Signs of ADHD in Women
Women are subject to a lot of pressure to be the caretaker and stay on top of their kids and maintain a healthy bond and perform well at work. ADHD symptoms can make these tasks seem impossible.
If you suspect that you have ADHD it is important to get it diagnosed and treated. It can help you cope with these symptoms and improve the quality of your life overall.
1. You're Always Late
Being constantly late is one of the most frequent signs that you might have ADHD. This is because people with ADHD often have trouble managing their time, and they tend to be distracted by other activities. This can lead to problems at work or school and can result in being late to important meetings or not remembering homework assignments. This can cause stress for both you and those who depend on your presence. Set a reminder on your phone or on your calendar to avoid being late. Also, make sure you're ready the night prior. Also, you should give yourself an extra few minutes to reach your destination.
Women with ADHD are also having trouble making friends, since they're constantly missing social events. They might also have difficulty understanding social cues and understanding body language. They might also have difficulty in focusing on conversations and get lost in their thoughts.
Lastly, some girls with ADHD go undiagnosed because their symptoms are more difficult to notice than the hyperactive/impulsive ones seen in boys and men. Teachers and parents are more likely to refer men or boys to an ADHD assessment than they are for girls.
2. You're having difficulty focusing
It is easy for people with ADHD to get lost in what they are doing. If they are engaged in a conversation with others they are likely to wander off in a different direction or talk about things that don't relate to the issue that is being discussed. They may also have difficulty being still and are more likely to be impulsive and make risky decisions.
These issues can affect relationships with friends, family members and colleagues. People who suffer from ADHD tend to forget appointments or missing deadlines. adhd symptoms in women adults can also be disorganized and can spend a lot of time on unimportant tasks or have trouble sitting at home. They might also have difficulty staying focused at work or have trouble keep track of their finances.
In the early years the boys are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls. As adults, the rates are identical. This is believed to be due to the fact that women are more likely than males to experience recurrences of symptoms and to seek treatment when a child has been diagnosed with ADHD. Changing hormone levels, especially during menopausal changes, may affect the severity of ADHD symptoms.
3. You have poor memory
Women suffering from ADHD have a hard time remembering important dates, such as birthdays and anniversary dates. They also forget meetings. They may also have difficulty remembering names, which can make it difficult to keep up with conversations and social settings.
It's also common for people with ADHD to have poor judgment which means they speak their thoughts without thinking them through. This can cause many "foot-in-mouth" moments which can be very frustrating for loved ones and coworkers.
Another sign of adhd in women is having trouble creating and maintaining friendships. Many women suffering from ADHD struggle to manage their emotions. This could lead to difficult romantic relationships. This puts them at risk of being pressured into sexually inappropriate activities or becoming victims of violence from intimate partners.
Many women suffering from ADHD find it difficult to meet the societal expectations of parenting and homemaking as well as relationships. This can cause a lot more stress in their lives, which makes it difficult to recognize and manage ADHD symptoms. Women have coping strategies to hide their symptoms, such as using alcohol or other drugs, which can interfere with treatment. It is crucial to be diagnosed as a first step to identify and managing these challenges. The good news is that you can find help.
4. You have trouble making decisions
Women who struggle to make decisions may procrastinate or be unable complete tasks, as they aren't sure of what tasks to prioritize. They also have trouble remembering and following through with decisions they've made. This type of ADHD can impact the performance of work, relationships and self-esteem.
Symptoms of ADHD in women can be difficult to recognize than they are in children, as parents and teachers don't make girls the focus of evaluation as often as they do for boys. Furthermore, women are better at masking their symptoms. They might develop coping strategies that enable them to appear "normal" and to meet social expectations, for instance by relying on apps to manage their day-to-day activities.
Women can get an official diagnosis from their primary care doctor and they may refer them to an expert. Based on the results, the doctor could suggest medication or talk therapy. During therapy, your therapist can help you learn more effective ways to cope and assist you in swapping negative thoughts for positive ones. They can help you and your family members to improve communication. This can be challenging when one or both of the people in a relationship have ADHD. Medications can help control the symptoms and improve productivity at school or at work.
5. You're having trouble multitasking
Women suffering from ADHD often feel overwhelmed when they try to keep deadlines in line or complete multiple tasks at once. They may also have difficulty regulating their emotions and finding it difficult to make or keep friends, especially when they have difficulty picking the social signals and can be prone to impulsive behaviors.
Women who have difficulty multitasking are more likely to suffer from at risk of developing adhd. They may also lose or misplace items and are easily distracted. This can be a problem for women who work in an environment where they are constantly interrupted.
In addition, if you have the hyperactive/impulsive type of adhd, having trouble staying quiet and being able to control your emotions can lead to frequent outbursts that are not only disruptive to others but can be damaging to your career. Women may be more likely to be undiagnosed with this kind of ADHD because their symptoms are not as evident as those of the frequent inattention type.
Women with undiagnosed adult ADHD might develop strategies to mask their struggles like using alcohol or drugs to take care of themselves, in order to be accepted by other people. This can further aggravate their symptoms when they struggle with the constant feeling of inadequate, which can lead to tension in relationships and a general sense of low self-esteem.
6. You're having difficulty managing your Time
In the workplace, ADHD time management problems can pose a serious problem. It's difficult to get things completed when you do not have a system in place for filing documents, returning phone calls, or completing tasks in time. Even if you do excellent work, supervisors will question your competence if you repeatedly fail to meet deadlines.
Women with ADHD are more likely to have the inattentive subtype of symptoms, which can make it harder for them to be diagnosed and treated than men or boys with the hyperactive/impulsive type of symptoms. This is because doctors and teachers are more likely to recognize the hyperactive/impulsive symptoms in boys and men, and may be less familiar with the inattentive-type symptoms of women with ADHD.
Women with untreated ADHD may also be more likely than others to suffer from co-occurring anxiety or depression, and have trouble maintaining relationships. Society expects women to take care of their children, which can exacerbate the symptoms of ADHD for many women, especially when they don't have access to the right treatment and support they need. This can cause strained relationships between family members, friends and romantic partners. The strain on relationships can lead to frustration and misunderstandings which makes it harder for women to seek help.
7. You're having trouble making friends
Women with ADHD can find it frustrating to have trouble making friends. One reason is that societal expectations demand women to be able to perform multiple roles, including raising children, sustaining relationships, and doing well at work. They might suffer from symptoms that get worse as they attempt to meet the requirements. They also may be at a higher risk of having a negative relationship with their peers or coexisting mood disorders and anxiety disorders. Additionally, women are more likely to develop strategies for coping which mask their ADHD symptoms. This can lead women to exercise excessively, stay up later than they should and rely on calendars or phone reminders to manage their lives.
Other undesirable behaviors include impulsiveness and forgetfulness which can cause problems at work as well as in personal relationships. For instance, forgetting to attend a friend's party can cause them to feel depressed. They might also think you don't have any interest in them. Likewise interrupting conversations with irrelevant thoughts or getting angry at a moment's notice can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts. Being aware of the expectations you place on your friends can help avoid bad emotions, misinterpretations and anger. You can do this by keeping a calendar to track the important dates with your friends, using a notepad to jot down information you learn about new friends, and following through on promises.