Your "Body of Clues"!
Changes in Your Eyebrows, Hair, Nails, Earlobes, and More…
Your Body May Be Trying to Tell You Something
The Secret Is To Learn the Clues
© 2025 Health Realizations, Inc.

If you feel pain in your body, it’s an obvious sign that something is not right … but not all of your body’s signals will be this apparent. Instead, subtle changes can reveal dramatic secrets about your health and even uncover potentially serious issues that require medical attention.

For this reason, it’s a good idea to become familiar with your body. If you don’t normally, get accustomed to looking at yourself in the mirror from head-to-toe, and watching for changes in your skin, hair, eyes, nails and even your eyebrows!

What clues can your body reveal?

Flu or COVID (can include Flu like Symptoms)

• Respiratory: Coughing, chest pain, raspy lung congestion

• High Fever: High temperature

• Vomiting and/or Diarrhea

• Headaches: Continuing headache pain including temples

• Pinkeye: A sign said by some who have Flu or COVID that they noticed they had what looked like Pinkeye.

Eyes and Eyebrows

• Bulging Eyes: A sign of overactive thyroid.

• Yellow Eyes: If the whites of your eyes appear yellow, it can be a sign of liver disease or gallbladder trouble.

• Yellow Bumps on inner corners or Eyes: These could be fatty deposits, which may signal high cholesterol.

• Shortening Eyebrows: If you’re losing hairs from the outer corners of your eyebrows, you might have low thyroid hormone.

Neck

• Swollen Neck Thyroid Glands called “Goiters” (below your Chin): Most common in women over 40, which causes excessive weight gain (as Oprah has stated she was diagnosed after years of weight challenges).  Most of the over 12,000,000 people who have a swollen neck thyroid gland "goiters" do not even know it.

Hair

• Sudden Hair Loss: Too much stress.

• Dry and Brittle Hair: Could signal a thyroid problem, iron deficiency or even malnutrition.

• Premature Grey Hair: You might be deficient in vitamin B12. Vitamin B-12 deficiency ultimately leads to anemia. If the vitamin B12 deficiency is from a lack of intrinsic factor, it's called pernicious anemia. Pernicious means "deadly."

Intrinsic factor is a protein secreted by the stomach that joins vitamin B12 in the stomach and escorts it through the small intestine to be absorbed by your bloodstream. Without intrinsic factor, vitamin B12 can't be absorbed and leaves your body as waste.

Lack of intrinsic factor may be due to an autoimmune reaction, in which your immune system mistakenly attacks the stomach cells that produce it. Lack of intrinsic factor was often fatal before the availability of vitamin B12 shots. Because vitamin B12 is stored in large amounts in your liver, it may take several years before signs of deficiency appear. If concerned ask your doctor to run vitamin B12 blood tests.

Ears

• Diagonal-crease in Earlobe: A study by the National Institutes of Health found that this is linked to an increased risk of heart attack, as it may signal blocked circulation throughout your body. If you notice this sign, contact your doctor for a heart health checkup.

Nails

• Yellow or greenish color to your nails; thickening of the nail; slowed nail growth; a lack of a cuticle or the nail may detach partially from the nail bed: This condition often signals a respiratory disease.

• Pitting: The small depressions on the nail could be a sign of psoriasis, chronic dermatitis of your fingers or alopecia areata.

• Clubbing: This condition describes when the nails curve around your fingertips, which are usually enlarged. It's caused by low oxygen levels in the blood and may indicate lung disease.

• Spoon Nails: If your nails look scooped out, like a spoon, it could be a sign of iron-deficiency anemia.

• Opaque with a dark band at the tip (aka “Terry’s Nails”): This can be due to aging or a more serious illness including cancer, congestive heart failure, diabetes or liver disease.

• Horizontal indentations (aka “Beau's Lines”): These horizontal indentations across your nails could be a sign of malnutrition. They also may appear after serious injury or illness like a heart attack interrupts the growth of your nail.

• Nail Separating From Nail Bed: When your nail becomes loose and separates from the nail bed, it could be related to injury, thyroid disease, fungal disease, drug reactions, reactions to acrylic nails or nail hardeners or psoriasis.

• Brown or Black Colored Streak: This could be a sign of a melanoma under the nail. Visit your doctor to have it checked out as soon as possible.

• Vertical Nail Ridges: These are fairly common and may worsen with age. They do not signal any serious underlying disease.

• White, Crumbly Nails: This is often due to a fungal infection.

• Small White Spots: These are very common and usually recurring. They're caused by injury to the base of the nail and are not a cause of concern. The spots will grow out as your nail grows.

