Your menstrual cycle is making your ADHD worse

(and how to use it to your advantage!!)

In this post, we’ll explore how the four phases of your cycle impact your ADHD energy, why your productivity and creativity peak when your libido does(!!), why rest is your ally, and how you can finally stop feeling like you’re the problem. You’re not— you’re just living in a world built by and for neurotypical men.

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Productivity, creativity, and focus have felt wildly unpredictable and always out of reach for most of my life.

One week, I’ll be bursting with ideas, sitting my butt in the chair with relative ease and actually doing things! I feel invincible! She’s baaaaack! I think to myself.

And then the next week, the dishes are piling up again and don’t even get me started on the laundry chair.

Sometimes I wonder who has the power in this relationship — me or my ADHD???

Eight years ago I got an IUD for my birth control, because I didn’t trust myself to remember to take a pill every day (this was still a full six years before I would get my ADHD diagnosis… the irony is not lost on me.)

I loved my IUD! I know it’s trendy to shit on birth-control, but I fucking love it. It’s given me so much freedom and peace of mind, and the IUD also disconnected me from my menstrual cycle. I stopped having periods (which my doctor confirmed was normal for my IUD type). Consequently, I stopped paying attention to what my body was doing energetically.

Last year, as my IUD was winding down, I noticed a major shift in my energy from week to week. After years of coaching about ADHD and productivity, I sensed that my menstrual cycle was undeniably playing a bigger role than I realized.

And so I started tracking it, even without having my period back yet. At first I was all over the place, at the whims of my ADHD. Then I started noticing patterns where one week I would be so much more exhausted than usual, doing anything productive felt impossible, my food cravings were different, and I was going the gym and having “bad” workouts.

Noted. I became my experiment.

I started suspending my high expectations of myself during these weeks, letting myself rest a little more, slow down, not try to do anything major when it came to my productive output. I started planning a little more than executing, dreaming a little more than doing, and just letting myself be softer when I felt low energy.

It worked. I realized I have two great weeks and two not-so-great weeks and just started accepting that that’s how it works. I adjusted my expectations of myself with productivity, creativity, social energy, food, workouts — the whole shebang.

For ADHD women, this rollercoaster of turbo-to-blob-mode isn’t random.

Your menstrual cycle is an energy cycle, not just a reproductive function. It influences everything that your energy touches— your brain, nervous system, and even your ability to create, focus effectively.

Think about your libido — during your menstrual phase, your sex drive is usually low—your body is craving rest, not stimulation.

But when you hit ovulation, everyone better watch out! The bitch is back. You feel magnetic, energized, and more willing to put yourself out there. This same shift happens with your creativity and productivity.

Over the last year, I’ve stopped looking for ways to be “consistent” in the capitalist patriarchal norm and started using my natural cycles to help me manage my energy, productivity, and creativity— and it changed my relationship with my ADHD forever.

The Four Phases of Your Cycle & ADHD Energy

Your menstrual cycle is a built-in rhythm that affects hormones, brain function, and nervous system regulation. Here’s how I’ve noticed each phase affects my ADHD energy and how I use each one to my benefit:

🥀 Menstrual Phase (Days 1-7) The Reset

Think of this as a system reboot for your brain. It’s not about stopping—it’s recalibrating.

Energy: Low, introspective, craving rest

ADHD Challenges: Low motivation, brain fog, struggling to start tasks

How to Work With It: Give yourself permission to slow down. Use this phase for deep reflection, recharging with simple tasks, slow pleasures, and long-term planning rather being “actively productive”.

You will still have to do tasks for work and home, because that’s the world we live in. But, in this phase I try to do them slowly, simply, and lowering the expectation all the way to the ground to focus more on what keeps me functional over optimal.

🐣 Follicular Phase (Days 8-14) – The Spark

This is when you start feeling like a baby chick, newly hatched and ready for the world—use it to your advantage!

Energy: Rising, curious, excited for new ideas

ADHD Strengths: Brainstorming, creative problem-solving, setting goals

How to Work With It: Use this phase for starting new projects, setting intentions, and trying things that require bravery. Research suggests that you’re more responsive to dopamine during the follicular phase, making motivation feel more accessible.

I usually start to challenge myself with more physical activity during this phase, because that also helps me with focus, and I begin having the energy for it here.

🦋 Ovulatory Phase (Days 15-17) – The Peak

Your libido and your creativity are at their highest—don’t waste this magic.

Energy: High, confident, magnetic

ADHD Strengths: Communication, collaboration, execution of ideas

How to Work With It: She’s baaaaackkkkk!!! This is your moment to be seen. Record videos, take meetings, pitch yourself, be social, and do things that need you to be your baddest boldest version of yourself. Your words flow better, and you feel turned on.

If you start using the menstrual phase to rest and dream, you can use the follicular phase for momentum, and start executing those ideas during ovulation.

👹 Luteal Phase (Days 18-28) – The Slow Down

This is when burnout can hit if you try to maintain ovulatory energy. Adjust your expectations and slow tf down, honey bunny.

Energy: Gradually decreasing, increased sensitivity, more emotional

ADHD Challenges: Irritability, procrastination, frustration with unfinished tasks

How to Work With It: You probably already know that you collapse after a huge energetic output. This is the phase for that! Shift your energy from starting things to finishing them. Your brain wants to close loops, organize, and wrap things up. Avoid overcommitting and allow yourself more rest when needed.

This is also the phase where I start taking walks every day instead of hitting the gym.

Slow down. All the way down. Order a pizza. This is the beginning of your “not-so-great” phase, so try accepting it instead of being a whiny bitch and wondering why you feel so shit. Baby yourself for the next two weeks, and I really mean it.

“Consistency” doesn’t look like what they told you it should

Women with ADHD are often told to create routines and stick to them. But if your energy naturally fluctuates, forcing yourself to be the same every day is like swimming against the current.

Instead of demanding linear consistency, try cyclical consistency:

• Plan creative tasks during your follicular & ovulatory phases.

• Schedule deep rest and reflection during your menstrual phase.

• Allow flexibility and slowness during your luteal phase to adjust as needed.

This approach doesn’t mean giving up on structure—it means building a structure that supports you instead of fighting against your nature.

It wasn’t until I reconnected with my natural cycle that I realized my energy fluctuations weren’t random. They’re predictable, workable, and actually give me so much peace of mind around how to work more effectively with my ADHD.

By learning to trust your body’s rhythm, you can stop feeling like you’re failing at consistency and start working with yourself.

What would change if you stopped seeing your fluctuating energy as a problem—and started seeing it as a guide?