How my period is supercharging my ADHD

Image source, Layla Kornota Image caption, Layla Kornota was diagnosed with ADHD as a child By Vicki Loader Health producer Published 14 minutes ago Phone alarms are what get teaching assistant Layla through her day. She has four alarms to wake up, one to get dressed, another to pack her work bag, and so on. "There's a million different ones. Different times of the day," says the 30-year-old as she scrolls through the alerts on her phone. "It feels like overkill to a lot of people, but I have these markers that I need to hit," says Layla, adding that the process helps keep her ADHD brain focused and establish a routine. But that sense of control evaporates as soon as Layla's period nears - the peak of her menstrual cycle. "It's like you're clinging on, for dear life, onto the ball that is continuing to roll, and sort of cursing yourself and the world the entire time." ADHD is a condition where the brain works differently to a lot of people including difficulties with things like concentrating, regulating emotions and sitting still, according to the NHS. Conversations are rife on social media and chat forums about women's menstrual cycles exacerbating their ADHD symptoms. A first of its kind study by Kings College and Queen Mary University in London is putting that link to the test, by asking 50 women who have ADHD and are taking medication for it, to track their menstrual cycle and the impact it has on their ADHD symptoms, and daily life more broadly. Roughly 2.5m people in the UK are thought to have ADHD. Hundreds of thousands of those are waiting for an NHS diagnosis. Social media as well as greater awareness of ADHD - in particular how women live with it - have led to an unprecedented surge in demand for ADHD assessments. NHS figures from December last year show a 23% increase in stimulants and drugs prescribed for ADHD, compared to the previous year. But a government taskforce report in November last year found ADHD was still being under-diagnosed and under-treated. The BBC revealed some areas of England are now shutting their NHS waiting lists because they cannot cope with demand. Image source, Héloïse H Image caption, Héloïse uses ADHD medication to help her focus to study Nineteen-year-old Héloïse is studying for three university degrees. She calls ritalin - the medication she takes for her ADHD - a lifeline which gives her a three-hour window of focus to study. Héloïse takes the pill, sits in the library and waits for it to kick in. But during her period, she just "waits and waits" for a reaction that never comes. "It feels like losing a walking stick or something you use to support yourself. All of a sudden it's broken," she says. It was not until she mapped her symptoms for the Kings College study that she saw the pattern between hormonal changes and her ADHD symptoms. Other women taking part in the research used similar language, with some saying they felt "disabled" by their symptoms at certain times of the month. The women pa