I’m directing this question to all women, not just cisgender ones or ones that menstruate. My understanding is that we all can experience hormonal fluctuations during the month, for some it’s just more predictable or obvious than others. Hormone therapy can have this effect too for our trans sisters. Curious what you notice, if anything.
Yeah my meds have always barely touched my symptoms during the luteal phase. It’s even worse now that perimenopause has set in. Before I figured out I’d started peri, I was googling about early onset dementia because the ADHD symptoms had gotten so unmanageable. (Y’all, I forgot my own address where I’ve been living for seven years. Forgot my own birthdate at the pharmacy. Got lost on the way to the grocery store I’ve used for ten years. Couldn’t even watch simple TV because of spacing out too much.)
Fun fact: estrogen is a neurotransmitter that helps dopamine do its thing.
I take HRT now, but the 12 days of progesterone means a week of being an absolute box of hair. I stand up and forget why. Forget nouns and have to describe them (like that stabby shovel thing for putting food in your mouth). Cooking dinner and turn to open a cabinet and just stand there swaying back and forth with no idea what I’m supposed be doing, while the food gets all fucked up.
When I first got diagnosed in my 30’s and started on Vyvance I became so frustrated when I would menstruate cause I felt like all the progress I had been making was completely undone! After a few months my male doctor was like “oh yeah there can be some symptom fluctuations that might occur during your period” Months I thought the meds just weren’t working!
That must have been so frustrating! Did you end up doing anything to adjust your meds or do you do anything in general to make the period week easier to manage?
