ADHD Aha! | ADHD and hormones (Catie’s story)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ม.ค. 2023
- Catie Osborn’s ADHD flew under the radar until she had to get an ovary removed in her late 20s. Left with one ovary ( “Han Solo-vary”), she experienced a hormone shift that made her ADHD symptoms much more noticeable.
Catie is a former “gifted kid” who excelled in school. Growing up, she didn’t fit ADHD stereotypes, aside from being a bit messy. Once she was diagnosed, she started seeing ADHD flags everywhere. Hear what she’s learned from her experience and her work, like how hormones - especially in people who get periods - can impact ADHD symptoms.
Catie, aka catieosaurus on TikTok, is a certified sex educator, neurodivergency specialist, and co-host of the podcast “Catie and Erik’s Infinite Quest: An ADHD Adventure.”
To find a transcript for this episode and more resources, visit the episode page at Understood.
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Time blindness is huge… I managed to forget to sign up for college classes for a full year and lost the chance to go to college again… so happy to be able to finally understand my brain!
I am in tears. This is so my story as well. Great student, procrastinator, PCOS, binge eating, thinking I had early onset dementia. But I was just diagnosed a couple months ago at 43 and am still a huge mess, lol.
Me too, but it’s great to know we’re not alone. I relate to all that’s being said here. I love these ladies their being so honest. We need to be kind to our selves.
Kirstie, it helps to listen to all you can on ADHD, Attitude is the best in my opinion.
I was diagnosed at 75 last year, it was a shock and a relief. For me it was better to have ADHD than having dementia. It’s really hard, but we can learn to manage it. Good luck to you, and all the ADHDs out there. 🙏
This was a great video and very relatable. I have the same story where my adhd went very under radar until after I got my thyroid removed and everything was amplified
I am learning soooo much listening to aha. I have had an eating disorder forever since 11 and I am 62. My therapist and psychiatrist still don't really get the hormone piece, really everything. Catie has hit almost everything I've gone thru. If only I could get the right help...........
Thank you for making this video! I was also diagnosed with PCOS August 2022. It was brought to my attention that I have been displaying ADHD symptoms and I was like oh wow have I been masking this whole time? I didn't know. So I started doing research on ADHD and I was relating to a lot of the common symptoms of ADHD and the not so commonly recognized ones( not in the DSM 5) like emotional regulation, imposter syndrome, delayed sleep/ sleep issues, irritability and more. In addition, I noticed my mom displaying symptoms and brought it to her attention. She joked and said she has ADD but is too old to get diagnosed as she's 60 and has lived her whole life undiagnosed so why get diagnosed now. I have an appointment on Friday with a psychiatrist. I'm nervous as I've never seen a psychiatrist before but I'm excited to find out if I truly have ADHD as I believe I do. Thank you for showing me that I'm on the right path to seeking an assessment 🙏 🙂
Just had my aha moment 5 days ago. I am 47 and have been struggling probably for my whole life but my life has become unmanagable since perimenopause has hit. My son has ADHD and I did figure that I had it as well but it was last week when I took one of his pills just to see and for the first time I was calm!!! About an hour after taking the pill I felt calm and as I realized this I almost started crying. These meds have been in my house for years and it never occurred to me to try one. Now, I do have to get officially diagnosed. However everything makes sense to me now. Thank you for this podcast. I
I also had a similar aha moment. Years ago I was at work when one of my coworkers gave me an Adderall. I found my job to be nothing but drudgery. After I took the pill, I was calm and able to be focused on my tasks for the rest of the day, without a problem. That's when I realized that I should probably get tested, but I never did. I am now 60.
Wow! I knew what you were going to say right before you said it! The whole dementia thing!! I was running red lights and all these things I shouldnt be doing and I had my thyroid removed before I got diagnosed, and maybe my hormones brought it all out. Thank you for this realization.
This. All of it, is profoundly relatable on a cellular level. Thank you Catie, for telling your story and Laura, for asking the questions I would have! I really needed to hear this today.
You are so welcome, Nik the Booksmith!
That really was an Ah-Ha Moment! What a delight to listen in on your conversation. I just cringed when Catie was talking about that teacher dumping her desk. I'm so sorry that happened to you. Naturally organized people think it's somehow a moral failing or a choice to be lazy or that you're not trying hard enough.
I realize listening to Catie's experience, that it was when I went thru menopause (and the death of my mother) that I really lost control of my house. I, too, have hired professional organizers. Exhausting and demoralizing. I'm FINALLY getting a handle on it because I'm working WITH my brain instead of trying a system that doesn't work and then blaming myself for "failing" yet again. There are 3 ADHD-friendly organizers that have really helped me. All 3 deal with clutter and disorganization, but also have deep compassion and a lack of judgement because they've all struggled with it. All have podcasts and would be great to interview (AND to interview you both):
Dana K. White at A Slob Comes Clean. She's been unofficially "diagnosed" by her ADHD followers who use her strategies. She says she has TPAD: Time Passage Awareness Disorder. "It's a term I made up but it's totally real." In addition to addressing Time Blindness, she also says that she doesn't see mess; there is no in-between mess/no mess.
