Last Updated on August 24, 2026 by Carrie Korem, FNTP
We often shrug off things like waking up at night to go to the bathroom, always getting bitten by mosquitos, or feeling dizzy when we stand up. These things are common, but definitely not normal.
These are small signs that your body is needing some support.
As a Functional Nutritionist, one of my favorite parts of the job is helping clients understand their root causes so the symptoms can go away. Let’s dive into some common symptoms you probably didn’t know were symptoms!
17 Everyday Symptoms You Didn’t Know Were Symptoms (and steps to take):
1. Waking up at night to go to the bathroom → This is usually a blood sugar issue. It actually doesn’t have much to do with how much water you drank before bed.When your blood sugar gets too low while you’re sleeping, your adrenals will produce cortisol to bring it back up. The cortisol spike is what wakes you up, and then once you’re up, you need to go to the bathroom.
2. Cracked heels → This is often a sign your liver or gallbladder needs some support. When the gallbladder is congested, it slows down bile flow and this reduces your body’s ability to absorb fats and fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins A, D, and E and omega-3s, which can lead to severe skin dryness and cracking on the heels.
Taking this supplement plus 2 to 3 ounces of beet kvass first thing in the morning can be helpful to clear it up.
3. “I always get bitten by mosquitos” → This often points to low B vitamins, especially thiamine (B1). Cataplex B can help replenish your B stores so you can actually enjoy time outside without getting eaten alive.
4. Hot flashes during the day → This is usually a sign that your adrenals need support. These steps can help you stay cool all day.
5. Burping right when you eat or right after you eat → Often means your gallbladder needs support. Taking Betafood with meals, avoiding all processed seed oils (like canola, corn and vegetable oils) and increasing healthy saturated fats (butter, ghee, lard, tallow) can help support the gallbladder and stop the burping.
6. Nightmares → This is often a sign of liver congestion. Supporting your liver naturally can help the nightmares go away.
7. Losing the outer 1/3 of your eyebrows → This is a classic sign of low thyroid. The steps in this article can help balance your thyroid hormones (fT4 and fT3).
Also, rubbing a little castor oil on your eyebrows daily can also support regrowth while you are working on the root cause.
8. Heartburn → This is usually rooted in low stomach acid. Eating in a calm, and rested state (not on your phone, not working, not standing, not driving) and taking Zypan with meals can boost stomach acid and stop the burning. You can read my top tips to reduce heartburn naturally here.
9. You Sunburn easily (or even all the time) → This can be rooted in low essential fatty acids. I’ve had many clients who had always easily burned outside and thought it was “just their skin.” Once we replenished their essential fatty acids in their diet with healthy saturated fats like butter, lard, duck fat and ghee and supplemented with cod liver oil, every one of them stopped burning and started tanning, some for the first time ever!
10. Afternoon crash → This is commonly rooted in adrenal imbalance and/or blood sugar imbalance. These steps can help balance them out so you can have sustained energy all day.
11. Night sweats → This is often a liver congestion sign. Your liver does a lot of work while you sleep. If it doesn’t have the support it needs or detox pathways aren’t open, your body can push toxins out through your skin instead, which leaves you drenched in the middle of the night.
If you take steps to support your liver, the sweats can clear up. Here are my top tips.
12. Dizziness when you stand up → This is very common, but it’s not normal. This usually points to adrenal insufficiency. Here’s how to support them.
13. You’re constantly clearing your throat – This is often rooted in low stomach acid. When stomach acid is low, the stomach cannot properly break down your food and eventually it can start to come back up the esophagus. It doesn’t burn because there isn’t enough acid in the stomach, but you’re left constantly clearing your throat. When you take steps to increase your stomach acid, you’ll often see the constant throat clearing disappear.
14. Dry and itching skin – I see this most often rooted in the liver needing support. This supplement, along with castor oil packs over the liver 3x a week, and avoiding processed foods is a great way to help support the liver so the skin stops itching and is supple again.
15. Hair loss or thinning – Often rooted in the adrenals needing support. Your body doesn’t see hair as a priority for survival. When your body is under chronic stress, this raises cortisol, lowers digestion and creates nutrient deficiencies. Overtime, the body becomes depleted and it no longer has enough nutrients to support hair grown. So it sends those nutrients to more important systems like the brain, heart, and immune system.
The good news is that when you support your adrenals, overtime, you’ll often see hair re-growth. I saw it happen for myself, and I see this happen consistently for clients!
16. Stubborn weight gain around the mid-section – For women, this is a sign of elevated cortisol. For men, it’s usually a sign of blood sugar issues. When you balance these things, the stomach will release the fat. Here are steps to balance cortisol naturally. Here are steps to balance blood sugar naturally.
17. Stubborn weight gain mainly around the hips and thighs – This is a common symptom for women of elevated estrogen and liver congestion. Taking steps to support the liver, so it can clear excess estrogens is usually the key to reducing the stubborn weight around the hips and thighs.
Your body isn’t working against you. It’s talking to you, and once you learn its language, healing becomes so much simpler!
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