User Reviews for Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir)

Was prescribed on the 2nd day of illness. I am immunocompromised because I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and I take an immunosuppressing medication. My fever was gone within 2 hours of taking. The bitter taste is bad but tolerable for me. I am done with my 5 day course and the bad taste is completely gone. I just have some congestion. Almost all of my symptoms were dissipating after full two days taking medicine. It did make me very drowsy though. I slept a lot but that probably helped with recovery. Extremely grateful to have gotten this medication. Covid hit me like the flu. Just hoping for no rebound like others have posted because i am only 7 days out. Will update if things change.Read More Read Less

I am 54, obese, female, history of cold- and allergy-induced asthma. I am triple vaxxed. (I also think I had Covid once already, in Feb. 2020 but no way to know for sure.) I came down with Covid about three days ago. I felt pretty gross the first day with diarrhea, runny nose, tired, woozy, sneezing, terrible dry cough, chills, but not as bad as it sounds/could have been. My doctor prescribed paxlovid right away but I was only able to start it yesterday (day 2) due to supply issues in NYC. I was already feeling much better before I got the medication. After the second dose, which I took last night before bed, a few hours after eating, I got the sour/metallic/grapefruit taste in my mouth and bad nausea right away. I have been up all night between the nausea and the awful taste. The nausea has subsided a little but the taste is going strong. My morning coffee tasted terrible, bitter and burnt. I can't take cough drops or cough meds any more bc I am too grossed out by the thought. My mouth, eyes and vag are all dry. Right now, I couldn't even get down a 3d dose of this if I wanted to, I am sure I would just gag. On the bright side, my Covid symptoms are mostly gone aside from the dry cough. (But my symptoms were already very light before I started the medication.) The medication is what is making me feel the worst right now. But I would definitely keep taking it if I could, as I think it really has helped. They really should warn people about the taste, I had no idea how bad it could be.Read More Read Less

I took this 5 days into experiencing Covid symptoms of cough, runny nose, fatigue, and body aches and completed the prescribed course. I noticed a slow improvement but not dramatic relief, and unlike almost every other poster I did not have any trouble with taste distortion. My symptoms cleared for the most part about 7 days after starting the medication. However, 14 days after starting the Paxlovid all my symptoms returned and were at least as strong as the first time around. I guess I would still recommend this drug for people like me who have an underlying lung condition in case it avoids hospitalization. But rebound was unexpected and distressing.Read More Read Less

Started on day 3 of symptoms due to low oxygen level and rapid heart rate. Took first dose at 9pm and 12 hours later when I woke up, both oxygen level and heart rate had normalized, cough pretty much gone, no headache, bodyaches or sore throat. It worked like magic. Terrible taste in my mouth, but if I don't get a bad case of rebound covid it is definitely worth it.

The after taste that is horrific doesn’t appear to going away any time soon!! I have tried everything that has been recommended and then some!! I can’t stop gagging over a bucket…. Praying that when I can finally bring it up, this nightmare will be over! This information should have been stated in large, bold print to inform us desperate fools on what to expect!! This is a disgrace!! I can honestly say that this is by far the worst misrepresentation that I have ever come across!! I am missing 2 very important family functions because I can not stop my gagging reflux due to this discussing permanent metallic taste!!!!!!!!Read More Read Less

As others have stated, this did improve my Covid symptoms after about 24 hours (less chest tightness, congestion). The side effects, however, were so pronounced that I considered stopping the treatment. The bitterness caused terrible nausea. I also had muscle aches, stomach pain, and diarrhea. I was prescribed this because I have asthma and type 1 diabetes, but am otherwise healthy. I am grateful to have avoided a hospital stay but wish it didn’t come with so many side effects. I started taking it on my third day of symptoms (first day testing positive).Read More Read Less

The bitter taste in my mouth was unbearable. I was extremely nauseas from it whereas I wasn’t nauseas before. The only thing that helped was lays potato chips. I had zero appetite so I ended up just sucking on one chip at a time and it was the only thing to mask that awful taste.

Took on day 2 of symptoms. Feel better, but after 5 days of treatment, still having runny nose, congestion, coughing spells (less frequently), tiredness. Bad taste helped by sucking on hard candies. No GI problems at all.

63 yr old with mild asthma & well controlled DM2. Vaccinated x 2 w/ 1 booster. Symptoms began w/ abdominal pain, nausea progressing to URI. Antigen test brightly instantly positive. Started Paxlovid and completed the 5 days. Mild, gradual improvement and retested 4 days after completing Paxlovid ( yes, metallic taste but that was not an issue for me...the illness was/is) and was perhaps very faintly positive. Felt good for 2 days then cough, congestion back- worse than initial symptoms and I tested again... instantly, "vividly" positive today. Using Albuterol and Advair inhalers, Flonase and Mucinex. The post treatment "rebound" phenomenon w/ Paxlovid is real and concerning. I hope that the drug(s) prevented more severe disease vs no treatment but it's hard to know. I'm concerned that the drug stops viral replication in some of us to a degree that the virus is "dormant" but that it comes back out to wreak havoc when the coast is clear again. Is it the virus, the immune response to the virus...maybe a combo causing the symptoms? But it seems that, in my case based on testing..... at day 13 from my initial symptoms, Covid is alive and well despite Paxlovid. Back to isolation. There is plenty in the recent news re this, including Pfizer "giving an ok" for a second course for those of us who rebounded. But that could be a "Groundhog Day" experience in my opinion. Hard to give this med a high rating based on my experience! Read More Read Less

