ADHD Burnout? Your Hormones Might Be Sabotaging You

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Dr. Brighten: Burnout. It's not just exhaustion. It's feeling like your brain is stuck in molasses or tar and I don't know the best analogy, but it is stuck and your body is running on empty and no amount of coffee or just pushed through is making anything any better. So listen. If you are an A DHD woman, like I'm an A DHD woman, and you're in perimenopause, like I'm in perimenopause.

You know, this isn't just in your head. They might try to say it's in your head, but it's not because your hormones are also involved. Your nervous system's definitely involved and your executive function are all in the burnout blender, so to speak. So let's talk about why does burnout hit A DHD women harder in perimenopause, and more importantly, how do you actually recover from it?

In today's episode of the Dr. Brighton Show, we're breaking down the science behind A DHD burnout, why your hormones are not playing fair at [00:01:00] all, and these strategies that actually work to rebuild your energy. We are not gonna do any fluff in this, uh episode. No toxic positivity, just real talk and real solutions.

If you don't know me, hi, I'm your host, Dr. Jolene Brighton. I'm board certified in Naturopathic endocrinology. I'm a certified menopause specialist, nutrition scientist, and sex counselor. And before we dive in, please consider leaving a review on this podcast, which is so, so important for this success of it reaching the women who need it most.

And you can even do it right now. It's okay. I'll wait. But seriously, if you like this information, I invite you to subscribe also to visit my website dr brighton.com for more info. That's just like this, talking about A DHD, talking about hormones, talking about perimenopause. And if you struggle with A DHD, and this episode resonates with you.

I've put together a five day [00:02:00] A DHD Hormone and Brain Sync mini course to help you finally understand how to work with your hormones instead of against them. And you'll find [email protected] slash Sync. That's SYNC. Alright, with that said, let's dive on in.

A DHD burnout is especially common in perimenopause due to a combination of hormonal shifts, cognitive demands, the demands on our brain, and long-term impacts of navigating our entire life with A DHD in a neurotypical world. So let's talk about why this happens and what's special about perimenopause.

First thing, and this's probably gonna be no surprise to you. Estrogen declines and it disrupts dopamine and executive function. So estrogen is a really key hormone in dopamine regulation. Dopamine being that neurotransmitter that is essential for focus, motivation, and [00:03:00] emotional regulation. Now if you caught the perimenopause episode, and I will link it here if you didn't, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you in case you're like, I haven't heard it.

Do I have to go? Listen, right now, you need to listen to it, but not right now. So, if you heard that episode, you will know that during perimenopause. Your estrogen levels are fluctuating unpredictably. It's why we don't test them until we do hormone replacement therapy, because they're just like all over the place.

And that leads to increase in A DHD symptoms like brain fog, uh, forgetfulness, emotional dysregulation. As your estrogen is going up and down, your dopamine is going up and down. And many women describe this as feeling like their A DHD suddenly worsens. Like they are, like, what? What is happening? One month, I'm on top of the world.

Everything is going great. The next month, like I can't, I can't remember my own children's names that is linked to estrogen. Now number two, there's an [00:04:00] increased mental load and life stress when we meet this middle of the road life. Okay? So by perimenopause, many women are managing their career caregiving, uh, for their kids, their aging parents, maybe both household responsibilities and all while dealing with worsening A DHD symptoms.

This creates chronic stress. Chronic stress can push an already overstimulated A DHD brain into full burnout. We're gonna go through the stages of burnout today. I'm gonna help you identify what those are, where you might be, and what you can do about it. Now I talked about the chronic stress, but this is really important in perimenopause because we have stress and then we have sleep issues, and then we have sleep issues that lead to stress.

And we already had sleep issues because of A DHD. There's an entire podcast episode about that, but we have chronic sleep disruptions happening. And that is causing all kinds of problems in our brain. So [00:05:00] hormonal changes, they lead to more frequent sleep disruptions, like hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia that contributes to sleep deprivation.

