ADHD Diagnoses Are Rising In Menopausal Women, Says Expert

Melanie Lawson, founder of Bare Biology, said the ADHD diagnosis she got during perimenopause was “a shock, and then it was a relief”. 

Explaining that she’d “coped” with what she now understands are ADHD symptoms all her adult life, during perimenopause, “The wheels came off in a way I couldn’t explain or manage. The brain fog was crushing. I’d forget things I’d never forgotten before... I assumed it was hormones (sometimes I thought it was dementia or a brain tumour – no joke), because what else would it be at 52?

“Perimenopause had finally stripped away every last coping mechanism I’d spent a lifetime building – and underneath was a brain that had always worked differently,” Lawson added.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Eve Lepage, reproductive health specialist at Clue, said she’s noticed a “rise in ADHD diagnoses around perimenopause and menopause”. BBC Science Focus has also written abou...