What Tracking My Period Taught Me About My ADHD
When I was in my early 20s, I felt ruled by my hormones.
On a cadence of about every other week, I spent half of my therapy sessions either PMSing or on my period, ascribing at least some of my anguish to my cycle. I knew this probably wasn’t normal, but my body existed outside the norm in many ways.
At this time, I was almost certain I’d had undiagnosed ADHD. My father has it, we share similar challenges with executive function, and the condition is highly heritable. Tacked onto this was a musculoskeletal condition that introduced me to chronic pain before I finished middle school, immune system dysfunction, and a few social identities on the margins of society. I felt out of place in my own skin several times over.
My therapist encouraged me to track my period alongside my other symptoms so I’d have a clearer picture of how my cycle was affecting me. It felt overwhelming at first—naming the discomfort I usually just pushed through made it real. But it became one of the most useful tools I had, both for understanding my own body and for advocating for myself in health appointments where I was too often dismissed.
Tracking showed me something I hadn't expected: I wasn't just dealing with amplified PMS. I dreaded ovulation as much as my period, because that's when my anxiety and impulsivity spiked. In the ten days before my period, I grew steadily more forgetful—losing my keys, missing deadlines. My cycle wasn't just adding symptoms on top of my other conditions, it was flaring them.
I was finally diagnosed with ADHD at 25 years old, which for neurodivergent women, is a common experience, often because symptoms present differently and get masked or misread as anxiety or depression.(1) This was also my case; I had spent years being told to address my depression, anxiety, and grief before I could ever seriously consider ADHD, no matter what little progress that made on symptoms I actually came in with.
At the recommendation of my therapist, I frequented a forum for women with ADHD and came across research that focused on how female hormones had a role in ADHD symptom fluctuations. This was observed not only during the monthly menstrual cycle, but throughout a woman’s life, including during postpartum and the shift towards menopause. My mind was blown. The study noted declines in estrogen right after ovulation may increase hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms, and declines near the start of menses predicted an increase in symptoms related to inattention. In other words, the restlessness I’d felt midcycle and the memory issues I’d noticed during my pre-menstrual phase were not experienced in isolation (2.) The interplay I’d noticed between my menstrual cycle and fluctuating ADHD symptoms were following a pattern.
Equipped with clarity and evidence, I now had a better gauge of my options for treatment. I’d heard some women find success increasing the dose of their stimulant medication during the premenstrual phase but I was struggling to find a psychiatrist who’d agree to offering me first-line ADHD treatment as is, even with my diagnosis in hand. So I took a different route: I was finally ready to try hormonal birth control after years of avoiding it.
Today, my period feels much more manageable. Hormonal birth control is not a perfect fix for my symptoms, but it was life-changing, in the same way finally treating my ADHD was. What stays with me is how getting here felt like a journey I made in isolation. At no point did any of the medical professionals I consulted with about my struggles suggest my PMS and ADHD symptoms could be related, nor the exacerbation of other health conditions I had. What I learned about my cycle and ADHD was found through community focused forums which shared resources and anecdotes as new research discoveries were made. I wonder how much smoother my early 20s would have been if I’d tried this medication regimen years earlier. I wonder how many other women’s journeys towards effective treatment are characterized by self-education and advocacy over support from professionals.
That’s the real gap here: we treat the reproductive and endocrine systems as walled off from conditions we've decided to live elsewhere in the body, and that costs people years of unnecessary struggle.
This is a bigger story than my own. Like many other facets of women’s health, the complexities of ADHD in women remains understudied but the growing research gives me hope. As our understanding progresses, I wish information about the intersection of female hormones and ADHD is included in this. For many women, myself included, gaining a diagnosis and access to firstline ADHD treatment is hard enough! To expect us to learn the ins and outs of our conditions even as our doctors deny the complexity that exists within our bodies is not fair nor realistic.
For this ADHD Awareness Month, I want people to know that this history, the years of being dismissed, the answers I only found because a stranger on a forum had already lived it, is not just my story. It’s a symptom of a research and healthcare gap that needs closing. I want others to have an easier time than I did in understanding their bodies and seeking support when needed. I encourage others with chronic health conditions alongside periods to track their symptoms of both and look for patterns. I encourage us to share resources and talk about this overlap in forums about our conditions or with loved ones who may also share these conditions. There may be a bigger link between your non-hormonal health condition and your menstrual cycle than you think, and it shouldn’t be something you have to decode on your own.
Footnotes:
Part of this difference in diagnosis timelines may be due to how societal norms impact women with ADHD. Many of us spend an enormous effort masking our symptoms in public to avoid the judgement that comes with failing to adhere to standards of femininity like a prioritization of beauty, cleanliness, humility, and being mindful of how much space we take up (Attoe and Climie). It may also come down to how the symptoms themselves differ by sex: girls with ADHD tend to have more inattentive and therefore less outwardly disruptive symptoms, whereas boys skew hyperactive (Attoe and Climie). I’m of the opinion that it's likely a combination of both. Unfortunately, most ADHD research has historically centered boys and men, which has shaped diagnostic criteria that don’t always fit how the condition shows up in women.
The findings from another recent study presented at the U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress focused on the menstrual cycle and women with ADHD had similar results. Participants reported worsened symptoms, like inattention and impulsivity, near the beginning of their period and around ovulation. Their cognitive tests during this time matched their reports (Harper).
Sources Cited:
“ADHD in Girls and Women: Key Facts | Duke Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences.” Duke Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, psychiatry.duke.edu/adhd-girls-and-women-key-facts. Accessed 28 July 2026.
Attoe, Darby E, and Emma A Climie. “Miss. Diagnosis: A Systematic Review of ADHD in Adult Women.” Journal of attention disorders vol. 27,7 (2023): 645-657. doi:10.1177/10870547231161533
De Jong, M., et al. “Female-specific pharmacotherapy in ADHD: Premenstrual adjustment of psychostimulant dosage.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 14, 12 Dec. 2023, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1306194.
Eng, Ashley G et al. “Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and the menstrual cycle: Theory and evidence.” Hormones and behavior vol. 158 (2024): 105466. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105466
Harper, Kelso. “How Menstrual Periods Can Affect ADHD Symptoms and Treatment.” Edited by Tanya Lewis and Sarah Lewin Frasier, Scientific American, Scientific American, 9 Apr. 2025, www.scientificamerican.com/article/adhd-symptoms-can-fluctuate-with-the-menstrual-cycle/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic%2Fadhd.
Tung, Irene et al. “Patterns of Comorbidity Among Girls With ADHD: A Meta-analysis.” Pediatrics vol. 138,4 (2016): e20160430. doi:10.1542/peds.2016-0430