ADHD, Motherhood, and Invisible Overload

[00:00:00] We gotta have some real talk, y'all. Uh, I don't think people understand how brutal A DHD can fill when it collides with perimenopause. PMDD, chronic pain, motherhood, a workload that demands 1 million tiny decisions a day. ' cause I think like people hear A DHD and they just think like distraction. And what they don't see is like 12 hour work days.

The million tiny decisions that are bogging us down that we are making regardless, or the hormone shifts co-occurring, PMDD, co-occurring endometriosis, school launches that still have to be made and the private internal shame spiral. Of when your brain stops cooperating. And this is me currently, and this is why Dr.

Brayden is still in her gym clothes. 'cause I worked out for y'all so that my brain would actually work. And because I learned a tough lesson this week and I also wearing my blue light blocking glasses. Don't tell the biohackers. I know it's daytime, but I can not deal with the big light.

I hate your big light, but I need the big [00:01:00] light.

Okay, so in this episode we're gonna talk, we're gonna talk about my A DHD. We're gonna talk about the hellish last couple weeks I have had, what mistakes I've made, what supplements and lifestyle routines are absolutely non-negotiable. And I just had to be like bitch slapped by the universe to be reminded of that.

Again. Yes, I like to fall on my face a couple times a year just to be reminded of like what I need to actually function and to stop denying myself that. And we're gonna talk about some PMDD and A DHD overlap information. So if you. Love this information. Can you subscribe, like, share this comment, gimme some love with it.

This is the Dr. Brighton show. I'm your host, Dr. Jolene Brighton. I am an A DHD girly. Let's not hold this up any longer and let's talk about what the hell just happened these last two weeks.

Okay? So firstly. Let's just talk about like what I struggle with. Time blindness, my nemesis is a clock come five to seven days post ovulation. Like I never knew how [00:02:00] bad my time blindness was until after my endometriosis excision surgery and then they like traumatized my ovaries.

Rightly so. 'cause they had to remove bilateral endometriomas type of endometriosis that is sometimes called a cyst, but it's not. , Is endometriosis growing in your ovaries anyhow, when they, uh, this is so embarrassing, but I'm gonna share with you because like, let's just like normalize this stuff.

Okay. So I have my excision surgery, I have my post-op. Okay. But my ovaries are just like, they're not working and I don't know why I didn't prep for this. I think it's just because I was like in IVF and I was doing all the IVF drugs and then I wasn't doing IVF drugs and it's just like a lot to manage. I have excision surgery.

They set up my post-op appointment and whatever reason, in my mind, I get it set in my mind that the post-op appointment is at one 30, therefore I have to leave at one 30.

Okay? But despite doing that, in my mind, at one 40 I get a phone call and I'm at the florist. 'cause I am buying my excision surgeons flowers because yay, I'm feeling better. That went so well. I'm so proud of [00:03:00] them. I wanna say thank you. And the office is like, where are you at? And I'm like, what do you mean?

I'm on my way? And they're like, your appointment's at one 30? I'm like, yes, of course I know I'm going to leave at one 30. And they're like, okay. Uh, it is, uh, one 40. It's one 40 and I'm like, I don't understand. And then I say it to my husband and he's like, wait, your appointment's at one 30. You needed to leave like at one, probably 1245.

And like, what are you thinking and what are you doing? And I can't know what time I need to leave at. And then work it backwards and actually understand how to, how to leave on time and how much time everything's gonna get me.

Uh, or take me, get me, what the hell does that mean anyhow? So like I, this week he was my son's first day of school.

I'm supposed to get him to his first day of school and it's like we have to be there at 8 45 and I start out at seven o'clock in the morning. I'm just like, you guys, I'm going straight into like getting ready, like I'm gonna be ready on time.

Okay. Like, but somehow I forgot to eat breakfast in all of [00:04:00] this, which I'm like a big breakfast person. And you guys know on the podcast, I'm always talking about Eat your breakfast. I was the mess and I was not ready to go on time. And my husband comes at eight 30 and he's like, okay, we gotta go. And I'm like, what?

