Energy Regulation, Executive Function and ADHD #71
Does your energy level reside somewhere between zero and 500, sliding from one end of the spectrum to the other? In the course of a day, hour, or minute?
I can not explain what ADHD is without discussing Executive Function, because executive functioning is the CEO of our brain. Our Energy Regulation discussion includes sleep, arousal, motivation, addiction, period cycles, hormones, inconsistency, Bipolar, Anxiety, Depression, and Chronic Fatigue. We're getting into the tough stuff today. Let's learn about our ADHD brains.
Enrollment for my Lower Stress Holiday course ends this Friday! Sign up now: successfulasamother.com
Mentions:
Dr. Littman’s articles on Addiction & Regulation and ADHD Brains
Episode 37 on Letting Go of Thoughts
Dr. Sandra Kooij’s Women, ADHD, and Hormones webinar with ADHD Europe
The Disorganized Mom’s Guide to a Peaceful Morning: Patricia’s free how-to video series to bring calm to your mornings in 5 steps
Patricia Sung 00:00
Are you on fire some days and others you feel like a droopy swath with seemingly no rhyme or reason to why it's changing? Or are you painfully aware of how much your energy matches up with your cycle? Is your sleep total crap? Are you chronically tired or fatigued? These are all part of your executive function, specifically energy and alertness regulation, get ready to learn about your ADHD brain. Welcome to motherhood in ADHD, I'm your friend Patricia said. My mission is to be a lighthouse for mothers with ADHD, helping you find your path to success by learning to appreciate your ADHD as an asset. I'm seeking to change the paradigm that ADHD means your life is doomed to be a hot mess. So I'm sharing strategies and encouraging you in your pursuit of happiness to love who you are every day of your ADHD.
Patricia Sung 01:07
Before we dig into this episode, I want to give a shout out to ash Mayfield, she wrote this review, it says just what this mama needed. Thank you so much for doing this podcast. It's really been a huge blessing to me. I'm grateful for this podcast and look forward to listening with every new episode. Finally, I feel like there's a community that understands me, y'all. This is why I do this podcast, I want you to know that you're not alone, I want you to know that there are literally millions of mamas out here who are dealing with the same thing. And when we talk about it, we know that we're not by ourselves. So thank you, Ash, we have now connected on social media, and she is just such a shining light. I love following her. And I want this for you to I want you to have that community here. So thank you for sharing your kind words, and helping the podcast move up in the search results so that more mamas can hear that they are not by themselves.
Patricia Sung 02:01
Hey, they're successful mama, it's your friend Patricia Sung, we are talking about executive function. And that's the CEO of your brain. How do you explain ADHD without talking about executive function? I don't know. If you're not familiar with it, you can go back and listen to the first episode in the series, which is number 53. And we've covered a huge list of different areas of executive function. And we're down to the last few today we're talking about energy and alertness regulation. And it's a doozy. This is an area of ADHD without a ton of research and publication. So I was debating on how do I share something that I don't know that much about and can't find a whole lot of information on but I realized I don't have to have all the answers in order to share good stuff with you. I want you to know that you're not alone. This is something that I get asked quite a bit when I ask women, what do you want to know about your ADHD? I get the question of how do your hormones and changing of your body how does that affect your ADHD and vice versa? There's not a lot out there, but I did find some. So let's discuss. It's no secret that our energy flow is not the same as someone who's neurotypical.
Patricia Sung 03:07
Generally speaking, we tend to be night owls. Sometimes we can power through all nighters. Like we're superhuman, and then other times we peter out way earlier than everyone else, ADHD clearly affects our energy levels. And there is so much room for scientific study, most of the patterns that we're aware of now are through observations of just what women with ADHD have seen and communicated and the dedicated doctors and specialists and therapists who have noticed these things and can say yes, this is clearly an issue. But we're pretty early in the discussion about ADHD and women. Therefore, there's not a lot of formal research on this to have a formal scientific study, it's a quite a lengthy process, there has to be a ton of protocols and processes that have to be followed. And we're just not there yet, to be quite honest. But that doesn't mean that this isn't a valid concern. So what I could find are a couple of ladies that I really liked reading, what they've written and what they've worked on. And I will link all of this in the show notes, you can go to Patricia sung.com forward slash podcasts you can find they're all the links to resources that I've used so that you can do some research for yourself if you're interested.
