A Holistic Approach to Managing ADHD - #39

ADHD looks different in everyone, usually coexisting with other conditions, such as depression, anxiety, OCD, disruptive behavior disorders, learning disabilities, sleep disorders, and substance abuse. There’s a wide spectrum of symptoms.

Here are some current stats:

It’s estimated that from 2016-2019, kids ages 3-17, 6 million were diagnosed with ADHD.

50% of those also had a behavioral disorder

30% had anxiety

17% had depression

77% of these kids received some type of treatment

ADHD treatments range from pharmacologic interventions to more holistic approaches, and some combine the two.

Most people’s experiences, such as mine when my kids were young, were meeting with your pediatrician or psychiatrist and being sent home with a script for a stimulant, told when to have your child take it, and to check back in 30 days. If that med didn’t work, there were a host of others to try. If that approach didn’t work, then you were sent home with multiple scripts to work together. Meanwhile, your child was zombie-like, not eating or sleeping, not hanging with their friends anymore, BUT they also weren’t bouncing off the wall.

What else can we do for our ADHD kids who will become teens, young adults, and older adults someday? I’m not against medication, for some, it’s very helpful. But, we must ask how diet, nutrition, supplements, sleep hygiene, exercise, and stress management all affect these symptoms.

My guest today, Dana Kay, a board-certified holistic health and nutrition practitioner, two times International best-selling author, and the CEO and founder of the ADHD Thrive Institute. As a mother of a child with ADHD, she knows firsthand the struggles that come with parenting a neurodiverse child and the freedom that is possible once parents learn to reduce ADHD symptoms. Dana has been featured in Forbes and Authority Magazine and on Medium, Influencive, Thrive Global, and various other online media. She has also been a guest at multiple parenting and ADHD summits and podcasts. Her mission is to help families reduce ADHD symptoms naturally so that children with ADHD can thrive at home, at school, and in life.

You can find Dana here:

website: https://adhdthriveinstitute.com/

FB: adhdthriveinstitute

IG: adhdthriveinstitute

Youtube: ADHDThriveInstitute

Medical Disclaimer:

By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice or for making any lifestyle changes to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having. This entire disclaimer also applies to any of my guests on my podcast.