Chronic fatigue/ME has be linked to Long covid after the covid 19 vaccination? This study from the journal nutrition looked at 28 patients who were diagnosed with ME/CFS after receiving the vaccination and were given vitamin D for symptoms.
Shannon Burford, Perth naturopath and Brad Parkinson, Sydney Naturopath, talk about this topic and other naturopathic foundational related information.
This study was published in 2025 and looked at giving vitamin D to help with symptoms of CFS/ME and long covid.
#chronicfatigue #longcovid #alwaystired
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Research is here- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40090177/
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Okay, we’re live here. Uh welcome to the live stream here on Cure Medicine and I’m with Brad Parkinson today uh once again on our live uh broadcast and we’re going to talk about long co today and vitamin D and we’re going to look at a study and the question for for Brad and myself is is something as simple as this vitamin potentially a cure for chronic fatigue and long co and how are you Brad? how are you going today? Yeah, great. Yeah, this is a a great topic and uh very relevant still. Um we often talk about CO and how it’s uh impacting immunity in general and uh the repercussions from what I guess we’re still in the CO era. I was going to say from the CO era, but I think we’re still in it and we’re still trying to sort through it. And I think vitamin D is one of those amazing tools. um that we can uh benefit from especially patients that are dealing with chronic fatigue syndrome as the paper suggests in uh that we’re looking at today. Yeah, I’m really excited to get into it. I’m just looking across at this screen and clicking. I’m just seem to have no uh video on my screen. I’m just going to check that out. I can see you on the screen, but it seems like it is live. Sorry to uh hold up the discussion, but uh it’s all right. We can we can we can restart anytime. I’m not seeing I’m not seeing a I can see me. That’s fine. Okay, let’s continue then. Yes, I just just on that I’ve got YouTube open and there’s nothing up there. Uh there’s definitely I can see live. It’s running. You just have to refresh the screen. Oh, okay. Yeah, it’s running live. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Sorry about that. We We’ve got We were almost there with our technical issues. Probably shows our age. Hey, Brad. Okay. Yeah. So, okay. So the study uh which I will bring up on the screen, it looked at uh around about 25 patients with with uh chronic fatigue and they developed it after having the COVID vaccination and after having the COVID vaccination they uh developed chronic fatigue or me symptoms. I’ll just share that screen there. There we go. And then I have to open this up. And then I’m going to pull this down here. Okay, we’ve got that on the screen there. Um you can see this uh particular study from nutrition journal uh efficiency of vitamin D replacement therapy of 28 cases with me chronic fatigue syndrome after the covid-19 vaccination. So Brad and I are going to dive in today to talk about those naturopathic foundational things like vitamin D which were discussed at the beginning as being potential effective treatments for a lot of things. And we’ll just expand out and talk about vitamin D and other things of of helping health in general. But in this particular case with the COVID vaccination, it was it was shown to be effective with these 28 cases. Um so uh just briefly can you give us an overview Brad of this this uh situation with um vitamin D and uh these chronic fatigue cases. Yeah. So looks like they’ve done tested people with uh low vitamin D initially. So there have been insufficient levels or they’re deficient uh and um and by increasing their vitamin D levels or by giving them vitamin D uh it has increased their levels uh which is shown in the blood results and we’ve got a um a reduction in symptoms an improvement in um well actually 82% of patients no no longer met the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome or ME and uh in particular sleep problems showed the most improvement as well as the um autonomic symptoms. So the nervous system improvement was uh really outstanding in this uh trial. So um look it’s only 28 patient people but it’s done well and significant and it illustrates how some a simple intervention an easy to access intervention a cost effective intervention as as simple as the vitamin D, how beneficial it can be. And I I always say this to my autoimmune patients that if your vitamin D levels aren’t right, then everything else we do just won’t we just won’t get over the line with whatever we’re fixing. Uh so it plays a crucial role in how the immune system works. And we know with all the receptors throughout the body, the the