ADHD in Children
Episode 87 — Experience Miracles Podcast | Host: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP — Pediatric Chiropractor & Founder of PX Docs | Published: March 18, 2024 Guest: Dana Kay — Board-Certified Health & Nutrition Practitioner, Founder of the ADHD Thrive Institute, and two-time international bestselling author
Key Takeaways
- ADHD symptoms are driven largely by inflammation — the World Health Organization ranks chronic inflammatory diseases as the greatest threat to human health, and reducing that inflammation is the first and most foundational step in naturally managing ADHD.
- 95% of serotonin and 50% of the body’s dopamine are produced in the gut, meaning emotional dysregulation and poor focus in children with ADHD often trace back to gut dysfunction — not the brain itself.
- Genetic predisposition to ADHD is not a fixed destiny. Environmental factors, dietary choices, toxin exposure, and nervous system health all determine whether those genetic tendencies express as symptoms — or stay dormant.
- Children who start life with depleted nervous system resources — NICU stays, birth interventions, early antibiotic use — begin with a stress bucket that is already partially full, making them more vulnerable to ADHD symptoms appearing earlier and more intensely.
- Functional lab testing — including stool analysis, food sensitivity panels, Organic Acids Testing, and Cryptopyrrole testing — can identify the specific internal drivers of inflammation in each child, allowing for targeted, individualized interventions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Can ADHD Be Healed Naturally?
ADHD symptoms can be meaningfully reduced — and in many cases eliminated — without lifelong medication, according to Dana Kay, a board-certified health and nutrition practitioner who spent years researching ADHD after her own son’s diagnosis at age four. Through working with over 1,300 families at the ADHD Thrive Institute, Kay has found that inflammation is the single biggest driver of ADHD symptoms, regardless of whether a child has a genetic predisposition to the condition.
The mechanism is straightforward: chronic inflammation in the body — from diet, toxins, gut dysbiosis, and physiological stress — disrupts neurotransmitter production, impairs vagus nerve signaling, and compromises the frontal lobe, the brain region responsible for attention, focus, executive function, and impulse control. Address the inflammation, restore the gut-brain connection, and the brain can regulate itself without pharmaceutical intervention.
For parents currently in the middle of the struggle — daily meltdowns, emotional volatility, the exhaustion of walking on eggshells — Kay’s message is direct: your child is not broken, and you are not failing. The root cause is physiological, and it is addressable.
Dana’s Story: From Accountant to ADHD Expert [00:04:00 – 00:09:00]
Dana Kay: Before any of this, I was an accountant. That was my childhood dream — an office, a corporate career. I would never have predicted that I’d end up here.
My son showed signs early. He had more energy than any other boy his age, and his tantrums and meltdowns were dramatically intense. It constantly felt like we were walking on eggshells. I asked his teachers if something was different about him. They said, “He’s just a boy.”
Eventually his teachers noticed too. Around the age of four, he was diagnosed with ADHD and we were immediately handed a prescription medication.
Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP: That early?
Dana Kay: That early — yes, here in the US. And honestly, at first I felt relieved. The diagnosis meant it wasn’t my fault, and the medication was going to fix our family. I bounced into that drugstore so excited.
Things were okay initially. He calmed down. I could breathe. But then his dosage increased and side effects appeared. The doctor prescribed another medication to counteract the first. This continued until my five-year-old was on three strong medications. When the doctor handed me the prescription for a fourth, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
He had become a shell of who he was. He lost his personality. He was experiencing intense anxiety, couldn’t sleep, was losing weight. Every afternoon there was this volcano inside of him, erupting into even more severe meltdowns. I had to ask myself — this doesn’t seem okay.
What “Walking on Eggshells” Actually Looks Like [00:10:00 – 00:18:00]
Dana Kay: I used to go to bed at night feeling guilty about how I’d talked to my son and how I wasn’t giving my younger child the attention he needed. I’d wake up every morning dreading the day. What mood would he be in? I’d try not to say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, give him the wrong thing — because anything could set off a meltdown that would spiral us all.
I remember one Sunday in Seattle — gloomy, rainy afternoon, everyone climbing the walls, multiple meltdowns already that day. I put him in the car and drove to Costco. He wanted a snack before we’d paid for it. I said no.
Two glass pasta sauce jars smashed on the floor. He was kicking and screaming. I was mortified. People were looking away, avoiding eye contact. A pregnant woman told her friend, “I am never going to let my child do that.” And I looked around and burst into tears right there in the middle of Costco — thinking, why me? Why does my life have to be like this?
That was my turning point.
“I’d be divorced if we hadn’t changed what we were doing. My husband and I were constantly fighting. My younger son wasn’t getting the attention he needed. I was constantly anxious, depressed, and felt like I was on an island.”
Dr. Tony Ebel: This is where we need to say to parents listening — reach out. We mistakenly blame ourselves and then go silent because we think it’s our fault to fix. But ADHD does not stay locked inside one child’s nervous system. It’s a family problem. And you are not failing. The root cause is physiological.
