When your brain feels different week to week, it’s not about motivation. It might be your hormones messing with your ADHD.
If everything gets ten times harder around the time your period starts shifting, or your emotions swing wildly out of nowhere, you’re not imagining it.
And if you only started wondering about ADHD when perimenopause hit and life suddenly felt unmanageable – again, you’re not alone.
I see this all the time in my coaching work. Women who’ve spent years getting by – doing well, even, but holding it all together through sheer determination and masking. And then the hormones shift… and the wheels come off.
The connection between ADHD and hormones isn’t obvious – until you’re living it.
Why It’s Not Just You – It’s Your Cycle
Hormonal changes don’t just affect your body. For women with ADHD, they can impact mood, memory, motivation, and focus in a big way.
Let’s start with the menstrual cycle. Understanding what’s happening week to week can change the way you care for your brain, and stop the cycle of blame and burnout.
Here’s What Your Cycle Is Doing to Your ADHD
Menstrual Phase (Days 1-5)
Oestrogen and progesterone are at their lowest. You might feel tired, withdrawn, or mentally foggy. Some women notice fewer ADHD symptoms here, others feel like they’ve been hit by a truck.
Follicluar Phase (Days 6 -14)
Oestrogen rises, and with it, dopamine. This is when ADHD often feels easier to manage. You’re clearer, more focused, more creative. Tasks that felt impossible a week ago? Suddenly done by lunchtime.
Ovulation (Around Day 14)
Oestrogen peaks. For many, this is a great few days. But for some, especially those prone to anxiety or emotional sensitivity, this is where big feelings show up. Impulsiveness, irritability, or pressure to “make the most of it” can creep in.
Luteal Phase (Days 15–28)
Oestrogen drops, and progesterone rises. This is often the hardest stretch. You might notice:
- Mood swings or emotional reactivity
- Focus and motivation disappearing
- Rejection sensitivity going through the roof
- Everything feeling louder, harder, more overwhelming
And through all of this, you’re expected to keep going as if nothing’s changed. It’s no wonder so many women feel like they’re failing, or that something must be wrong with them.
Then Comes Perimenopause…
And that’s where everything can really shift.
I’ve coached women who didn’t realise they had ADHD until they hit their 40s. Perimenopause landed, the old coping mechanisms stopped working, and life started falling apart in ways they couldn’t explain.
And it’s not just brain fog or forgetfulness. It’s:
- Missing appointments
- Snapping at people you love
- Starting projects and leaving them half-finished
- Crying over things that never used to bother you
- Feeling like everything’s harder than it used to be
Oestrogen becomes more unpredictable in perimenopause, and with it, your brain’s access to dopamine and serotonin takes a hit. You lose the emotional buffer you didn’t even know you had — and it’s exhausting.
I’ve had so many conversations with women who thought they were just keeping it all together, until they couldn’t anymore. The old ways of coping stopped working, and they were left wondering what had changed, and why everything suddenly felt so much harder.
This Is Why I Coach the Way I Do
In The Clear Forward Method, the 12-week coaching journey I created for women with ADHD, we don’t just talk about to-do lists and productivity. There’s a whole bonus section focused on your cycle, your symptoms, and how to support your brain through all of it.
Because when you understand what’s happening in your body, it stops feeling so personal.
You realise you’re not lazy. You’re not scattered. You’re not “too emotional.”
You’re a woman with ADHD, living in a hormone-fuelled body that nobody ever gave you the manual for.
Coaching Isn’t About Fixing You
It’s about helping you work with your brain, not against it.
You don’t have to white-knuckle your way through another month, feeling like two different people. You don’t have to keep wondering why everything feels so hard.
There are ways to feel more supported, more steady, and more in control, even on the days when your hormones are playing hardball.
If you’ve found yourself nodding along while reading this, if part of you whispered “that’s me”, I’d love to support you.
Whether you’re newly diagnosed, wondering if ADHD fits, or just exhausted from trying to hold everything together, there’s space for you here.