Cas at Clutterbug, another ADHD-er diagnosed as an adult. In her system of organizing styles, I would guess that Catie is a Butterfly; Visual/has to see it, and Macro/Big Picture. Clear bins with no lids, hooks in every room. "Out of sight, out of mind." I have a white board & a big calendar that I use for tasks, appointments, etc. because I've finally realized that I can't trust myself to open a planner everyday.
K.C. Davis at Struggle Care (AWESOME TED Talk)! Psychologist recently diagnosed with ADHD, she focuses on the mental health aspects of disorganization. "Dishes are morally neutral. Dishes in the sink mean that you fed yourself."
I think for many ADHD-ers, organization is the final frontier!
I am so happy I ran into this video. I feel like I am listening to my own story!!! Looking for more of your content and like minded friends for support ❤
Hi lenaree75 - we're glad you found the video, too! You can find our content on our website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, TH-cam, the Wunder app, Pinterest, and our podcast network!
Thank you for this -
☝️So important!☝️
Omg... I am following from Denmark and find this is so relatable...
A very lengthy natural menopause (14 y so far) have made my ad(h)d and all my struggles explode! Had I known this earlier I would have fought every discourse against hormonal supplements coming from my doctors , for sure! But, we should be able to rely on doctors for an educated counsel based on the unique history of the individual patient, right?
But I guess this falls under the grey area of “women’s issues” that carry so little medical interest as it is...
👋 I know what you mean, I'm 46 and live in rural Canada, ADHD is something I thought (until a few months ago) was just little boys who were hyper or poorly behaved. I'm dismayed at my own ignorance. Recently, I found out I'm "2e" which I had never even heard of. ADHD and Autism, but "gifted". I had a rich vocabulary and could read books at 2 years old, I graduated at 16, but I struggled with friendships and developed binge eating disorder, making me the fat girl in the 80's/90's in school. The bullying was brutal, and I was both highly sensitive and emotionally disregulated. My explosive reactions to bullying only further alienated me from peers and encouraged more bullying. My parents blamed me for my lack of will and inability to "ignore the bullies".
My childhood was awful, no one could understand why if I seemed so bright, I didn't seem to "apply myself" or live up to my potential. My parents unfortunately we're the "punish bad/undesirable behaviours" like messiness, lack of organization, etc. type.
But it was not because they didn't live me, it was because they didn't know any better. Still, I was regularly criticized, invalidated, shamed, punished, etc and that traumatized me, resulting in C-PTSD.
I actually hated myself as an adult because I never seemed able to keep my life together. I'd work so hard, would excel, burn out, get sick, quit my job/find another when managers started getting annoyed. Oh, yeah - and I have PCOS too. Any these days, perimenopause is making me loony.
I've been in therapy the last year, including DBT, which is how all these diagnoses starting coming to light. It all clicks. I can't believe how long I hated myself for being "bad" just because I didn't know I was just different.
As an adult of 25 starting to date my now fiance, soon to be wife( 22 days). She pretty quickly had an idea that I had ADHD. She is a registered phycologist so she apparently knows what she's talking about. My younger brother has what I'd consider severe adhd with autism so growing up my mom refused to believe I had adhd because my brother was her baseline for what adhd is. But talking with her and going through the habits and signs of adhd has allowed me to own my diagnosis, and do alot of self reflection and really accept and be comfortable with who I am and things in the past that left hurt in my heart from past relationships and friendships and family relationships. And it's crazy to just check boxes off of things I thought were just struggles everyone had, but was better at managing than me.
Through my research and as I get tested for ADHD and autism, I keep having these AHA moments. This is another one. Started suffering from PCOS basically the second I hit puberty but wasn't diagnosed until around 25. Now I'm 32, and after my life falling apart multiple times I've finally gotten to this point of having to figure out what's truly "wrong" with me. I will still have some doubt in the back of my mind until I actually hear my psychiatrist say the words, but I can't believe how many answers I've been getting, for questions I didn't even realize I had.
My mom suffered with IBS her whole life but it almost disappeared after menopause. She had thyroid cancer and had her thyroid removed, and you know what, it might've been since then that her attention has gotten a lot worse. Everything is so genetic, and everything is so hormonal. As someone who suffers with PCOS, I definitely know how hormones control every single thing, and any doctor who thinks PCOS is just a fertility problem and writes it off, or doesn't even know it exists, makes me want to scream. We need more education and awareness. I'm tired of us women suffering in the dark because no one cares about our pain. How many of us have lost so many years of our lives because no one had the answers, and didn't care to ask. My whole life I thought I was failing everyone else...turns out, it was the world failing me. The sexist medical community, and society's suffocating confines and punishments.
