Covid-19: Melatonin Recovery Testimonials and Dosage

The wife and son were sent home to finish recuperating at home and were both given oxygen to use at home through their recovery. As soon as the son got home, he started on melatonin at 1 mg per kilogram of body weight. My friend's wife had started on that dose right before she went into the hospital with double pneumonia and took melatonin with her to the hospital to take it on her own and they released her a few days later.

I called her today to see how she and her son were doing and she told me that he is slowly improving everyday and that it is a huge change from when he was in the hospital. She said that she was able to get off of the oxygen on her second day back at home and was feeling better.

She said that her son only needs oxygen when he goes outside for a walk so that he can go further, but she said he no longer needed oxygen in the house.

I think this is going to be a very good Thanksgiving for them this year!

I would like to say that this virus is spreading in the US at a rate that has recently hit over 150,000 new cases in one day and is currently expected to continue to rise rapidly with some projections that are looking quite gloomy!

Keep in mind that this virus has not even been here a year yet and does not appear to be going away any time soon on its own and scientists have seemed to become quiet on what the effect of CovaFlu might be on humans. They had previously said that it could be risky if you were to catch the flu and then shortly after, catch Covid-19 or vice versa, but I haven't heard anything about what the outcome might be if you were to catch both at the same time, but that thought does not sound very appealing to me.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I am slowly coming to the realization that I may not be able to avoid getting this virus and since flu season will be coming on shortly, the thought of a double whammy of Covid-19 + the flu (CovaFlu) seems highly undesirable.

On that note, I hope to put up a post or two this coming week that may be useful toward trying to maximally shorten the duration of Covid-19, with a new addition to the Covid-19 armamentarium on EC that seems to show the ability to work with some of the other Covid-19 remedies on EC including melatonin. I think that being as prepared as is reasonably possible, makes a lot of sense to me and that is what I am trying to do for my family and friends and I want to share any practical information that I can with the Earth Clinic community as well as others.

Art

He took 60 mg over a period of a week, or less than 10 mg per day. This dose is much much lower than the daily dose that Dr. Neel has recommended for treatment of Covid-19 and is not likely to be effective for the purpose and is the reason why I said, "equivalent to nothing", meaning it was not likely to do anything in terms of Covid-19.

Art

Yes, cherries do contain melatonin as outlined here:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf010321+

Unfortunately the amount of melatonin in the type of cherries considered to have the highest content of melatonin, Montmorency cherries is miniscule at just 13.46 ± 1.10 nanogram/gram of cherries. This is equivalent to only 0.00001346 mg for every gram of cherries that you eat. A cup of cherries weighs 140 grams. 13.46 x 140 = 1,884.4 nanograms per cup of cherries, so for every cup of cherries you eat, you only get 0.0018844 milligram of melatonin.

Based on these figures it would be physically impossible to get even 1/10 of a milligram from eating cherries. This type of dosing will do nothing in terms of having an effect on Covid-19, but it is a natural way to get a very tiny amount of melatonin.

Art

Yes, you are correct and if you have not been following the Earth Clinic melatonin / Covid-19 thread regarding Dr. Neel's work with his Covid/19 patients, it would be close to meaningless, or as you said "no validity".

Below is a link to the original thread which I originally posted in April of 2020. As a poster on Earth Clinic, I have no access to the original post to update it as new information comes available, so the only way I have to update it is as a reply to the original post and this unfortunately means that in addition to reading the original post you will have to also read the replies in order to see all of the updates that I have added since April.

Here is a link to the original April post:

https://www.earthclinic.com/melatonin-protocol-for-coronavirus.htm

In addition to this post, I have also written another post explaining, via studies and articles, how and what melatonin does in terms of taking the "deadly" out of Corona virus and seems to convert it to a virus that we can possibly live with.

https://www.earthclinic.com/supplements/melatonin-research-for-covid-19.html

This post explains how melatonin interacts with the immune system to repair or lessen most of the damage being done to the body by the SARS CoV-2 virus. It contains links to many studies which tend to support the use of melatonin in the treatment of Covid-19.Once you have read the original post and replies, you will have a much better understanding of the how and why of melatonin for Covid-19, but you will also learn how melatonin can potentially help with the aftermath of Covid-19 in terms of long term damage to the lungs, heart, kidneys, liver and brain! There are multiple long term health issues associated with this disease that aren't mentioned much on the nightly news and melatonin may just help prevent or ameliorate some of the long term damage being done by Covid-19!

