Long seen as a childhood condition affecting mostly boys, girls were excluded from ADHD research. As I consume more and more science journalism on the differences in ADHD presentation between men and women, especially women in or approaching perimenopause, I’m convinced much of it describes my own experience. She felt fundamentally flawed until an ADHD diagnosis years later changed her perception. Just last year, a study involving 30,000 adults with ADHD from the UK found that women with the condition die nearly nine years earlier than women without it. Early research suggests that diminishing estrogen levels can worsen ADHD symptoms — and women with the disorder tend to enter perimenopause earlier and more severely.