Paxlovid

[Anonymous]

What have others' experiences with Paxlovid been recently? I have Covid and I am not considered high risk. However - the last time I got Covid the acute phase was mild, but I continue to have long covid symptoms which scares me for this round. My dr. is willing to prescribe it but says she normally only prescribes for high risk individuals. I've heard it stops the virus from replicating, therefore reducing your chances of long covid. My dr. has said there's no study that shows this. My doctor is a new one for me so I am not 100% with them yet. Thanks for any advice.

[Anonymous]

Diarrhea. Severe.

[Anonymous]

A data point of 1 - I took it the first time and it reduced the symptoms quickly and no long term effects (but I hated the side effects of it). The second time I had VERY mild symptoms so did not take it. I did end up losing my sense of taste for about 6 months - it's only just recently come back. But no other long symptoms.

[Anonymous]

What side effects were noticeable?

I would stop lipitor to take Paxlovid no biggie.
But DH would have to stop a BP med and tamsulosin, biggies.

[Anonymous]

Your doctor is absolutely correct that there are no studies that show any effect one way or the other for Paxlovid on long covid.

Point for that doctor!

[Anonymous]

Took it for my last two covid infections, including approximately one month ago. Symptoms were gone in one day both times. Only side effect was a mild metallic taste which ended as soon as the 5-day course of the medicine was over.

[Anonymous]

I’ve taken it a couple of times, it worked very well. Side effects were minimal. Some people get nauseous but I didn’t. I took it partly in the hope it would completely kill off the virus so I wouldn’t have any pockets of it hanging around anywhere.

[Anonymous]

I took it 2 of the 3 times I had Covid. I’m high risk because of kidney disease. The only side effect was metallic taste in my mouth. It took me 5 days to recover from Covid the first time I took Paxlovid and 4-5 the second time - but both times it cut my fever and I felt less sick, although very tired. I have had no long COVID and there’s no difference in my gfr.

[Anonymous]

I have taken Paxlovid twice. The first time I had a horrible taste in my mouth that went away a few days after. The second time, I really didn’t even get the taste. The only reason I took it the second time is because i lost my sense of smell and I didn’t want to risk that,being gone for months like the PP. I was way sicker the first time, and I also had no sense of smell for about four days. The second time I didn’t feel that badly, and I wasn’t going to take it until I woke up with no sense of smell but it started to come back within 48 hours once I started Paxlovid.

The worst thing about Paxlovid the first time was the irony that I couldn’t taste or smell anything except for that horrible Paxlovid mouth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A data point of 1 - I took it the first time and it reduced the symptoms quickly and no long term effects (but I hated the side effects of it). The second time I had VERY mild symptoms so did not take it. I did end up losing my sense of taste for about 6 months - it's only just recently come back. But no other long symptoms.

You had zero sense of taste or it was just altered?

[Anonymous]

This is OP updating that I started it yesterday. So far, I feel way better already. I do have a slightly metallic taste in my mouth but it’s not too bad - maybe it will become more pronounced with time. Worried about the possibility of rebounding that I’ve heard about it - fingers crossed. Thanks everyone for the input!

[Anonymous]

Your chances of having a rebound infection with paxlovid are essentially the same as if you didn’t take it (rebounds also happen without paxlovid).

[Anonymous]

My mom took it twice. She's 89. Both time, she was better within a day.

I took it and felt much better within a day. I'm not sure I would have made it without Paxlovid as my lungs were filling with fluid, and breathing was difficult.

[Anonymous]

I have Covid for the first time and am high risk due to age. I took one dose of Paxlovid and could not tolerate it. It caused severe nausea, racing heart and headache. I also got diarrhea but I’m not sure if that was from Paxlovid or Covid.
Two days later the weird taste hasn’t worn off completely yet.

[Anonymous]

There’s some trials going on with longer term use of paxlovid to treat long covid. Should be interesting to see how that goes.