What do you mean we gotta go? And like, yeah, no. Yeah. Literally 90 minutes had passed and I'm like, how do I not even. How am I not ready? I hurry up and get dressed. I go to the school, I'm talking to him later in the day and I take a photo of us and I'm like, what the hell is wrong with my eyes?

You guys? I did not put mascara on. I put primer on. So my son's first day of school, I show up with white eyelashes. I don't know, maybe that was a thing that, I think that was a thing in like the nineties, but it is not a thing to be in your forties making a first impression with white eyelashes at school because it put primer on.

I didn't put my mascara on and I didn't even realize it until the afternoon came and we were about to go do pickup. So, so what the hell has been going on with me this, these last two weeks?

Okay. I'm working on a book. It's a freaking [00:05:00] epic book. It is a monster of a book. It's called like 600 citations and it is called A DHD and Women, because this became my special interest, Because my child was diagnosed with A DHD, and then I got diagnosed with A DHD, and then I got diagnosed with endometriosis and then I got diagnosed with autism and I was like, hold the front door.

These things must be related. And actually I have seen this connection, I have seen this connection in patients. So what, what I, what I first saw was this connection of PCS and A DHD.

Then I started seeing A DHD, autism and PMDD. And then now. And then it was me getting diagnosed with endometriosis where I'm like, get me into the research, get me into the research now. And in my book, A DH ADHD in Women, I do talk specifically about how hormones are altering our experience with A DHD, why it looks different than it looks like with men. Why perimenopause is so freaking hard, exactly what to do about it.

I gave you an entire chapter with the dosing of [00:06:00] hormones of like how to do A HRT, but make it A DHD and autism friendly. Okay, so why me bringing all this up, this book.

Had me in such a choke hold you guys because they, they were like, oh, copy edits are coming back during my kids' spring break was the course. Of course, if you don't know what copy edits are, it is like an A DHD freaking nightmare. Okay. But it's also like such a, the most important part of the book, but it is, I'm not even kidding when I say 1 million micro decisions, I wanna do like Doctor Evil, like Pinky 1 million Micro Decisions.

Where every single line has like, oh, we think we should put a comma here.

Oh, they are like, we don't think you explained this well enough. So like, can you explain this more? And like, then what do you think? Should you make a table about this? So like, what am I telling you is literally line by line of a 639 page document that I had to go through.

And that is mentally exhausting and [00:07:00] taxing. And I said in a previous episode that like we had already like planned things that um, my husband was like gonna take over meals and like any decision I didn't need to make, like I was not going to make it. Enter the rat. Enter the rat. Oh my God. Okay, so here's the deal.

I go on vacation with my kids 'cause it's their spring break and I'm like, now I'm not missing out on life with them just because I have this book to write. Um, I'm gonna do spring break with them. We're gonna take this vacation, we're gonna come home. It's gonna be epic. I have never regretted a vacation more in my life.

A rat moved in. Well we were on vacation because nobody was at our house. so we've got this rat. We're trying to get this rat out of the house. Um, my husband is like frantic about it. We're setting traps. The morning my book is due, because of course the universe is ran by Loki and he is always laughing at me, that little prankster.

Okay, so I get up at five freaking am I have already been working two weeks, 12 to 15 hour days. and I'm like, I'm gonna get this book [00:08:00] done. I'm gonna like wrap this up because the publishers are on the east coast and they want it at the start of their day.

I'm in my office trying to do my work, and the next thing I hear is my son screaming. he is screaming through the house. Up the stairs, like boom, boom, boom, boom.

Okay, now I'm dysregulated. Mm. Because that's, that's a phenomenon. I'm in your luteal phase. You have more emotional dysregulation. Here's the thing. Okay, so you drop progesterone, allopregnanolone rises, allopregnanolone that stimulates the GABA receptor. Say, work better with that GABA system. So we're chill.

So we're calm, like in, and sometimes with PMDD, it doesn't work that way. But here's the thing about us with A DHD is that in that luteal phase, well, we got that chill and calm going on the HPA system. The HP axis. And one theory is 'cause like we might be pregnant, so we should freak out.

