Exacerbated ADHD symptoms with age

Recently I have noticed, that my ADHD symptoms get worse and that I get more "quirky". I wondered and thought that especially my bad memory may be because I have Fibromyalgia or because of the last remains of my almost-overcome anxiety disorder or because I had Neuropathia vestibularis 3 years ago or because I maybe had a TGS (Transient global amnesia) last year or because I lived in England in the 1980s and am now developing Creutzfeldt-Jakob. Or perhaps because of all of it all together.

Today I found out it could simply be the changing hormones. I am 47 and have started noticing changes, so why not! 

Overall the articles that I have read state, that there is yet no scientific research on this topic, but some of the information is interesting:

... 

In an ADDitude survey of nearly 5,000 women with ADHD ... more than 93% said they noticed a difference in the severity of some ADHD symptoms during perimenopause and/or menopause. More than half of survey respondents said the following symptoms had a “life-altering impact” from ages 40 to 59:

• Feelings of overwhelm (73.67%) 
• Brain fog and memory issues (74.32%) 
• Procrastination (65.60%) 
• Time-management difficulties (64.27%) 
• Inattention/distractibility (61.74%)
• Disorganization (60.98%)
• Emotional dysregulation (58.82%)

... 

From brain fog to emotionality and poor memory to disorganization, the symptoms of ADHD grow markedly worse and largely unmanageable in perimenopause and menopause. Nearly half of ADDitude readers call this the most challenging time of life for them.

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Women almost unanimously report that their ADHD symptoms were most debilitating and life-altering during perimenopause and menopause, when executive dysfunction and emotional dysregulation grew beyond their capacity to manage them effectively.

So here are some of the articles on that issue, that I have read on ADDitude - you might also find them informative:

We Demand Attention on How Perimenopause and Menopause Impact ADHD Symptoms, and Vice Versa

Menopause, Hormones & ADHD: What We Know, What Research is Needed

Perimenopause Problems: How Changing Hormones Exacerbate ADHD Symptoms

Please also take the ADDitude’s ADHD in Menopause survey.

Depression: When It’s More Than a Symptom Of ADHD

Depressed but unsure if it’s the result of your ADHD or something more? Learn what sets reactive and major depression apart, including family history and how quickly your mood shifts, as well as which treatment is best for you.

To most people, depression means feeling blue or down in the dumps. This is an almost universal experience for people with ADHD. At some point in their lives, they feel down due to the frustration and demoralization of trying to fit into a neurotypical world that makes little effort to understand or accept them. Often this is called secondary, or reactive, depression.

It must be emphasized, however, that “reactive depression” is a normal experience and not something that has gone wrong. It is an accurate perception of how hard and frustrating it is to have ADHD, especially if it is not being treated.

This is not how a doctor thinks of depression when he diagnoses a patient. A clinician is trained to see depression as a gradually worsening state in which a person loses energy and the ability to experience pleasure from the things she enjoyed. There is no predictable cause-and-effect relationship between what is going on in a person’s life and her emotional response to those events. A diagnosis of depression means that a person’s moods “have taken on a life of their own, separate from the events of her life and outside her conscious will and control.”

You can read the full article on ADDitude.