I was only able to withstand three doses of Paxlovid due to severe and debilitating nausea and multiple bouts of vomiting. This is a serious medication and should be treated as such. I will say that after only two doses I noticed a significant improvement in COVID symptoms, however, it was completely overshadowed by aforementioned nausea and vomiting. There's little doubt this pill is very effective at treating COVID, but it needs to be more tolerable. Nausea subsided approximately 36 hours after I took my third (and final) dose. COVID symptoms came back some, but trending in the right direction. Obviously listen to your Dr., but if I had to do it over again I would have waited longer to start the medication (up to 5 days after first symptoms appear) to see if my symptoms would have improved on their own first. This is a serious medication and very few people (relatively speaking) have actually ever taken it. Infamous "bitter taste" is real and can be quite severe. The onset was exactly 30 minutes after the first dose and dissipated 24 hours after the final dose. Read More Read Less

I rapidly felt improvements in my symptoms (fever, diarrhea, congestion) a few hours after taking Paxlovid. The worst side effect has been a yucky metallic taste in my mouth. It was so bad that I got up to brush my teeth at 3am to try to get rid of it.

I am an overweight woman. As an extra precaution I decided to take Paxlovid. Started feeling unwell 4/6/22- tested positive for Covid on 4/7/22- started Paxlovid 4/7/22. Horrible taste in mouth- is not too bad during the day- as you drink and suck on cough drops and hard candy’s all day. But at night is is almost unbearable, waking to such a sour taste in your mouth. As soon as it starts to get better it’s time for your next dose. Had a fever from day 1 of not feeling well. Finished Paxlovid (5-days) on 4/12/22- horrible cough (barks cough- almost like croup) started on 4/15/22- dr put me on prednisone on 4/17/22 for 7 days. This helped with the cough- had a fever for a total of 25 days. Still tire easily. But finally feeling better as of 4/29/22. I am not sure if this helped me at all, as not even 3-days after finishing Paxlovid my symptoms worsened.Read More Read Less

I'm on Day 3 of Paxlovid and believe it has helped keep my Covid symptoms in the mild range. It definitely gives me peace of mind that my cough won't end up getting so bad that I have to go to the hospital. Like most commenters here, I experience the bitter/metallic aftertaste. I followed one commenter's suggestion of eating something salty to get rid of this taste (which he rightly described as being like the aftertaste of grapefruit). It definitely works, at least short term! And it gives me a great excuse to have potato chips for breakfast!!Read More Read Less

I was started taking this medication 4 days after starting to exhibit symptoms and a day after getting a positive PCR test. By day 4, my symptoms had drastically increased. I had a terribly congested head and almost constant deep coughing and it was all getting worse. I took my first dose and took about a 3 hour nap. When I woke up, I felt measurably better and beginning day 4 of treatment, I almost feel normal. The only downside is the awful metallic taste in my mouth! I still feel grateful to have been able to take it since I’m 69. I was vaccinated and had one booster so maybe that’s part of why it was so effective for me. Read More Read Less

Received the prescription right on the cusp of not being able to take it. 24 hours later covid was all but gone, but there was a bad taste in my mouth but can't complain as it did its job!

My wife tested positive and I started with symptoms and tested negative for 3 days then on day 4, I was positive, I have had 3 moderna vax and am 61 with history of pneumonia and bronchitis,. called the doc and started my first dose on day after positive. I had been coughing deep and uncontrollably for 2-3 days prior. Took first dose mid day and almost immediately got a terrible metallic taste in my mouth /tongue, however my cough and chest symptoms subsided quickly. 3 more days to go cant wait to lose this horrible taste . Better that the alternatives though.,Read More Read Less

Prescribed Paxlovid on Day 5. Cannot say for sure if helped or not as I was full into the throes of Covid already (total body ache, headache, constant coughing & congestion, fatigue). As with all prior reviews, the metallic taste that started within 40 minutes after taking Paxlovid was, to me, as bad as the virus. I continued to have continuous coughing & congestion a full week after completing Paxlovid; was prescribed a cough suppressant hat finally helped. I am now 2 1/2 weeks post Covid and the metallic taste is still slightly present, especially when drinking offer, tea & water. Hoping it is not permanent. Overall I would advise taking Paxlovid as the unknown is how bad or worse one could get without taking itRead More Read Less

"The bitter taste is cumbersome" The infamous bitter taste became so bad after the second dose that I ended up vomiting. I am unsure if I will be able to continue using the medication. Also, if you want proof that drug companies lie to us (I'm not one of these conspiracy nutters, honest), go and look at all of the reviews that mention the terrible taste side effect. You will find mention of it in virtually all of them. Additionally, anecdotally every person I've spoken with whose taken it has also experienced it. Now go and read the FDA EUA document that's publicly available. In it Pfizer claims only 6% of participants in the trial experienced this side effect. Utter bollocks!Read More Read Less

In hindsight I probably would have done okay without this. I am 70 but healthy and double vaxed and boosted. I asked for it as an extra precaution. My symptoms did improve quickly so will rate it high for effectiveness. The side effect of the taste is really what is making life hard for me right now. One night it was so bad I could not sleep. Tonight is my last evening pill and I am so glad to say goodbye to this medication.

Tested positive for covid. Started paxlovid on day 3 of symptoms. I have been vaccinated & double boosted. So far no nasty side effects as I take a Statin that i had to stop while taking this medication. The only complaint is the horrendous after taste the medication leaves in the mouth.. but it sure does beat being hospitalized or dying so i will deal with it!