As an example, a new Covid-19 article suggests that nearly 1 out of 5 Covid-19 survivors will potentially develop some form of mental health issue.

Here is a link to that article :

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/11/11/933964994/after-covid-diagnosis-nearly-1-in-5-are-diagnosed-with-mental-disorder

Much of the damage caused by the virus has only been discovered in autopsy of the patients who have succumbed to the disease, but it is becoming clear that just because Covid-19 did not kill you, there is a good chance there is damage that was done to the body that may not be readily apparent until months or possibly years later such as pulmonary fibrosis or heart damage and melatonin in studies has shown the potential to improve both situations.

Art

"....I asked her if they were taking melatonin to help deal with the virus, and she said they were, but that her son had only taken a total of 60 mg over the past week before going into the hospital, which is roughly equivalent to nothing...."

60 mg equals to 60 kg body weight. Why it is "nothing"? Maybe you meant 60 mag? or maybe he was double in weight, 120 kg or more?

Yes, some people have low tolerance for melatonin as it can make them sleepy when they don't want to be, but something to consider is that if you are sick with Covid-19, restful sleep is a rarity and it is not like you are going to be out and about if you have Covid-19, so being able to just lay back, relax and get more restful sleep due to the melatonin can actually be a very good thing and feeling sleepy is likely to be the least of your worries if you have Covid-19 which can also be deadly in some people.

So if you think about it, sleeping in this case is helpful and melatonin can help you to reach REM sleep and possibly extend your time in REM sleep which is useful when you are sick as REM sleep is a place where your body can heal itself better than non-REM sleep!

Art

Normally with melatonin, you take it at night only to try and mimic the body's own production, but in life threatening diseases like cancer or Covid-19, taking it in divided doses throughout the day is likely more useful and they were taking divided doses. Yes, melatonin can make some people sleepy, but this is actually a good thing in the case of Covid-19 because Covid can make it hard to get good restful sleep, but melatonin has the potential to make you sleepy and reach REM sleep for longer periods which is helpful for the overall healing process. They did not take vitamin C or vitamin D because they had only stocked up on melatonin and did not want to go out to get the C and D. My friend's wife and her son are still taking the full dose as they are still ill with pneumonia. Her son is still on oxygen and she is off of oxygen. My friend, his daughter and grandson have discontinued melatonin as they all feel back to normal. They took melatonin for about 3 weeks at or near full dose. Art

Sincerely, Kristine

I absolutely trust that these high dosages are safe, and very much want to do them. BUT, I take 0.5mg (yes, 1/2 mg) of melatonin every night. Any more than that and I am knocked out and rendered a flat tire the next day and feel very off. Any thoughts about how to work with this?

Thank you, this is very interesting to read- could I ask how did the people who didn't go to hospital take their daily high dose of melatonin? Did they take it throughout the day or one dose before bedtime, if they took it during the day did it make them sleepy? Also how long did they take the high dose for and did they reduce it gradually when they felt better? Did they take vitamins C and D as well?

I had, of course, mentioned melatonin to them. It was back when I had thought that 80 mg of melatonin per night was the appropriate dose for everyone based on the information that Dr. Neel had released at the time. Later I found out that the appropriate dose for Covid-19 was at least 1 mg per kilogram of body weight, so the amount is dependent on your weight, again based on Dr. Neel's findings with his Covid-19 patients' responses to high dose melatonin.

