Latest / The Dr Louise Newson Podcast / 287 - ADHD and perimenopause: Sumi's story

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287 - ADHD and perimenopause: Sumi's story · The Dr Louise Newson Podcast

1:02
Today on the podcast I've got with me someone who I do know
1:05
well and I have met in real life and I'm very lucky because she
1:08
works with me in our Newsome health clinic.
1:11
So I've got Sumi with me who is AGP, she's still an NHSGP, she
1:15
works with us in the clinic and she has a really interesting
1:19
story which I feel embarrassed because I've only recently
1:23
learnt about it when we went to visit a prison together and she
1:26
told her story in front of about 200 prisoners I think.
1:30
Wasn't it semi? Yeah, about that.
1:32
So we had a wonderful day. I've been doing some visits to
1:35
prisons and we had a day where we were speaking to the staff
1:39
and then later in the day we spoke to prisoners as well.
1:43
So you actually told your story twice.
1:45
And each time I felt very emotional.
1:48
And actually everybody felt emotional.
1:50
But they tell you what, the people who are prisoners really
1:53
got it and really felt very emotional.
1:57
But it fired something up in them because a lot of what you
2:00
were saying resonated with them and their past.
2:03
So let's get going then. Tell me a bit before we start to
2:07
create your story. Just tell me a bit about you and
2:09
why you even went into general practice, because you you didn't
2:13
start off as a GP, did you? No, I didn't.
2:16
So I've been all around the houses with medicine.
2:20
So I qualified in Wales in 99 and so back then you could be a
2:27
bit more sort of, I don't know, freelance for a bit.
2:31
So I did various jobs, Pediatrics, general practice,
2:35
but just as a stand alone, a few other things and then went off
2:39
to Australia and worked there for a year.
2:42
So I did A&E out there and psychiatry, which was really,
2:46
really amazing, wonderful experience.
2:48
And it was when I was out there I decided to go into public
2:52
health. So and I was thinking actually
2:54
at that time to move away from the NHS completely.
2:57
So I was applying for master's degrees in global health.
3:02
So I wanted to do more of a sort of global health focus.
3:05
I went then to the States and did masters over there and then
3:09
did. I did a little bit of nothing
3:11
major, just sort of a bit of internship work with the UN for
3:14
a couple of summers and did some research in Afghanistan and El
3:19
Salvador and traveled around a bit and then eventually came
3:23
back to the UK and did public health training within the NHS,
3:28
so became a public health consultant.
3:31
So just to. Explain what public health is
3:33
because some people might not understand what public health
3:36
means so. Public health is the health of
3:39
populations. So rather than looking at the
3:41
health of the individual, you're looking at the health of
3:43
populations. So some of it is centred around
3:47
Health Protection, infectious Disease Control, some of it is
3:52
more focused on policy. So it's quite broad and you
3:55
don't have to be a medic to go into public health.
3:58
So you can go into it as a medic or if you've got different
4:02
backgrounds, you can go into it as well because it's so broad
4:05
and the field benefits from so many different backgrounds.
4:08
So, yeah, so I did that. And while I was doing it, it was
4:11
when I was back in the NHS, I started to really miss seeing
4:17
patients. And it was something that really
4:19
caught me by surprise actually, because I thought I'd given up
4:22
on that And, you know, yes, maybe go back into the NHS and
4:25
do public health that way, but I wasn't expecting to visit
4:28
hospitals and miss it, you know, miss being on the wards.
4:33
Miss. Seeing patients and and speaking
4:35
to people and and I thought, how am I going to get back into
4:38
this? And what I did was my last, my
4:42
last six months of training in public health, I've met all the
4:47
competencies that you need to meet or having had one more
4:49
left. And I said I can meet this
4:51
competency by working in a sexual health clinic.
4:55
Will you let me go once a week to the sexual health clinic and
4:58
I'll work as a practitioner there.
5:00
And you know, sexual health is so public health focused.
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And so they agreed, they were really supportive and they
5:07
agreed. And so I got back into clinical
5:09
work that way and then worked in a very, very big sexual health
5:13
clinic in Soho in London. And I did that for three years
5:18
and they trained me up in contraception, they trained me
5:21
out to do the HIV clinics. It was just amazing.
