Is It ADHD, Burnout or Perimenopause? The Symptom Overlap No One Explained to Women

By Sistapedia®

Menopause

Mon, 17 Nov 2025

Exhausted, forgetful, snappy and overwhelmed—yet nobody can agree if it’s ADHD, burnout or perimenopause? Here’s how these conditions overlap, what “perimenopause ADHD symptoms” can look like, and how women can finally get joined-up care.

You keep losing your phone in your own house.

You walk into rooms and forget why you’re there.

You’re snapping at people you love, then crying in the car five minutes later.

Some days you’re sure it’s ADHD. Other days you’re convinced it’s burnout. Then your period changes, your sleep goes weird and suddenly TikTok keeps telling you it’s perimenopause.

If you’re a woman in your 30s, 40s or early 50s trying to figure out what on earth is happening to your brain and body, you’re not alone. And you’re definitely not “going crazy”.

This article walks you through:

• Why ADHD, burnout and perimenopause look so similar

• What “perimenopause ADHD symptoms” can actually mean

• How to start untangling what’s going on for you

• Where to get support without feeling dismissed or gaslit

Quick reminder: this is educational, not a diagnosis. Use it as a starting point for conversations with qualified professionals.

Why ADHD, Burnout and Perimenopause All Feel the Same (From the Outside)

Let’s start with the reality: from the outside, these three can look almost identical.

All three can cause:

• Brain fog and forgetfulness

• Struggling to start or finish tasks

• Losing important items (keys, phone, cards, sanity 😅)

• Overwhelm from simple decisions

• Mood swings, irritability or rage

• Anxiety or low mood

• Sleep issues and chronic exhaustion

So when you walk into a doctor’s office saying, “I’m exhausted, I can’t focus, I’m snappy, I’m not myself,” it’s easy for the system to slap on one label and miss the others.

Underneath that overlap, though, the drivers are different:

• ADHD – a neurodevelopmental condition; your brain has always been wired this way, even if you masked it for years.

• Burnout – your nervous system and stress response have been overloaded for too long with too little support.

• Perimenopause – a hormonal transition where estrogen and progesterone fluctuate and decline, affecting the brain, mood and body.

For many women, the real answer is not, “Which one is it?”

It’s: “What combination is it—and what needs attention first?”

ADHD in Women: The Wiring That Was Always There

ADHD is not a trend. It’s a neurodevelopmental condition that’s been under-recognised in women for decades.

Many women only start suspecting ADHD when life gets too complex to compensate anymore: careers, kids, care work, bills, aging parents, health issues… you simply run out of bandwidth to mask.

Common ADHD patterns in women can include:

• A lifelong history of starting things, then feeling unable to finish

• Being called “messy”, “scattered” or “careless” despite trying hard

• Constantly misplacing items or zoning out in conversations

• Feeling emotions very intensely and taking rejection hard

• School reports saying “bright, but not meeting full potential”

• Needing deadlines, urgency or interest to get anything done

Then, as hormones start to shift in your late 30s and 40s, the coping strategies that used to just get you through (late nights, caffeine, hyperfocus sprints) stop working.

Cue the thought:

“It’s like my brain just broke overnight.”

In reality, the ADHD wiring was always there. Perimenopause and/or burnout may simply have turned the volume up.

Burnout: When “Pushing Through” Stops Working

Burnout isn’t “being a bit tired of your job”.

It’s a full-body, full-brain response to chronic stress with no real recovery.

Women are especially vulnerable to burnout because we’re usually juggling:

• Paid work (with performance pressure)

• Unpaid home and mental load (meals, appointments, logistics, invisible admin)

• Emotional labour (checking everyone else is okay first)

Signs of burnout can include:

• Feeling numb, detached or like you’re watching life from the outside

• Dreading tasks you used to handle without thinking

• Feeling like nothing you do is ever enough

• Getting sick more often

• Gut problems, headaches or random body pains

• Feeling like your personality has “flattened”

Burnout can:

• Make ADHD symptoms worse

• Exaggerate mood swings in perimenopause

• Be dismissed as just “stress” or “an attitude problem”

If your life has been one long sprint with no pit stop, burnout is not a character flaw. It’s your system pulling the emergency brake.

Perimenopause: The Hormone Rollercoaster

Perimenopause is the 4–10 year transition before menopause (which is officially 12 months after your last period).

During perimenopause, estrogen and progesterone swing up and down before gradually declining. These hormones don’t just affect your periods—they interact with the brain, heart, bones, mood, sleep, pain and more.

Perimenopause can bring:

• Brain fog and “losing words” mid-sentence

• Forgetfulness and double-booking yourself

• Sudden irritability or rage that feels out of character

• Anxiety or low mood that arises “from nowhere”

• Night sweats, hot flushes, heart palpitations

• Changes in your cycle (shorter, longer, heavier, lighter, skipped periods)

• Joint aches, changes in body shape, weight shifts

For some women, these perimenopause ADHD symptoms (brain fog, forgetfulness, disorganisation) feel exactly like ADHD, even if they’ve never had those issues before.