It's so affirming to hear other share experiencs.similar to mine. My ADHD went out of control after having my first child. I've never struggled so much to function - any compensation strategy I built went out the window.
"is there a name for what's wrong with you?" lol this used to be a joke when I was younger, little did I know it would end up being the name of my biography! 😆😞
2ND HAND SMOKE REALLY TRIGGERS MY ADHD SYMPTOMS.
Could this also tie in with autism in women, neuro diversity in general? Although I’m in the UK I know of a lot of late diagnosis of neuro diverse conditions. The mix of hormones and genetics it suggests there could be so many people struggling that are undiagnosed, and therefore unsupported.
Exactly ! Hopefully this question will start getting asked much more frequently, and become part of the collective discussion. Thanks for putting it on the table
Former burnout gifted kid here. Finally got my diagnosis this week! Right before my 45th birthday. I started the journey when I was finally getting my gifted endorsement this past school year. It has been incredibly eye opening, affirming, and challenging to see the world and myself with this new knowledge.
I HAD A TURBINECTOMY. I STARTED HAVING EXTREME ANXIETY AND ADHD SYMPTOMS.
Wonderful guest. Thank you and g'day from Australia 🦘 Xx
Thanks for listening, Sloane Delaney!
Hugely grateful for this video, thankyou
We're so glad you enjoyed listening!💙
So now I can see why my personal life at home is in shabbles. I was masking in childhood, childrearing years, then menopause hit things got out of hand: fast paced stressful time/tasks job requirements/ expectations,.... total overwhelmed burnout and energy crashing after work daily to bed, and in bed all first day off, 2nd day off too many things need to be done because of crashing 6 days of the week. And then repeat... Weekly for years. Hormones changed.... Menopause.... No more masking .... I wondered why I never caught on to my ADHD sooner in life. This makes total sense to me personally. Thank you.
Thank you for the video, about 2 years now I realized I'm losing my speech. I am a teacher, and I find it hard to flow in conversation. I have to stop and think about what I'm going to say which is embarrassing. I don't know what to do.
We live in a capitalist society, we are valued only by our productivity. I'm sure this is why we are more focused on how neurodivergency impacts work/school.
Just when I start to ponder if the two medical professionals that diagnosed me were wrong, I hear things like this that reaffirm my ADHD.
ever since I began learning more about ADHD, really just in the past week or two, I feel like almost every symptom that is described applies to me. The time dilation / issue thing is one that I really have a hard time with. but at the same time though because I've been living my life and I've been unaware that I might have ADHD and because I am the protagonist in my life story and I don't know any other way I just feel like isn't this the same way for everybody..?
I had an ovarian cyst removed as well also endometriosis which is very painful x
Oookay, I will get an appointment
What recent article / research is Catie referring to, early on in the interview? It would be interesting to know, so that we can independently see it directly. Would be very appreciative if this could be made available, since it would assist in disseminating important info. Thanks in advance...
Hi Nina Romm - Thanks for your question. The article is "Cognitive functions of regularly cycling women may differ throughout the month, depending on sex hormone status; a possible explanation to conflicting results of studies of ADHD in females" and can be found here: www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00191/full.
We hope this helps!
The Understood Team
@@UnderstoodOrg . Thanks so much for providing the article.
After an initial scan, I do have some observations / a potential critique suggestion... how would I get to speak to one of your team about this ?
I am in South Africa.
Best regards, N
Hi Nina Romm - For questions about our network of podcasts or to share feedback or your own personal story, email us at podcasts@understood.org.
NO WONDER I NEVER COULD HOLD DOWN A JOB.
How to detect a 10 years child with ADHD please?
Hi Antonio Rodriguez - If you suspect that your child might have ADHD (u.org/2Y9yCnk), you can look into requesting a free evaluation through the school or seek clinical testing and evaluation for ADHD. A good way to start might be to share your concerns with your child's pediatrician.
We hope this helps!
The team at Understood
I turned 50 in March this year.. I was diagnosed 2 months before that. My realisation came after watching catieosaurus on tic tock. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. I was then scratching my head thinking, how did i not know! So many things make sense now, not only for myself, but for many members of my family. Hormone changes magnified everything, & was unquestionably driving me mental. Things i used to be able to do, i couldn't do anymore. I felt like a useless scatterbrain. My only motivation & drive came by putting myself in a state of anxiety. Until i felt that feeling, i wasnt doing anything. Thank you for crossing my path Catie, you quite honestly, saved my life 🫶🏼