Fingers and Toes

• Tingling, sharp pin-sticks like pain, and or numbness in tips of fingers or toes: When you begin losing circulation in your extremities (arms and legs) this is often due to the initial stages/early onset of diabetes. If identified early a change in diet and increased levels of exercise can reduce the cause and potentially eliminate the need for drugs/cures.

Weight Gain

• Excessive Weight Gain: From age 40 on … every 10 years the body’s metabolism slows down 5% or more depending on the level of daily activities and exercises. If you maintain the exact same level of daily exercises you will gain 10 pounds or more every 10 years if you do not reduce the amount of calories you eat.

Childhood to early adult obesity weight gain is mostly due to eating foods high in fat and sugar and taking in more calories than you are burning off… which is a deadly combination for any age and the root cause of many cases of diabetes, cancer, and many other diseases.

Unexplained Weight Loss

• Sudden Dramatic Weight Loss: This often is a sign of a very concerning health complication such as gallbladder infection or other health disorder. Unexplained weight loss can be a sign of gastrointestinal disease, cancer, endocrine disorders, infection, heart and lung disease, neurological illness, kidney disease or mood disorders, so it’s important to take seriously.

If you’ve suddenly lost weight without trying, call and see your physician immediately. How much weight loss is cause for alarm? Any amount that is unusual for you warrants a trip to the doctor, but definitely seek medical attention if you lose 10 pounds or 5 percent of your weight in six to 12 months.

Energy Levels

Along with watching for physical signs on the outside of your body, it’s important to be aware of how you’re feeling physically on the inside, too.

For instance, if your energy level has plummeted to the point that you’re fatigued all the time, there could be a medical reason why.

• Sleep Disorders: An estimated 50 million to 70 million people suffer from sleep loss or sleep disorders, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These range from insomnia -- the inability to fall asleep and stay asleep -- to sleep apnea. In the case of sleep apnea, reduced airflow in your airway causes your breathing to stop. This leads to frequent, brief awakenings that can leave you feeling excessively fatigued during the day, even though you don’t recall being awakened.

• Thyroid Problems: Hypothyroidism, which occurs when your thyroid gland does not release enough thyroid hormone, as well as hyperthyroidism, which occurs when your thyroid produces excess hormone, can both result in fatigue.

• Diabetes: Extreme fatigue is often an early warning sign of type 2 diabetes. Other symptoms include excessive thirst, frequent urination, blurred vision and recurring infections. A physician can determine if you have diabetes by performing a simple blood test.

• Anemia: This blood disorder impacts your blood’s ability to transport oxygen, leading to fatigue. Anemia can be caused by numerous conditions ranging from heavy menstrual periods, vitamin deficiencies or chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or cancer.

• Depression: Along with feelings of sadness, changes in eating and sleeping patterns and problems with memory and concentration, depression frequently results in a significant loss of energy.

• Cancer: Unexplained fatigue may be a symptom of cancer, as well as a side effect of cancer treatment.

• Rheumatoid Arthritis: This chronic condition involves inflammation in the lining of the joints, and early symptoms often include fatigue and low energy, along with joint pain and loss of appetite. Anemia and thyroid disorders, which also cause fatigue, are common in people with rheumatoid arthritis as well.

• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS): People with CFS suffer from extreme fatigue that doesn’t improve with rest, muscle aches and difficulty concentrating. Because little is known about the causes of this condition, it’s often diagnosed on the basis of exclusion, after other potential conditions have been ruled out.

• Fibromyalgia: People with fibromyalgia have difficulty achieving restful sleep. In fact, researchers have proven that fibromyalgia patients experience abnormalities during Stage 4 sleep, or deep sleep; in short, their brains are frequently active during this time, which makes it difficult to get uninterrupted deep sleep and leads to fatigue.

More Early Warning Signs … Common Symptoms of Chronic Disease to Watch Out For

Sometimes symptoms occur in clusters, giving you a major clue into what’s going on inside your body. Following are common signs of some of the top diseases facing Americans today. If you notice any of these symptoms, see your doctor right away.

1. Heart Disease: Depending on the type of heart disease symptoms include chest pain, shortness of breath, pain or numbness in your arms or legs, racing heartbeat, dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting, swollen feat or ankles, fatigue and irregular heartbeat.

2. Diabetes: Slow sneaky deadly Diabetes clues include increased thirst, extreme hunger, frequent urination, unexplained weight loss, blurred vision, slow-healing sores, frequent infections (bladder, skin, gum or vaginal, etc.).

3. Cancer: Lumps, bumps or thickening under skin to watch out for plus fatigue, weight changes (gain or loss), skin changes (yellowing, darkening, reddening, changes in appearance of moles), sores that won’t heal, changes in bowel and bladder habits, persistent cough, difficulty swallowing, hoarseness, persistent indigestion or discomfort after eating, unexplained muscle or joint pain, excessive bruising (leukemia).

