0:01

So hi everyone, welcome to a Sunday

0:04

episode, it's the ADHD Women's Wellbeing

0:06

Wisdom. And this is where

0:08

I bring you shorter episodes with lots of

0:10

wisdom. I've tweaked it, I've edited it down

0:12

to really ensure that you get a 15-20

0:14

minute blast to help

0:17

you on your week ahead. And

0:19

today's episode is with

0:22

a fantastic Adele Wimset.

0:24

She is a women's

0:26

hormonal health practitioner. She

0:28

understands ADHD and hormones like no

0:31

other. She's also a

0:33

guest on my ADHD hormone

0:35

series, a really fantastic guest that

0:37

really helps connect lots of dots about

0:40

ADHD cycles, hormones and why

0:43

it's so important that we

0:45

understand this. She is passionate

0:47

about taking women from striving to thriving and

0:50

supporting them to feel good instead

0:52

of tired, overwhelmed and depleted by

0:54

harnessing the power of our menstrual

0:56

cycles. I really hope that you

0:58

find this episode as powerful as I did

1:00

when I first spoke to her. And

1:03

if you are interested, please do

1:05

go to my ADHD Hormones series

1:07

because you'll then get so

1:09

much more insight about all

1:11

the different elements of hormones,

1:13

lifestyle, nutrition, really understanding

1:15

and connecting the dots between all the

1:17

different health issues, women's health issues

1:20

and hormonal issues that you may have faced

1:22

over your adult life and how that can be linked

1:24

back to your ADHD. But for now,

1:27

let's hear from Adele. So

1:29

I think the fundamental thing to realize

1:32

is this saying, men are

1:34

linear and women are cyclical and you start

1:36

thinking, okay, what does that mean? So

1:38

from puberty to death, men's hormones do

1:40

exactly the same thing. They decline slightly,

1:43

but every single day what's going

1:45

on from a hormone perspective is the same.

1:48

But for women who are cycling,

1:50

it changes every single day. So

1:53

the hormones in our body don't just give

1:55

us a period, which is the phase that

1:57

we're familiar with or in bleeding or the

1:59

leading up to it. We're oblivious usually

2:01

to the fact that we have anything else going on

2:03

in the rest of the time. Yet

2:05

these hormones peaking and troughing and

2:07

different, they play multiple roles in

2:10

the body. They affect our

2:12

cognitive function, our mood balance, our digestion,

2:14

our immunity, our gut health, our skin

2:16

elasticity, our temperature, they affect everything. And

2:19

yet we're expected as women to show

2:21

up like men do, being the same

2:23

every single day. And

2:25

we aren't. And physiologically going on in our

2:28

body is changing on a day to day

2:30

basis. And that is

2:32

why I think so many women

2:34

crash land into prey menopause because

2:37

we've ignored this cycle for decades

2:39

and the body goes, I can't do this anymore.

2:41

We kind of go, go, go, go, go. It's

2:44

a very masculine energy and women

2:46

are designed to be very in action

2:48

and outward for some of the time

2:50

and very inward and reflective and intuitive

2:52

the other time. So this ebb and

2:55

this flow, which correlates this link with

2:57

the moon. So for women who say

2:59

it may have had a hysterectomy, are

3:01

taking contraception, this still applies even if

3:03

you're not bleeding naturally. This

3:06

still applies because we tie up with the moon.