The A DHD brain already struggles with sleep issues. We have delayed ability to fall asleep, and this can make executive dysfunction. So much worse emotional dysregulation off the chain and we can feel completely exhausted and the long-term masking and exhaustion of A DHD can be contributing again to the stress.

So we've got the lack of sleep contributing to stress, and then we've got masking if you don't know what that is. Um, so let me say this first. Many women with A DHD have spent decades masking their symptoms, overcompensating, pushing themselves to keep up with neurotypical expectations, but by perimenopause, that level of effort becomes unsustainable.

Leading to [00:06:00] burnout. And so what masking is is putting in the extra effort to appear neurotypical, to keep it all together, to be able to over-compensate for the issues of our executive function. Now the other thing happening in perimenopause is emotional dysregulation and sometimes increased sensity, uh, sensory sensitivities, which I'll wanna explain a little more about that.

So estrogen, we talked about the lower estrogen that affects serotonin and norepinephrine and that can worsen your mood, swings your anxiety, your irritability. And I also wanna say the low progesterone is why we're seeing the sleep issues. And we can see anxiety of a whole episode on GABA that I'll link to in the show notes, so you can learn more about that.

But when it comes to sensory sensitivities, many A DHD women will report that they're having more sensory sensitivities and perimenopause, and it makes every day stimuli just so overwhelming. But [00:07:00] here's what's really important to know. These sensory issues like extreme sensitivity to noise, meltdowns with certain textures, food avoidance due to sensory issues, they aren't part of the A DHD diagnostic criteria.

In fact, it can be more indicative of autism. And as many as 70% of those with autism have co-occurring A DHD. So it may be worth evaluating if you're actually A DHD autistic and A DHD like me, and not just a DHD because that comes with extra layers of challenges. It is the disability, uh, but also extra accommodations need to be thought of.

Okay, so I want to talk about changes in medication, uh, efficacy as well. So if you're on a DHD medication, you may notice it works differently in perimenopause, so it already probably works differently as you entered your luteal [00:08:00] phase every single month and you're like, why is it five to seven days before my period, this medication is junk.

It doesn't even work. I hate it so much. Or is it me and I'm broken? No, no, no, no. This is due to fluctuating hormone levels affecting how your brain responds to stimulants, and that potentially leads to more crashes and inconsistent symptom control with your medications. And so you may have been going through life being like, the meds work now.

They don't work. I'm in perimenopause. Thanks hormones. Thanks for how hormones interact with the brain, and thanks science for not bothering to study us and understand in detail how hormones interact in a neurodivergent brain. Now, the other thing happening in perimenopause is loss of coping strategies.

Many women unknowingly rely on estrogen supported executive function to manage A DHD, and they're getting through it their whole life and in their follicular phase, they're on fire and everything's working right. We talk about this by the way, Dr. brighton.com/adhd sync in that five day [00:09:00] little mini course I have for you.

Now, when estrogen drops, previously effective coping strategies might stop working, leaving you feeling like you're failing or falling apart, and all of this really stacks the deck for burnout. So I wanna talk about what burnout is, and we're gonna definitely have strategies, okay? So listen up. Burnout typically unfolds in multiple stages and it progresses from mild stress to complete exhaustion.

We're gonna break down the five main stages of burnout, and as I do so, I want you to take note if any stage sounds like you right now. Because I'll immediately provide you tips to help. So if you're like, this is me, don't turn it off. Take notes. Listen, maybe you need to rewind and hear it again, but definitely take note of where you're at because preventing burnout is what the goal should always be.

Because once we're in chronic burnout phase, it takes [00:10:00] so much effort to come out of it. That doesn't mean there's zero hope, just friend. If I can help you prevent it, that's what I wanna do. So let's hit those phases of burnout. Number one is the honeymoon phase. So phase one is honeymoon phase, where there's overcommitment and hyperfocus.

I laugh because I keep trying to get into this phase lately. 

\ It often begins with really high energy feeling, enthusiastic, highly, highly motivated, like you're like not dopamine is on fire.

And this we see with like new jobs, new projects, caregiving roles like. We get really excited and we're all in. And so what happens in the A DHD brain is that you hyper focus on tasks and then you neglect rest and self care. Um, I'm definitely guilty of this. You can let me know in the comments if you do this as well.

