http://www.sarahwest-adhd.com/, https://calendly.com/sarahwest-adhd-coaching/speaker-enquiry, https://sarah-west-adhd-co

Sarah West I Certified ADHD Coach, Exeter (2026)

23/06/2026

I didn’t realise I had ADHD until I was in my mid 40s.

It never occurred to me, because I'd never known any different.

Most ADHD research was historically built almost entirely around hyperactive boys, so that became the only picture people had of what ADHD was, and my overthinking, anxious self looked nothing like this.

I hadn’t known how ADHD presented in women and girls, and it seemed like most other people didn't know either.

That gap in the research has shaped a crisis for generations of women only now realising they have missed out on the correct diagnosis, understanding and support they have needed all their lives.

I talked through exactly why on the WomenKind Collective podcast with the awesome Jinty and Lou last week.

We discussed:

-How the early research bias is still playing out in referral pathways today, and why girls tend to internalise where boys externalise

-Why many women are diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or even bipolar disorder before anyone considers ADHD, and what it means when a woman's neurology has historically been mistaken for a mood disorder

-How perimenopause can unmask ADHD symptoms that were never picked up before

-The emerging research linking ADHD and autism with hypermobility

-Whether the "over-diagnosis" backlash is a gender bias story in disguise

-What still needs to change, and what good support should look like after diagnosis

Full episode link in the comments.

18/06/2026

It's the 1990s, and I'm sitting in a secondary school classroom completely understanding every word the teacher says. Thirty minutes later, I can't remember any of that lesson, like it was never said at all.

This happened in every subject, every year, all through school. I understood what was being taught and could explain it back to you there and then. By the time I got home? It might as well have not existed.

I felt stupid. Thick. Like I wasn't as good as everyone else.

I was ashamed of how rubbish my working memory was, and never told anyone. I couldn't work out why my working memory was so bad. I imagined the bullies whispering behind their hands, gossiping about me behind my back if they ever found out. They'd have a field day.

Every night after school, I'd sit in my room going over the same notes, rewriting them and reading them out loud, sometimes for hours, until it finally started to stick.

I found it absolutely baffling that people around me could read something once, or listen to something in a lesson, and remember it. I couldn't understand why I needed so many extra hours just to keep up with them, and it was absolutely exhausting.

This wasn't just school. Struggles with my working memory have affected me my entire life.

But now I know there is a reason why.

Working memory is like a sticky note in your brain, holding information for a little while before it gets filed into long-term memory. Dopamine and noradrenaline do that filing job, but in ADHD those neurochemicals either run low or are inconsistent, so the filing doesn't always get finished, even when you understood everything perfectly when it was first explained to you.

That's the mechanism behind hearing something, understanding it completely, and still losing it within the hour. It has nothing to do with intelligence or how much attention was paid.

Repetition worked for me because each time I went over it, my brain got another chance to encode it properly. One read-through never gave it that chance.

It took me getting an ADHD diagnosis, years later, for any of this to make sense. My struggles with working memory were down to neurobiology and it wasn't my fault.

If you've spent hours relearning your notes, or rewriting the same page until it finally sunk in, this was never you being slow or stupid.

What are the systems you've built to cope with how ADHD affects your working memory?

16/06/2026

What should support for women with ADHD and Perimenopause actually look like?

Women with ADHD and perimenopause are walking into appointments having spent months, sometimes years, working it out largely on their own, already knowing it is highly likely they will be dismissed, or that it is all in their head.

So what should decent support actually look like?

-Not automatically putting hormonal symptoms down to anxiety or depression. Knowing how women and girls actually present with ADHD, not the outdated gender biased presentation based on hyperactive boys.

-Assessing and diagnosing perimenopause on symptoms, not blood tests. NICE guidelines are clear on this. And having an awareness that women with ADHD are likely to reach perimenopause up to ten years earlier than women without it.

-Understanding how significantly hormones affect ADHD symptoms, with HRT and ADHD medication reviewed and managed by a clinician who understands both.

-Testosterone prescribed as a genuine treatment option for cognitive and motivational decline, which is easily accessible from a GP.

-ADHD post-diagnostic support that is neuro-affirming, with a deep understanding of how hormones and ADHD affect each other.

-Ongoing regular training on both ADHD and hormones for GPs, menopause specialists, gynaecologists, ADHD assessors and psychiatrists. Not a one-off. Built into continued professional development.

