ABOUT DANA KAY
Hi, I’m Dana Kay, and I am a Board Certified Holistic Health and Nutrition Practitioner. My goal is to assist families who have children with ADHD, through nutrition and functional lab testing and to discover HIDDEN stresses and dysfunctions, as well as implementing a holistic and all-natural family approach to health and wellness.
Not only do I want to share my education, skills, and knowledge with you and your family, but I also want to share the wisdom that I’ve gained through the challenges that my family has encountered in dealing with these disorders.
How Our Journey Began
I wasn’t always this passionate and educated about nutrition and neurodevelopmental disorders. Actually, my educational background was in Business and Accounting, where I completed my tertiary studies and spent the next 15 years in those industries. In some ways, I also felt like I became a magician as I pulled off a balancing act with my corporate career and managing our home.
But, all of that changed a few years ago when the concerns over my son’s health began to grow.
I always knew that my son had abnormal amounts of energy compared to other kids, but it became more prevalent by the time he hit 5 years old. He simply could not control or calm his mind and body. This was when a new journey began in our lives. And, it was one that started out with more questions than answers.
More Questions than Answers
For years, I questioned my son’s teachers about whether they thought his energy levels were normal for his age. But, never once did his teachers report any concerns. He was always so active at home and when we were out and about. So, how could he be doing so well in a school environment?
During this time, we had also moved on several occasions and I began to wonder if these changes had any effect on my son’s wellbeing. Could these new schools, homes, locations be playing a part in his energy levels?
My questions and concerns over his health grew to the point where I knew the time had come to get him assessed. So, when we made our final move from Singapore to Seattle, WA, I got him in to see a specialist. After multiple visits, the doctor finally confirmed that my son had ADHD.
This diagnosis was a relief for me. And, if you have been in this position before, then I’m sure you can relate to how I felt. I knew that I wasn’t overreacting, but it was the doctor’s medical validation that really put me at ease. It also allowed me to put my research hat on and dig into the meat and potatoes of ADHD. I wanted to learn everything about this condition, so that I could try and help my son.
At the time, I was told that the best place to start was with an ADHD pediatrician. Not knowing what I know now, I agreed with the specialist’s following treatment:
Appointment 1 – He prescribed him dexmethlyphendate XR 5mg.
Appointments 2 to 4 – He increased the doses 10mg, 15mg and then 20mg.
For a while, things seemed to be going well. He was calm and able to focus better at school. He even started playing nicer with his younger brother at home. It was peaceful and nice.
Sadly, this peacefulness didn’t last long. My son started becoming quieter, more anxious, didn’t want to eat during the day and had troubles sleeping at night. The afternoons became very difficult for us as he would have these huge meltdowns around 3pm every day. It was as if the medication wore off and all of this pent up energy was being released like a volcanic eruption.
It was at this point that I started to question the “experts.” Was medicine really the best way to go?
Mother’s Intuition vs “The Experts”
I began to dig deeper into all of the research that I could get my hands on. I believed deep down that there was something better for him, that these medications couldn’t be the only solution. I felt that most of these medications seem to take a cookie-cutter approach to treating people with ADHD. With each step along my biomedical journey, the desire to take my son off of medications grew more and more.
I started learning about other options and other means to healing my son from ADHD. These options had a natural approach to treating ADHD and they were much more appealing than these medications that seemed to be causing more problems for my son than they solved.
Finally, I came to the conclusion that medications were not the best way to treat his ADHD. So, I removed him from the prescribed medication and I began a holistic, all-natural lifestyle change to treat his ADHD.
Today, my son is thriving like never before and he is completely off medications.
This journey led me to continue my studies in order to help other families in their healing journey.
My Education
- Bachelor in Holistic Health Science – International Quantum University of Integrative Medicine
- Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Practitioner – Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Institute
- Certified BioIndividual Nutrition Practitioner plus pediatrics specialty – BioIndividual Nutrition Institute
- Certified In Functional Genomics – The DNA Company
- Certified Nutrition and Health Coach – Precision Nutrition Academy
- Certified Epidemic Answers Health Coach – Epidemic Answers Organization
- Certified Life Coach – Kew Academy Professional
- Commerce (Accounting) – Cengage Education
- A.Diploma Business – Williams Business College
Additional Studies
- Fellowship in Integrative Medicine for ADHD completed under Dr Greenblatt (author of Finally Focused)
- Advanced training in Organic Acid Testing
- Advanced training in Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis
- Advanced training in Oxalates
- Advanced training in Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)
Accreditation
- Board Certified Holistic Health Coach by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners
- Member of the International Institute of Complementary Therapies (IICT)
I Want To Help You!!
As you can see, this has been a long, emotional journey for my son, my family and myself. But, through my education and our experiences, I have discovered a new passion in life – helping other families thrive in their health and wellness journey and providing strategies to deal with disorders like ADHD.
It would be my honor to coach and guide your family down an all-natural path of healing and to establish a holistic family approach to health and wellness through functional lab work to help identify HIDDEN stressors and dysfunctions.
Please feel free to email me or head over to my Contact page and send me a message.
Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey. I look forward to joining you on yours.
Take care,