So the early warning signs look like mild stress, overworking, ignoring personal needs. I'm [00:11:00] currently writing a book right now and I'm so excited, and that's all I wanna do. I don't wanna eat, I don't wanna sleep, I don't wanna exercise, I don't wanna see friends. Um, I don't even wanna pee. I'm so excited. I just want to do that.

And I won't even wanna go to sleep at night 'cause I'm like, I have so many ideas and I just want to write. Okay. But I. Knowing about burnout and having helped patients through it and having helped myself through it as well. I know I have to set mandatory breaks by scheduling commitments I can't get out of like scheduling a lunch date with my husband.

Set scheduling, uh, time with friends at the end of the day, scheduling a phone call with a friend, like, um, scheduling my assistant to bother me even though I get irritated. But scheduling stops can help now in this stage. It's hard to recognize you're in the early phase of burnout 'cause you're so energized and motivated, but you're overextending yourself.

So if this is where you're at right now, what can you [00:12:00] do? Number one, set sustainable boundaries. We're so bad at boundaries with A DHD, but please do it. Establish. Realistic work and rest cycles and protect your time. Avoid taking on extra commitments just because you feel capable in the moment. If you are in your follicular phase, so your period is like ending and you're ramping up towards ovulation, you are so susceptible to overcommitting.

So just recognize if you're there right now and we talk about this in that A DHD sync course I have for you, like don't do it friend. Like just wait till your luteal face and see how you feel. .

Action. Step number two I want you to consider is to use external reminders for self-care. It is so easy when you have a DHD to forget to pause, to schedule breaks, to eat, and to move. In your day, like even just like getting up from your desk and moving. So use alarms and you know, you [00:13:00] can set, like I said, you can set dates and um, you know, schedule things with friends and family and coworkers, so it breaks up the day if you can afford a personal trainer getting one of those so that you ensure that you get movement.

Have those kinds of commitments in place so that you do take breaks. 

The third thing I would have you consider is to track energy levels. Pay attention to how much energy you're spending versus recovering. You can journal quick notes on your days when you feel exhausted so that you can see a pattern before total burnout creeps in. Uh, you can also use wearable technology.

I wear an AA ring. It's super helpful because it will show me when I'm having high stress days, uh, versus getting restorative time in and I can use that to track, like if I have consecutive days of like, it's just stress to stress even if it's feel good stress and there's no restorative time built into that.[00:14:00] 

I'm definitely on my way to burnout.

Phase two is the onset of stress, like irritability and overwhelm, and you're starting to feel it. So reality is setting in and stress is actually becoming noticeable. Small frustrations are building up. You may start procrastinating, missing deadlines. Struggling with emotional regulation, so that can look like, you know, freaking out in the car, having road rage snapping at people.

Um, it can look like a lot of things that, like media makes jokes about women in their PMS, but you're feeling this not it's worse before your period, but you're, you're feeling these shortness of your fuse a lot more often. Your energy is also fluctuating, so some days it feels manageable. Others, it feels like you're drowning.

And when it comes to physical signs and symptoms, you could be having trouble sleeping, headaches, uh, feeling a lot of tension in your muscles and digestive issues as well. So [00:15:00] in this second phase, you start feeling more easily frustrated, distracted, and having physical symptoms like fatigue. So you're starting to feel tired.

What can we do? Okay? If you're nodding your head, you're like, this is me, this is where I'm at. First thing. Let's start reducing sensory overload, wear noise canceling headphones, sunglasses, soft clothing to start to lower the environmental stressors that can drain energy. When your brain every is firing fine, you got your hormones working for you, you're feeling great.

These sensory inputs are not perceived as stress, but when you feel like your nervous system is frayed, ugh, it can be a lot for it. The other thing I would consider is doing batch tasks for focus and efficiency. So instead of multitasking, which is like impossible and very menopause group, similar tasks together, you're gonna answer emails, set a timer for 20 minutes.