5:24
But I wanted to be AGP and I was too frightened to go into the
5:28
training because it had been so long.
5:30
And eventually I plucked up the courage and did the training
5:34
scheme. And it took me a long time
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because by this point I was having my children.
5:39
So it took me about seven years part time, but I got there and
5:44
yeah. And then here I am now as a GP
5:47
with a big interest in Women's Health and in public health, and
5:52
it all kind of worked, yeah. And it's so interesting.
5:55
And I, I've had, as you know, a really varied career.
5:57
And I do think it enriches how we manage our patients, how we
6:01
see things in different ways. Because medicine, when I've
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spoken about it a lot before and even on my Instagram too, has
6:08
become very siloed, you know, and people have become very
6:12
special very quickly now in medicine, which can be good, but
6:16
it also can be not so good when we've got a condition that's
6:20
affecting multiple organs in our body, but also it stops us
6:25
thinking about the bigger picture.
6:27
And I went into medicine to help individuals, but now I've sort
6:31
of done a big circle thinking, no, I really want to obviously
6:34
help individuals, but I want to help global.
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Health, yes. Improve as well.
6:38
And so a lot of the work we're all doing together is public
6:41
health, medicine. It really, it has come around in
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a big circle really, hasn't it? It's so interesting.
6:47
It is. And you know, the work that, you
6:49
know, we do every day, You know, with HRT, we're helping to
6:54
prevent conditions like osteoporosis, that's, you know,
6:58
cardiovascular disease, dementia, type 2 diabetes.
7:01
This is all public health, yes. You know, and it's important and
7:04
it's so easy that we obviously get so frustrated because it's
7:08
such an easy, cheap and cost effective and clinically
7:11
effective treatment to reduce so many diseases.
7:14
Yeah, but we're going to focus on your story because as
7:19
clinicians, people think that we're just machines, that we
7:23
don't have emotions. We just keep going and sometimes
7:25
we have to be a bit mechanic because otherwise we would fall
7:28
over. Because there are so many things
7:29
that we hear and experience. But actually we still can have
7:33
illnesses, conditions, and sometimes we talk about them and
7:37
sometimes we don't. It's not the sort of thing at a
7:39
job interview. You talk about your medical
7:41
experience. No, not, but you've shared it
7:45
twice one day, so you're going to share it again because I
7:50
think it'll detonate with so many people.
7:53
So. So tell me if you don't mind a
7:54
bit about how you spoke in the prison that time.
7:58
Yeah. So I remember I visited a prison
8:01
with you previously and you came up to me and said, oh, you know,
8:05
I'm going to this other prison and would you like to join?
8:08
I was, yeah, of course. And then you really should not.
8:11
And maybe you can tell, you know, your story about, you
8:14
know, perimenopause because you. I think you knew that I, it's
8:16
something that I'd gone through and, and in the back of my mind
8:21
I was thinking, oh, because, you know, it's not something I had
8:26
shared with anyone and you know, it's quite a big thing.
8:30
So I was diagnosed with ADHD. You know, obviously I've had it
8:34
all my life. I was diagnosed as a young adult
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and I can talk to you a bit more about that in a bit.
8:39
But in the prison I was speaking about my treatment for ADHD.
8:43
I'd had treatment when I was first diagnosed with stimulant
8:47
medication, which I only took for about a month.
8:50
And I came off it because I felt it was absolutely amazing in
8:55
that I took it and it was like this, I don't know, this sort of
8:59
there was like a misty glass that was sort of surrounding me
9:02
and it was removed and it was just amazing, but frightening
9:07
and also a little bit sort of on off.
9:11
So, you know, the medication would run out and I'd be back to
9:14
how I was. And, and I thought, well, this
9:16
isn't the solution. What if, you know, you know, one
9:19
day I'd become pregnant. What, how you know, how does
9:21
that, you know, I don't know how many, you know, studies have
9:24
been done on this. What's the, you know, how will
9:26
it interfere with my long term health?