Patricia Sung 04:20
So first, I was reading from Dr. Ellen Lippmann. Here's an excerpt of an article she recently wrote it says ADHD brains do not adapt as easily. They have their own rules of engagement. They're motivated by their search for optimal stimulation rather than what others label as important. Their degree of arousal differs based on whether the request for attention comes from an internal desire or an external demand. The owners of these brains are not making conscious choices to ignore external demands, although it often appears that way. Instead, internal motivations are intrinsically more meaningful to their brains, and as a result, more dopamine becomes available concerns about time or consequences are dwarfed. The pursuit of pleasurable reinforcement whether through sensation or hyperactivity, ADHD brains compel their owners to scan the environment for engaging stimulation.
Patricia Sung 05:09
When mundane tasks can be avoided, ADHD brains may be compromised in their ability to choose goal oriented responses. Well, isn't that the truth, a higher energy level is lower when things aren't interesting. And when things are our motivation, climbs up the charts, because when things are interesting, that's when our brain starts releasing more norepinephrine and dopamine. And those neurotransmitters start heading out doing their jobs and sending the messages far more efficiently than they were before. Which means we're getting more stuff done and we're being more productive. We're on we're rockin and rollin. That means that when we don't have those neurotransmitters helping us out, it's a lot harder to get things done. We're just this show up as an adult with ADHD.
Patricia Sung 05:51
A lot of times women will be diagnosed with things like bipolar disorder or have anxiety and depression. And while they may have those things, in addition to ADHD, the ADHD goes undiagnosed, because the bigger problems that are in your face, like depression, anxiety, bipolar, because they're glaringly obvious, that's what gets noticed. And that's what gets diagnosed. But quite often, those are byproducts or hand in hand with the ADHD. I watched a really great webinar by Dr. Sandra Kui, which I will link in the show notes as well. One study that she quoted showed women who had fibromyalgia 44% of them also had ADHD symptoms. There's clearly a link between your body and pain and tiredness that goes along with ADHD. Frequently, women and girls are sent to a neurologist for being too sleepy or too tired because they think something physical is wrong, when it really the underlying issue is ADHD. A lot of women are diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, because having ADHD is really tiring. We are tired, it is hard on our bodies. This dysregulation of energy can be seen in anxiety being too worried or apathy, not worried at all having spiraling thoughts or the opposite brain shut down. Sometimes we're told we're too much. And then other times people are asking us like, Hello, are you even there? Are you listening? Maybe we talk really loudly when we get excited. And then when things get overwhelming, we withdraw we can be seen interrupting being impulsive, hyperactive, fidgety. And then on the flip side being lazy or wasteful, a bump on a log, we have low inhibition and then we get into trouble or we have low energy and we're just in a funk. Sometimes we take over conversations and other times we don't say anything at all. This means it's hard to make friends. It's hard to relate to others were torn between being super productive and totally unproductive.
Patricia Sung 07:47
Some of us are slow readers and writers we need extra processing time or we get stuck on something we hit this lol and sometimes our brain moves faster than our mouth or a pencil can go we have a racecar brain with bicycle brakes, our brain keeps going and it really needs to slow down and take a breather. It's hard for us to sustain effort on long projects we peter out at some point, the difference between being a sprinter or being a marathoner, how many of us have changed our major multiple times in university or we get stuck in a low and we channel surf for hours letting Netflix continue to pick another show pick another show when really we know we need to be in bad. We can see this in sugar cravings, video game cravings, grownup activity cravings, really any addiction we get pulled into these dangerous and addictive activities because they provide an amplified dopamine production, which is what we're looking for to get moving driving too fast skydiving extreme sports, gambling, drugs, pornography, compulsive spending, that constant push for more and higher stimulation.
Patricia Sung 08:52
But then we find ourselves easily overstimulated into an overall arousal state. And we withdraw when we get overwhelmed, and it creates confusion on everyone else's part because we're like what you were just in it to win it two seconds ago, and now you're ready to go home. And on the flip side, maybe you're someone who just hides from all the stimuli you turtle up and hide and just want to be by yourself because everything else is just too much. We also see the issue of sugar cravings during our period when estrogen is low or you're really tired, your body's craving that extra dopamine because dopamine and estrogen are related. And this leads to overeating and obesity are already not good at making wise choices for long term goals. The immediate gratification of that bowl of ice cream is a lot more tempting than the lofty goal of losing some weight in a few months. We can be seen nodding off when stuff is boring, energized when things are interesting or our bodies moving. We can be sleepy when we're not even tired.
Patricia Sung 09:50
Overall, people with ADHD have a lot of sleep issues falling asleep staying asleep waking up literally from start to finish the reticular activating system and The brainstem is responsible for arousal as well as the sleep wake cycle, and ours is dysregulated. So our circadian rhythms are skewed to have higher activity in the evening, which is not good when it's time to get ready for bed.