We answer emails in 20 minutes, we get out of [00:16:00] there. Uh, this will help reduce cognitive switching and that is less fatiguing for the brain. So, and I love with A DHD set timers. So that it's like, I, like, let's try it for five minutes, uh, instead of like, I have to do this and finish the whole inbox. I'm never gonna finish my whole inbox.

I'm committed to the 3,500,060, uh, emails that are there. They live there. They're happy there, they're friends. Okay. The third thing I would say is practice good enough. Like good enough thinking. If perfectionism is causing stress, then done is better than perfect. Is the mantra you wanna aim for, like. 80% completion instead of overworking.

The reality is, is that if you have an A DHD brain, you're already putting in more than a hundred percent compared to the neurotypical because the amount of energy it takes for you to run those executive functions, it's a lot. Now, the third phase is when chronic stress [00:17:00] happens, and we've got exhaustion and avoidance.

Stress becomes chronic leading to fatigue, brain fog, withdrawal from responsibilities. We are overwhelmed. It makes executive function so hard. Tasks are piling up and it leads to more avoidance. The emotional signs you might experience is that you have increased sensitivity, anxiety, you're feeling low self-worth.

Um, you might have. Rejection sensitivity dysphoria, spiking, or RSD? We'll talk, uh, let me explain that in a bit, but I wanna finish just talking about this phase. You likely will start isolating, compensating with more work or engage in numbing behaviors. So this is where doom scrolling, binge watching overconsumption of caffeine, sugar, and rose all day culture comes from.

So in this phase you are feeling mentally drained, you're procrastinating more, you're struggling with motivation, but then you're trying to pile on more work to try [00:18:00] to get ahead, which is not working. If you're in this stage, you're like, I know. Preach. I know. So what can you do? Okay. Number one, prioritize deep rest, not just sleep.

So you can try yoga, breathing meditation, just lying in a dark room to reset your nervous system weighted blankets. Um, you can do bin neural beats, whatever it takes to start really soothing that nervous system. Use the 10 minute momentum, uh, the 10 minute momentum strategy on hard tasks.

If avoidance is setting in, commit to just 10 minutes of a task and often just starting is the hardest part for A DHD. So like, like, because even if we're in burnout, like life still has to go on. So just like 10 minutes to do the dishes and then, and then I'm out 10 minutes to do laundry and then I'm out.

The other thing I'd recommend thinking about is say no without guilt. Oh, [00:19:00] that's so hard. We're such people pleasers, especially when our hormones aren't there. When you don't have enough testosterone being like boundaries, it can be really hard. So if you're overscheduling, practice scripts for declining commitments, I'd love to, but again, take on anything else right now and that's it.

No apologies. Okay. All right. I wanna talk about RSD or what is rejection sensitive dysphoria? 'cause I brought that up. So if you ever feel like a simple comment or a tiny bit of criticism hits way harder than it should, like someone says, Hey, you missed a spot. And suddenly your brain spirals into, I'm terrible.

They hate me. I'm a failure. Uh, that's RSD, which is rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. And if you have a DHD, there's a good chance, you know, this feeling really all too well. So, RSD isn't just disliking rejection, it's. Experiencing it as an actual emotional pain [00:20:00] and sometimes it's so intense. It can feel unbearable and it can show up in like some of the subtlest ways sometimes, like it can show where you're like.

This person totally hates me. They're upset with me. And even though they're like, it wasn't even about you, they're not even thinking about you. The smallest critique can make you feel completely unworthy. You can get all up in your head. You can't fall asleep at night. You're just replaying. What the hell?

You're the worst person in the world. You replay awkward moments in your head for days. You can let me know if this is you too, because it's me. And I will keep myself up at night just like replaying all the ways that I'm just such a screw up. Um, you'll also avoid certain situations altogether because you're afraid of messing up and it is super common to not even try.

I. Not even try whatever something is, because the fear of failure and somebody seeing your failure is just too much. And you know, with RSDI talked about how it's like [00:21:00] emotional, but you, you feel physical pain as well. It's not just, and so I should say. For a DHD years. Uh, RSD is not just emotional, it's also physical.

