provider. They might recommend you to a mental health specialist or a therapist with experience treating ADHD.
Girls and women with ADHD are often incorrectly diagnosed. This could be because of coping strategies they employ to disguise their symptoms. They might be self-conscious or blame their struggles on circumstances beyond their control, like relationship problems or their gender.
Stereotypes regarding gender, sex and behavior can also make getting the help women with ADHD require more difficult. The impulsive and hyperactive behavior of ADHD is often thought of as being more appropriate for males and boys. Women with ADHD conceal or minimize their symptoms to fit in to avoid criticism and embarrassment.
While the diagnosis of ADHD can't solve these social and cultural problems but it can help you to learn to manage your symptoms more effectively. You can improve the quality of your life by receiving treatment and making lifestyle changes such as adhering to a set schedule, practicing mindfulness and eating a nutritious diet.
You can also increase your focus and ability to finish tasks by taking ADHD medication. However, it's important to speak with your healthcare professional regarding the medication and any side effects you may experience. They may suggest adjustments to your medication like reducing the dosage or altering the time of day that you take them. They can also assist you in identifying ways to improve your daily functioning, like making accommodations at school or work to help you manage your ADHD symptoms.
2. Attention
If you're a woman suffering from ADHD, you may struggle with "time blindness." This means that you are often late for appointments or have trouble keeping on top of deadlines. It's also possible that you have difficulty working or getting started, particularly on mundane or boring tasks. These issues can be irritating to colleagues or friends. But the truth is, you're not intentionally being rude or uncaring. You're simply dealing with the challenges of living with ADHD.
Women and girls are more likely to be diagnosed with inattentive ADHD than those with hyperactive or hyperactive symptoms. These traits can make it more difficult for girls and women to receive treatment as they aren't as obvious. Women and girls come up with strategies to conceal the symptoms of ADHD. This leads to a misdiagnosis, or underdiagnosis. Depression or anxiety-related symptoms can, for instance, be mistaken for the inattentive symptoms of ADHD and are treated for these disorders instead.
It's also possible that women and girls aren't able to be diagnosed with ADHD because they blame themselves. They may feel so embarrassed about missing appointments or not meeting deadlines that they don't tell a doctor about the symptoms. If they do go to see a healthcare professional, it's likely that they'll be told that their behavior is normal and it's not their fault, which can increase their frustration and shame.
It is important to find the right medication for your symptoms and for you. Stimulant drugs are generally the first option, but in the event that you're not able to tolerate stimulants or they have no impact on your symptoms, your doctor may recommend antidepressants that aren't stimulating or non-stimulant. They will also consider whether your symptoms may have been worsened by hormonal changes, such as those that occur during your menstrual period, pregnancy, or menopausal. This is because changes in these hormones can change the way that your body process medications and impact their effectiveness. This is another reason to get a diagnosis early on. Treatment can help manage your ADHD symptoms, and also improve your performance at work and at home.
3. undiagnosed adhd in women who suffer from ADHD have difficulty regulating their emotions. They may experience feelings of frustration, anxiety or depression, as well as mood swings. These emotions can have a negative impact on relationships and work performance. Women can also experience difficulty maintaining friendships and may experience an unstable love life, with more rapid romantic relationships and a greater 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 better at developing coping mechanisms that mask or cover up their ADHD symptoms, in order to satisfy gender-specific expectations of society (Quinn & Madhoo, 2014). This could cause women suffering from adhd to be incorrectly diagnosed and receive less effective treatment.
For instance females with ADHD struggle to resist temptations or avoid engaging in emotional behavior, so they have a difficult time controlling their spending habits. This can lead to financial issues, and can also mean that they forget to pay bills or pay their bills on time. Women who are impulsive are more likely to shop because they are bored or want stimulation and excitement, which could cause them to develop issues with their relationship with food. This can result in unhealthy and unbalanced eating patterns, which can cause other health concerns.
Research into adults with adhd in women has been restricted, but we do know that the symptoms are more common among females than males. It is possible that this is due to the fact that early research on ADHD was focused on boys and men/people AMAB, so it was easy to spot their symptoms and refer them to diagnosis. Also, it's possible that the criteria for diagnosing ADHD is not as useful in identifying females suffering from the condition.
Receiving a diagnosis of adhd can be a major change for some women, especially when it occurs late in life. It can help them realize the person they are and why they behave in the manner that they do. It can help them feel like they have an epiphany providing them with an external explanation for their problems and giving them the ability to accept themselves more fully.
4. Anxiety
Women who suffer from ADHD often struggle with anxiety and stressful situations. Anxiety can lead to difficulties in relationships, at work, and at school. It can manifest physically, like an increased heart rate or breathing that is shallow, muscle tension, or headaches. It can also interfere in sleep. Lack of sleep can worsen anxiety symptoms, making them more difficult to manage. A vicious cycle can form, with anxiety causing delay due to worry that things won't be completed correctly, which can lead to more anxiety.
It is important to know yourself and recognize whether you have an anxiety disorder. If you are experiencing symptoms that affect your daily activities, talk to a doctor or mental health specialist for help. They will assess your condition and use recognised criteria to determine whether you suffer from an anxiety disorder. You could be asked how long you've been experiencing symptoms, and how severe they are. They may recommend a variety of tools and tests to rule out any other medical conditions that may cause them.
Women who suffer from ADHD might have a harder time to be diagnosed than men due to the fact that they are more adept at minimizing their symptoms. They may develop coping strategies to manage their behavior but these strategies could become ineffective or exhausting over time. For example, some women suffering from ADHD might be able manage their impulsiveness or distractibility by preparing for meetings ahead of time or using a schedule and reminders for their phones. These coping mechanisms, however, may not deal with the underlying causes of their ADHD. This can lead to problems at home, work and at school.
It can be challenging to get a reliable ADHD diagnosis due to the fact that many rating scales are biased towards male behaviors and symptoms. Women are also more hesitant to seek treatment due to the fact that they may not believe that they have ADHD or that the diagnosis could affect their career or personal relationships.
If you find that your ADHD symptoms are interfering in your work or studies it is essential to speak out and seek assistance from your supervisors and coworkers. They're likely to to make accommodations for you to help you succeed at work or school.