-More research into ADHD across the female lifespan. There is not enough of it, and that has to change.

The women have done the work. They deserve clinicians who have too.

None of this is extraordinary. It is the basic standard of care women are currently having to fight for as though it is something exceptional.

It shouldn't be.

Is there anything else that you think should be the norm when it comes to support for women who have ADHD and perimenopause?

12/06/2026

You've opened another article about perimenopause and it doesn't mention ADHD. Again.

Or you've found something about ADHD and there's no mention of hormones, no acknowledgment that the perimenopause exists, let alone that it changes everything for a brain like yours.

That gap is exactly what my monthly newsletter is written for.

Each month I share honest reflections from my own experience of living with ADHD through the perimenopause, alongside clear information about what's happening in your brain and body when the two intersect. New blog posts, practical insights from my coaching work, upcoming events and webinars, and resources you can use straight away.

It's a space built for women who need real information and honest company. Not another list of generic tips.

If that sounds like what you've been looking for, the link to sign up is in the comments.

What made you start looking for information about ADHD and the perimenopause?

Sign up here: https://sarah-west-adhd-coach.kit.com/newsletter

11/06/2026

The timings of multiple train connections. The worry of working out where I'd find a toilet if I needed one.

Navigating the tube system. Unfamiliar noises and smells. People on the train watching videos at full volume or having a call with their mate on speakerphone. (Loop earplugs can only do so much!)

This was what took up most of my headspace last week.

I'd been invited to the actual Houses of Parliament. That’s pretty cool in my book.

And yet being in Parliament wasn’t what I was dreading.

Not the work. Not the people. Not being inside one of the most significant buildings in the country doing something that will make a positive difference to hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people.

The thing I was dreading most was getting there and back.

I'm part of the Accessibility and Inclusion team for the UK Parliament.

A team chosen to advise on how to make visiting Parliament a more accessible and inclusive experience for neurodivergent people, reviewing how Parliament communicates with neurodivergent visitors, from the website to the signage to what you're told to expect before you arrive.

Predictability matters enormously to my neurodivergent brain, and the UK public transport system is about as unpredictable as it gets.

Delays, changes, missed connections. On a day that was already long and tiring, that unpredictability added a layer of stress that sat on top of everything else from the moment I left the house.

The actual day was incredible. The people I met were lovely, genuinely supportive, people who are actively working to make things better. I loved every bit of it.

But the weeks of worrying beforehand, the logistics, the planning, the running through every possible thing that could go wrong.

Sometimes it makes you wonder whether it's even worth it. And that's exactly how opportunities stop happening. Not because you can't do the thing. Because the energy and executive function used to get there and back becomes the thing.

When something matters enough you push through. But there's always a cost, and for days afterwards my energy was completely shot.

Do the logistics of getting somewhere, the planning, the travelling, stress you out way more than the thing you're actually going to?

09/06/2026

Some days having ADHD can feel great. The dopamine is going, everything clicks into place, the ideas are coming, you're getting loads done in a really constructive way and it just flows. Those are the good days.

But other days it's just exhausting.

Sometimes I'm sick of waking up with about 100 radio stations on in my head. I just want to wake up and think of one thing. Or nothing.

It starts before I've even opened my eyes. It's just there. It never stops.

This constant noise. This constant talk. On about 100 million different things at once, and it never, ever goes away.

And it's not just the noise. It's the constant overthinking about everything. The rumination. The feeling overwhelmed by stuff more easily than other people. The emotional dysregulation. I wish sometimes I was just one of those people who was naturally laid back and didn't worry about stuff.

I genuinely wonder what it would be like to have one day, even one week, where you just lived like that. Where you didn't feel so overwhelmed all the time. Where you didn't have to second guess everything all the time. Where you just weren't exhausted by it all the flipping time.

I wish there was a switch you could flick. Not forever. Just to give yourself some respite. Even just for 24 hours. Wouldn't that be lovely.

You can never get away from it. And sometimes I am just so sick of it.

Yeah, when you're firing on all cylinders maybe that's when people want to call it a superpower. And I get it, I do.

But this is also exactly why so many of us push back on that and say no, it isn't.

Because for many of us it's exhausting. It can be miserable. It can be isolating. And it just never, ever, bloody stops.

08/06/2026

A woman messaged me last week to ask if it was normal that her last ADHD coach spent most of each session telling her what to do.

