User Reviews for Paxlovid oral

I’m on day two and it’s clear the medication has knocked my symptoms down fast and really well. The down side however, as many others have pointed out, is the HORRIBLE taste in your mouth that persists the entire time you’re taking the pills. For me it’s so bad I’m considering not taking them anymore. It’s like this chemically, metallic, toxic taste that is, again, really horrible!

Oh man where to begin. I got symptoms Sunday and progressed until I decided to se my docto on Wednesday. He said to take Tylenol and fluids. I was like “hell no”. That same day I lost my sense of smell so I went to the ER where doctors actually see you unlike these virtual doctors who are crazy. At the ER they determined to give me the monoclonal antibody treatment and Paxlovid. Paxlovid is 3 large pills twice a day and leave an awful bitter taste that will last all throughout the medication.

Husband came down with covid with high fever and extreme tiredness. Could not even speak. After two doses fever was gone, energy improved and voice started to come back. This thing works. I would suggest to anyone reading about the negative side effects to review their percentage occurrence. One would think based on the reviews here that most people will experience horrible metallic taste in mouth. Yet in clinical trials this was experienced by less than 3 percent of participants.

I’ve gotten Moderna vaccines and both boosters, experienced subtle allergy-like symptoms, runny nose, light cough. Concerned when cough seem to be going down into chest. I am 67-year-old female, fairly healthy. Home test positive, went to urgent care, tested positive. I requested Paxlovid, was given RX. As mentioned earlier aftertaste was horrible but was willing to tolerate to remain healthy. I was alarmed when my blood pressure shot up, my PCP reminded me both Covid and Paxlovid will make you hypertensive. Within 48 hours my blood pressure returned to normal. On day 6 tested neg. Am on lookout for possible “rebound” symptoms, so far so good. Hubby remains neg. Read More Read Less

Tested positive on 6/6. Prescibed on 6/9. Took first dose around lunch. Within 30 minutes I noticed a very bitter and awful taste. Took next dose in the evening time. Taste only got worse. Made me gag. The taste stays, it doesn’t go away. I think I will discontinue taking it because it’s just that bad.

The taste is awful and this is a funny remedy to help but frozen chocolate. I gag at anything bitter, I can't even drink black coffee. Freeze chocolate so you can suck on it longer. Do not bite the chocolate, let it just sit on your tongue. It is a temporary fix but it helps. My symptoms got better after first dose. I had it all, a sore throat, fever, body aches, chills and headaches. Took paxlovid second day after testing positive. Took 1st does at 11am, by 4pm my throat felt so much better. I was still coughing but it hurt less. I still took Tylenol and ibuprofen every 6 hours. Its 11:30pm and no body aches, headaches or chills. Hope this helpsRead More Read Less

Horrible toxic taste that never went away. Sickening. Felt like I was being poisoned.

Seemed to work well, Down side is 3 huge pills, twice per day. Also, terrible taste in my mouth that kept getting worse. Bad taste went away after course of pills was complete.

I developed symptoms of covid after being exposed to it by my fiance. He tested positive and 3 days later I tested positive. We are both fully vaxed and boosted. Because I can get asthma and have a touchy respiratory system I got alot sicker than he did with a very sore throat, body aches, fever, chills and really congested. Had that "been hit by a truck flu exhaustion ". Got on paxlovid 2 days after symptoms started. It's been a challenge as the horrid bitter taste actually keeps me up at night. My guts do not like this med so I've had gas and bloating and loose stools. I've also noticed that my hands are really tingling and feel kinda painful. Totally weird. I took 2 days of full dose but third day could not bear the side effects so dis one dose mid day. I just seem to get more and more boated. It's a hard decision because most of the flu like symptoms which were pretty bad are resolved. I'm going to try to stick to at least one dose tomorrow and the next day. Seems like more than just my gut is getting affected by this. Works great for halting viral replication but the side effects are hard for me to manage. Really hoping to avoid rebound. Read More Read Less

Tested positive while experiencing a sore throat, headache, fatigue for 2 days. Dr. Gave me a script for Paxlovid. Had a metallic taste in mouth but tolerable and all symptoms disappeared after 2nd dose. Took all 5 doses tested negative for three days after finished med then positive for last 4 days! Just feel fatigued, otherwise fine. I am not sure if I will take this med again. Frustrating.

I had 4 Moderna vaccines so far 5 months apart each and I became very sick. The 4 rapid tests I took showed negative results. I took a PCR test and came back positive five days into he COVID ordeal.By then I had fever for 3 days, laryngitis, cough, body aches, headaches stuffed nose turned into sinusitis. I am currently into the second day in PAXLOVID that I began to take on the 5th day into the COVID symptoms. The fever, body aches, cough have vanished. My nose is still stuffed and running . I did have some severe stomach ache and slight diarrhea for a brief moment that subsided. The slightly bitter taste I get is on and off and is very bearable. I understand that Paxlovid is an antiviral medication and I’ll choose a slight bitter taste in my mouth over the risk of getting severely sick from COVID. I realize that the vaccine were created for the old COVID variants and not for Omicron variants that keep mutating. I am grateful for the Paxlovid. I wish my test results came back earlier so I could have avoided 3 of the 5 days f the Covid symptoms nightmare by taking the Paxlovid which I didn’t even know it’s free of charge! I Highly recommend it with the caution on the many interactions that Pa Clovis has with many medications that, luckily I was not on. Read More Read Less

