{"id":440607,"date":"2026-05-22T21:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T21:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/440607\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T21:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T21:24:08","slug":"why-perimenopause-can-unravel-women-with-undiagnosed-adhd-the-little-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/440607\/","title":{"rendered":"Why perimenopause can unravel women with undiagnosed ADHD \u2013 The Little Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gray, who hosts the NZ Herald podcast No Such Thing as Normal<\/a>, says perimenopause can intensify the symptoms of ADHD in women, which can be especially challenging for those who are not diagnosed. <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause women have no idea about this and many don\u2019t know that they even have ADHD, they\u2019re still going, \u2018What is wrong with me?\u2019 And it is nothing wrong with you. This is a natural biological change,\u201d Gray says. <\/p>\n

Gray was diagnosed with ADHD in her 40s and says many women reach diagnosis carrying years of anxiety, burnout and self-blame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe come to a diagnosis with a history of anxiety and depression, and a belief that it\u2019s a character flaw, that we\u2019re not good enough,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have someone say, \u2018actually, this is just how your brain works. Your internal filing system is a bit different\u2019, it just takes a little while to adjust to that.\u201d <\/p>\n

According to Gray, many women with ADHD have spent years masking symptoms to everyone around them.<\/p>\n

\"SoniaSonia Gray, broadcaster and host of the No Such Thing As Normal podcast, says perimenopause can intensify the symptoms of ADHD in women. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n

\u201cThe masking is exhausting, and the mask just falls away, and you\u2019re just like, \u2018Oh, God. Everyone\u2019s just seeing the real me, the one I\u2019ve been trying to keep hidden\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gray says there is a research gap around women\u2019s health and ADHD, citing a recent review of nearly 1800 ADHD studies found only four focused specifically on women.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdult women are the most underdiagnosed of all the demographics, so there\u2019s some catching up to do,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Despite the emotional toll, Gray believes there can be freedom in finally understanding yourself properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not fun, but it\u2019s a process and the outcome can be really positive.\u201d <\/p>\n

Listen to the full episode of The Little Things<\/a> for more on:<\/p>\n

The hidden burnout many women are carryingWhy ordinary tasks can suddenly feel impossibleThe surprising reason some women dread filling up the car with petrol.<\/p>\n

The Little Things is available on iHeartRadio<\/a>, Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts. The series is hosted by broadcaster Francesca Rudkin and health researcher Louise Ayrey. New episodes are available every second Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gray, who hosts the NZ Herald podcast No Such Thing as Normal, says perimenopause can intensify the symptoms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1443,3225,3867,9516,198,34094,5821,51370,134,12022,6451,2845,6093,5829,111,139,69,7503,3800,53190,167514,223,27051,8229,6035,20110,177849,88317,4276,102,2248],"class_list":["post-440607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-about","tag-according","tag-adhd","tag-broadcaster","tag-can","tag-collision","tag-everything","tag-gray","tag-health","tag-host","tag-knew","tag-leaving","tag-little","tag-many","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-perimenopause","tag-podcast","tag-questioning","tag-sonia","tag-the","tag-themselves","tag-they","tag-things","tag-thought","tag-undiagnosed","tag-unravel","tag-why","tag-with","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}