9:28
And I stopped taking it after a month.
9:30
And then that was years before. And then, as I mentioned, I went
9:35
to the States. This was a few years after I
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quantified as a doctor and I did a master's degree out there.
9:41
And when I got to the States, I did the first few weeks of this
9:45
programme and I was doing all right.
9:47
It was fine. Obviously very hard, very
9:49
challenging, but I was managing and I took the medication and in
9:53
the beginning it sort of made the difference from me doing
9:56
well to me doing exceptionally well, which fine, you know, by
10:00
the way, I think, you know, that's fine.
10:02
And then what happened was I was noticing and I was in my late
10:05
20s now, just before my period, my, and this was always the
10:10
case. This wasn't a new thing.
10:12
My focus was all over the place really, you know, I can't
10:17
remember what my camera and what my name was, but you know, like
10:20
really not, not great. And I was finding, OK, well,
10:25
I've got this medication now. Let me take a bit more.
10:28
So I would take a bit more in those periods and that was fine.
10:32
And then I started doing not so well.
10:36
And I was taking more and more medication, but not just then.
10:39
I was doing it all the time and I was, you know, I was
10:43
overdosing on it really. It was quite dangerous what I
10:46
was doing, but I wasn't doing well and I was just taking more
10:49
and more and more to try and manage my mood, to try and
10:51
manage my concentration, my focus.
10:54
And I got myself into a bit of a situation in that I was now
10:59
reliant on this medication. I couldn't get out of bed
11:02
without it. Literally it was by my bedside.
11:04
I couldn't get out of bed without this medication.
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And this is medication for ADHD, which is often based on
11:09
amphetamines as it is, yeah. And I couldn't function,
11:12
literally couldn't function without it.
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And it got to the point where I spoke to someone in the faculty
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because they had noticed that, you know, I've been doing really
11:24
well. And then I was really badly.
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And I said, what's going on? And this was possibly, this was
11:31
sort of towards the end where I wasn't even sure if I was going
11:34
to graduate actually. And I said, this is the
11:36
situation. I've got ADHD and now I've got
11:39
anxiety as well. And, you know, I think my mood
11:42
is. And they said, well, why didn't
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you tell us this before, that you have this ADHD?
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And I thought it being, you know, it's a prestigious
11:52
institution, they're not going to want to know me if I've got
11:55
this condition, they're going to ask me to leave.
11:57
But it was the opposite. They said we come across people
12:00
with these conditions. And had you told us earlier, we
12:02
would have been able to help. And, you know, if you need your
12:05
own room to do your exam so you don't get distractions, we'll
12:09
give you your own room. They were, you know, what do you
12:12
need to get through this? And we'll help you.
12:14
And they were absolutely amazing.
12:16
And, you know, and I got through it and I sought help and I went
12:20
to see a practitioner and Doctor Who helped me come off the
12:24
medication completely. And my mood was really, really
12:29
low. So she started me on some
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antidepressants as well, which I then stayed on pretty much for
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years. I did sort of at times I would
12:38
come off them. I didn't stay on them when I was
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pregnant, but you know, I was on them for the long term after
12:44
that. And then it was only one.
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This is years later now. So I had since got married.
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I've had problems with fertility, needed numerous
12:56
rounds of IVF, needed a special protocol for it to work.
12:59
I'm very thankful for that. But it was only years later when
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after my son was born and I was studying, I was training to be
13:08
AGP at this time. Only then did it clock that this
13:12
was perimenopause and I was perimenopausal.
13:15
And I spoke to my GP at the time and I was still fairly, you
13:20
know, as probably how old would I have been, maybe 41 or
13:23
something like that. And I explained it to her and
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she said, well, why don't you go on the oral contraceptive pill,
13:28
combined pill. So I did and it helped a little
13:31
bit and I was on my antidepressants and it all
13:34
helped a little bit, but it just wasn't doing the job.
13:37
It wasn't, you know, I wasn't quite there.
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And then I did the training course, the menopause training
13:43
course, your one actually. But I did that training course
13:46
and that's when I, the penny dropped in that I need
13:49
testosterone. And so by this point I convinced
13:52
my GP to start me on transdermal body identical HRT.
