About five days after a household member tested positive for COVID, four-year-old Creed Martinez, of Hondo, was rushed to the ER Sunday night with a temperature of 103.9 that wouldn’t break with Tylenol.
But the ER had little to offer in this situation.
“When they released Creed from the Emergency Room at 1 am, his temp was still increasing. They said just to observe him and continue treating with Tylenol, but Tylenol did very little. He actually at one point went up in temp an hour after his recommended dose of Tylenol. I was told if his fever persisted for more than 5 days to bring him back,” said mother Heather Martinez.
“His fever was spiking just about every 3 hours. The lowest reading I had gotten since Sunday was 102.2,” Martinez said. “The ER actually said we could alternate Tylenol and Motrin. I told them I had been advised not to use Motrin in case it was COVID, but that’s what the nurse at discharge told us to do….I did try Motrin one time after that but saw no difference in his temp with that either. When I spoke with our doctor, she recommended we try to avoid Motrin. Instead we increased the amount of melatonin he was taking.”
“We gave him 10mg of Melatonin at nap time Monday and then 10mg before bedtime. His fever finally broke overnight after upping his nightly melatonin dose!” Martinez said, relieved that something finally worked.”
She said the illness came on really fast, “He went from being completely fine Sunday evening to running a 103.9 fever by 9pm. He had previously complained his tummy was hurting after he woke up from his nap at 4 o’clock that day but seemed to be ok. Shortly after the fever started he complained of his legs, tummy and throat hurting. We spoke with Dr. Meyer and she wanted us to get checked out at Children’s ER to be sure it wasn’t strep or something that could be treated with antibiotics before we just assumed it was COVID. We arrived at Methodist by 11pm. All tests including Strep came back negative including a 24 hr COVID test.”
“However with Dr. Emily Meyers help we decided we should treat Creed as a COVID patient since he was tested just a few hours after his initial symptoms began, and he may not have had enough antibodies to detect the virus. And especially because he was demonstrating multiple symptoms and there is an active case within our home. His symptoms started 5 days after my husband tested positive for COVID, and most studies show symptoms usually present themselves 5-8 days after exposure to the virus.”
The family is using the regimen of melatonin, Vitamin D3 and Vitamin C recommended by Dr. Richard Neel and his staff as the pandemic began, including Dr. Emily Meyer who is the child’s physician.
“Our quarantine has started over and as long as his siblings and I don’t start showing any symptoms it will end on Creed’s 4th Birthday, July 26th!” Martinez said. “The following day will be his twin sisters’ 1st birthday, so we have planned a big birthday parade to celebrate our children and an end to our COVID Quarantine. Praying this is the end of COVID for us. I will gladly share my story with anyone who has questions. I want to raise awareness about COVID and the effects it has on the entire household. There is such a negative stigma attached to this virus, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. I took the necessary precautions. I am a stay at home mom so my children have not entered into any food or grocery establishment since this started in March. But with a spouse that is an essential worker, these things happen.”
“I’m so glad we used the melatonin and got him back on track less than 48 hours after his fever onset,” Martinez adds.
Contrary to statistics, the illness (presumed COVID) hit the four-year-old much harder than his father who had tested positive for COVID 5 days prior.
“My husband Mace’s initial symptom was loss of taste. He is congested with a very small, almost like a throat-clearing cough, was very fatigued before the Melatonin treatment and had a terrible headache for the first 4 days. But he has never run a fever. My husband is using 100mg melatonin at bedtime.”
“I highly recommend following Dr. Neel’s plan of treatment over the suggestion of just monitoring and alternating meds,” Martinez said. “With guidance I bumped up Creed’s Melatonin dosage before bed and it worked! If you have not read up on this I would recommend you do so. Also if anyone in your home is diagnosed with COVID, reach out to Dr. Neel or his staff. You’ll be amazed at how well it works. We were using the HEB brand quick dissolve 10mg Melatonin.”
“I encourage everyone young and old to take the precautions set forth by the CDC and government agencies seriously. Parents should know that COVID usually presents itself in children as digestive issues. That’s what we are currently battling.”
“NO ONE is immune to this strain of the Coronavirus. While we hope and pray it won’t affect our families, but when it does, it is extremely stressful. I’m very thankful our experience is not extreme with hospitalizations or worse. While emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausting, we are still together as a family working through it one day at a time.”
Note: Dr. Neel emphasizes to us on a regular basis the importance of making sure patients treating COVID with Melatonin, use the sublingual version, “Rapid or Quick Dissolve”, not the slow time release. He also emphasizes the importance of taking Vitamin D3 and Vitamin C. This is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Any patient taking this regimen should be under a doctor’s care and can call the doctor and his team at Uvalde Urgent Care or Little Alsace to get the right dosage determined by the weight and severity of symptoms in each patient.
By Kayleen Holder
Editor