We all know, Women and Men are different, correct? Women present with ADHD differently. Looking at my own life now at 70 years old, I wonder how male hormonal changes have affected me throughout my life, did I suffer without recognizing the root causes? Certainly my life has been affected by under recognized ADHD, but I wonder how puberty, marriage, job changes and then Andropause have affected my life. Was male menopause, (Andropuase) partly responsible for my poor interactions at work? Did my undiagnosed ADHD become worse during puberty? Were my frequent job changes throughout my life influenced by unstable moods affected not only by ADHD, but also by hormonal flucuations? Andropause on average starts in men after 40 years old. In my 40’s I certainly had lots of life changes including relationship changes, job and carreer changes.
My experience was that no one in the health care and mental health care community asked the question, have hormonal, androgenous changes affected your mood or behavior? Being a health care professional, Nurse then then Family Practice Nurse Practitioner, I often ignored testerone or hormonal levels in my clients as well. I can relate to the men in the ADDItude magazine who identify feeling of anger, frustration and self doubt. After much self reflection, coaching and lifestyle changes, I finally feel stable and balanced.
Going forward I am going to ask my primary care provider to evaluate my testosterone and ask them about how andropause may or may not be affecting my health.
This will be a topic of self reflection and coaching over the next few months.
Asking about Andropause will become a routine part of screening and follow up with male clients. Perhaps medical and mental health interventions will assist in overall mental and physical health. Will referalls to Primary care or specialists be helpful?
As usual, there are more questions than answers in this weeks blog.
https://lamclinic.com/blog/andropause-symptoms
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