Question
I have been taking Paxlovid wrong for the last week…
10 May 2023. Related: Adherence, All topics, COVID-19.
I misunderstood the Paxlovid instructions and only took one tablet in morning and one tablet at night for over a week before I discovered my error. Should I be worried?
Answer
Hi, how are you doing?
Paxlovid is a treatment used to reduce the risk of severe symptoms from COVID-19.
As you have been taking one tablet a day, this means that Paxlovid will not work as well.
There is still a chance that the treatment will have some effectiveness but it will not be as a high as if you took the tablets as intended.
Do you still have symptoms of COVID-19?
Have you spoken with your doctor? If you still have symptoms of COVID-19 it may be required that you restart the course to ensure that Paxlovid works properly.
Josh.
Hi Eleanor, I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing this side effect but please don’t stop treatment early if you can tolerate the taste. The 5 days of treatment (and the bad taste) can greatly reduce the severiy of covid and make really improve the long-term outcomes of the infection.
Brushing your teeth =/mouth wash doesn’t often help with the taste. Some people recommended having foods that coat the mouth e.g., chocolate and milk to help allay the taste in your mouth for longer periods of times. Other people find that eating/drinking anything to help improve the taste for short periods of time.
After the 5 days of treatment, it is expected that the bad taste will go away as soon as the treatment stops.
Took paxlovid first time was up all night terrible terrible taste in my mouth got up brushed my teeth only helped for a couple of minutes, headache nausea , I will not be taking it again
Hi Freda, do you mean you had taken a double dose? and how are you feeling now?
How many times did you take the two doses together?
I did the same thing. When instructions said take both at same time I was thinking time by clock. When realized my mistake I continued out as I should have in first place. Either way it knocked it out of me.
Hi Kirby, great to hear that you are doing well and you got through the second bout of Covid.
Thanks for reply! I’m doing fine. Contacted my doctor whose advice was in line with yours. The good news is my dosing error was to radically underdose. And I did survive my second bout with Covid, tested negative. Doctor did not suggest restarting Paxlovid. Gotta say that the packaging instructions with the drug are very confusing — at one point referring to taking the “blue” or “white” pill, even though colors are invisible while pills are still in the blister pack!