Why ADHD in Girls Is Often Overlooked
Are we neglecting our distracted daughters? Studies show that ADHD symptoms are not only commonly missed in girls, they are too often called laziness or ditziness, and may lead to a lifetime of self-esteem problems and missed treatment opportunities. Here is why so many girls with ADHD are not properly diagnosed and treated.
1 Comment: Why ADHD in Girls Is Often Overlooked
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The legacy of this is still playing out in my life at age 52. I realize now that I have been ADHD my whole life, with it really affecting me badly since my early to mid teens when I started my period and I cannot even get assessed for a diagnosis of ADHD because I do not meet the DSM-V criteria of being diagnosed by age 12 by my insurance. Also, I was 12 in 1982, when it was still believed ADD was a disorder only affecting boys. My brother was off-the-charts hyper, and compared to him I was “normal,” however, for a girl, I was a tomboy, I never liked dolls and love to be rough and tumble active, getting dirty, climbing trees, getting up in the morning and playing all day outside and not coming home until the evening as a grade schooler. I was very active for a girl, and played well with the boys from neighborhood, but not many girl friends. My room was always a mess. And I did OK in school, but never great. I could not do well in college and wasted a lot of money in my late teens and early 20’s failing classes. I have a cumulative GPA from that time of 1.69. I got my act together better and developed my own self management skills by age 25, and got better at it until I graduated from college at my second attempt around 40 years old and graduated from an Ivy League school. Then, everything went downhill in my mid 40’s as perimenopause set in. Someone needs to do some research on who perimenopause affects women with ADHD. That is where I am now and it’s horrible and nothing I have done in the past to manage my symptoms works anymore. I am a trainwreck and being blocked by my insurer to get a diagnosis and care. It’s ageist and sexist. And I am mad as hell.