Oct 20, 2022
Paxlovid Mouth — The Necessary Mild Inconvenience
As Paxlovid has become a more available duo of medications to alleviate covid enough so that one does not have to go to the hospital, more of us get the joy of experiencing it.
I picked up covid. I can only assume Dad brought it home from work, as he had it a week before I came down with symptoms I was “pretty sure were from the flu.” He’s fully boosted, and had a rough Saturday. My dumbass isn’t fully boosted, and was planning on setting up an appointment to get the new booster sometime during October. I had gone to pick up meds at one point…at the end of September? beginning of October? and was starting to feel too unwell to hang around for an hour — low blood sugar and not having taken my typical morning meds as they were all waiting for me at the pharmacy. Stupid.
Covid was…not as nice to me as it was to Dad, taking me fully out for a couple days. Even still, the lack of lower blood oxygen levels and my symptoms all placed me in the ‘mild’ category of the viral infection. I really cannot fathom how bad it gets, although I empathize. Doc put in the Paxlovid rx for me first thing in the morning the day after I got tested, solely due to timing of when his office closed and reopened. Later I had Dad pick up the rx for me, requesting that, although there were a few medications sitting there waiting on me, he just bring the Paxlovid. He didn’t, that’s okay.
I’d done some reading in my spare time waiting for the pharmacy to fill the prescription so I could have an idea of what was normal to expect vs what was abnormal with the medication. I came across Paxlovid Mouth, how it’s extremely common, and all of the descriptors other people used for theirs. Some site suggested that our bitter receptors couldn’t help us name the flavor exactly as we would not normally ingest such a bitter thing — such a bitter thing would be poison to us, and through centuries of trial and error we’ve more or less figured out the massive amount of things we can eat.
I expected Paxlovid Mouth, and was prepared for it to be this overwhelming awful thing that would ruin foods for me forever.
After Dad brought the Paxlovid home, I took the first dose near the evening, judging about when I could take the next dose around 12 hours from then, or within the grace period. Over the days I pushed the doses a little more than 12 hours, but just until they were able to be comfortably taken near the end and at the beginning of my day. The packaging, with three pills placed neatly by each other and marks on the bubbles indicating morning and night doses, was very clear and I really appreciated how easy it made it to take those doses correctly without any chance of forgetting. And boy, I needed that. Covid brought with it a brain fog that made me feel phenomenally stupid — I wonder when it will end — and having any indication of what I should be doing was welcome.
The taste of the first pills hit me. The nirmwhatever had a particularly noxious smell and taste to it, one I only described in the moment as “latex sewer ass.” I stand firmly by that, and I will not be explaining. Ritostuff, by contrast, did not have an immediate taste to it, at least not one I noticed over nirmthing. Ritostuff, however, has been known to cause an unpleasant metallic taste for people taking it, and is theorized to be a big part of Paxlovid Mouth.
I don’t know. I don’t care.
Sure enough, within the first couple hours I was hit with dry mouth and a taste I said was like “licking a rusty utility pole.” It felt cumulative at the second dose, with the taste getting that much stronger, but over time it lessened somewhat and became a persistent unpleasant taste that could easily be covered and ignored. How long this lasts after the last dose I have no idea, but it will not be emboldened again tonight due to my last dose being this morning.
Perhaps tomorrow my mouth will not be bitter?
After the first two days, the taste itself reminded me a bit more of burnt coffee with a metallic edge to it. So nasty burnt coffee, stirred by a rusty bar, just hanging out in my mouth in perpetuity. Would I be like other people who have spoken publicly about the results of this, put off by a certain food forever? Will I ever drink coffee again?
I tried.
It honestly didn’t taste bad, although all I really noticed was the milk I put in it. However, not thirty minutes later I had to go lay down in bed and let the horrible sensation in my stomach work its way through me. Somehow, for some reason, Monster is just fine but I can’t drink a fucking cup of coffee. It doesn’t make a lick of sense. Regardless, I was left in a situation of dealing with caffeine withdrawal or suffering through nausea and pain, so I found my way onto Instacart and ordered some Monster from a store near me. …alongside some really healthy foodstuffs, like crackers, cheese, soup, and the healthiest of all: donuts. My shopper left me a lovely note about hoping I feel better soon — I had written to just leave the things by the door as I had covid and didn’t want to spread it, along with a bit about how the dog was likely to bark, but wasn’t getting out or anything.
It’s really hard to tell if it’s the Paxlovid or the covid, but eating has been a chore. I have no taste for anything and even in situations where I would be peckish I have found it difficult to eat. With an early bout of diarrhea in the duration of the medication (again, could have been from covid), and taking in only liquid, I’ve found myself having lost about 4lbs. Now depending on an individual that could be a tiny amount or a lot… it’s a lot. I am pretty much at my baseline for my diet and activity level, where the only real movement from here is adding weight by way of muscle. I mean, sure, I could ultimately lose more body fat, but also no? so having my weight drop, and so rapidly, is understandable but personally alarming. Also it’s mostly coming out of muscle right now, and given some home situations, it’s something I cannot afford.
Even with a couple aspects that would put me at greater risk for increased severity in covid, I can’t help but think the pleading for help due to that home situation pushed everything into the Paxlovid realm. I guess I could ask.
Anyway, Paxlovid mouth isn’t a big deal. It’s unpleasant, but whatever. Taste the fucking rustbow.