13:57
So I'd started that and I was doing a lot better again, but
14:01
then I added in the testosterone and honestly it was such a game
14:05
changer in terms of my ability to focus, concentrate, you know,
14:10
just operate. And how long did that take semi
14:13
from starting testosterone to feeling that your brain was
14:17
clearer and easier to manage? It wasn't immediate.
14:20
So there were some sort of effects that that happened quite
14:24
quickly in terms of my energy got better within a couple of
14:27
weeks. But it probably took a few
14:29
months before I started to feel like this is how I meant this is
14:34
me that, you know, it took me a few months before I felt that
14:37
way. I was still on the
14:38
antidepressants I was on by this point.
14:40
I was on maximum dose second line antidepressants.
14:43
So it was this hardcore stuff and I'm off them completely now.
14:47
So it's taken me a year to because I went initially when I
14:51
was on the testosterone, I didn't even think about coming
14:53
off the antidepressants. I thought, let's just keep
14:54
things stable, but then over the course of about a year, I've
14:58
gradually reduced my dose down and now I'm not on it at all.
15:02
And that's not to say that testosterone is a replacement
15:04
for antidepressants, because sometimes people need both.
15:07
Yeah, and I think that's really important because so many people
15:10
think it's hormones or nothing. And in medicine we can have more
15:14
than one diagnosis. You know, if I've cut my finger
15:17
and I have a migraine, hopefully you would give me a plaster and
15:20
you would look at my the pain and the discomfort for the
15:23
migraine. So and it's the same with
15:24
hormones. It's very interesting, isn't it,
15:27
because we see a lot of women and speak to a lot of women who
15:30
have been diagnosed with ADHD and we only need to look.
15:34
You just Google ADHD, it's massive.
15:37
And actually I think many of us have it.
15:39
I'm sure I've got ADHD. A lot of people can't achieve
15:42
loads of things unless they've got some ADHD.
15:45
So it is a power. It is a good thing as well to
15:48
have it. In some ways, yeah.
15:50
But some people obviously, and I do sometimes by when I'm very
15:54
tired, I have so many thoughts. I can't do anything.
15:58
Even just emptying the dishwasher is like, no, no, no,
16:01
I can't. And so it's a balance, but my
16:04
worry is that it's being medicalized sometimes with the
16:07
wrong things, like people who have a low mood and it's due to
16:11
their hormones, we shouldn't be automatically giving them
16:13
antidepressants. Although some people will be
16:15
clinically depressed and need antidepressants and hormones,
16:19
but with ADHD, it's obviously a spectrum.
16:22
But there are a lot of women who find that as they become older,
16:26
as their periods change, that ADHD symptoms worsen, or they
16:31
have PMS or PMDD and they worsen before their periods.
16:35
When we know hormone levels decline and all our hormones,
16:39
estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, our neuro steroids
16:42
are produced in our brain. But testosterone has a very sort
16:45
of calming influence, as does progesterone really works as a
16:49
neurotransmitter, effects other levels of neurotransmitters
16:53
including cortisol as well. But it's been hidden and not
16:57
thought about for so long. And now the narrative is just
16:59
about libido. But certainly if I could choose
17:03
one of the three hormones for women who benefit the most who
17:06
have ADHD, it's definitely testosterone, just in my
17:10
clinical experience. And it's very interesting that
17:14
you say that. And I increasingly see women in
17:16
the clinic, and I'm sure you do too, who are young and are more
17:20
testosterone deficient than estrogen deficient.
17:23
And no research has been done in it.
17:25
But I feel there's a lot of women who their testosterone
17:29
drops before their oestrogen and progesterone, and it's probably
17:33
not the testosterone produced by the ovaries, but testosterone
17:37
produced in the brain. And I feel there's so many
17:41
people, myself included, who wish they'd started taking
17:45
testosterone many years before. I don't know.
17:47
What do you feel to me? Yes.
17:50
And I think, you know, the question I've asked myself about
17:53
this, because testosterone is so clearly beneficial and, you
17:57
know, and essential for women is why it's been overlooked.