The Inflammation Model: Why ADHD Is Not a Fixed Destiny [00:24:00 – 00:31:00]
Dana Kay: I want to use an analogy for those who are watching the video — I’m holding a little trash can. We’re all born with a metaphorical trash can inside us. The goal is to keep it as empty as possible.
Over time, that trash can fills up — inflammatory substances from cleaning products, the air, food, bacteria, pesticides, medications. Our bodies are designed to keep emptying it. But not everyone is born with the same genetics. Some of us can easily take that trash can to the curb Monday morning for the garbage truck. Others can’t. Their detoxification pathways don’t function efficiently.
When that trash can gets too full — when it tips over and spills — that’s when inflammation spreads throughout the body and symptoms begin. This is what’s happening with children who have ADHD.
The World Health Organization ranks chronic inflammatory diseases as the greatest threat to human health, with research confirming they are the most significant cause of death in the world. That’s how central inflammation is to what we’re dealing with.
Dr. Tony Ebel: And this is crucial — genetic predisposition is not a hardline destiny. That’s not how neurophysiology works. If you have ADHD, anxiety, autoimmune conditions, what matters is what you do with your environment. ADHD and every other condition works the same way.
When there are high-stress pregnancies, birth interventions, early NICU stays — a child’s stress bucket starts out already half full or three-quarters full. That’s often why ADHD symptoms don’t appear until third or fifth grade. The trash can was filling up all along; it just finally spilled over.
“Genetic predisposition is not a hardline destiny. That’s not how neurophysiology works. Your environment, your diet, your nervous system health — those determine whether those tendencies express as symptoms.”
Dana Kay: That’s exactly my son. He was in the NICU because he wasn’t growing properly. He was on a CPAP machine. He wasn’t breastfed. He was given medication to help his lungs grow. His trash can had stuff in it from the very beginning.
The Gut-Brain Connection and Why ADHD Starts in the Gut [00:32:00 – 00:42:00]
Dana Kay: Before we talk about what to do, we need to understand the gut-brain connection — because a significant portion of ADHD symptoms originate in the gut, not the brain.
95% of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut. 50% of its dopamine. There are even bacteria in the gut that produce GABA. These are the neurotransmitters that manage emotion, balance mood, and support cognitive function. Emotional dysregulation — one of the most common and most disruptive symptoms of ADHD — starts in the gut, where those neurotransmitters are being made.
The problem isn’t the emotions themselves. It’s that the correct amounts of these vital neurotransmitters aren’t being produced in the first place.
The gut also communicates directly with the brain through the vagus nerve. One of the main brain regions the gut talks to is the frontal lobe — the area responsible for attention, focus, executive function, planning, organizing, and problem-solving. These are precisely the functions impaired by ADHD.
When there’s something wrong in the gut — gut dysbiosis, bacteria imbalances, leaky gut, inflammation — that signal travels through the vagus nerve to the frontal lobe. Of course attention suffers. Of course executive function breaks down.
Have you ever felt butterflies in your stomach before something stressful? That’s the gut-brain connection in action — your brain signaling your gut. But the reverse is equally true: your gut signals your brain. Children who’ve had multiple rounds of antibiotics often see their gut microbiome altered in ways that increase bad bacteria, drive gut dysbiosis, and send inflammatory signals up through the vagus nerve to the brain.
“95% of our serotonin and 50% of the body’s dopamine are produced in the gut. When gut health breaks down, the neurotransmitters responsible for mood, emotion, and focus don’t get made — and that’s when ADHD symptoms escalate.”
By working on gut health and identifying what’s breaking it down, many families see emotional dysregulation begin to resolve on its own.
Functional Lab Testing: Finding the Root Cause for Each Child [00:43:00 – 00:50:00]
Dana Kay: After working with over 1,300 families, we know what works. The goal is always to reduce inflammation — through diet, reducing toxin exposure, and uncovering what’s driving inflammation from inside the body. The way we uncover that is through functional lab testing.
Comprehensive stool testing is the first test we run. It gives us a clear picture of gut health — looking for parasites, bacteria, yeast, intestinal inflammation markers, how the immune system is responding, leaky gut, reactivity to gluten, and how well fats are being absorbed. These aren’t diagnostic tests in the conventional sense. We’re not looking for a code to match to a prescription. We’re looking for what is creating the inflammation.
Food sensitivity testing identifies foods that aren’t true allergies but are creating inflammation right now. Once gut lining heals and inflammation drops, many food sensitivities resolve — but you need to know what they are first.
Organic Acids Testing (OAT) looks at over 70 markers showing how the body is functioning — the need for specific B vitamins, issues with oxalates and salicylates, detoxification pathway efficiency, and neurotransmitter levels including serotonin and dopamine. This test was originally developed for children with autism and is now one of the most comprehensive functional assessments available.
Cryptopyrrole testing is less well-known but critical. Pyrroles are a normal chemical byproduct, but elevated levels draw zinc and B6 out of the body into the urine — creating dramatic deficiencies of two nutrients essential for mood, behavior, and cognitive function. Dana sees this in approximately 40% of the children she works with, compared to about 3% in the general population.
