Question
What if I miss a dose or take a double dose by mistake?
29 December 2017. Related: Adherence, All topics.
Hi, if i forget to take my pill on time, or maybe take it twice a day, without remembering i took it, then maybe overdose by mistake. Can it cause any harm to my health?
Answer
Missing an occasional pill is okay
Taking a double dose of HIV medication is usually okay  – but it is not a good idea. The main risk is that you might get side effects for a few hours due to the short time when you have higher drug levels.
Additional doses of other types of medication might require speaking to a doctor or pharmacist about the short term side effects.
It is better to get a pill box. Then you can see each day whether or not you have taken your meds. These are cheap and work really well.
Josh.
Answer revised 16/02/22
Hi Carmen, this is not likely to cause any effect. If you notice any additional side effects speak to a doctor or pharmacist. This will not effect how well Paxlovid works.
Hi I took twice the night paxlovid during 1 day can it affect me
Hi Anon, no you do not need to change the schedule. What time were both doses given?
Nevirapine generally will not cause any problems if given a double dose accidentally. Your daughter may experience side effects while there is a higher concentration of Nevirapine in her body for the next day. This should settle.
If your daughter becomes unwell or you notice she is acting different, take her to a doctor to be checked over and explain the accidental double dose.
Good morning. I gave my soughter neiverapine in the morning and someone else gavr it to her not knowing. Will it couse any harm to her? Should i change the schedule?
Hi Mary, this is a website service about HIV. Taking a double dose of HIV meds will not cause any harm. It is not a good idea to try to make yourself throw up the second dose. Nearly all meds have been used at higher doses without causing problems, so doing this once is fine.
If I took my evening meds twice by error what should I do?
I take them twice a day but went to sleep after taking evening and husband woke me with evening meds again and I did not get awake and took them.
I tried to throw up and did some of the chocolate milk but do not know if I got any meds up or not I take norvasc 5 mg, metropolol, clonodine.02, eloquis, mesothelioma.
Hi Kris – thanks for sharing your experience – it helps for others to read this. Sometimes the main drug in Dovato (dolutegravir) is used at twice the dose to overcome drug resistance. So this will not have done any harm.
You are right that sometimes your mind worrying can often be worse than other risks :)
It has not had side effects for me. I switched from trimeq to dovato 4 months ago and had a double dose, i realised about 20 mins after i took it so was aware of possible side effects and had none. Hope this settles your mind, which is the hardest thing to live with after diagnosis, not the infection itself. Well i think so :)
Hi Lyn, this is unlikely to cause any problems. You may experience some lightheadedness/dizziness depending on how effective this medication is for you. If this becomes worse speak to a pharmacist or doctor about taking this additional dose.
As you can’t undo the dose though, this ust means trying not to let this happen again in the future.
I took 1 dose (32 mg)candesartan for my blood pressure at 7:00 am and than took another dose, by mistake, at 6:00 pm. Will I have side effects?