Hormones Are the Missing Piece of the Female ADHD Puzzle

Find my popular ADHD Women's Wellbeing workshops and resources on my website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

So many of us were told for years that our painful periods, flooding cycles, monthly mood crashes and hormonal struggles were just something to push through. This compilation episode is about what's actually been going on hormonally all along.

This week's episode is all about the overlap between ADHD, hormones and women's health — a connection Kate has been talking about since the very beginning of the podcast, and one that is still not being taken seriously enough in clinical practice.

We hear from three conversations. Dr Lotta Borg Skoglund, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and specialist in ADHD and hormonal health, on the link between estrogen and heart health, why perimenopause doesn't follow a straight line, and why so many neurodivergent women are still being told they're too young or not symptomatic enough to be taken seriously.

Dr Liz Murray, doctor, activist and author of Not Just Painful Periods, on her own decade-long road to an endometriosis diagnosis, what coming off the pill without the right information can do, and what she's doing through her charity to change the way the next generation of doctors are trained.

And Laura Federico and Morgan Miller, authors of The Cycle Book, on why cycle tracking is so much more than period data, how it can help us understand RSD, mood, energy and focus across the month, and why reconnecting with our bodies might be one of the most compassionate things we can do for ourselves.

In this episode, we cover:

The link between estrogen, heart health and menopause, and why this is the number one cause of death in post-menopausal women

Why perimenopause doesn't follow a straight line, and why symptoms can start long before periods become irregular

Why neurodivergent women are more likely to experience PMDD, endometriosis, PCOS and severe PMS

How losing estrogen suddenly can significantly raise cardiovascular risk, and why this is so often dismissed

Dr Liz Murray's own endometriosis story, and why being a doctor didn't protect her from a delayed diagnosis