3:08

So the first day, the new moon would be

3:10

equivalent to the first day of your bleed and

3:12

the full moon to your ovulation,

3:14

which I can explain in more detail. But

3:17

we are these cyclical beings. And

3:19

when we start to understand that

3:22

and apply that to our life,

3:24

it changes everything. It

3:26

really does. Instead of pushing through

3:29

and powering through and being tired

3:31

and depleted, we fill our

3:33

cup and then we stop

3:35

presenting everyone around us. So our relationships

3:37

become more fulfilling because we've been able

3:39

to honor that inner slowing down. So

3:42

yeah, the cyclical nature

3:44

in is the point

3:46

of this work to summarize that. And we

3:49

are cyclical beings. Yeah, I love that. I

3:51

know it's funny because you

3:53

can't see this on the podcast, but

3:55

behind Adele is she's got some gorgeous

3:57

pictures of the different waxing

3:59

and waning of the moon. I'm obsessed with

4:01

the moon and I literally, my

4:04

kids always laugh at me because I'm always like,

4:06

oh it's a full moon or it's a new

4:08

moon and we've got them. I try and give

4:10

them little hints and tips to work in the

4:13

flow of the moon. And I

4:15

feel it now and now that I'm so aware of

4:17

the moon and the impact and you know our body is,

4:19

what is it, like 70% water? Something

4:22

like that. So if we're 70% water

4:24

and the moon has

4:27

a, you know, controls the sea and all of that, it's just

4:30

obvious that this moon is going to have

4:32

an impact on us. But I love the

4:34

analogy of the way the moon has

4:36

a cycle and the way we have a cycle and it's

4:38

pretty much within like it's 29 days isn't it? The same

4:42

as our kind of average female

4:44

cycle. So I mean

4:47

I love that. Some people might

4:49

like more the scientific side of

4:51

understanding their cycle. But

4:54

as women with ADHD, am I

4:57

right in saying that it's pretty

4:59

normal for us to have the

5:01

first half of our cycle feeling

5:03

more energised and productive, our focus

5:05

and our concentration is going to

5:08

be better, we're going to feel

5:10

more upbeat and when,

5:12

because the hormones have an impact

5:14

on our dopamine and estrogen depletes,

5:17

our dopamine depletes, that's when we

5:19

start feeling our ADHD symptoms a

5:22

bit more prominently. Hence the reason

5:24

why perimenopause is often a time

5:26

when women get diagnosed with ADHD

5:29

because we are having depleted estrogen.

5:32

What can we do? Maybe we're

5:34

not quite ready for HRT, maybe

5:36

we haven't hit perimenopause but our

5:38

cycles are starting to have more

5:40

of an impact on us. What

5:43

can women do to really

5:45

harness that first half of the month or

5:47

the first quarter of the month and then

5:49

what should we be doing as we get

5:51

closer to our period? Okay,

5:54

so several things that, first of

5:56

all, menstrual cycle awareness, this is

5:59

a very is what it's called

6:01

about understanding our cycle, about tracking our

6:03

own cycle, finding our own unique rhythms.

6:06

This is starting to become more and more prominent,

6:08

which is amazing. But you'll read

6:10

lots about it and some women will say, well,

6:12

that's not how I feel then. Quite

6:15

often, as I said, we've ignored this cycle

6:17

for decades and you sort of say, you

6:19

know, we're meant to feel amazing during this

6:21

pre-ovulation phase. And we'll go,

6:23

well, I don't feel like that. I'm not good. I've

6:25

worn out. And so we have to go right back

6:28

to the beginning. And the

6:30

first thing to do that I really

6:32

encourage women to do is to track

6:34

your own rhythm. And I've got a free tracker

6:36

you can download off of my website. I'm a pen

6:39

and paper kind of girl. I like to see it

6:41

visually and have that there. And I

6:43

suggest doing that for about three months and you

6:45

will start to see your patterns. You will start

6:47

to see the kind of clothes that you wear,

6:49

your libido, the kind of food that you want

6:52

to eat, the way you want to move your

6:54

body, whether you want to connect with people or

6:56

not, the way that you want to work, you

6:58

will see for you these changes. And

7:00

I think for ADHD women, we feel everything

7:02

so much more, you know,

7:05

we really feel this. When we're high,

7:07

we're like, you know, super weird,

7:09

we could take on the well. But when

7:11

we crash into that lower, everything feels overwhelming.