This wasn't coaching. It was instruction dressed up as support, and she had paid for six weeks of it before she realised something was wrong.

ADHD coaching should be neuro-affirming. This means working alongside you as a thinking partner, helping you notice things for yourself and find what fits your own brain, rather than someone sitting across from you telling you what you should be doing.

ADHD coaching is currently unregulated. Anyone can call themselves a coach, set a price, and start taking clients tomorrow.

That means the responsibility for checking who you are working with sits, unfairly, with the person who is already exhausted and looking for help.

When coaching is done well, it can genuinely change someone's life for the better. When it is not, it can add to years of feeling criticised and misunderstood, which is the very thing most clients are trying to get away from.

Before you commit to working with anyone, it's worth asking:

-Where did they train, and how long was the course

-What does their ongoing professional development look like, and do they have continued professional development such as further courses, so they are practising at a high standard

A coach with nothing to hide will usually be glad to share this on their website.

Most decent ADHD coaches also offer a free discovery call, where you can talk about what you are struggling with and what kind of support you need.

Use it to notice how the conversation feels. Getting the right fit matters, and if you feel pressured to decide quickly, that is usually a sign to walk away.

I trained as a nurse long before I trained as a coach, and that background shaped how seriously I take questions of safety and standards.

Asking these questions is not awkward. It is exactly what a responsible coach expects and welcomes.

If you were choosing a coach today, what would matter most to you in that first conversation?

02/06/2026

When perimenopause hit my ADHD brain, everything in my life that I'd previously managed to keep together fell apart. I no longer recognised myself.

Every month I talk to women who've had the same experience.

Perimenopause has a profound effect on ADHD and we had no idea that the two were intrinsically connected.

Our hormones are essential for how the brain makes and regulates dopamine.

When they fluctuate and drop during perimenopause, they affect far more than night sweats and brain fog.

For women with ADHD, it pulls apart everything the brain has been relying on to function.

Focus goes, emotional regulation disappears, anxiety that was manageable becomes anything but, sleep becomes non-existent, strategies and routines that worked for years stop working.

Women spend months, sometimes years, being told they're depressed or anxious. The clinicians looking after them often don't know the connection exists, and we don't get the correct support.

This Wednesday 3rd June I'm presenting my monthly ADHD UK webinar on exactly this from 12 to 1pm.

I'll be covering:

-What your hormones are doing and why supporting them is particularly important if you have ADHD
-Why so many women are recognising their ADHD for the first time in perimenopause
-Which areas of life are most affected when the two collide
-What you can do about it

Understanding what is going on is the first thing that helps.

If you have ADHD and perimenopause is making everything harder to manage, I'd love you to join me.

Registration is through the ADHD UK website. Link is in the comments.

01/06/2026

A few weeks ago I wrote a Facebook post about perimenopause hitting my undiagnosed ADHD brain. About making plans to end my life.

Over 700,000 women saw it. Nearly 700 commented. 5,800 liked it.

And over 200 of you sent me direct messages telling me things you've never told anyone.

I've been reading them ever since. And I keep thinking: none of this should have happened to any of you.

Some of you wrote about reaching a point where you didn't want to be here anymore. Some wrote about the people you love who reached that same point.

Many wrote about the shame, the guilt, reaching out for help time and time again only to be dismissed and gaslit, given incorrect information or none at all.

Told they were the problem. Feeling they had nowhere left to turn.

Lifetimes of knowing that something about you was different but never having the right explanation for it.

I shared my story because I knew I wasn't the only one. Your messages have shown me just how true that is.

Thank you for sharing your stories with me. I'm sorry I can't reply to every one of you.

We have spent our lives feeling ashamed of things that were never our fault. Dismissed and misdiagnosed, told we were too much or that we were imagining it.

And we learned to say nothing and not trust that we could be vulnerable with others.

We are done with that. And this is exactly why I'm writing this book.

If you're in crisis or struggling with your mental health, trained support is available right now. Call Samaritans free on 116 123, day or night. Call 111 and select the mental health option. Or if calling feels tough, text SHOUT to 85258, any time.

Every message, every comment, every story shared.

Your voices deserve to be heard.

Sarah West I Certified ADHD Coach

23/06/2026

18/06/2026

16/06/2026

12/06/2026

11/06/2026

09/06/2026

08/06/2026

02/06/2026

01/06/2026

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