brain uh it it has many roles and uh many of which we don’t fully understand yet. Uh and I think even this paper touches on things like neuroinflammation and other important factors too. So again, very simple intervention, very accessible, very um affordable and you know, it has remarkable results. So yeah, and we talked about it two weeks ago on the live. That was the very first live we did. And sorry about the sound quality. It was quite poor, but I’ve kept it up because um I can see people out there are watching it still persevering through the poor sound quality. But that was on vitamin D, too. And uh Brad and I, we often talk about these simple um solutions that are cost effective and easily accessible because we want to help as many people around the world as possible. And just to highlight those remedies which are which are there right at your fingertips and they’re often um stepped over in this search for some magic solution or new solution that’s going to be the cure for chronic fatigue or me or long co uh but but may maybe we just have to step back to those traditional remedies uh um like uh sunbathing bathing we did one Uh about 6 months ago, we we did a podcast together on uh forest bathing. That’s right. Um and the benefits of forest bathing and uh vitamin D is just another one perhaps combination of forest bathing with sunlight therapy and a lot of those naturopathic foundation remedies. Um, yeah, it’s it’s often the case where we’re searching for that new shiny object, but the solution is right in front of us. Yeah, definitely. And look, I mean, we also have done uh a podcast on the benefits of NAC and ALC, so you can watch watch that one, too. So there are different emerging treatments that uh are showing benefits especially for specific symptoms like brain fog and and the likes um those getting mental clarity back. Uh however though you know vitamin D is a very simple solution and look just to clarify too there are several forms of vitamin D and uh in this study they were using the standard D3 form. Uh there’s also D2 that pops up in things like um you know things greens formulas and so forth and vegan formulas, but there are um vegan based D3. Now there’s also um more activated form as well that’s starting to get um utilized that can boost levels a bit quicker too. Um back to back to the natural form. So as activated is making it uh simply more better absorbed more natural. Yeah. Well in this case vitamin D needs to go through several body systems. You know the liver kidneys absorbed by the skin when we get it from the sun. So there’s so many processes it goes through. And I think it’s important to note even though it’s probably the best way to get a a a to gauge vitamin D doing a blood test, it’s there are some limitations to that too. So um you know I do find if people are low on a blood test that is a real problem and you got to boost it up. uh but you know getting uh levels I I guess I won’t go into too much detail because this study I think is using the the US um measurements I think um gram per mole uh when we talk Australian nanomles per liter yeah it’s a little bit different and um basically it was low in these patients and and they got improvements after having it yeah yeah so um but my point being that you know it’s not the most accurate thing out there the blood testing and uh but it will definitely flag if you’re too low and you are going to get in all sorts of trouble if you have low vitamin D and then if you recorrect it like that they did in this study you can get profound benefits uh especially if that’s the only thing going on that needs correction so that’s what they did in this study and like I said 82 2% uh came out without the diagnosis of CFS or ME. Uh that’s incredible. So yeah, that’s and the mechanisms of vitamin D. Um so they don’t look at specifically what is the vitamin D doing to improve the long co or the chronic fatigue. Uh but we naturopathically we base our foundation on the fact that it holistically it’s helping all systems. It’s helping with immunity. It’s helping with hormones. It’s it’s helping with a great deal of of different areas for the patient. It’s helping with sleep definitely. That was one of the factors in the in the study too that the sleep significantly improved. Yeah. Yep. So, absolutely. So yeah, it has um profound effects on a lot of body systems and you know it’s it’s not necessarily um focusing on in one area whether it’s immunity uh but it can work throughout the brain and the nervous system and it’s certainly been shown to do that in this study. Yeah. I wanted to touch on um you know some people call me a conspiracy theorist but um I do like different theories and I base uh a lot of my practice on those naturopathic foundations of traditional medicine but um this particular case research I loved because it was