The HPA axis is like m be like super sensitive. And so like when you get stressed, like, we're gonna be really stressed. Oh, and you're neuro divergent. That means that executive function of emo emotional regulation, that's not [00:09:00] gonna be in place. Here's my son. He's like, I sat on the couch in the library. I think the rat is in there.

Something was moving behind my back. In the blanket. Oh, that's nasty. Okay. My husband, bless him, he, he is scared of rats. Okay. I mean, nobody likes rats, right. But he's like, I, I tell him like, go get your dad. I go in, I'm like moving the couch. I can see the rat behind there. I got a broom. I'm like, oh, this is like Tom and Jerry.

Like, literally, I'm like Tom and Jerry character, if you know, you know, and like my husband comes down, but he's putting the couch between him and the rat and making me being near the rat. We get the couch moved. I whacked the rat. It jumps into my books, well, jumped into the kids' books. RIP them because those, like, they didn't get destroyed, but they had to get all wiped down.

And my husband's like, I'm not digging out these books. I'm like, okay, I'm down there digging out the books. There's the rat. Oh my God. I pin it with the broom. I'm like, okay. Like, let's figure out how we're gonna get out. Nope. They, this is a slippery guy. Runs through like my house. So I spend an hour and a half [00:10:00] literally chasing a rat through my house.

Okay. And then finally he jumps in a bag and I'm like, this is what's best for both of us. And I get that bag, I take it outside, he jumps out and he tries to run back in my house. So I like have to whack him through the room, run into the bushes, okay? Like, I'm dysregulated now and I've gotta sit down. I've gotta do my book.

Coming off a tail end of like two weeks of working nonstop. Now in the two weeks of working nonstop. This is stupid. Okay? I was like sacrificing exercise. I was, um, sometimes forgetting to eat. I do that and when I hyperfocus, and that's really problematic. Um, usually my follicular phase, but it can happen in my luteal phase.

And I'm just overall super stressed out. And so what comes next? Adenomyosis endometriosis flare. So of course, like I have dysregulated nervous system. I'm not exercising, which is potent anti-inflammatory work. Plus it would've helped me focus better. So what the hell was I thinking? That was really dumb.

[00:11:00] And then,

I'm just sitting too much and. Lunches still have to be made for school. And like, I could try to designate that to my husband, but my kids are like, he just doesn't do a good job.

and dealing with, uh, my younger one who's like, you know, I call him a picky eater. He's just like, it's sensory sensitivities, but like, I gotta do special things in his lunch to make him feel like it's a special experience and that helps him eat a more nutritious lunch.

And that's just like, that's just not my husband's forte. He is not the nutrition scientist in the house.

So what was this? Endometriosis, adenomyosis flare. That's my body paying the bills. I was writing checks. I was writing 12 to 15 hours a day checks, and I'm just out there writing them, writing them, writing them, overloading my nervous system. And then the adeno, the endometriosis flare check, check bills came due.

And, uh, it had to be paid. It had to be paid in pain. Fortunately, I'm very good at this of getting out of pain and so. [00:12:00] Within 24 hours, things were better. But the first thing I had to do is I was like, I gotta load up on omega fatty acids. I've gotta get my magnesium on board and then I gotta get my ass in the gym.

Like that's the, that's really it. I have a home gym. There's no excuses. I just wanna be like really clear about that. I exercise is non-negotiable. And I know this, and I still fell into the trap of feeling like I just didn't have the time.

This is, this is a unique experience of women with A-D-H-D-A-D-H-D in women. Doesn't always look like, oh, we're just like bouncing off the walls and like, uh, you know, we can't sit still. Although you can tell in this podcast, I can't sit still, but I'm also a Latina and I always talk with my hands. That's like very cultural.

Okay. So there's that. But A DHD also looks like being so freaking high masking and making sure that you look okay, but that everyone else is taken care of. At the expense of yourself. That is a DHD in women as [00:13:00] well. And we don't talk enough about that. And I fall into that trap just as much as anyone else.