Patricia Sung 10:13
Let's be honest here, this is a hot mess Express when other people see this, they think that there's something wrong with us. I mean, there is, but not what they think that it is, people will think that we have Bipolar, or depression or anxiety, which maybe we do, but a lot of times when we treat our ADHD, and we take care of that all of ADHD, friends, if you will, will improve as well. So a lot of people will see us as rude or overwhelming or crazy or mean or angry, or the opposite. When we have low energy to be dumb or lazy, we don't have any goals just wasted our life away. Sometimes we feel too much high. And sometimes it's too much low. Or sometimes it's back and forth so much in the same day or the same hour, it's overwhelming for us and the people that we live with or care about. Now, on the positive side, this gives us a lot of enthusiasm and zest for life when we're in we're in. And when our body knows we need to shut down a lot of times it'll shut us down whether we like it or not.
Patricia Sung 11:10
The good part is that these big red flags in energy regulation are usually one of the things that get us to the doctor, even if it's for the wrong thing, at least it's getting us in the right direction of asking for help. For me, when I get passionate about something, I am loud, and I talk fast, I have to stop myself so many times on these podcasts and tell myself take a breather, Patricia, you got to slow down the robot creating the transcription is never going to understand anything you say if you go that quickly. When I'm having a low energy day, not much is happening. It's especially apparent to me around my cycle, I have a huge dip in energy the week before my period and into my period. I know that this is how I am. So I don't have as high expectations for myself the few days before and the first few days on my cycle because I know my energy is just not going to be there. The hormones are changing, and it's just is what it is. I can get mad about it all I want but it's still a fact. So I need to let it go. being mad about it doesn't change it. So what can I do about it, I can lower my expectations, I can plan for things that really need like full power Patricia to be in the other two to three weeks of the month.
Patricia Sung 12:22
I listened to a really great webinar last night I was up way too late. But I found it right before bed and couldn't help myself. I was so excited to find a good resource on hormone relationship to ADHD women, I will link that in the show notes. It was by ADHD group in Europe with Dr. Sandra kui. And I think I took screenshots of just about every slide that she covered. And she had charts explaining the way that our estrogen changes throughout the cycle. And right before our period and during our period is when our estrogen is the lowest and estrogen is linked to the dopamine release in our brains. So there's an obvious connection, and she was discussing how women who have ADHD are far more likely to experience pre menstrual issues.
Patricia Sung 13:10
Also postnatal issues like postpartum depression, and per menopausal mood changes within the realm of their ADHD symptoms changing and she talked in depth about the danger week before your cycle. And she's been to more informal surveys of women asking them about their hormone changes throughout their life and different life stages, you know, having children and all that. And at this point, it's still in the beginning stages, we don't have a lot of information, but this is where it begins. We're a part of something in the seed stages, which obviously is not as helpful as we want, because we wish the answers were already there. But we can influence where these things go. And in her results, there was an indication that in ADHD women, there's a nine or 10 fold increase of having premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Patricia Sung 14:05
There's a four fold increase in women with ADHD having postpartum depression, and a two fold increase of women having severity in their mood and other symptoms during their perimenopause stages. And she even went into why is it that there's not much information on this? Well, there's just as a whole little research on hormonal influences in the brain women. And generally speaking, when they do scientific studies, they tend to study men because they don't have hormonal changes. So there's not that effect within the results because they don't want other factors contributing into their results, right. So they purposely don't choose women because our hormones are making a mess of things. So there are no studies at all about women with ADHD in their hormones. But there's clearly a connection because estrogen increases is dopamine synthesis and it decreases the degradation.
Patricia Sung 15:03
Now, obviously, I can't give you the whole hour and a half webinar in my 20 minute podcast episode. But she does have some suggestions on what you can do if you're suffering from premenstrual dysphoric disorder, postpartum depression, menopausal changes. And it really starts with asking for help finding a doctor, and therapists, getting yourself some support so that you aren't struggling by yourself. I also like the free shoes quite often, which was, if you're aware, you can prepare. If you know that this is a tough time for you, then you know not to schedule a big meeting with your boss where you're talking about like your annual review. Or maybe that's not a good time to have a tough conversation with your husband about the budget, or whatever you're struggling with that month, you can plan ahead and put those conversations and the times where you're going to be in a better mood when you can. But these are serious issues.