tying the COVID vaccination in with um the cases of the chronic fatigue. So long co was developed after the vaccination. And um I I was thinking about originally back in 2020 of posting things on the internet about vitamin D and then getting it flagged as misinformation. Um do you have any comments with with that Brad? Yeah, look it was a huge problem uh back in 2020. A lot of people went to vitamin D because mainly the naturopathic world and you know the functional medicine world were well aware of um its uh benefits and [Music] it’s you know was was a go-to and a lot of people were re recommending it and uh they panicked and um a lot of issues happened and and uh well the issues being that these platforms were targeted by the FBI I as Zuckerberg’s um noted and and um they had factchecking groups come in that weren’t you know who were they to say you know no one really knew at the time um and it turned out you know they weren’t so good at factchecking anyway uh but vitamin D u I know I even discussed it on different um platforms and in particular one one platform got banned be and that was his focus was on on vitamin D and uh it was all correct you know vitamin D played a crucial role in the pandemic and um you know we’ve got a lot of literature to support that now and obviously it’s accepted now but at the time um it was it even took like even Fouchy himself eventually came out and it was suggesting vitamin D um I don’t know if that was in 2021 21 or 2022, but he eventually would say you could you could try a bit of vitamin C and vitamin D and uh but you know it was just just an absolute mess that that uh 2020 and and taking something uh as beneficial away from the public or information about that from the public. Um that was uh yeah problematic in in my view. I I I think that could that was really detrimental and rather than you could have gone out and promoted it and I think that I think without exaggerating I think there would have been a lot of lives saved if people were onto that early on. Yeah. Millions and millions and just the ripple effect. I mean uh compared to other platforms you know my platform your platform is not as large but just doesn’t matter the the number of subscribers to those newsletters or the Facebook post or whatever that got pulled and then the ripples of thousands of people reading that and then thousand those thousands helping other thousands. So really millions of people could potentially have been helped. And this particular study of um chronic fatigue, all those people suffering with long co and and not believing in the vitamin D or not having access to the information or not just even being aware that their vitamin D levels affect their symptoms. It’s really tragic. and and the I think what’s important too is the dosing may have needs to be monitored by practitioners who are aware of the the ah that’s a really valid point benefits because think and going back then too certainly leading up to the pandemic a lot of doctors if in Australia if it’s 50 or above that’s considered fine and it’s ignored um in 50 it’s a nanom mole isn’t it here in Australia um uh forget the equivalent in nanogs in the US but anyway often and it still happens today but I think a lot of the younger doctors and everything are more aware of the literature and and um the significance of having uh more than 50 in vitamin D especially with autoimmune patients and in this case chronic fatigue patients um can be be beneficial. So certainly you know when we look at autoimmune patients or chronic fatigue patients we might be wanting to boost their vitamin D levels up between 80 and 100 or keep them in that sort of realm. And I know and that needs to change per season or where they’re located. I mean down in Melbourne when I was working there uh and had seeing patients there obviously that that there’s a lot more issues with vitamin D because the the lack of getting it or the time of year. Oh geography. Yeah. Yeah. just purely geography that um and it’s important people know that the angle of the sun at different times of year you’re not going to get vitamin D or you’re going to get very little vitamin D. So supplementation is necessary and at a higher dose is often necessary certain individuals for a shorter period of time. We don’t want to get ridiculous but also you got to consider the co-actors uh that go into that as well. You know other things like magnesium and vitamin A. If you if all the practitioners like um like you and I, you know, naturopaths and functional medicine practitioners all get cut out of the equation, people will go in and probably just get recommended by their pharmacist or their GP to just take 1,000 IU a day, which is really common. Yes. Yeah. And it’s still common today. And uh that may not have moved the needle enough. Yeah. In the in the US, you can easily