And I have been very good, like very good in my forties of setting boundaries and I'm doing all these things. This book, the timing of that, the school, um, there, oh, I had a podcast guest during it. Like there's just so much stuff that was outside of my control. And like allowing the emotional and nervous system dysregulation to take root, didn't give me the space to realize that when everything feels like it's out of your control, you must focus on things that are in your control.

But I have a bad habit when I'm writing books of hyper-focusing, going all in, being such a perfectionist about it, stressing about it, mistakes happen. My copy editor was really good, but then I had a salmon recipe and he took out all of the, all of the salmon in the recipe. And I'm almost like, why did you remove salmon from the salmon recipe?

And why did you remove [00:14:00] lemon from the lemon chicken recipe? Like, and then I start freaking out and I start spiraling because this is a legacy moment when you write a book, like you'll be remembered for this. And then people are brutal on the internet where they're just like, like this book's about A DHD and women, and I have a DHD, and someone's gonna be like.

She didn't do this perfect enough, and I'm gonna be like, that's been my whole freaking life with A DHD, which is why I am such a perfectionist, which is why I developed like these other conditions, because being a perfectionist in your nervous system is super bad, super bad for long-term health outcomes, and yet is what so many women with A DHD are struggling with.

Now, I've alluded to this piece of the luteal phase. No one talks about it. I actually made a chart in my book. I went through, I made it like. Crystal clear for you to understand what is happening with your hormones. A DHD symptoms, luteal phase, that's the worst of it. It's a, it has a little peak into what's coming in perimenopause.

That is the absolute worst of it. And, and that's not just coming from me, that is coming from women in surveys who have said like, over [00:15:00] 90%, like every freaking time you survey women with A DHD, they're like, you're like, how's perimenopause? And they're like, the, it's the worst time of my life. and that is so real because of how our hormones are changing.

And by the way, everyone out there talking about just estrogen, I love the estrogen's getting your air time. But friends, I'm taking you through hormones because estrogen doesn't operate in isolation, and estrogen is not the whole story of why A DHD gets so much worse in perimenopause.

What I want you to understand is that luteal phase, uh, perimenopause, puberty, coming on or off the pill or having a baby and being postpartum, irritability, overwhelm, emotional reactivity, can't like keep a list in your head. Time blindness. That is all par for the course of the, of what we're dealing with.

Because as hormones change, neurotransmitters follow brain energy follows inflammation, follows like the whole cascade of things. But it doesn't have to [00:16:00] be that way. It is that way right now because medicine in society is just like throwing us out, like into the water and being like, you don't know how to swim.

Figure it out. I think you could figure it out. You're a woman, you're so capable, whoa, smile. Make sure you hold it all together. And that that's not doing us any favors. There are ways to actually address your brain and support yourself that can make perimenopause so much easier, can make all these hormone transitions easier.

But the first thing we have to recognize is that just being, uh, someone with a neurodevelopmental condition, you likely have heightened hormone sensitivity. So as hormones change, your sensitivity changes. And as I said to you in the luteal phase. Things can get worse for some people because of progesterone.

Uh, things can get better in some ways because of progesterone. But also we've got HPA access reactivity happening, and as you get into perimenopause, the HPA access is so much more sensitive. If you start losing testosterone, your HPA access is gonna [00:17:00] be primed to see just about anything is a threat. Why losing muscle mass, losing strength, you weak, uh, oh.

We, we gotta just start thinking everything's a threat so that we can survive this. So we have to be thinking about all of the hormones and the full experience of the A DHD woman.

I also think it's important that we stop saying that a DH ADHD is just a focus problem or that we're just distracted because. It is so much more than that. A DHD is what makes decision fatigue hit us so much harder where you're like, I, I can't make another decision. Like I'm going to collapse. I can't talk to people.

