
Why Your Coping Strategies Stopped Working in Perimenopause - with Faye Lawrence
Stronger Bolder WiserShow Notes
If you've spent your whole life feeling like you're failing at things everyone else finds easy, your ADHD may only be surfacing now because perimenopause has pulled back the curtain on it. This episode shows you why, and exactly what you can do about it.
Faye Lawrence, a counsellor, psychologist and ADHD coach who also specialises in grey area drinking, unpacks why so many women are only discovering they have ADHD in their 40s and 50s. She shares the lifestyle tools and supplements her clients lean on alongside or instead of medication. I loved this conversation because I know so many women listening are finally going to feel seen.
Timestamps How Faye Lawrence Went From Addiction To ADHD (00:00) Why Perimenopause Hormones Trigger ADHD Symptoms (04:03) Why Doctors Missed ADHD In Women For Decades (06:13) Why 43% Of ADHD Develop Addiction (12:11) Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Explained (14:38) Why Late ADHD Diagnosis Causes Grief And Rage (20:20) The 3 Types Of ADHD Explained (28:18) Why ADHD Causes Time Blindness (33:55) How ADHD Burnout Affects Your Physical Health (37:51) How To Get Screened For Adult ADHD (43:30) Best Supplements For Managing ADHD Symptoms (55:31) How Your Cycle Affects ADHD Symptoms (1:01:15) The Hidden Strengths Of An ADHD Brain (1:04:06) Where To Find Faye Lawrence (1:07:55)
Faye Lawrence is a counsellor, psychologist, and ADHD coach based in Australia who also works as a grey area drinking coach. After her own recovery from alcohol in 2017 and a later ADHD diagnosis in 2022, she now specialises in helping women in midlife understand the overlap between ADHD, perimenopause, and their relationship with alcohol, drawing on both lived experience and clinical training in psychology and counselling.
Website: https://fayelawrence.com.au Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_fayelawrence_/
What to do if you suspect you have ADHD: https://fayelawrence.com.au/blog/i-think-i-have-adhd Free ADHD self-screener: https://psychology-tools.com/test/adult-adhd-self-report-scale
***
Sarah Rusbatch is an accredited Health and Wellbeing Coach and one of Australia's leading experts on grey area drinking. Her podcast, Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, is the go-to space for women who are questioning their relationship with alcohol, navigating life alcohol-free, or simply curious about what life could look like on the other side of the bottle.
If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you haven't already, subscribe so you never miss an episode, and leave a review to help more women find this community.
***
Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit?
Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine.
Get your free guide → https://sarahrusbatch.com/free-guide-100-things-to-do-instead-of-drinking
Find out more about my other programs here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/ If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don't always say out loud and connect with others going through the same, join my free Facebook group, Women's Wellbeing Collective here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067 And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/beyond-booze
More from Stronger Bolder Wiser
Eating less is the fastest way to gain fat around the middle in perimenopause. Ange Clark explains what to add before you take anything away.
Why does that evening glass feel so hard to give up?
Lift heavy or lose the fight against aging is the default advice for midlife women, and it leaves too many of them injured or on the sidelines. There is another way to build muscle, and it takes 20 minutes and light dumbbells.
Taking 30 days off alcohol in midlife rarely feels the way social media promises. Boredom, flatness and broken sleep often come first, and none of it means you're doing it wrong.In this video I share the five most unexpected things women discover in their first 30 days without wine, from the 5 to 7pm boredom to the friend who suddenly goes quiet. I explain why your brain can feel flat once alcohol stops lighting up your dopamine reward centre, and why sedation is not the same as restorative sleep. Most importantly, I explain why all of it settles.Key Topics Covered- Why boredom hits hardest between 5 and 7pm when you stop drinking, and why taking alcohol out means adding something in, like an evening walk, a class or a hobby.- Feeling flat after quitting alcohol: how years of drinking dysregulate your dopamine receptors, and why it evens out with time.- What to do when friends get weird about you not drinking, and why talking to your closest friends first helps.- Why sleep without alcohol can get worse before it gets better, and how to ride the emotional rollercoaster of the early weeks.Timestamps What Happens When You Stop Drinking For 30 Days (00:00) Thing 1: Boredom Between 5 And 7pm (00:40) Thing 2: Feeling Flat After You Stop Drinking (02:01) Thing 3: When Friends Get Weird About You Not Drinking (02:44) Thing 4: Why Sleep Gets Worse Before It Gets Better (03:37) Thing 5: Feeling Emotional Over Nothing (04:40) Free Support To Change Your Drinking (05:20)Also Watch My Previous Episodes:- Seven Signs You Are a Grey Area Drinker- Six Reasons Successful Women Are Quietly Quitting Alcohol- Three Reasons Women Cannot Metabolise Alcohol as Effectively as Men***Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit?Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine.Get your free guide → https://bit.ly/4qOiGUw***Sarah Rusbatch is an accredited Health and Wellbeing Coach and one of Australia's leading experts on grey area drinking. Her podcast, Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, is the go-to space for women who are questioning their relationship with alcohol, navigating life alcohol-free, or simply curious about what life could look like on the other side of the bottle. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you haven't already, subscribe so you never miss an episode, and leave a review to help more women find this community.Find out more about my other programs here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don't always say out loud and connect with others going through the same, join my free Facebook group, Women's Wellbeing Collective here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/beyond-booze
Nobody walks into a marriage planning to leave it, yet so many midlife women are quietly asking whether to stay or go. Your body often knows the answer first.