How Menstrual Cycles May Intensify ADHD Symptoms in Women
Layla Kornota was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. Now 30 and working as a teaching assistant, she relies on an elaborate system of phone alarms simply to navigate her daily routine. She has four alarms dedicated to waking up alone, followed by others prompting her to get dressed, pack her work bag, and so on throughout the day.
“There’s a million different ones. Different times of the day,” she says, scrolling through the alerts on her phone. “It feels like overkill to a lot of people, but I have these markers that I need to hit.”
For Layla, this structure is what keeps her ADHD brain anchored. But that sense of control, she explains, dissolves as soon as her period approaches — what she describes as the peak of her menstrual cycle.
“It’s like you’re clinging on, for dear life, onto the ball that is continuing to roll, and sort of cursing yourself and the world the entire time,” she says.
What the NHS Says About ADHD
According to the NHS, ADHD is a condition in which the brain works differently compared to what is typical, leading to difficulties with concentration, emotional regulation, and remaining still. For women like Layla, these challenges can fluctuate in intensity — and increasingly, conversations across social media and online forums suggest menstrual cycles may be a key factor in that fluctuation.
Now, a first-of-its-kind study by Queen Mary University and King’s College London is putting that observed link to the test. Researchers are asking 50 women who have ADHD and are taking medication for it to track their menstrual cycles alongside the impact on their ADHD symptoms and daily life more broadly.
The Scale of ADHD in the UK
Roughly 2.5 million people in the UK are estimated to have ADHD. Hundreds of thousands of those individuals are currently waiting for an NHS diagnosis. Social media platforms and growing awareness — particularly around how women experience ADHD differently — have driven an unprecedented surge in demand for assessments.
NHS figures from December last year show a 23% increase in stimulants and other drugs prescribed for ADHD compared to the previous year. Despite this, a government taskforce report published in November last year found that ADHD was still being under-diagnosed and under-treated. The BBC has reported that some areas of England are now closing their NHS waiting lists because they cannot cope with the level of demand.
When Medication Stops Working
Nineteen-year-old Héloïse is studying for three university degrees simultaneously. She takes Ritalin for her ADHD and describes the medication as a lifeline — one that gives her a three-hour window of focus for studying. Her routine is straightforward: she takes the pill, sits in the library, and waits for it to take effect.
But during her period, something changes. She says she “waits and waits” for a reaction that never comes. “It feels like losing a walking stick or something you use to support yourself. All of a sudden it’s broken,” she says.
It was only when Héloïse began mapping her symptoms for the study that she recognised the pattern connecting her hormonal changes with the effectiveness of her medication.
Other women participating in the research described similar experiences. Some reported feeling “disabled” by their symptoms at particular points in their monthly cycle.
Tracking Hormones and Symptoms
The women taking part in the project have maintained an electronic diary recording their hormone levels and the severity of their ADHD symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and impulsive behaviour. By plotting each participant’s cycle against how she reports feeling, researchers are investigating whether consistent patterns emerge — both in the severity of symptoms and in how effectively medication manages them.
Psychiatrist Sally Cubbin, a neurodiversity specialist who worked on the King’s College study, believes hormones and ADHD are inextricably linked and hopes the trial will provide evidence to support that view.
She explains that at certain points in a woman’s cycle — particularly just before a period, when the hormone oestrogen is low — the effect on dopamine, the body’s so-called “feel-good” hormone, can make ADHD symptoms significantly stronger.
These monthly dips in oestrogen, Dr Cubbin notes, do not merely affect the ability to concentrate and manage tasks. “Women are also more likely to make dodgy decisions and take risks,” she says, which can include binge eating, spending money, “even not taking contraception.”
Impulsive Behaviour and the Menstrual Cycle
For Layla, those impulsive decisions are all too familiar. She says she struggles with overeating and cravings during her period. “I love pickles. I know that if I eat too many pickles I’m gonna feel ill,” she says. But the issue, she explains, is not hunger. “It’s this impulse to do it and then once it’s in your head it’s really difficult to shut it down or turn it off.”
Dr Jessica Agnew-Blais, the lead academic on the King’s College project, says ADHD in women — particularly adults — is an important and still-emerging area of research. Until the late 1990s, ADHD was widely viewed as a condition that only affected children, and predominantly boys.
“We’re seeing increasing numbers of women,” says Dr Catherine Durkin of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. “Thanks to increasing awareness of how ADHD symptoms can present in women, more are recognising where they have struggled throughout their lives and are now asking for help.”
Beyond the Menstrual Cycle: Menopause and Perimenopause
Women are also raising questions about the effect of menopause and perimenopause — major hormonal transitions — on their ADHD. Dr Agnew-Blais says her study, which is not yet fully completed, could serve as a useful “starting point” for addressing those questions.
The goal, she emphasises, is not about changing who someone is. “It can help just fit ADHD into your life a little bit better,” she notes.
Validation Through Understanding
Layla says she has always given herself a hard time for not “coming up to scratch,” but that taking part in the research project has felt “validating and freeing.”
“Understanding that this is something that a lot of women are going through every month for most of your life — it’s good to have kind of community and feel like that it’s okay, this isn’t just me,” she says.
For women like Layla and Héloïse, the emerging research offers something that has long been missing from the conversation around ADHD: recognition that their experiences are real, shared, and rooted in measurable biology. As the King’s College study continues, its findings may help reshape how clinicians understand and treat ADHD in women — not as a static condition, but as one that shifts in rhythm with the body’s hormonal cycles.