Executive dysfunctions across the board. Uh, nervous system overload, emotional dysregulation, task switching, burnout. Like I gotta write a book, chase a rat, then I gotta like make my kids' lunches. That sounds disgusting. Rat to lunches. And then I gotta go back and I gotta write this book,

Oh, and then I gotta go to like school pick, like pickup. Like that is so much for the brain to do. And then you talk about a brain that's running on an energy [00:18:00] deficit, which is what a perimenopausal brain is doing.

Uh, I hate to break it to you. A DHD was already struggling with his energy production. Then you add perimenopause and it's just like, what? What am I supposed to do? The brain's like, what do you want from me? This is where you can't skip exercise because the A DHD brain struggles with glucose metabolism and energy production and lactic acid, which builds up when you work out, can actually be a backup fuel supply.

Then you gotta get good sleep because you gotta go move that out because that lactic acid then becomes a problem if you're not getting deep sleep, if like flushing it out. But the exercise will help you get better. Sleep is just not usually enough in, in perimenopause. I will say that's 'cause if you're like, uh, I'm doing that, it's not enough.

I hear you. You may need more strategies.

, now the last thing I wanna say before I get into like some things that help me other than exercise is this invisible load. The labor tax that are, as on women and moms, we are expected to mask, to camouflage. So to like fit in, always to show up, to make other people comfortable, to [00:19:00] always be high achieving, to never ask for help, to like be a supermom.

So whoever branded Supermom, I'm gonna come for you. I'm gonna find you. You were not gonna be friends, it's not gonna be fun. I'm gonna have some real talks with you because that harmed us and we have to stop carrying loads that are not ours to carry.

 Now as I'm telling all these crazy stories, which was more because I was just like, look, I can't even bother to get dressed today because the executive function required to actually go take that shower to do my hair. Oh my God. I can't even think about doing my hair, um, to put on makeup, to get camera ready to smile and be pretty on the internet for people.

Like I just couldn't do it. I just don't have it in me. And I very much woke up and recognized with the energy levels that I had, and I took inventory. Oh yeah, it was parent and teacher conference night too, for my oldest son last night. So you wanna talk about high masking, really stressful environment and then having to co-regulate someone

But I wanna talk about, I just wanna talk about some things that can [00:20:00] help though. so I'm gonna talk about that and I'm gonna talk about PMDD as well because that's PMDD. Endometriosis, A-D-H-D-I actually should do a whole episode on it,

So let's talk about what I actually do. I.

Okay. Creatine. Creatine, which by the way, I have my water here 'cause I, it has creatine in it right now and, and the only way I'm gonna drink it is if I have a straw and I just keep going all day. Creatine can help with brain energy production. So what I do, I take creatine three to five grams usually in my follicular phase.

If I start to struggle in my luteal phase, I'm gonna kick that up. I'm gonna go closer to like eight to 10 grams.

Now, what do I mean when I struggle if my kid is sick and I'm not sleeping? The studies on creatine and sleep deprivation are really good.

So creatine have it locked down. Oh, but wait, can't creatine make endometriosis worse? We have no evidence in humans that creatine makes endometriosis worse. What we have is animal studies, a hypothesis . And a study where their supplementation with creatine was injecting [00:21:00] it into a rodents. Peritoneum, so into their abdomen. Not a problem for endometriosis, as far as we can tell. And the way it makes my brain work, I can't really. I can't really see myself giving it up. But what I would say is that if you're concerned, the three to five grams, that's a, that's a mild dose in the sleep studies that they've done, they've used like 20 grams or more.

I think that's a little bit, um, you know, it's like we're playing, we might be playing with fire. 'cause we just don't know right now when there's no reason to be doing mega doses like that. Like, let's not do that. The other thing I use is Omega-3 fatty acids. So Omega-3 fatty acids, I have actually upped it to four grams a day for myself. Um, as I came across the new research on endometriosis, cardiovascular disease risk, um. Understanding that like, you know, a DHD individuals, autistic individuals, uh, we may also have these increased risk of cardiovascular disease and, and it being related to inflammation, stress, all of that.

