Signs of Poor Gut Health You Might Be Ignoring
By Kylie Sartori | Kylie Sartori Naturopathy, Spotswood Melbourne
Signs of Poor Gut Health You Might Be Ignoring
When people think about gut health, they usually think about bloating. Maybe some discomfort after a big meal, or a stomach that feels off from time to time.
But the gut does not only speak through digestion. It speaks through your skin. Your mood. Your energy. Your sleep. Your immune system. And because none of those symptoms scream "gut problem," most people spend years treating each one separately, never realising they are all coming from the same place.
If you have been wondering how do I know if my gut is unhealthy, the honest answer is that your body has probably already been telling you, just not in the way you expected. Here are eight of the most overlooked signs of poor gut health I see in clinic.
1. Skin that will not settle
Acne along the jawline, eczema that flares for no clear reason, or skin that reacts to products it never used to react to. Your gut and skin are directly connected through what is known as the gut skin axis, and an imbalanced microbiome or a compromised gut lining is one of the most common drivers of stubborn skin concerns that creams alone cannot fix. If you have been treating your skin from the outside for years with limited results, the answer may sit in your gut rather than your skincare routine.
2. Mood that dips for no obvious reason
Around 90 per cent of your body's serotonin, one of the key neurotransmitters involved in mood, is produced in the gut. When the gut microbiome is out of balance, that production is disrupted, and low mood, irritability or anxiety can follow, often without any change in your circumstances to explain it. This is one of the clearest examples of how physical and mental health are never really separate.
3. Brain fog and poor concentration
Struggling to focus, forgetting things mid-sentence, or feeling like you are thinking through fog rather than clearly. The gut and brain are in constant communication through the gut-brain axis, and inflammation originating in the gut can quietly affect cognitive function. If your brain fog shows up alongside digestive symptoms, fatigue or skin changes, the gut is very likely part of the picture, and it is something I look at closely with clients experiencing ongoing fatigue and low energy.
4. Getting sick more often than everyone around you
Around 70 to 80 per cent of your immune system lives in your gut. When the microbiome is depleted or imbalanced, immune regulation weakens, and you catch everything going around, recover slowly, and get sick again before you have properly bounced back. Frequent illness is rarely bad luck, it is usually a gut asking for support.
5. New or worsening food reactions
Feeling bloated, foggy or unwell after foods that never used to bother you is a common sign the gut lining has become more permeable than it should be, sometimes called a leaky gut. This allows partially digested food particles to trigger an immune response that would not normally occur, and it often develops gradually, which is why people are surprised when a food they have eaten their whole life suddenly causes problems.
6. Fatigue that sleep does not fix
Tiredness that persists no matter how much you rest is frequently tied to poor nutrient absorption. An unhealthy gut struggles to absorb iron, B12, magnesium and other nutrients your body needs for energy production, regardless of how well you are eating. If this sounds familiar, it is worth understanding what your gut may be preventing you from absorbing.
7. Irregular bowel habits that have become your normal
Constipation, diarrhoea, or bowels that swing unpredictably between the two are some of the more obvious gut health symptoms, yet many people normalise them simply because they have lived with them for so long. Irregular is not the same as normal, and a bowel that needs to strain, rush, or simply cannot be predicted is a gut asking for attention.
8. Hormonal symptoms that will not resolve
PMS, irregular cycles, acne around the jaw, or perimenopause symptoms that feel more intense than they should can all trace back to the gut. Your gut microbiome plays a direct role in clearing excess oestrogen from the body, and when that process is disrupted, hormonal symptoms often follow. This is exactly why gut health and hormonal health are so closely linked in the work I do.
Why These Signs Get Missed
Each of these symptoms looks unrelated on the surface, so they tend to get treated in isolation. A cream for the skin. Coffee for the fatigue. A supplement for the mood. But when several of these signs are showing up at once, that is rarely a coincidence, it is usually one underlying gut picture expressing itself in multiple ways.
Working Together
If several of these signs sound familiar, functional testing can show us exactly what is happening in your gut, rather than guessing from the outside. From there, we build a plan around your specific results and history, not a generic protocol.
I see clients in person at my Spotswood clinic in Melbourne and via telehealth across Australia.
You can also read more about gut health or explore what conditions I work with.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if my gut is unhealthy? The clearest signs of poor gut health go well beyond digestion, they include skin flare-ups, low mood, brain fog, frequent illness, new food reactions, unexplained fatigue, irregular bowel habits and hormonal symptoms. If several of these are present together, it strongly suggests the gut is involved.
Can poor gut health cause skin problems? Yes. The gut and skin are connected through the gut-skin axis, and an imbalanced microbiome or compromised gut lining is a common driver of acne, eczema and other skin conditions that do not respond well to topical treatment alone.
Can gut health affect mood and anxiety? Yes. A large proportion of the body's serotonin is produced in the gut, and an imbalanced microbiome can disrupt that production, contributing to low mood, irritability and anxiety, even when nothing else in life has changed.
How long does it take to fix gut health symptoms? Some symptoms begin to improve within a few weeks of targeted dietary and herbal support. More significant restoration, particularly after long-standing dysbiosis or antibiotic use, typically takes three to six months of consistent, personalised treatment.
Do I need testing to know what is wrong with my gut? Testing is not always the starting point, a thorough case history often tells us a great deal on its own. But where symptoms are complex, or testing will genuinely change the treatment plan, functional testing gives us a clear, individualised picture rather than working from guesswork.
Kylie Sartori is a degree-qualified naturopath based in Spotswood, Melbourne, specialising in gut health, microbiome restoration and family wellbeing. She offers in-person consultations at her Spotswood clinic and telehealth appointments for clients across Australia.
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