18:01
And, you know, I'm not sure I can answer it.
18:03
And I, I wonder if you could look back in history, it was
18:05
used in the 1930s for women, wasn't it?
18:07
Yeah. It's not something that new.
18:10
And I wonder, I mean, maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, but you
18:13
know, in the 1950s or whenever it was, the Premarin was
18:16
introduced and there was this huge focus, wasn't there, on
18:20
estrogen and Eastern is so important.
18:22
But I wonder if somehow that took away from testosterone.
18:27
Yes, you're definitely right. But I've been reading a lot of
18:30
history books and what was very interesting is when they found
18:33
all three hormones, they need to manufacture them in a way that
18:36
they could be mass produced. And they had to do that with
18:39
pharmaceutical companies to make money.
18:41
So researchers quickly started being funded by pharmaceutical
18:44
companies. Now they made the synthetic
18:47
estrogen in two ways with pregnant horses urine, but they
18:51
also made an oral ethanol estradiol which was chemically
18:55
altered, but they would try to quickly make a synthetic
18:58
progesterone but they couldn't. But by mistake, they made a
19:02
synthetic testosterone, because as you know, biochemically
19:06
they're very similar in structures.
19:08
Yeah. But then what happened was it
19:11
was a chemically altered testosterone, yeah, which they
19:15
then quickly realised was very hard to be absorbed in the body
19:18
orally. So they then found injections
19:21
and now we have more than 300 synthetic testosterone
19:25
substances and lots of them are anabolic steroids, which will
19:30
have an effect on the muscles, also on the red blood cells.
19:35
So they were using them to enhance performance.
19:38
And so the whole narrative was about making money.
19:41
So that's when people scared of testosterone, they're scared of
19:45
synthetic testosterone. So it means testosterone's not
19:49
got to look him because it went straight to men who started
19:53
using it and abusing it, which is really interesting.
19:56
But there are some reports in the war time, because a lot of
20:00
endocrine research, hormone research obviously started in
20:03
the 30s. They would do some amazing
20:06
research when you read the papers.
20:08
But then the war came and obviously everything changed.
20:11
But they were giving testosterone to some of the men
20:15
who were fighting and they there's a report saying that it
20:18
could help with gangrene, it could help with frostbite.
20:21
No surprise because we know it's really good for our
20:24
cardiovascular system. So they were reporting and
20:27
documenting these other effects, but that's all been forgotten
20:32
because it's about building up your muscle in your gym.
20:35
And testosterone is the male testosterone.
20:38
And even the way it was labeled, when it was discovered that they
20:41
could make it, it was about bulls testes.
20:45
That's where they got it from. That's where they got the
20:47
testosterone from. To.
20:49
Study. So it was mislabelling of a
20:52
gender inclusive hormone, if you know what I mean.
20:56
And then they stopped thinking about women because they were so
20:59
keen on making synthetic oestrogen to mass produce.
21:05
And then in the 60s it was all about contraception.
21:09
So if you think about hormones for our brains, it's been pushed
21:15
to the bottom because all the research on these hormones was
21:18
all on the womb. So even contraception.
21:21
Because that's all we are, isn't it?
21:23
We're just all we are is our our uteruses.
21:25
Indeed, that's all we are is about stopping getting pregnant.
21:29
So even with the hormones, when they pushed out the synthetic
21:33
hormones as contraceptives, they hadn't even tested them as
21:36
contraception. They'd just tested the wound and
21:39
saw that people weren't bleeding as much.
21:41
And after a year, they decided to change the licensing for
21:43
contraception. But no one ever did any studies
21:47
looking at the effects of synthetic hormones on the brain
21:50
and the body, which is just a shame missing so much.
21:54
Yeah. And the, you know, the side
21:56
effects that people are concerned about with
21:59
testosterone treatment is, you know, it's those synthetic
22:02
regimes. It's not sort of the pure
22:04
testosterone in its proper form that caused those side effects.
22:08
But there we are. And here we are today having to
22:11
deal with the situation and change it.