7:13

And this, I think, is one of the

7:15

reasons that so many women take so long

7:17

to get diagnosed because when that ish is

7:19

high and we're in those first earlier phases,

7:21

we're like, oh, actually, I'm fine. I was

7:23

maybe just having a bad week last week

7:25

and we don't recognise it. So

7:27

I think the important thing to say here,

7:30

track your own cycle. This is like

7:32

step one. And then

7:34

it's understanding that you have four distinct

7:36

phases every single month. Okay. So I

7:38

will bring in for women who are

7:41

cycling naturally, I'll bring in the hormonal

7:43

stage and then I'll also bring in

7:45

the moon phase for those who aren't

7:48

or a bit more irregular. So

7:50

The first phase is your pre-ovulation phase

7:53

where from the day you stop bleeding

7:55

up until ovulation. And This is like

7:57

the bear coming out of the cave

7:59

after. Hibernation you're coming out in every

8:01

day or energies. Why they you've got much

8:03

better cognitive function you know the actual and

8:05

get your to eat I as the I've

8:07

got post at night everywhere in this phase

8:10

it's a really good points that new intentions

8:12

and plans for the month ahead. We'll cut

8:14

building and it in this phase and then

8:16

we pay Cut off the Lyceum when east

8:18

since as high as to this would be

8:20

the equivalent of the full name. We've

8:23

got this lady of funding connected and

8:25

a day where we can spend quality

8:27

time with our loved ones that are

8:29

a great go to us. He bought

8:31

United have is ready to have abundant

8:33

positive time and then slowly those those

8:35

hormones eastern starts to decline a project

8:37

I'm Roy said on and produce I

8:39

can be challenging for A D H

8:41

D women in A because as this

8:43

the pressing effect on each as far

8:45

in this I so we can cross

8:47

quite considerably sizes and oh my gosh

8:49

I thought I had everything together. And

8:52

now I'm really that know what I'm

8:54

doing and I'm overwhelmed and you know

8:56

I'm not Fifth wheel flower Rpm T

8:58

in this phase they managing this phase

9:00

is so important for a day see

9:03

where in particular they were me start

9:05

to going to parry men a pause

9:07

and off ah psycho think I have

9:09

become more rustic for a way to

9:11

help grounds in I'm ready still be

9:14

able to slow down on a site

9:16

is to follow the made women find

9:18

these were the helpful to data and

9:20

then we go into of. Lead and

9:22

at a lot when find relief in

9:24

i was supposed com is our oh

9:26

i just needed to blade and you

9:28

know and then ain't quite a night

9:30

by day two or three that a

9:32

since starting to rise again. and

9:34

say the most challenging paw some all

9:36

women at the a as as upset

9:38

his hands and face a fine psychopath

9:40

a the i see women in particular

9:43

is that leads he'll face they're not

9:45

as a favor of body is grieving

9:47

asked to slow down you know from

9:49

an evil issue perspective all women do

9:51

have babies and i fly that's like

9:53

let's see what we're here for to

9:55

the whole body every month old energy

9:57

is going to way me when double

9:59

with inside when you're due to

10:01

bleed, you know, that's a lot of weight,

10:03

a lot of energy, it takes a lot

10:05

of energy to strip and shed that lining

10:07

and rebuild it in a matter of days

10:10

and yet we're still powering through, we're still

10:12

going to the gym, we're still socialising, we're

10:14

still working, we're still... I'm so tired. So

10:17

actually when we go, no, that phase I

10:19

know is really tough for me, I'm stripping

10:21

it right back. You know, we can't go

10:23

and live in a cave or often a

10:26

red tent as it was many eons ago,

10:28

you know, how lovely that would be. But what

10:31

we can do is buffer that time.

10:33

So it's like, okay, I've got to give a

10:35

presentation at work that day but I'm making sure

10:37

I take the lunch break, I'm not going to

10:39

the gym after work, I'm going home, I'm running

10:41

myself a bath and I'm going to sit

10:43

and watch Netflix for the night, you know,

10:46

it is that and that is good because

10:48

we've been conditioned to think that that is

10:50

lazy, that we shouldn't be resting but what

10:52

it does is it turbo charges us for

10:55

the rest of the month and it makes us

10:57

not have that inner critic, why is everyone else coping

10:59

with this? Which is such an ADHD woman narrative,

11:01

right? Why has everyone else got their

11:04

stuff together and I'm sat here like

11:06

in carnage and you know, particularly in

11:08

that phase when we come back and

11:10

go, no, it's just the phase that

11:12

I'm in. That could be so

11:14

relieving, we don't think we're

11:16

going crazy, we don't think our lives falling apart.