Your heart races, your stomach drops, your brain goes into overdrive trying to figure out what you did wrong. Maybe you get like shaky. Um, this is where I'm like, whenever there's a diagnosis of IBS, I'm always like, what else is under there? And if somebody has a DHD, I'm like. We might need to get you into mental health support because it could actually be RSD driven.

Now, the worst part about all of this is sometimes the rejection isn't even real. It's just your brain hyper perceiving danger and putting you into fight or flight. Um, if you're right now you're like, how do I know if I have RSD? Here's what to ask yourself. Do I take criticism way harder than others seem to do I avoid situations when I might fail or be judged?

Do I sometimes assume people are mad [00:22:00] at me when they're not? Does even mild rejection send me into a spiral of like anxiety, sadness, self-loathing, and listen, if this sounds like you, you're not alone. RSD is super common in A DHD and understanding it is the first step to managing it. If you want me to do a deeper dive episode on just RSD, you can let me know by leaving a comment wherever you're listening to this podcast right now.

I'd be happy to do that. Uh, your app should allow you to leave comments where you're still listening, so, so that you don't have to have the executive function to remember this later. You can just jot it down and leave me a comment. Okay. Let's get back to the phases of burnout. So phase four, we are in burnout, mental, emotional, physical shutdown.

Is upon us, so this is when we have full emotional and physical exhaustion. Really setting in basic tasks are impossible, or at least they feel impossible. [00:23:00] A DHD symptoms feel way more intense. You can't remember anything like, where's my keys? I don't even know. Something was on my, like I will. I have seen people like put it on their calendar and forget.

They put it on their calendar and forget to check their calendar. Like that's how extreme it can be. Lack of motivation and emotional outbursts are super common as well. Um, you can start to feel detached from your work, your relationships, even yourself, and you can start developing symptoms of chronic pain.

Inflammation immune dysfunction, by the way, because you have a DHD, you are already more sensitive to pain. You are already more likely to have histamine issues and more inflammation and immune system dysfunction. So now everything is getting a lot more amplified. In this phase of burnout, you feel completely depleted.

You're disconnecting and you're struggling to function. So what can we do if we're in this phase right [00:24:00] now? First thing is drop non-essential responsibilities. Identify one to two things that you can pause, delegate, or simplify order groceries online instead of shopping in person. If you have to order takeout food, then you order takeout food and make it happen.

Um, if you can autoresponder, you know, auto reply to emails in any way, fantastic. Let's do more of that. Anything you can automate and delegate, make that a priority for yourself, and then prioritize. Slow, low stimulation days is where like the Beastie Boys comes in slow and low. That is the tempo, but for real, reduce social interactions, screen time and just noise to help your brain recover.

Literally get off social media. That's, that's not great for your brain. Um, and if you're like, no, but my job is social media, at least give yourself like 30 minutes to 60 minutes at the end of the night to just like, let it [00:25:00] unwind. Use dopamine boosting activities, so like gentle exercise, music, novelty of things, and creative hobbies that don't come with pressure to help restore your nervous system.

It's okay to dopamine chase, but just make sure it's not something that's like making you spike and, and then, you know, get really excited and then go do further burnout because that can lead to the fifth stage, which is habitual burnout. And that's when long-term impact and recovery is a challenge. 

So burnout becomes the default state. In this phase. We've got deep fatigue, no joy, and possibly depression going on. Physical health is deteriorating further, we can see adrenal dysfunction, specifically HPA dysregulation. Hormone imbalances like low progesterone are so, so much worse. So. This is all amplifying your perimenopause journey.

And recovery [00:26:00] is gonna be slow because even rest doesn't feel restorative. So I wanna talk about the adrenals here. I. Since we are more susceptible to stress in perimenopause, and we need those adrenal glands because they produce a hormone called DHEA, which the body uses to make estrogen and testosterone, especially when the ovaries quit in menopause.