get supplements, and some of my patients buy them online from Australia for that fact. They get 5,000 or 10,000, but Australia’s TGA limits it to 1,000 per tablet. So, they they get the bottle of 1,000 capsules thinking, well, and it says take one a day. It it’s usually not enough. Mhm. Yeah. Especially if especially if they’re low. if they if they come come back low then they’ve got to boost it higher. Now I look I understand a lot of GPS uh will be saying that because if people are people take something they often can be on it long term but again that’s the importance of uh people like you and I being involved in people’s health care um because we’ll we will recommend the right dose for the right period of time and monitor that care um and then adjust over time and we can also be monitoring symptoms and different things, you know, looking for improvements in sleep and and the nervous system uh and neuroinflammation and these sort of things. So, and mood. So, um yeah, you need to keep uh the the right professionals on the job because if not, they’re out of the equation. Uh you’re not going to get the most accurate advice. And even if you do go down and get your vitamin D and only have 1,000 IU a day, that may not help. M and often doesn’t after seeing a patient come and they’ve been on it for 3 months and then we do the blood test and see ah it’s still it’s only nudged up a tiny little bit. Uh, next I’d like to get into to ask you um so we we did that podcast three six months ago about forest bathing, but let’s explore some of your favorite traditional real uh remedies that have been around a really long time that you use and um and they work and and maybe the viewer can can take those on board and start using those and improve their health. Do you have any gems? Yeah, look, uh, a lot of go-tos, uh, like, well, on on the forest bathing thing, getting out in nature and and, um, walking, getting your steps up, but within nature and getting exposed to to greenery, which will reflect red light. I think that’s um, important. And again, I think we touched more on that in that uh, previous podcast. And look, other things that uh kind of old school that I keep incorporating as like apple cider vinegar and that’s a great one. Fermented Yeah. other fermented foods. Apple cider vinegar. It was one of those things. I remember back when uh I was um doing my degree. It was quite interesting that we we a lot of the traditional astropaths would kind of rave about apple cider vinegar and you you’d see it in books highly recommended and and uh you know the Braggs has been around for decades and decades. The Braggs um apple cider vinegar it’s got the mother tincture and the one brand. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And there’s other brands out there though now. uh but it was looked at as a great traditional thing but doesn’t really have much research supporting it. But then research was when it was done, it had these really good results. And I think um if you were to look at some research on apple cider vinegar now, I think there’s plenty of it there that’s really positive and shows benefits. And I think this has been enhanced by all the research that and the knowledge we now have on the microbiome um and you know bacteria, probiotics, etc. Um, everyone goes, “Oh, yeah, we no no wonder apple cider vinegar was, you know, so good for you.” Uh, so I do try and um go to that one a lot. Um, the old crushed garlic is another one. Oh, that’s a good one. I love my garlic. Yeah. So, um, obviously the the smell from that can be a a challenge. So, but I often recommend crushing garlic. So for people out there not aware of it, when you crush garlic, there’s two compounds in garlic that combine together that create the um end product or compound that Yeah. that and you lose a lot of it with cooking. So um so those that said, “Yeah, I I have garlic all the time.” Well, if it’s, you know, from a powdered shaker or or, you know, it’s you just in cooking and it’s been cooked, well, you’re not getting the medicinal benefits that you could be getting. It’s got to be raw. Yeah. So, raw, crushed, and um, you know, it’s potent medicine um for the sinuses, hay fever, this sort of thing. And, um, as an antimicrobial um, it can be really, really good as well. So, um then and I usually say to people bit of that you can have it in a bit of yogurt. You go crush it up with some um avocado. Have it on a piece of toast or something. Put it in pumpkin soup at the end. Yeah. Just in the bowl on top of the bowl. That’s right. Just Just Yeah. Put it on the top. Crush it all up. Put on the top. Um yeah, many dishes and pumpkin soup’s a favorite. And I do recommend that one too. Uh so that’s that’s another one. Um, I go to um what else do I We can go on and on. I just recently got my uh myself a uh Have you used the netty