11:18

I know in a few days time this is

11:20

going to shift and it's going to pass. Yeah,

11:23

oh my god, I just love it. It's like

11:25

giving us full permission to

11:27

embrace where we're at and you

11:30

know, you were talking about going to the gym and I

11:32

know that I typically always injure myself

11:35

when I'm working out as I would

11:37

at the beginning of my cycle, you

11:40

know, just five days, three or four, five

11:42

days before my periods and it's

11:45

like, no, because you're not designed to be

11:47

doing what you're doing right now before your

11:49

period, your body wants to rest and you

11:51

know how you described about what our body

11:54

internally is doing. We're not focusing on the

11:56

build-up and the room expanding and how exhausting

11:58

that is and why we're doing it. the craving carbs,

12:00

why we're eating more, like it's our

12:03

body needing that energy to do what

12:05

it does. And we

12:07

as women are creators, you know, I

12:09

think about this from such a fundamental

12:11

level we are, like you say, from,

12:13

you know, this very basic level, we're

12:15

here to have babies, but

12:17

we create and we birth

12:20

and we are massively integral

12:22

to the spinning of this

12:24

world. Like, you know, if it wasn't

12:26

for us, they wouldn't be humankind. I

12:28

mean, obviously the men have some impact

12:30

on it, but we are the ones that

12:32

are giving birth and creating. And so we

12:34

have to honor our energy and we have

12:37

to honor when it's time to rest and

12:39

not shaming ourselves. I

12:41

think there's a massive thing there around

12:43

permission, you know, giving ourselves permission to

12:45

stop. I mean, we're not great at that, let's be

12:48

honest. And, you know, there's always something we'll get distracted

12:50

by something and I'll just do that, I'll just do

12:52

that, I'll just do that. And then it's like, oh,

12:54

it's five o'clock. And, you

12:56

know, giving ourselves permission to say, I

12:58

need to rest in this time. I

13:00

need to make my life as easy

13:03

as possible during this time. And, you

13:05

know, just to pick up on something

13:07

that you said around wanting the carbs

13:09

during this phase. I mean, ADHD women

13:11

notoriously, we're not great at remembering to eat and

13:13

eating the right stuff and then suddenly we can be

13:15

in this like, oh my gosh, feed me now, give

13:17

me the carbs. And actually,

13:19

I think during that luteal phase,

13:21

our PMT phase, if that tends

13:23

to be the most challenging phase,

13:25

because our blood sugars become more

13:27

dysregulated and because insulin is less

13:29

sensitive because the estrogen isn't there.

13:31

So again, it's really important to

13:33

think of that phase, actually the

13:35

good proteins, the good fats, getting

13:37

them in and trying to really

13:39

remember to eat and prioritize food

13:41

during that phase. A good

13:44

protein and a good fat breakfast will

13:46

just help you survive that kind of

13:48

period if it is more challenging for

13:50

you. Yeah. So I've got a few

13:52

questions I'm going to throw at you

13:54

and this is all personal stuff to

13:56

me and hopefully it'll help others. Please

13:59

do. For me,

14:01

I always have a really bad day

14:03

or two. I suddenly turn into a

14:05

psycho in the middle of my cycle.

14:07

I just wondered what the ovulation's doing

14:09

to my hormones and what's it doing

14:12

to my ADHD and why

14:14

I'm just so on edge and

14:17

not a very nice version of myself. So

14:20

I'm really pleased that you asked this because this

14:22

is something, because I work obviously with a lot

14:24

of ADHD women around their hormones and quite often,

14:26

when I was saying track your own rhythm because

14:28

it might be not what you read in the

14:30

book because ovulation times, the

14:32

center of your cycle, can be really

14:34

challenging for some women at this phase.

14:36

Now, it can take a little

14:38

bit of detective work to figure it out because

14:41

sometimes, if you get the PMT type symptoms, it

14:43

can be a histamine issue because

14:45

estrogen and histamine feed off each other

14:47

and histamine makes you feel horrible. Okay,

14:50

so that could be something to look at.

14:54

But I think there's also, you know, it's

14:56

like, if you think of estrogen, this is

14:58

how I see it. It's just a bit

15:00

like speed and progesterone is a bit like

15:02

cannabis. I've asked, we have like

15:04

this surge of estrogen

15:07

coming into our brain. I

15:09

think it can just wire us. I think it can make us

15:11

a little bit like, whoa, you

15:13

know, and have that impact. But like,

15:16

there's so much research missing. We just

15:18

don't know the impact on

15:20

ADHD women specifically with this hormone stuff.

15:23

We're just not there with it. So

15:25

we can hypothesize, but no,

15:27

you are not alone. It's not unusual

15:29

for ADHD women to

15:31

find ovulation quite challenging.