22:13
Yes, and I think people are realising more and more and like
22:16
I said to you earlier, I was training a whole group of
22:18
psychiatrists yesterday who specialised in ADHD and some of
22:22
them actually do prescribe HRT, which is amazing.
22:27
And actually one of them I spoke to last night said she
22:29
prescribes testosterone. I feel good.
22:31
She's a don't know to men, not to women, but she notices that
22:35
men with ADHD improve with testosterone.
22:38
Yeah, I'm not surprised. Yeah, there's.
22:40
Studies on this, I mean, looking at women actually when looking
22:43
at testosterone replacement and cognition and there's clear
22:48
improvements in cognition when testosterone is replaced.
22:51
So when we, they say that testosterone is, we shouldn't
22:53
use it in women because it's not very well studied.
22:55
But actually there are so many studies on it that, you know,
22:59
just need to be made aware of, and cognition is one of them.
23:03
Yeah. So meanwhile, we're collecting
23:06
our data. We've got a lot of observational
23:08
data because we see so many women, but we're also connecting
23:11
with many other psychiatrists in the UK and abroad.
23:15
So I'm hoping going forward this conversation will change.
23:19
You know, you've got children, I've got children.
23:21
We want them to not have the struggle that you had.
23:24
And I'm very grateful that you shared your story because it's
23:26
very difficult. I think, well it's, it's
23:29
difficult anyway where you're struggling mentally with
23:32
symptoms because it's not so easy to talk about.
23:36
And then to have medication that you're self medicating again,
23:41
it's showed that you were struggling but couldn't talk
23:43
about it. And there's something more about
23:46
a medic who can't get help. Yes.
23:48
And I've spoken about this before that I can't get my HRT
23:52
or my testosterone from my NHSGP.
23:55
So as medics who have got a lot of training, if we can't get
23:59
help, what does that say for others?
24:01
And I know when you were talking about this in the prison, a lot
24:05
of the prisoners have abused various drugs, but they probably
24:09
have had similar thoughts and feelings to you, but were
24:12
medicating with amphetamine, like substances, with cocaine,
24:16
with heroin. But they were still doing it
24:19
because they were getting those thoughts.
24:20
And that's where looking at the audience, their emotions were,
24:25
were so surprised that you as a healthcare professional had been
24:29
experiencing what them in their very deprived backgrounds had
24:34
experienced. And it was a really incredible
24:37
experience, but really sad for everybody because it shows that
24:41
so many women are not being listened to or not being given
24:46
the treatment that they need. I know, I know.
24:49
Yeah. And it was hard to talk about
24:51
it, but I'm so glad I did. That was the first time I spoke
24:54
about, you know, the abuse of the medication.
24:57
I hadn't spoken about it to anybody before that prison
25:01
visit, but I recognised the importance of it.
25:04
And I wonder, you know, with amphetamines and, you know,
25:07
abuse of drugs and, you know, whether there may be a link
25:10
between that and an early menopause because, you know, I
25:14
had an early menopause. OK.
25:16
I'm 1 N equals one. That doesn't mean anything, but
25:18
I, you know, I have looked into it a little bit and I wonder if
25:21
there may be a little bit of a connection there in that, you
25:24
know, if you've had a hard life, if you haven't been able to look
25:26
after your body or haven't looked after your body for
25:28
whatever reason, whether that may then have an impact.
25:31
Yeah, and I'm sure it does. It's always difficult to compare
25:33
because we don't know what our age of menopause would be if we
25:36
hadn't had that experience, all those drugs.
25:39
But we do know that women who abuse drugs, especially St.
25:43
drugs, are more likely to have menopause at a younger age.
25:46
Women who have been subject to domestic violence more likely to
25:49
have menopause at an earlier age.
25:51
And it makes sense physiologically because our body
25:53
is very good at protecting us from getting pregnant if we're
25:57
not in optimal health. So if we're abusing drugs, using
26:01
our body in not a great way, then often our ovaries switch
26:04
off and it might be temporary, but even if it's only for a few
26:07
months, that's a few months without hormones, without
26:09
hormones in our brain, which can make symptoms worse.