So adrenal dysfunction in burnout, uh, and I'm doing like error quotes because it, it's kind of the adrenals, but it's also the brain. I wanna talk about what that looks like. I feel like. Functional medicine gets a lot wrong about A DHD, autism, about neurodivergent women in general. Um, and I wanna clear up some things about that.

Well, I say like they get things wrong. One thing that's coming to mind right now is how I. They'll be like, if you have a DHD, you need to do like this full [00:27:00] elimination diet. And I'm like, hold up. The person with A DHD already has problems remembering to eat. They're more susceptible to eating disorders.

They have food aversions as it is. They may gravitate to only certain foods. They have dopamine chasing habits where they might eat. High sugar foods. Anyhow, what am I saying? A DHD is kind of like inherently you, you got food issues a bit. Okay. I say that as somebody who also forgets to eat. Um. And so I was just laughing 'cause some people are like, how could you ever forget to eat?

Because I get so excited about what I'm doing. Anyhow, I think some of the worst things we can do is one size fits all protocols. Um, for people without helping, uh, people identify the different layers that are to A DHD, the different phases of burnout and the way that our hormones come in and how perimenopause isn't just like this.

Static state, there's all kinds of changes [00:28:00] happening there as well. So with that said, I wanna get into this adrenal component, but I will also say before I go deeper into that, if you are in that stage five of burnout, there's not negotiable. You got to meet with, and as I say that I'm like some a d, ADHD or hate to be told what to do, but you, you need to consider what kind of mental health support it's gonna be for you.

Is it going to be a counselor? Is it going to be a therapist? Is it going to be a psychiatrist? But if you're in that level of burnout, you are deep in a well and you need somebody to throw the rope down and help you climb your way back up, and there's absolutely no shame in that. Okay. So with that said, I wanna talk a lot more about this adrenal component.

This can be coming up. Uh, through all of the stages of burnout, but we really, so we gotta take care of our adrenals all the time. But definitely when you're deep in the trenches of that stage five [00:29:00] burnout, like you, you gotta, you gotta be focusing on the adrenal glands as well.

So when you're deep in burnout, your adrenal glands, which regulates stress hormones like cortisol, may become dysregulated leading to adrenal dysfunction or HPA dysregulation, hypothalamic pituitary adrenal access, adrenal glands, too little glands that sit on your kidneys.

So this isn't the outdated adrenal fatigue theory, but it's a real imbalance in how your body produces and responds to stress hormones. In the early stages of burnout. Or HPA dysregulation. You've got high cortisol and you are feeling wired, but tired. So when we're early in that burnout, your adrenal glands may be overproducing cortisol, which is leading you to feeling wired at night even though your body's exhausted, and sometimes you can be tired during the day, but unable to wind down at night.

You can have anxiety, irritability, racing, thoughts, you feel on edge all the [00:30:00] time. You're having trouble sleeping, waking two to 4:00 AM uh, mind is racing. Sugar and caffeine. Cravings are up. Your body is just trying to sustain energy levels, uh, artificially, albeit, but it's trying. And you might even notice increased belly fat.

So there's a episode I'm doing on perimenopause, weight loss and break down all of these hormones 'cause it could. Be also estrogen and insulin and other things, but recognize that cortisol also affects fat storage, especially around the midsection. So that's why we group it together with all of these symptoms.

Now in the later stages, this is when we feel total exhaustion. We've got low cortisol going on. It's not actually that your adrenal glands are tired, they're not producing cortisol. It's that the enzymes are converting cortisol to cortisone in activating it. Because you've had high for so long and that's not sustainable.

And also it ages cells rapidly and your body's like, yo, we gotta keep you safe. Even if it means saying slow your roll to the extent that you've [00:31:00] just feel like you're crashing. And so it does feel like a crash, and it leads to feeling unrelenting fatigue.

You wake up tired, no matter how much you sleep. You have brain fog and memory issues. Your executive function is getting so much worse. You can't focus, you're forgetting words, you're feeling spacey all the time. Um, so it's really common in women. To space out. And now with A DHD, and now I'm spacing out like all the time, I don't hear what anyone's saying.