Common symptoms of elevated Cryptopyrroles: poor tolerance to physical or emotional stress, poor anger control, mood swings, poor short-term memory, sensitivity to light and sound, and tactile sensitivities.
Why Community and Expert Support Are Not Optional [00:50:00 – 00:57:00]
Dana Kay: When I first started, I would run labs and hand someone a protocol, then send them on their way. I don’t do that anymore — because those people do not get the same results.
Healing ADHD is multifaceted. It involves stress, subluxation, dysautonomia, gut-brain dysfunction, dysbiosis, neuroinflammation, adrenal function, nutrient deficiencies. A parent going at this alone doesn’t know what to do when they hit a plateau. They can’t wait a week and a half for a follow-up appointment.
At the ADHD Thrive Institute, we have group coaching calls five days a week. A parent and child therapist leads a call every Wednesday. Families can post in the group on a Saturday asking about a food at the grocery store and get an answer immediately. That level of support is what makes the difference.
Dr. Tony Ebel: And pediatric chiropractic works the same way. We tap into the nervous system — removing subluxation, addressing dysautonomia, restoring proper vagus nerve signaling. But the other reason PX Docs offices produce results is the community and the education they build into every visit. You’re in a healing center, surrounded by a team that has been through this. Nobody’s on an island.
The trifecta Dana mentioned earlier — regulated emotions, balanced mood, supported cognition — that’s the goal. And it is completely attainable. It’s not linear, it doesn’t happen overnight, but it happens.
“You can have a child who can thrive with ADHD. You don’t have to be destined for a life of living on an emotional rollercoaster. You don’t have to walk on eggshells. There is hope.”
Dana’s son is now 15. He’s not been on medication for years. He’s a straight-A student, plays American football and track, and by his mom’s description — he’s just a great kid. That is the other side of the storm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can ADHD be managed without medication?
Yes. According to Dana Kay, who has worked with over 1,300 families through the ADHD Thrive Institute, ADHD symptoms can be significantly reduced — and in many cases eliminated — through addressing root causes: reducing inflammation, healing the gut, removing food sensitivities and toxins, and correcting neurotransmitter deficiencies through functional lab-guided interventions. Her own son has been off medication for years and is thriving at age 15.
What causes ADHD symptoms to get worse over time?
ADHD symptoms typically intensify as the body’s “toxic load” accumulates beyond what it can process. Children with compromised detoxification pathways — due to genetics, NICU history, early antibiotic use, or high-stress births — start life with a stress bucket that’s already partially full. As dietary toxins, environmental exposures, and gut dysfunction compound over time, that bucket overflows and symptoms escalate. This is why many children don’t show obvious ADHD symptoms until third or fifth grade.
How is the gut connected to ADHD and behavior in children?
The gut produces 95% of the body’s serotonin and 50% of its dopamine — the neurotransmitters that regulate mood, emotion, and cognitive function. When gut dysbiosis (bacterial imbalance), leaky gut, or chronic gut inflammation is present, neurotransmitter production drops and inflammatory signals travel through the vagus nerve to the frontal lobe — directly impairing attention, executive function, and emotional regulation. Healing the gut often resolves the neurological symptoms without any medication.
What functional tests are used to find the root cause of ADHD?
Dana Kay uses four primary tests: a comprehensive stool test (gut health, inflammation, dysbiosis), a food sensitivity panel (foods causing current inflammation), Organic Acids Testing (70+ markers including neurotransmitters, B vitamins, detox pathways), and Cryptopyrrole testing (identifies zinc and B6 deficiencies affecting mood and behavior). Each test reveals different drivers of inflammation, allowing for individualized intervention rather than a generic protocol.
What is the ADHD Thrive Institute and how does it help families?
The ADHD Thrive Institute is Dana Kay’s functional nutrition program for children with ADHD. It combines functional lab testing, individualized diet and supplementation protocols, and daily coaching support (five group coaching calls per week, plus a parent and child therapist every Wednesday). The program is specifically structured to provide ongoing guidance through healing plateaus, dietary transitions, and the full arc of recovery — not just a lab result and a protocol handed off to parents on their own.
How can I find a Neurologically-Focused Chiropractor near me?
Visit the PX Docs Directory to find a trained PX Docs practitioner in your area. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care addresses subluxation, dysautonomia, and vagus nerve dysfunction — the physiological stress components that functional nutrition alone does not fully reach. The two approaches work together as part of a complete, root-cause strategy for children with ADHD.
Resources & Related Content
- ADHD in Children: Symptoms, Care Options, and More — PX Docs comprehensive ADHD resource page
- The Perfect Storm Framework — How prenatal stress, birth trauma, and early toxin exposure compound to create neurological dysfunction
- Vagus Nerve Dysfunction in Children — Understanding the nerve at the center of the gut-brain connection
- Birth Trauma and Neurological Health — How early physical stress loads the nervous system from the start
- Find a PX Docs Office Near You — PX Docs Practitioner Directory
- ADHD Thrive Institute — adhdthriveinstitute.com — Dana Kay’s program, webinar, and book Thriving with ADHD
- The Soaring Child Podcast — Dana Kay’s podcast for ADHD families