pots or the nasal irrigations? I just got a copper one uh last week. I invested in one of those. Um I was using the plastic one for a long while. But uh it’s the best thing. Uh I’m really happy with it because little by little you get a little bit of copper as well, which is antimicrobial. Yeah. Yeah, there’s a lot of benefits to that too, isn’t there? Like that we see a lot of copper products coming out and there’s I think even a company now that’s you know copper based with drink bottles and everything. Um so yeah um yeah the net pots um I’m when you say these things I’m thinking arurvedic now is because there’s some weird techniques in arurvedic medicine where they purging and fasting fasting is a good one. Yeah, that is a a great one. Now though, that that deserves a whole podcast on it on it own. Sure does. Yes, it often goes wrong. And I often see people say, um, yeah, I I’m doing intermittent fasting, but what they’re really doing is skipping out on breakfast because they’re rushing their mornings and, you know, having a coffee and and that’s Yeah. And that’s only happening a couple. They’re not in any rhythm whatsoever. um and they just fast because they’ve um chose not to eat that that they’re too busy and too stressed. So, so that’s not fasting. Um so yeah, but fasting is a great one because we know with fasting uh if you can do it if you can do it over a period of four or five days. Now, when I say um fasting for four or five days, u I’m I’m thinking about the fasting mimicking diet where you can have a few teas and soups and a few other bits and pieces and I think even fish oil capsules have been um Oh, okay. I haven’t heard of that one. Yeah, the fasting mimicking diet. Um you can have this. We’re having these few things over a four or five day period. puts your body into in a state where it can reverse disease. Um, and uh, particularly things like cancers and so forth that are activated or what it can do. um when when we’re I’ll sort of tangent again often when we’re building say building muscle and we’re anabolic and we’re we’re activating growth factors insulin growth factor um other things that um we’re trying to switch on in the body to grow more muscle and and uh promote health by muscle growth and so forth. Unfortunately, um, with that that can increase the growth of other things like cancer and so forth. Now, I don’t want people to run with that little snippet and and say that what what Brad’s saying is if you’re anabolic, you got you got a group head. I’m not saying that at all. But I’m saying what happens when we fast in the example I gave of a four or five day fast um with the fasting mimicking diet you switch off all those pathways the instant growth factor the mtor pathways all these pathways that promote growth and we have it’s been shown to have a lot of benefits for um stopping cancer growth and and so forth. So fasting is incredibly powerful if done correctly. And often we put the disclaimer on there with support because sure you can do it yourself but it can be really challenging and scary at the same time especially if you’re on medications or you have diabetes or Yeah. that that becomes more complicated very Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So uh I think we’ve covered a lot there and uh a few tangents along the way. Do you have any final comments to make? No, look, uh, look, I mean, we we covered vitamin D, um, and vitamin K2 in a previous podcast, so I urge people to check that out. And, um, vitamin D is going to keep coming up. And I think, uh, you know, there’s going to be interesting research on K2 um, that’s coming out. I I I believe too, that’s kind of like the the next vitamin D. But I find even vitamin A, vitamin E, the other fats, soluble vitamins um you need them all. Yeah, you do. And um hopefully you can you acquire them naturally and you converting your beta carotene and into your vitamin A and so forth. uh but uh yeah they all play an important role and um I’d like to you know look further into uh particularly vitamin A I have a strong interest in too uh in a a future podcast and I’d really like to we’ve mentioned it before about digging more into long co and I’m sure we will yeah well you going back to you with your all your fatigue patients and and uh you know chronic fatigue and me you’d be really looking at a lot of uh what’s happening in the long co space I would imagine. So yeah, and just want to bring as much awareness as possible to those uh potential remedies that that a lot of people are missing and more awareness yeah to naturopathic philosophy back to basics. Right. Well, thank you, Brad, for um coming on again and sharing your time and your valuable information with everyone. And I I look forward to seeing you in the next one. And don’t forget to check out some next videos. Okay, thank you everyone. Bye.
