Adult Female ADHD – Discovering More About This Often Overlooked & Under Diagnosed Condition

Female  ADHD is a more serious problem than once thought. In fact 20 years ago it was a universally accepted medical consensus that adult female ADHD was non-existent and ADHD in young girls was a rarity. But today we know both of these past conclusions were woefully flawed. Over the past decade the number of males with ADHD compared to females has dropped from 10 to 1 all the way down to 2 to 1.

So when we are talking about adult female ADHD we are not talking about some obscure condition. In fact it is quite common but you just have to know where and what to look for.

Why was adult female ADHD overlooked for so long?

Have you ever heard the term "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"? I'm sure many of you have. It simply means that the obvious always gets more attention than the not so obvious. Translated into ADHD terms boys and men with the condition tend to be aggressive, loud, angry, and sometimes hostile drawing attention to their behavior. On the other hand girls and women with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder tend to show few of these outwardly obvious symptoms. Instead, they have a tendency to be shy day dreamers flying under the conventional ADHD diagnostic radar.

Identifying the what's and where's of ADHD in girls and women

*They may not get the support and understanding from their male counterparts needed. Men seem to be less sympathetic to the plight of women with ADHD than women are to men. This holds true at home, at work, or in institutions of higher learning.

*Women will tend to place the blame on themselves for having the disorder thus turning their anger inward.

*More women than men with adult ADHD are single parents. More than half of the women with ADHD are raising at least one child with the disorder.

*Hormonal swings mimic ADHD symptoms complicating matters when attempting to arrive at a diagnosis. Hormonal swings may also amplify what may already be a very challenging set of primary symptoms including inattention, distractibility, and restlessness.  Hormonal fluctuations may make secondary symptoms such as worry, boredom, loss of motivation, feelings of hopelessness, sleep disturbances, low self esteem, and frustration much worse.

*Carving out a successful career may not be easy for those women with adult ADHD due the organization skills required. Just a few professions requiring a keen sense of organization are teachers, insurance coordinators, and nurses.

*Teenage girls with the disorder tend to try harder to be accepted by their peers. When rejection does occur they are ill-equipped to cope with the downside of rejection.

*Stay at home moms with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder beware. Being a stay at home mom can be a daunting task even without ADHD but when the disorder is present, this already difficult job, can rise to whole new level of difficulty, especially when asked to manage the bulk of the household chores, keep a close eye on household finances, and manage child care duties.

What next? For girls and women struggling with ADHD finding an effective treatment option is an important first step. The most common forms of treatment are prescription stimulants such as Ritalin, Adderall and non-stimulant medications such as Intuniv or Strattera. While effective, all stimulant medications come with a number of serious label warnings.

The risk of side effects, or perhaps lack of success (30% of the time), has prompted many of those with female adult ADHD to consider  non-prescription options. A couple examples of these are behavior modification therapy and/or natural remedies. Natural remedies for ADHD are a side effect free way to address such problematic symptoms as inattention, distractibility, impulsivity, erratic behavior and restlessness and can be used both as a standalone treatment or as a compliment to other non-prescription alternatives. They also have been shown to produce long-term lasting benefits about half of the time.