Patricia Sung 16:01
I really didn't know a lot about PMDD. Before this, I mean, I'd heard of it and vaguely knew of it. But I didn't realize the seriousness with which it affected women and my heartbreaks, for those of you who are suffering with it, and according to these numbers, that is quite a few of us that are dealing with this problem. So I just want to remind you, please reach out to someone else, when you feel like you are not safe or the people around you are not safe. Or if your children are not safe with you please reach out and ask for help. Do not suffer by yourself, you don't need to. And you shouldn't always reach out to somebody, anybody, me, anybody, please don't sit there and suffer by yourself. You don't have to and it's not necessarily in there is help available to make things better. So being aware of where this is truly hard for you, allows you to make changes and plan ahead so that you can do things differently.
Patricia Sung 17:00
Just being aware of that the roller coaster is there keeps you from setting unrealistic expectations. And I've come to terms that it's okay that I have low energy days, I have rough days, I am not going to set myself up for failure, expecting unrealistic things on those days where my energy just isn't there. It is better to adapt the plan. Because when I try to do something really hard on those days, it takes me five times as long, I still come out with a crappier product at the end. And it turns out terrible. It's just straight up awful. And I push myself really hard, like mentally stressing myself in order to get there for a crappier product that took me a lot of time. It just I got to stop, right. So that's an adjustment that I've had to learn. I mean, granted, it's taken me almost 40 years to figure that out. But I got there.
Patricia Sung 17:45
Hey there mama, did you hear I'm teaching a class this holiday season about lowering your holiday stress. I'm creating this class based on what you all told me you needed when I asked you told me over and over again that you are struggling with feeling overwhelmed with juggling expectations and your family and feeling guilty for not being at everything. overspending have finished holiday projects and doing a lot but now what made you happy and I realize I can help with this. We are talking about setting our priorities, using them to choose wisely how we spend our holidays and then making a plan to execute the things that we want to get done. Now we may not revamp your entire holiday season, but we will make this one significantly better. And then next November you'll be able to improve it again making each subsequent holiday better and better for your family for years to come. So while I thought I might start teaching classes in 2021 Here I am doing it now. I will ask you every week what do you need help with in this area and then incorporate it into my plan for the week we'll have a short lesson and I'm talking like 10 minutes here. We're moms and we have ADHD keeping it quick, snappy, snappy, I will record it in case you can't make it live. And if you are there live you can do Do q&a with me. And we'll sort through questions and your struggles will overcome those frustrations that are weighing on you. We'll do an activity to actually work through the step together. Again, it'll be recorded so you can watch it again later. And at the end of the week, we'll meet again for q&a to make sure that you are on the right track. We'll have lots of touch points during the week, so you know that you're being held accountable, but nothing is so long that it feels overwhelming in the holiday season.
Patricia Sung 17:45
Eventually, I've had to make that choice because I have a chronic illness. And I have been literally forced to learn that when my body can't handle it, I just have to let it go. I still forget, but just letting my body and mind rest on those days where I'm struggling rather than trying to do too much. It just turns out better for everyone for me and everyone else involved. And of course, I always want to encourage you to ask for help learn about your thoughts. Learn to let go what's not serving you which I did a whole episode on episode 37 of letting go of your thoughts knowing when to do something about thoughts when you need to let them go find yourself a really good therapist or doctor or coach, somebody that can help you through these things and set you up for success. I cannot cannot cannot strongly enough recommend in reaching out for help for someone who is truly qualified and working with ADHD woman. So in talking about all of this stress, I have a new resource for you that I am so excited to share with you.
Patricia Sung 20:25
Now the class is four weeks long. It starts November 16. And Signups are open right now. I know you're ready to lower your holiday stress. So sign up at successful as a mother.com. And all the information about the class will be right there. Make sure you write that down right now because signups end on Sunday, November 15, and we start November 16. It's time mama. Let's do it. So Mama's energy regulation is part of who we are and part of our struggle, but we can learn about it. And we can adjust our lives when we look ahead, and we can make things fit better than they were before. I'm not promising unicorns and rainbows here. But we can make a better solution for our own mental health and for the people around us, like our sweet kiddos and spouses and family who live with us every day. So mom, I hope this episode brought you some light in so that you don't feel like you are alone. This is so so common with those of us with ADHD. Hmm, we're in this together.
Patricia Sung 21:27
We have two more episodes about executive function, and then we'll be wrapping up this interesting part of ADHD. The more that we know about our brains, the better we can use our strengths for our good and bumper pad our weaknesses, and we're not changing who we are. But we are finding ways to live confidently knowing that this is how our brain works. So have an amazing week successful mama, we'll talk soon. Thank you for listening to motherhood and ADHD. For more resources head over to our website. www.motherhoodinadhd.com