Dr. Samantha Hiew

Potentially, because as a woman, you know, when we get to perimenopause, it's somehow a blessing because when the sex hormones are dwindling, we have that lesser...

will to mask you know we don't want to mask we can't actually filter our words so it is almost like what they call a second spring you know perimenopause where you are rediscovering who you are it is um when you get the support for your hormones you know

Yeah, you are on to a better phase into the next phase.

Most women get there through, you know, the ADHD diagnosis, starting medication and then starting out their hormones.

But there is this temporary time where before things stabilize that they have to contend with.

But once you get through that, then it becomes a bit easier.

Well, maybe there's an emotion under anger, you know, a motivation underneath that because you are dealing with the anger where no one

could see and no one could help earlier.

And when people feel angry, they say the motivation behind that is a loss of agency.

That loss of agency came from

Actually feeling like, did we ever have a control of our lives when we didn't really know who we're dealing with, what we're dealing with?

And with this newfound knowledge, then hopefully they can regain the agency and, you know, turn that anger into contentment.

I would say if you're 65, if your family's asking you this, did they ever question it before, you know...

Because the challenges may be magnified because of menopause and perhaps it is worth finding out, you know, so that you can get yourself the right support.

Well, then it will, because 73 is not too late to get the diagnosis.

If it means that you are going to live the rest of your life being more aware of who you are and could potentially be happier, you know, knowing.

Yeah, I definitely think there's a cause for knowing and getting a diagnosis.

go into all the layers below the surface of the iceberg.

I wrote this alongside my own journey of excavating into who I am and what are the layers that make me and it combines everything from our new developmental differences as well as our physical and emotional and relational needs.

So, and the hope is to be able to excavate and understand and then emerge with strategies, you know, to live and construct a life that is more authentic to you.