In any case, my friend's son was working with a skeleton crew at work with masks. A lady at his work contracted Covid-19, and he got it from her and took it home to the other 4 members of the household, and they all got Covid-19. My friend's son thought he was just catching a cold or the flu and didn't mention it to anyone. But then the lady from his work died of Covid-19, and he realized that he likely had Covid-19 also and went to the hospital, and they immediately checked him in because he was having difficulty breathing. The other 4 members of the household soon realized that they were likely infected and went and got tested for Covid. In the meantime, they were not eligible to be accepted into the hospital.

During this time, I had not heard from them, but another friend texted me to let me know what was going on, and once I got that news, I called my friend, and his wife answered, and I asked how they were doing. She was pretty casual about the situation and said the doctor said that her son would probably be released from the hospital in about 5 days, and she was very happy about that.

I asked her if they were taking melatonin to help deal with the virus, and she said they were, but that her son had only taken a total of 60 mg over the past week before going into the hospital, which is roughly equivalent to nothing. I told her that the latest dosing recommendation by Dr. Neel was 1 mg per kilogram of body weight, and she was surprised to hear it and said that she was not taking nearly enough. On the other hand, her daughter was taking that dosage, and her husband was taking just under that dosing level, but she was only taking about half of the correct dose. She said her husband and her daughter were doing pretty good, as was their 12-year-old grandson, who was also doing well at his correct amount. She said she was feeling exhausted and weak and was starting to have a little difficulty breathing.

I asked her if there was any way that she could get melatonin to her son in the hospital, and she said no, they wouldn't let her in to see him. I asked her to ask her son to ask the doctor if he would give him HDM. He texted her back, saying that when he asked the doctor about melatonin, the doctor told him not to worry because they were already giving him some. I told his mom to have her son ask the doctor how much melatonin they were giving him and if it wasn't at least one mg per kg, to ask the doctor if he would boost the dose up to reach that level. It turned out they were only giving him 5 or 10 mg of melatonin to help with sleep. My friend's son asked if they would boost his dose up if he would sign a waiver to protect the doctor and the hospital against a lawsuit, and the doctor said no.

A day later, my friend's wife called me crying because the hospital had just told them that their son had taken a turn for the worse, and it was now touch and go. She said that the doctor told her that her son now required 85 to 90% oxygen support, and it was looking like they would have to place him on a ventilator if he did not improve very soon. I asked her again about the possibility of getting melatonin to her son, and she said it was impossible. I reminded her to bring her own melatonin dose up to the correct amount. I asked her how her husband, daughter, and grandson were doing, and she said they all seemed to be doing pretty well, but she was feeling pretty bad. I told her to keep me posted and take melatonin with her if she had to go to the hospital, and she said she would.

The next day I got a text from her daughter telling me that her mom was in the hospital with double pneumonia! I asked her if her mom was able to take melatonin with her to the hospital, and she said yes. I asked the daughter how she was doing, and she told me she had started taking melatonin as soon as she began to feel symptoms since she already knew her brother had it and had exposed her. Her test later confirmed that she was positive for Covid-19, but she told me it was like she had a very mild flu, and she felt like she was over the virus, but just feeling tired as she usually did after the regular flu. She said her brother's son was similar to her, as was her dad, with all three presenting with mild flu-like symptoms, but in less than a week is almost back to normal except for the tired feeling.

My friend called me the same day and was very concerned about his son because the doctor had just told him that his son now required 75% oxygen. If he did not improve from this point quickly, his son would have serious health issues for the rest of his life, and that was assuming that he survived. He told my friend that if he does survive, he will require oxygen for the rest of his life, and he may have significant health issues and possible heart issues.

I texted my friend's wife in the hospital the next day, and she confirmed that she had brought melatonin to the hospital with her and was taking the correct dose on her own. She was released from the hospital 3 days later and recuperating at home now. A few days later, the hospital released her son as they said he only required 15 % oxygen assistance and said he could recover at home. As soon as he got home, he started on the correct dose of melatonin, and he said that he would stay on it for many months to try to assist the healing process.

I'm glad to know that they all made it past covid-19 safely, but the wife and son are going to have a significant amount of recovery time and healing to do.