The Paxlovid has been very good for me the only side effect that I've experienced is the diarrhea and the bitter taste in your mouth

This experimental treatment caused me to get super sick. Vomiting non stop for a day after the second full day of use. In addition, when I went to urgent care, my BP shot up over 200!! It was scary. The COVID doctor told me I “probably” wasn’t the best candidate for this treatment due to BP issues. Not even one screening doctor asked about blood pressure issues. Someone less healthy than me might have died because of this treatment. I’m so shocked that I trusted the “system”…… NEVER AGAIN!Read More Read Less

I’m 54 unvaccinated with first time Covid. I had 104 fever, aches, headache, congestion. Took the home test — it was positive. First time ever since the start. But I felt like a mack truck hit me and kept rolling over me.. Doctor put me on Paxlovid day 3. Now I’m 2 1/2 days using Paxlovid and i feel much better.. I’m still not out of the woods but the symptoms have gotten better and the fever broke. I do have that awful taste of liquid metal mixed with aspirin which is truly disgusting. However, I found a solution…liquid water enhancers — Mio (sweet tea) and Crush (orange) … I’ve been squinting them in my water and it seems to get rid of that bad taste for more than a few minutes.. I’ve had no diarrhea as others have stated in their post. I do feel off balance when I’m walking and I think it’s one of the side effects. Overall I’m grateful to this medicine as it seems to be working. I’ve seen some rebound on this site so that’s my only concern. I’ve heard the rebounds are milder in any event. 2 1/2 days to go so we shall see. Read More Read Less

Double vaxxed and double boosted. Had a bad cough on 6/2 and tested positive on 6/3. Beginning diabetes and have HBP, so my doc prescribed Paxlovid. Had to stop a few of my meds to take this one. There is a definite metallic taste that won't go away. Especially bad is that I take Metformin. Side effect of this is diarrhea, but I had finally got over. This Paxlovid also has the same issue. So now I've got this bad taste in my mouth and I'm having to stay near a bathroom when I take my dosage. Only 3 more days of this to go. It does work; my cough has mostly gone away, no sore throat, and I'm not bedridden in a hospital. Read More Read Less

This medication created a constant horrible bitter taste in my mouth. It was like the taste of stomach acid (bile) constantly in my throat and mouth. I tried antacids, yogurt, milk, candies and relief was very temporary. I ate with the medication and tried taking it as early as I could so I could sleep better. I slept elevated and nothing helped. I ended up only taking it for 4 days, I just couldn’t bare the last day. Normally, I can push through but this was an unbearable side effect for me. Read More Read Less

In good physical shape (6’3”, 170 lbs.; active). Fully Moderna-vaccinated including two boosters (most recent early May). Spent two weeks in Italy, tested negative day before return; two days after return had cold symptoms - mostly head congestion and hoarseness. Tested positive and began Paxlovid on day 4 of symptoms. Gradually felt better and completed Pax yesterday. Testing positive still but feel fine overall. Very concerned about possible rebound in a few days as others have mentioned. Ready to move on with good health! Overall I recommend this (relatively untested) drug and hope others find the relief I did. Read More Read Less

I am 67 year old cancer patient — healthy and active. Noticed I was coming down with something - took Claritin which usually works. But not this time, it progressed to high fever and body ache by night. Took Tylenol to keep it down end of second day did a home test and found Covid positive went to doctor with 101 fever. Took Paxilovid 3rd day evening. Didn’t take Tylenol under doctor recommendation. No fever next day. Not much of body ache either. But continued cough. Unbearable bitter taste woke me up from sleep 5 hours after first dose. Took throat lozenges to get some relief. Now 3 days into Paxlovid no fever nothing but persistent cough and that bitter taste. Concerned about some posters saying the symptoms come back and it tests positive again - then what’s the point of this? I am health enough don’t think I would have Ben hospitalized. My oxygen level have all ways been 97%-100% while had high fever. If I knew the sysmptoms and Covid come back, I would not have started on this. I guess I will wait and see what happens after finishing this bitter bill treatment. Read More Read Less

51 yr old female, bmi of 30 otherwise healthy. 1st time with Covid. Fever, bad cough, bad sore throat, laryngitis, bad headache. Started Paxlovid on day 3 after onset of symptoms. Within 24 hrs fever and headache gone. 48 hrs later the cough was mostly gone. 72 hours and voice nearly normal, cough totally gone. SIDE EFFECTS: taste like dirty pennies (it’s only 5 days, just dealing with it); some diarrhea (drinking lots of water); and constant nausea for which seasick wristbands work well, plus ginger tea and ginger ale. Also taking gravol//dimethhydrinate at night helps (doctor said ok to take) with added benefit of helping with insomnia. As other reviewers have commented, I would much rather have five days of these reasonably mild side effects then take the risk of being hospitalized.Read More Read Less

Prescribed for Covid. All symptoms quickly quickly disappeared, however, I had to discontinue use due to terrible aftertaste, nausea, backpain and diarrhea. Should have stuck with day and Nyquil.