4. Asthma: Shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness, whistling or wheezing when exhaling, coughing or wheezing, difficulty breathing.

5. Multiple Sclerosis: Numbness or weakness in one or more limbs (typically on one side of your body at a time, or your lower body), vision loss (full or partial), pain during eye movement, double vision, blurry vision, tingling or pain, electric-shock sensations when you move your head, tremors, fatigue, dizziness.

6. Fibromyalgia: Pain all over your body, exhaustion, sleep disturbances, multiple “tender points” where pain is experienced if slight pressure is applied (tender points are located at the back of the head, between the shoulder blades, and on the tops of shoulders, front sides of neck, upper chest, outer elbows, upper hips, sides of hips and inner knees).

7. Rheumatoid Arthritis: Joint pain, tenderness and swelling, red and puffy hands, firm bumps under the skin on your arms, fatigue, morning stiffness, fever, weight loss.

Tips for Preventing Heart Disease, Diabetes, Cancer and More …

As you become more in-tune with your body, you’ll notice a direct correlation between your lifestyle and your health -- and this includes your diet.

Healthy Diet …

As stated in the book "The China Study", one of the most comprehensive looks at how your diet impacts your health, bore out, "a good diet is the most powerful weapon we have against disease and sickness."

But what you may not know is that eating a diet solely of processed foods or cooked foods, even healthy cooked foods, will leave a major nutritional gap in your body because they contain no enzymes.

Raw plant and animal foods (such as raw milk) are loaded with beneficial enzymes for your body. (Enzymes are actually special proteins that act as catalysts for the chemical reactions that occur to keep your body functioning.) However, enzymes begin to be destroyed at temperatures above 110-115 degrees. So if your food is cooked, pasteurized or processed, it will contain no enzymes whatsoever.

Your body contains 2,500 or more different enzymes, and they are very important. Enzymes in your saliva, for instance, help break apart starches, while those in your stomach help break down protein. Enzymes in your intestines, meanwhile, are responsible for breaking apart all of your food, whether fat, protein or carb.

Many people find that switching to a predominantly raw food diet gives them more energy, slows down aging, improves your skin, boosts your mood, and fights a host of chronic diseases including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Crohn's disease and even cancer.

For some delicious, enzyme-rich raw food recipes, try out the book "Alive in 5": Raw Gourmet Meals in Five Minutes.

Regular Exercise …

Next, you will want to be sure you’re exercising regularly. According to the National Institute on Aging,

 “Studies suggest regular, sustained exercise can help prevent or delay some diseases and disabilities as people grow older. And, in some cases, it can actually improve some of these conditions in older people who already have them.

In a study conducted at Tufts University in Boston, for instance, some people age 80 and older were able to progress from using walkers to using canes after doing simple muscle-building exercises for just 10 weeks.

In addition, physical activity can improve your mood, lessen your risk of developing adult-onset diabetes, slow bone loss, and reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.”

Stress Relief …

Chronic stress is known to actually intensify inflammation, according to the American Psychological Association (APA), which makes you more vulnerable to inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis.

You may also not have known that stress can actually accelerate aging. According to a 2006 study presented at the 114th Annual Convention of the APA, people with chronic stress are more likely to suffer from age-related diseases including Alzheimer's disease, major depression, mental decline, osteoporosis and metabolic syndrome.

Stress can also trigger diabetes, or worsen it if you already have it, because when your body is stressed it releases stress hormones that automatically release extra sugar into your bloodstream (which is, of course, not a good thing for someone with diabetes who is already struggling with high blood sugar).

Detox …

Every day we’re exposed to chemicals in our food and water, pollution in our air, and emotional stress in our lives. Over time, these toxins accumulate in your body and can manifest as insomnia, fatigue, digestive problems, aches and pains or even chronic disease.

Detoxification gives your body a chance to rest, clear out toxins and become nourished. Generally this is done by first removing and eliminating toxins, then providing your body with healthy nutrients.

You can also support the removal of toxins from your body with a heavy metal chelator.

If you are concerned about the effects of environmental chemicals leading to chronic illness, then you should not hesitate to make an appointment to discuss your concerns and the possibilities of what options might be best for you such as chelation to help get rid of a variety of toxic metals and possibly chemicals as well.

Ask about these and more options at your next appointment.

“Life’s not just being alive, but being well.”

   — Martial

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Sources

MayoClinic.com Diseases and Conditions

U.S. National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging

MayoClinic.com Vitamin Deficiency Anemia

MayoClinic.com Unexplained Weight Loss

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