For women who already have ADHD, perimenopause can be brutal: executive function takes a hit, emotional regulation feels weaker, and they often report feeling like their medication “stopped working” or their brain is glitching.

Where It Gets Dangerous: Misdiagnosis and Half-Answers

Because these three overlap so strongly, women often end up with incomplete or incorrect explanations:

• Prescribed antidepressants when ADHD and perimenopause are never considered

• Given HRT with zero conversation about lifelong attention and executive function patterns

• Told to “take a break” from work when the real issue is long-term burnout in an impossible system

• Sent for ADHD assessment with no proper hormonal review

This isn’t about demonising doctors or therapists.

It’s about recognising that most systems were never designed around women’s bodies or lives.

You deserve more than, “It’s just stress” or “That’s motherhood.”

You deserve joined-up thinking.

How to Start Untangling What’s Going On for You

You don’t have to know the exact label before you ask for help. But these steps can help you and your care team see the bigger picture.

1. Map Your Timeline

Grab a notebook or your phone notes and jot down:

• When you first remember struggling with focus/organisation

• When your periods started to change (shorter/longer/irregular)

• When you first felt “truly done” emotionally with work or life

• Big stress events (loss, trauma, pregnancies, births, moves, job changes)

Look for patterns over years, not days.

2. Look Beyond Your Brain to Your Load

Ask yourself honestly:

• Have I been in “survival mode” for months or years?

• Am I doing the emotional + mental load for everyone?

• Do I ever get real recovery time, or just “collapsing and scrolling”?

If the structure of your life is unsustainable, burnout is almost guaranteed. ADHD and perimenopause then land on top of that, and everything feels impossible.

3. Track Your Hormonal Clues

For a couple of cycles (if you still have periods), note:

• Cycle length and flow changes

• Symptom spikes before your period (PMS), around ovulation, or randomly

• New symptoms in your late 30s/40s (hot flushes, night sweats, palpitations, heavier or lighter bleeding)

Even if you’re on hormonal contraception, it’s worth logging your symptoms—this can help guide perimenopause conversations.

4. Reflect on Lifelong ADHD Patterns

Think back to childhood and early adulthood:

• Were you always losing things, procrastinating, zoning out?

• Did you regularly miss deadlines unless it was last-minute?

• Did you get told off for talking too much, daydreaming or “not applying yourself”?

• Have you always felt “different” but worked very hard to hide it?

If yes, ADHD might be part of the picture—especially if things got much harder when hormones shifted or life stress exploded.

Treatment Isn’t Either/Or: You’re Allowed a “Both/And” Plan

One of the biggest myths is that you need one neat diagnosis and one neat treatment.

In reality, many women need a combined plan:

• ADHD support (assessment, medication if suitable, coaching, structure strategies)

• Burnout recovery (boundaries, workload changes, nervous system repair, therapy)

• Perimenopause support (HRT discussion where appropriate, sleep, mood, bone and heart health, lifestyle support)

You’re allowed to need:

• Medication and lifestyle changes

• Therapy and HRT

• Workplace adjustments and sensory tools

• Rest and community support

You are not “too complicated”. The system is too simplistic.

You Don’t Have to Untangle This Alone

This is exactly why Sistapedia® exists.

We’re building the world’s first AI-verified marketplace and social platform dedicated to women’s reproductive health across the whole lifecycle — including:

• ADHD in women

• Burnout and mental load

• Perimenopause, menopause and hormones

• Fertility, postpartum, PCOS, endometriosis and more

For Sistas (Women 15–55)

You can:

• Share your story about ADHD, burnout, perimenopause or all three

• Learn from other women who’ve walked this path

• Find AI-verified, expert-led content in one trusted place

💖 Apply for your free Pink Tick on Sistapedia and become one of our global influencers in women’s health — simply by sharing your lived experience and supporting others.

For Healthcare Practitioners, Specialists & Experts

If you’re a:

• GP, psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist

• Neurologist, endocrinologist, gynecologist or menopause specialist

• ADHD coach or mental health professional

…women desperately need your joined-up, evidence-based voice.

👑 On Sistapedia, you can create a professional profile and apply to become Crown Verified — our verification for qualified experts, clinics, services and brands in women’s reproductive health.

Being Crown Verified helps women know:

• You’re a legitimate professional

• Your expertise has been checked via AI + human verification

• You’re part of a global movement to raise the standard of women’s health care

Final Words: You’re Not Broken. You’re Undersupported.

If you’ve been quietly wondering, “What’s wrong with me?” let’s rewrite that:

Nothing is “wrong” with you.

You’re a woman whose brain and body are trying to function inside overlapping storms — ADHD wiring, chronic stress, and hormone changes — in a world that still expects you to be endlessly productive, pleasant and organised.

You deserve:

• A proper conversation, not a rushed dismissal

• Care that considers ADHD, burnout and perimenopause together

• Community, not shame

✨ When you’re ready, search for Sistapedia, join our sisterhood, share your story, and start connecting with Crown Verified experts who understand the full picture.

Your brain isn’t the problem.

The silence around it is.