15:34

And it's this surge

15:36

of estrogen pushing up and

15:38

impacting us. I think it just makes us

15:40

go a bit wire. It

15:43

really does. And I've noticed that like hugely.

15:46

And then it's kind of like what happens

15:48

is, I noticed that I, before then I'm

15:50

doing okay. The ovulation time is

15:52

a bit like that, like checker as in like,

15:54

you know, just so you know, things are all

15:56

going to go downhill from now. And

15:59

that's when I stopped. feeling my energy

16:01

depleting and when I start feeling... Yeah,

16:04

not. I think what can quite

16:06

happen, if you notice you've ovulated

16:08

just after you ovulate and you

16:10

get that sinking, that I think

16:13

as well, this is just my

16:15

opinion based on my analysis of

16:17

hormones, is that testosterone drops, which

16:20

makes us feel great, estrogen drops,

16:22

and your hormones can literally suddenly drop

16:24

in your body like they've gone off

16:26

a ledge, you've had this

16:28

high and then it's like, whoo, you

16:30

can go quite quickly down before the

16:33

other hormones start to move up again.

16:35

So you go into this really tricky

16:37

phase of a couple of

16:39

days where you've had this surge of

16:41

hormones that suddenly drops off very quickly,

16:43

and the other hormones like progesterone haven't

16:45

started to rise enough to kind of

16:47

balance that. So you go into this

16:49

really tricky couple of transition days

16:52

and then it can feel like it starts to

16:54

balance out again. Does that make sense? Yeah, it

16:56

really does. Yeah. It's

16:58

not a simple answer, it's about looking at you

17:00

as an individual and going, right, let's work out

17:02

what else is going on, but they are some

17:04

things that can play a role

17:06

for us. And I just think we're so

17:08

sensitive. I'm sure we have like double the

17:10

number of hormone receptors to neurotypical. Well,

17:13

we're like empaths, aren't we? So everything

17:15

we feel, like you say we feel

17:17

everything and we are, everything

17:19

is sort of exaggerated and escalated

17:22

and in some ways it's incredible,

17:24

we've got amazing imaginations and creativity

17:26

and energy sometimes. And

17:28

then there's always, there's a good

17:30

side and a slightly less good

17:33

side. And I think hormones, it's

17:35

just another portrayal of that. Another

17:37

question, why are, and

17:40

again, this is me from myself, I have heard it

17:42

from quite a lot of other women with ADHD, why

17:45

are we more sensitive to progesterone? And

17:48

why does progesterone have more of an

17:50

impact on us than others? Okay,

17:53

so this is really interesting. So as I

17:55

said, like if you can just work with

17:57

my kind of, my narcotics analogy of the

17:59

hormone. If you're looking at

18:01

estrogen being like this high, like this

18:04

kind of sort of class A, buzzy

18:06

kind of high and then progesterone, but

18:08

the plus of that for us ADHDers

18:11

is it massively sensitises the

18:13

dopamine, the serotonin, the norepinephrine, all

18:15

these amazing things that help us

18:18

function really well. Now

18:20

as that declines in neurotypical women, progesterone

18:22

then comes up and progesterone is known

18:24

as the keep calm and carry on

18:27

hormone. So it kind of has

18:29

this lovely soothing effect until that then drops off

18:31

and then we go into like our

18:33

PMTE type symptoms. But

18:35

this is challenging for ADHD

18:37

women because we're loving estrogen

18:40

making our neurotransmitters work really

18:42

well and of course then

18:44

progesterone kicks in and kind

18:46

of dampens the party. So

18:49

a big role of it is to keep estrogen

18:51

in check. So we don't want

18:53

that. You know we need

18:55

estrogen to be taking that role to help

18:57

with our neurotransmitters and help with our executive

18:59

functioning. So when progesterone

19:01

starts to rise it could be quite challenging

19:04

for ADHD women. So

19:08

I hope you enjoyed listening to this

19:10

shorter episode of the ADHD

19:12

Women's Wellbeing Podcast. I've called it the

19:14

ADHD Women's Wellbeing Wisdom because I believe

19:17

there's so much wisdom in

19:19

the guests that I have on and their

19:21

insights. So sometimes we just need that

19:23

little bit of a reminder and I hope that

19:26

has helped you today and I look forward to

19:28

seeing you back on the brand new episode on

19:30

Thursday. Have a God Rest of your week.