A former foster mother describes how adopting four children triggered PTSD, chronic anxiety, migraines, and panic attacks that led to a hysterectomy, ovarian cancer removal, and jaw surgeries. A naturopath finally validated her experience by identifying elevated cortisol and focusing on cellular healing instead of just medication.
When we walked away from our foster care journey, we had adopted both of our daughters, so which gave us a total of our four children. And I walked away with a very generous compensation package of PTSD, high cortisol levels, a lot of unresolved trauma. I needed a hysterectomy. I had cancer cells that had developed in one of my ovaries that needed to be removed. So that would be two surgeries. I also was struggling with very severe TMJ, which I had my third surgery for my jaw. I mean, your body truly keeps the score on what's going on, whether you admit it or not. I was placed on medications for anxiety, migraines, PTSD, panic attacks—you name it. They were really trying to solve the symptoms that I was sharing with them, and one doctor even said, "Oh my goodness! Like I don't even know. Maybe you need to see a psychiatrist," because I was describing so many emotional things. I had become addicted to carbs. Sugar, drinking. I was just trying to numb the overwhelm. There was a point I remember I was driving down the road and it felt like I couldn't breathe, like I couldn't take a full breath. And it was—I existed like that for days. And I wasn't a mom that I was proud of. I was short-tempered. I was exhausted all day, every day. I mean, I could sleep in and sleep for ten hours a night, and I never felt refreshed. So that's when I went to see a naturopath. They made me feel like I wasn't crazy, and that's when they said your cortisol levels. Levels are really high, which I've even had some clients, some customers that I've helped, that their cortisol levels are fine because our cortisol levels are meant to function and fluctuate throughout the day, but they still have all the symptoms. And so that's where it's truly about internal cellular health balance, you know, renewing our mind just and renewing our body at the same time.
