Dr Helen Wall says many women are reaching breaking point after years of being “missed, mislabelled or dismissed”, as she speaks out about the overlooked link between menopause and ADHD.
She was a familiar face during the coronavirus years working to reassure people and part of the team working to stamp out the infection in Bolton.
She is also women’s health advocate and has now spoken out about the overlooked link between menopause and ADHD, saying many women are reaching crisis point after years of being “missed, mislabelled or dismissed.”
Dr Wall, a familiar face from BBC Breakfast, is releasing her new book Menopause and ADHD: How to Navigate Hormone Flux and Neurodivergence on May 14.
Drawing on more than 25 years in medicine, she hopes it will give women the tools to better understand their bodies, and advocate for themselves.
Her interest in the topic began not in research labs, but in her own clinic.
She said: “I started seeing in menopause clinic this recurring pattern of women that were quite burnt out and had things in their history that indicated they may have some undiagnosed neurodivergence.
“As I started talking about it on social media, lots of women were contacting me with their experiences, saying how they’d also struggled and what they’d discovered during perimenopause and menopause.”
What followed was a surge of stories from women who, often for the first time, were beginning to make sense of lifelong challenges.
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Dr Helen Wall’s brand new book will be out May 14 (Image: Vermillion)
A hidden struggle
While menopause is increasingly discussed, Dr Wall says the intersection with ADHD is still largely under the radar.
“Navigating menopause can be challenging for any woman, but for those with ADHD, the experience can feel like a bomb has gone off in your life,” she explained.
Part of the issue, she says, is historical bias, both in research and diagnosis.
She said: “We’re really underserved as women in medicine in terms of funding and research.
“And historically, we have not really recognised ADHD in girls.
“It’s always been that classic hyperactive boy who’s disruptive in the classroom.”
Instead, she says many girls learn to mask their symptoms.
“They conform to that societal norm of being a ‘good girl’… not being disruptive,” she said.
“They might over-prepare, rehearse conversations, constantly scan the room to see what people are thinking or feeling. And that is chronically exhausting.”
Over time, this can take a toll.
“These women often turn up to the GP earlier in life and are diagnosed with anxiety, depression or stress,” she added.
“There’s a lot of societal bias, they’re labelled as ‘dizzy’ or ‘scatty’ rather than asking what’s actually going on.”
Why menopause can be a tipping point
According to Dr Wall, the hormonal changes of perimenopause and menopause can intensify existing ADHD traits, often pushing women to breaking point.
“Our chemical messengers in the brain are very reliant on oestrogen,” she explained.
“So if you’ve already got a brain that’s struggling with dopamine signalling, which affects focus, motivation and emotional regulation, and then you add fluctuating or dropping oestrogen — it can make everything worse.”
“They often turn up just really in bits, feeling like they can’t function anymore.”
Crucially, she stresses that menopause does not “cause” ADHD but can reveal what has always been there.
“This is not that you suddenly get ADHD in menopause,” she said.
“It’s been there throughout your life, it’s just been missed.”
‘We’ve got a long way to go’
Dr Wall believes the healthcare system still has significant gaps in understanding.
She shared that recently out of a room of about 100 clinicians whether any had ever been taught about the effects of female hormones on the brain, and not one person had.
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Caution: Dr Helen Wall administering Covid vaccines (Image: NHS)
She also highlighted time pressures in general practice.
“It’s really hard to do a good consultation in this space in 10 minutes.
“You need to understand someone’s whole life story, and that’s just not possible in that timeframe.”
Empowering women
Her book aims to bridge that gap offering guidance whether a woman has a diagnosis, suspects ADHD, or simply feels something isn’t right.
“It’s about giving women the tools to take themselves through that journey,” she said.
“How to talk to your GP, how hormones affect your brain, what you can do to support yourself.”
She also acknowledges the long waits many face for diagnosis.
“If you do want a diagnosis, it can take years on the NHS.
“So it’s also about what you can do in the meantime to understand your brain and feel better.”
A growing conversation
With a large online following of a quarter of a million, around 96 per cent of whom are women, Dr Wall says the demand for information is undeniable.
“The number of women that contact me on a daily basis, just sharing how difficult things are for them, it tells me there’s a huge way to go in this space.” she said.
While ‘Menopause and ADHD’ is her first book, she admits it may not be her last.
“Whilst I was writing, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is so stressful, I’ll never write again.”
“Then you finish it and think, okay, what about the next one?”
For now, though, her focus is clear: making sure women feel seen, heard, and better equipped to navigate a stage of life that, for many, has been misunderstood for far too long.
Menopause and ADHD: How to navigate hormone flux and neurodivergence By Dr Helen Wall will be available to buy for £14.99.
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