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Rossland professional breaks silence on mental health

Trail woman’s new focus on brain health spurs nutrient therapy workshops with world-renowned doctor

A Trail woman dedicated to wellness has followed a personal journey that has led her to promoting brain health in Greater Trail.

Danne Mykietyn, owner of DandiLion Wellness Centre and Spa in Rossland, is bringing an international expert to Canada for the first time to talk about a new direction for mental health, far different than the advances psychiatry has made over the past 50 years.

Guest speaker Dr. William Walsh will address leading nutritional medicine and how brain changing nutrients (vitamins, minerals, amino acids) targeted to correct biochemical imbalances can improve academic, behaviour, depression, autism and mental illness. He will also share his research and insight on how psychiatric drugs may be related to increased youth violence in the U.S. and abroad.

Mykietyn sees this as an exciting opportunity for professionals on Oct. 4 and the general public, which will have the opportunity to tune in the following day (Oct. 5) also at the Prestige Mountain Resort in Rossland.

“Obviously we go through our journeys for different reasons and I really believe this is one of mine,” said Mykietyn. “Just to bring awareness to people that there is hope, number one, and that’s the biggest thing.

“A lot of people don’t come forward and say I have brain health issues or I have mental health issues because they’re scared shitless that they’re going to go to the doctor and the doctor is going to say, ‘Yeah you need to be on Prozac or Zoloft or Speridol.’”

Mykietyn grew up in the dental business working most days after school at her father’s practice in Trail before pursuing dentistry herself. A degree in dental hygiene in 1982 at the University of Washington led her to work in the industry as well as teach and get on the speaker circuit in conferences across North America.

In 2005 she moved back to her hometown of Trail and two years later opened a wellness spa in Rossland, where people can come to learn about leading edge concepts in wellness and escape the everyday stresses.

Her passion for brain health began almost 20 years ago when her daughter Nika was diagnosed with epilepsy, at which point she realized that many drugs used to control seizure activity were the same anti-psychotic medications used to treat mental illness.

“It is through my daughter that my true understanding of prescription medication began due to the unwarranted side effects these drugs can create,” she explained.

But she said her eyes didn’t fully open until she checked into a “psychiatric hotel” herself where she was “misdiagnosed.”

“They treat you worse than an animal, you lose all rights as a human being, they don’t value you as a person,” the 53-year-old recalled. “I mean, if I would have been diagnosed with cardiac disease or diabetes or anything else, but when it comes to brain health, you’re treated like a totally different type of person.”

It began when she was 40 years old and went through a very difficult divorce. Elevated stress met with hormonal imbalances and biochemical imbalances within her body fueled what was later discovered to be hypomanic.

“Through my own pursuant of understanding and being in the health care profession for over 30 years, I discovered that I have abnormal brain wave activity, similar to pedimol- type seizures and when I’m under horrendous amounts of stress my brain shorts out,” she said.

After taking mind-numbing prescriptions and feeling nothing, Mykietyn discovered a private clinic in Seattle called the Amen Clinic, which also prescribes nutrient therapy like Dr. Walsh.

After a tissue, blood and urine analysis it is determined what nutrients are overabundant in a brain or what`s lacking and a nutrient-based compound is made, she explained.

Mykietyn is currently taking a small dose of psychiatric medication for a short period and has introduced nutrient therapy, compounded by Pharmasave in Trail under the direction of Dr. Chapek of the Amen Clinic. Within six months, she has never felt better.

She’d like residents to know that there are other options out there and so she has created a network referral to link clients with health care professionals that support this approach. Currently working as an affiliate with the Amen Clinic, Mykietyn plans on getting a physician on board at her wellness centre in the near future.

The science-based nutrient therapy system is based on natural substances rather than pharmaceutical drugs. The approach recognizes that nutrient imbalances can alter brain levels of key neurotransmitters, disrupt gene expression or proteins and enzymes and cripple the body`s protection against environmental toxins. (www.walshinstitute.org)

Those interested in attending the event, Drug-Free Nutrient Therapy, still have time to sign up online (www.dandilionwellness.com) or by phone at 1877-362-9330.