My thinking on melatonin as relates to Covid-19 is unchanged. I keep it on hand, and my family and I will start at 1 mg per kg/day at the first sign of Covid-19 and even before being tested as the results took days for my friends to get them back to find out that they all tested positive for Covid-19. Suppose no improvement is seen the following day after initiating melatonin. In that case, I will consider increasing my dose by a small margin given the excellent safety profile of melatonin at higher dosing, as Dr. Neel is using.

Again, I am not recommending Dr. Neel's protocol, just reporting it and how it affected my friend's family.

Art

Oopsie! I'm giving her 50 mg of zinc, not 50 mcg. Thanks for pointing that out.

Thanks also for the info about melatonin for dementia! I'll need to research that some more.

~Mama to Many~

Yes, melatonin does help with other viruses and sometimes pneumonia and is protective of the lungs in general and I am very happy to hear it partly helped your mother in law avoid her usual prolonged bouts with a cold!

In regards to her dementia, melatonin can help with "sundowning" which is often seen in the different dementias. Plenty of studies to support the use of melatonin for sundowning. There are also studies to support the use of melatonin for dementia itself.

Thank you for this post as it highlights multiple remedies for colds!

You said you gave her 50 mcg of zinc, is that correct, as that is a very tiny dose?

Art

That is an amazing testimony!

Your mother-in-law is so fortunate to have someone like you who is willing to try different remedies and it certainly did the trick. I'm glad she is feeling better.

I consider you a real-life Wonder Woman who takes such great care of a large and extended family ... not to mention, of course, all of your other pursuits and everything that entails!

I was about to put in an online order for some vitamins, etc. but your post made me realize that I don't have very much melatonin left (and what I have is only 3 mg).

I wish the best of health to you and yours :)

* * * * *

And kudos to Art for bringing melatonin to our attention!

Cheers :)

My mother in law woke up with cold symptoms almost two weeks ago. She didn't have a fever. She had a cough, she felt like she had a cold, and her voice was lower. She didn't have her usual appetite. She takes colds very hard. She has COPD in addition to her a-fib and dementia. She has a lot of trouble walking because she broke her femur a year ago. She is 82. Her colds go from "just a cold" to bronchitis or pneumonia in a matter of days.

Even though I didn't think it was covid, I thought High Dose Melatonin would be the best thing to try since surely covid isn't the only virus it fights. I immediately started her on 20 mg of melatonin 4 times a day. I was also giving her alka seltzer. (I have generally felt it helped colds get better, not just relieve symptoms) I added 50 mcg of zinc gluconate and vitamin D daily.

I was giving her mucinex a couple of times a day as well. 24 hours later, she was no worse and perhaps improving. 48 hours later she was spunkier and sounded better except for occasional coughing fits (which she has even when she doesn't have a cold.) I bought lots of melatonin (Natrol) months ago in preparation for when I might need them. I had two concerns about using it with my mother in law but neither turned out to be an issue.

I was afraid that much melatonin would make her so sleepy that she wouldn't take in adequate calories or fluids. While she did sleep more it seems, it was a normal amount for an elderly person with a cold. So that fear was unfounded.

I was also concerned that if it made her sleepier, she would have a harder time getting up for the bathroom (which is already hard for her) and affect her balance if she was sleepy. Again, the concern was for naught. I have had my mother in law on 80 mg of melatonin a day for almost 2 weeks. (Even though she is close to 100% I wanted to give it a full two weeks to make sure it didn't relapse.) She is back to her normal amounts of napping and sleeping. Even with her 20 mg of melatonin at dinner time, around 6:30 pm she doesn't fall asleep in the evening until her normal bedtime, around 11pm. (She is a night owl.)

For the record, she is taking medication for afib, high blood pressure and anxiety and I noticed no ill effects from the added supplements. I am a big fan of inexpensive and effective remedies. When it is easily available, that is extra wonderful.

And Natrol melatonin is even on the shelves of Dollar General Stores!

Art, thanks for all your research and writing on the subject of melatonin. It has been a huge blessing to me!

~Mama to Many~