You are not Broken. You are wired differently.
Take what helps, skip what doesn’t, and remember you don’t have to do this alone.

The Heat Count

Four weeks of vasomotor evidence, for people who do not reliably read heat as heat

Danielle Ralston, Master ADHD Coach, MSW, ADHD-CCSP

What this is. Six counts, one page a week, four weeks. Nothing here asks whether something was a hot flush, how bad it was, or how you felt about it. Each line is an action you already took: a layer removed, a window opened, a bed changed. Those actions happened whether or not the sensation registered as heat, which is the entire reason this sheet exists.

Why the ratings are gone. In interviews with autistic and non-autistic women about menopause, the autistic participants rarely raised hot flushes on their own, then reported them at the same rate when asked directly. The flushes were there. They did not arrive in the open part of the conversation. Separately, when self-reported flushes were checked against continuous skin conductance monitoring, the two agreed 24 percent of the time in the general population. Self-report was a loose instrument before anyone brought neurodivergence into it.

One week per sheet

Print four, or start a new one each Monday. A number or a tick per box. Nothing needs an opinion.

Count	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1. Layers added or removed Cardigan on, cardigan off, both count
2. Windows or doors opened for heat Fans switched on count here too
3. Night wakings with the covers off Or bedding changed, or a move to another bed
4. Rooms left because of temperature Heat, not noise or people
5. Changes of clothing Beyond the usual one in the morning
6. Showers to cool down Rather than to get clean

Two more, if they apply to you

Count	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
7. Cycle day Number, or a dash if it has gone irregular
8. Alcohol, caffeine or a hot drink after 6pm Tick, no judgement attached

Four-week totals

Add each row across, week by week. This grid is the page you hand over.

Count	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Total
1. Layers added or removed
2. Windows or doors opened
3. Night wakings, covers off
4. Rooms left for temperature
5. Changes of clothing
6. Cooling showers

Reading it back

Four weeks is the minimum. One week is weather.

Which of the six moved the most across the month?

Did the night count and the day count rise together, or separately?

Night-heavy and day-light points somewhere different from the two moving as a pair. It is worth saying which one you have.

Did any week sit noticeably lower than the others, and what was different about it?

Was there a stretch of days that clustered, and where did it fall against row 7?

The three lines you take in

Written out, so nothing depends on recall in the room.

The sentence that explains the sheet

One line, said while handing it over. It answers the question you were about to be asked.

“I do not always notice heat as heat, so I have counted what I did about it instead. This is four weeks.”

What this is not. It measures nothing clinical and diagnoses nothing. A count of layers is evidence that something is happening, not evidence of what. Heat counts also climb with thyroid disease, some medications, anxiety, infection and alcohol, and a rising count is a reason for a conversation rather than a conclusion. If night sweats are drenching, or arrive with weight loss or fever, that is this week rather than four weeks from now.