You might have blood pressure issues in either phase. You're gonna have low blood pressure, but in this stage you might have low blood pressure and you're feeling dizzy, lightheaded. When you stand up too quick, you have low motivation. You feel apathetic, detached. You don't care about things you once loved.

It's looking like depression. So I said we need to work with someone who has experience and expertise in mental health, and we're also having increased inflammation. So maybe we're gonna have achy joints, frequent colds, skin [00:32:00] issues like rashes, hives, acne going on. You may also be craving salt. This is because your body's trying to compensate for aldosterone issues.

So. Aldosterone is another adrenal hormone. It helps regulate blood pressure. It's why being chronically dehydrated as an a DH deer is like very problematic for your adrenal glands. So how can we support our adrenal glands to help the healing of burnout? Prioritize. We rest. Deep recovery, not just sleeping, meditation, yoga, breath work, whatever it looks like for you.

Get your nervous system regulated. I'll put a link to our episode on vagus nerve stimulation. I think that's an easy one if you have a DHD, because you're actually doing something to regulate your nervous system, and that feels better than sometimes just sitting in quiet, especially if you have RSD. We have to balance our blood sugar.

Protein, healthy fats, fibers, every meal. We cannot have energy [00:33:00] crashes. We gotta ditch stimulants temporarily. Not your medication necessarily, but more like caffeine. Okay. Um, and that might feel hard, but if you, you can have a cup of coffee every day, but if you're somebody who's been pushing like four or more, we, we gotta dial that back.

We gotta dial that back. We also need to think about adaptogenic herbs and minerals and beef vitamins, things that have support and nourish the adrenal glands. So ashwagandha, a hundred to 200 milligrams Rhodiola. A hundred, 200 milligrams magnesium glycinate at night. That is really lovely to do at about 300 milligrams.

And thinking about sodium, potassium balance in your meals, I personally leverage adrenal support, uh, first thing in the morning, and then adrenal calm and magnesium plus at night. This. Is a supplement combo that gives me non jittery energy throughout the day and then helps me wind down so I can sleep at night.

I also take B Active plus when [00:34:00] I'm under a lot of stress because it supports my body's needs and helps it produce hormones. So D five for helping my adrenal glands and D six for helping my progesterone levels. The other thing that's really important is movement and usually gentle movement if you're really struggling.

So if your cortisol is high, you may need to avoid intense workouts and opt for like walking Pilates mobility work. But for some people, having an intense workout in the morning is just what the doctor ordered. So it's about what's true for you. What we want to be mindful of is that if we're already feeling like stress is piling on us, we're inundated with a ton of stress as it is.

We don't wanna add extra stress by doing something like a 5:00 AM full out bootcamp where we skip sleep in order to like push balls to the walls they would say, or doing extreme cold plunges, or pushing ourselves in that in ways that like any other circumstance, it'd be considered good stress. But [00:35:00] now.

It's just stress, right? It is just more stress on an already stressed system. If burnout is severe, it may take months to fully recover, not just from the burnout, but your hormones as well. And so I wanna remind you that consistency is key. Small steps towards replenishment, it's absolutely necessary. And.

That you have to be gentle with yourself. So this was a deep dive into burnout, A DHD, perimenopause, and if this episode resonated with you, know that you're not alone. Recovery is possible and it's just one small step at a time. If you found this episode helpful, here's how you can support the Dr.

Brighton show. You can leave a review. It helps more a DHD women find the support they need. You can share this episode with a friend because we all know someone who's running on empty. It better not be me. Oh, I need to slow my [00:36:00] roll. And uh, the third thing is you can subscribe so that you never miss an episode because we've got so much more hormone information, perimenopause support, and definitely neurodivergent talk coming your way.

And listen, I would love to hear from you what was your biggest takeaway. You can send me a DM at Dr. Jolene Brighton on any of my social medias. You can tag me in your stories. I do read them. I love sharing them. And um, I love just seeing like what helps you the most. So until next time, be kind to your brain.

 

Honor your energy, and remember, you deserve to thrive, not just survive. And I will see you on the next episode. Thank you so much for being here with me today.