I'm not saying that you, because you have a DH adhd, you're gonna have a heart attack or anything like that, so I'm not saying that, [00:22:00] but because of the research and then looking at what the American Heart Association has said and being like four grams is more of like the sweet spot to be at, I've increased it to that.

I got bad about my supplements. I ended up in the endo flare. I put, I did four grams twice a day. And then the next day, four grams twice a day. And then I was out of that flare. I also was making sure that I was drinking lots of broths, that I was graining, fresh turmeric into. I was, um, taking magnesium. So I was actually taking 600 milligrams Um, and I'm someone that, I'm a rapid metabolizer, so I don't do well on pain medications. So. IUI tend towards these more natural things. I just bring that up because you don't hear in my protocols, me taking ibuprofen,

And then when it comes to like something like tramadol, which is sometimes given for endometriosis, that just gives me headaches. It doesn't actually work. So I just share that because people will be like, oh, do you not believe in pain meds?

it just doesn't work for me. So I've [00:23:00] gotta find other ways around it. Um, I also did sauna. I did, I have a near infrared sauna, sunlight and saunas. You guys know they sponsor the podcast and then. I was doing, um, abdominal massages as well, lots of stretches, like really trying to take care of myself.

I don't think I should be waiting for a flare to take care of myself. And that was a good reminder of how I just fell off everything because the book was such a priority. And listen, I'm proud of this book and I don't regret any of the energy I've put into this book.

What I want you to understand about PMDD is we actually don't know the cause of it. It's not about how many hormones you have that much we're starting to understand. It's more about how your brain adapts to those hormones. So for some people, progesterone makes it worse. For some people, estrogen makes it worse.

For some people, um, you take away their hormones altogether and it's still bad. And for other people it's the combination of the hormones. So we're not, there might be subtypes to PMDD. But we see a high crossover between A DHD and PMDD, [00:24:00] autism and PMDD, endometriosis and PMDD. We're not bothering to study PMDD.

Uh, I mean, we, we study very little about endometriosis and even less for PMDD, but we are seeing lots of women report it. We don't even have studies on PMDD and histamine, and yet women take antihistamines and their PMDD gets better. And we know that endometriosis is a high histamine state that, um, A DHD can have histamine issues that can be rooted in what's going on with your gut.

And women with A DHD in surveys, they've reported around 47% say, Hey, I also have PMDD and when with autism, it's like over 90% say, I also have PMDD, they have hormone sensitive brains. That's what we can conclude from it. Is that the normal, totally normal, totally cool transitions of the menstrual cycle on the brain.

Their brain's just not able to hang with it, and they, it's just too abrupt to see this changing because when the hormones change what our brain has to do, [00:25:00] the brain's job starts to change. So with PMDD, there's a lot of nutrition, lifestyle, exercise is absolutely life saving. Something that I also leverage is saffron.

So you guys know, I put together a supplement called Radiant Mind. It has Saffron, Bacopa, Tline. It was born out of my experience of being put into a chemical menopause for my endometriosis treatment and being in the worst place I've ever been in my life, it was just absolutely horrible. So. Radiant mind. I'm not gonna, I'm not claiming that it's a treatment for A DHD or PMDD. It is a tool that I use to support my body and my mind. And, um, saffron, the particular one that we formulated with, that has been used in clinical trials and has shown benefit in those with PMDD, but that does not mean it's a treatment for PMDD or that it can replace something like an SSRI if that's literally saving your life right now.

and let's just be honest about the reality that like, when it comes to complex chronic conditions, things we deal [00:26:00] with with A DHD, things we deal with with PMDD, things with endometriosis, like.

It kind of feels like this kitchen sink approach is like the best way to go sometimes, right? Because it's like you need physical therapy and maybe you need, um, excision surgery and maybe you need, um, to make sure you're doing sauna regularly and you have to be exercising on a daily basis, like some form of physical activity and like you have to have your fiber coming in and then maybe you need an A DHD stimulant medication

you gotta get those free radicals down and the medication's helping you so that you can actually function to do the nutrition and lifestyle things that are gonna work for you. It's all about what works for the individual. And I share my stuff with you guys so that you can just like see an example of how things work in real time.