26:12
So allowing women to understand that is the most important thing
26:16
and then it will follow hopefully that they will seek
26:19
the hormones that they need. So lots to think about.
26:24
And I think this conversation about ADHD hormones, especially
26:29
testosterone has got to continue.
26:31
We hope we can do more research in this area.
26:34
But before we finish the meet, I've always asked for three take
26:36
home tips. So three things that if you are
26:39
listening and you either have got ADHD or you know someone who
26:44
potentially has, how would you think differently about hormones
26:49
with ADHD if you're one of those people?
26:52
OK. So I think first of all, just
26:55
being aware that hormones, you know, are part of the picture,
27:00
empowering yourself with that knowledge.
27:02
So, you know, I go back to when, when I was a, even when I was a
27:06
teenager, I had days where I had absolute clarity.
27:10
And now looking back, it's probably because those were the
27:12
days when I had that testosterone and oestrogen.
27:15
Sort of you have that in your cycle, don't you?
27:16
That sort of raise, just being aware that hormones play a role.
27:21
I'm not saying that, oh, you need to take HRT, but I am
27:24
saying that it's important to look into it, to be aware that
27:29
hormones play a role. And if you're struggling and
27:32
you're in perimenopause and things have gotten worse, look
27:36
into it because you know, it can be really helpful.
27:40
And in terms of side effects risks with the newer types, it's
27:44
a different picture we're seeing now to, you know, how it was or
27:48
how it was perceived to be in the past.
27:49
So number one, just have that awareness and you know, don't be
27:53
afraid to speak about it with a clinician if you feel like this
27:58
is something that's going on. So that's number one.
28:01
Two more things about how hormones impact on on ADHD.
28:06
I think I probably go beyond that because it's, I think it's
28:08
not just about hormones, it's about looking after yourself in
28:12
other ways. So things like exercise, diet,
28:15
so important and it's difficult when you got ADHD because
28:19
focusing on having a healthy diet, you need to be focused and
28:21
you need to sort of be a bit ordered in your life to be able
28:25
to do that. And someone who's got ADHD is
28:28
likely to be a bit chaotic. So it's difficult to focus on
28:31
diet and exercise, but it's so important and you know, and
28:34
these all into play diet and exercise is going to impact on
28:37
your hormones as well. So that's probably part of the
28:39
reason why it's also helpful. I don't have a third reason to
28:43
discuss hormones, but I will say if you're suffering with ADHD,
28:47
you're not suffering with ADHD, you're experiencing ADHD or you
28:51
know someone who does, focus on the positives of it because as
28:56
you mentioned before, it can be such an empowering condition to
29:00
have. I remember when I was a teenager
29:03
and I was, I'd chosen my A levels.
29:05
I was going to do science and maths because I wanted to study
29:07
medicine. I was uncertain because I didn't
29:10
have confidence, but I was told every day by my maths teacher
29:15
you can't study maths, you can't study maths.
29:18
Even though I've got, you know, good grade at GCSE, you can't do
29:21
it. And I didn't listen to her and I
29:24
ignored her every single day. And what happened?
29:30
I did well. I went to medical school, I
29:32
became a doctor. And now I'm here and I'm using
29:36
what I learned to look at studies and to look at the data,
29:40
you know, and to empower women and to sort of put right the
29:45
sort of the false situation we've been put in.
29:47
And had I listened, I wouldn't be here today.
29:50
So don't see it as a negative, See it as a positive because
29:54
people with ADHD have determination.
29:56
It's something that we just need to have in order to survive in
30:00
this world. And we've got it.
30:01
And you know, we should use it and just be proud of ourselves.
30:06
For it, it's so important when anybody is given a diagnostic
30:10
navel, it has to be seen as a superpower in some way with the
30:14
right support, help, advice and treatment.
30:17
So thank you so much. I've really enjoyed talking to
30:19
you and my pleasure. Thank you for sharing your story
30:22
again for me. My absolute pleasure.
30:25
Thank you. You can find out more about
30:31
Newson Health Group by visiting www.newsonhealth.co.uk and you
30:38
can download the free Balance app on the App Store or Google
30:42
Play.