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How Stress Sabotages Women’s Hormones, Weight & Energy | Christine Marie on Cortisol

22 Sept 2025 · 1 min

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1:25

Christine Marie recounts her decade-long foster parenting (10 years, 77 children taken in) and the personal health toll of that stress: PTSD, chronically high cortisol, unresolved trauma, severe TMJ requiring a third jaw surgery, removal of cancerous cells from an ovary, and a hysterectomy. She describes initial medical care including psychiatric medication, then turning to naturopathy which identified high cortisol and supported her recovery approach focused on cellular health and mind–body renewal.

Questions this video answers

10 years.

77 children.

They adopted both of their daughters, giving a total of four children.

She reported a hysterectomy, cancerous cells removed from one ovary, and a third surgery for severe TMJ (jaw).

Chapters

My husband and I, as you mentioned a little bit, we were foster parents for 10 years. We took in 77 children. I was the epitome of the slowly boiled frog. I thought the water was cozy and comfortable until I was completely fried. When we walked away from our foster care journey, we had adopted both of our daughters, 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. I also was struggling with very severe tmj, which I had my third surgery for my jaw. Your body truly keeps the score on what's going on, whether you admit it or not. And so that was where I went originally to see doctors. And one doctor even said, maybe you need to see a psychiatrist. So I was put on medication. I did feel like I started to get better. But then as you start to feel better, you start realizing that you're bleeding, like emotionally bleeding. And I wasn't a mom that I was proud of. I was short tempered. So that's when I went to see a naturopath. They made me feel like I wasn't crazy. That's when they said, your cortisol levels are really high. And so that's where it's truly about internal cellular health balance, renewing our mind just and renewing our body at the same time.