But not to say that like my plan's gonna be the only plan that works for everyone. so why are we seeing this? Like P-M-D-D-A-D-H-D, uh, endometriosis. So in A DHD and women, I went through this talking about like, why are these connections? inflammation is really underlying all these things. Endometriosis can be the chronic systemic inflammatory condition that's like in the background, [00:27:00] like making all this noise that's going up into the brain and maybe it's altering how your brain receptors are working.

And then it's also adding inflammation. And as we add those cytokines into the mix, a DHD symptoms can get so much worse with A DHD. We know from the research. And some of us have a propensity towards having neuroinflammation. This is where an anti-inflammatory lifestyle is super, super important because that neuroinflammation amplifies A DHD symptoms and we see them get so much worse.

And when we can bring down the inflammation, we can become much more functional, but we are not. It's gonna stop being a DHD or autistic.

Now. Other things that can really help in your luteal phase, perimenopause, other transitions is recognizing these patterns and being like, try to reduce the decision load. Try to reduce the things that stress you out, Get a whiteboard where you just like write stuff all the time.

Sticky note your house. If you have to put [00:28:00] reminders on your phone, like 20 of them. 'cause you know, we like to ignore the first five

Now as we wrap this up, I just feel like I laid everything out on the table. And now here's the, uh, another symptom of A DHD. I just feel like I overshared with you. I just feel like I said too much and now I'm getting to the place where, um, I'm getting that oversharing hangover and I'm feeling like, um, like maybe I shouldn't.

Uh, have said all the things that I have said, and now I'm gonna probably replay it later and I'm going to sit here and look at this video and probably be like, you guys, I want you to cut all of that out. Um, because I, I have overshared. Um, maybe I shared enough, I don't know, but I'm being really real and honest with you right now.

And it's so uncomfortable because, you know, I was talking to a friend this week and she was like, you're so funny and it would be so great if you did, like, you send me these voice notes and I want you to just do drbrighten.com unfiltered because it's so funny, like when [00:29:00] you're, when you're talking like that and I'm like, you're getting me unmasked.

And oftentimes when I'm on, um, video and I'm on camera and I know I have to be talking to people, I feel like if I am not masking, they're not going to like me. And I'm like very emotional about it. 'cause it's a very weird thing to be diagnosed as neurodivergent in your forties. It's just like really weird because like, you think you should have figured out already who you are in this world.

And then you just got like, oh wow. You are something else. Like you, you didn't know, uh, but you knew you, like some, you like you knew something was different anyhow. But, uh, yeah. So I don't have the energy to mask today to the degree that I normally can. I am definitely masked to some degree.

but I just wanna say this is so real for A DHD and autistic women to have shared and been honest and been real.

And then at the end be like, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Maybe I should have gotten dressed today. Maybe they like me better when I wear makeup. Maybe they're not gonna like that. My hair's pulled back and I am wearing [00:30:00] blue light blocking glasses 'cause the big light is offensive and bothering me so much today.

but what I want you to take away is that you are like, if you are experiencing these things that I'm experiencing, you are not bad at life. You are not lazy, okay? You are not, um, you, you are not anything of too much, too little.

None of it. You are someone who's navigating an environment that was never made with you in mind. And that includes medicine, that includes hormone therapy, that includes how we treat women. Um, it includes everything. It just wasn't made for us. So you're doing a really good job when you consider that. You are doing a really excellent job and I hope this episode was helpful for you to hear like real life experiences.

Oh, and you're the first to hear about my book, so, yes. Like also you are the, I'm think just like talking about it 'cause it's been such a part of my life, but you, franks, [00:31:00] you're the first to hear a ADHD and women is coming in October. And then I forget to tell you, they're like, yes, there's a whole freaking book and I'm finally allowed to share about it. My publisher finally gave me the green light.

So a DHD in women is available. You can grab it for pre-order if you want.

So listen, before I like talk forever, thank you so much for being on the Dr. Brighton Show with me. Your support means everything to me.