I took Paxlovid but it didn’t cause any particular reaction with my pouch.  My stomach was somewhat upset but that could have been Covid too.  For me the worst part of Paxlovid was the godawful 24x7 bitter taste that it gave my mouth, so bad.  I think that was worse than the mild flu symptoms I had.

Thanks for the reply! Did you take all 5 days. I did and sort of got used to that taste but you are right-it was bad! Do you take Imodium?

Covid never did trigger anything pouch related, however,

I cannot get off my 3x daily loperamide regimen.

without it, I get liquid stools and severe butt burn within 48 hours.

with it, I enjoy near perfect pouch function.

I've never had to take immodium (knock on wood).  I'm lucky I guess.  Usually if I get liquid stools I take some Liquid IV hydration, a couple rounds generally resets my hydration levels and water absorption.  Before that I often had to take Lomotil or something to slow things down, it's almost as if getting a little dehydrated triggers a response where further water absorption stops.  Completely weird and counterintuitive.  But yeah... hydrating quickly usually restarts better absorption and control.

I contracted a Covid-19 infection during travel. I was symptomatic and placed on Paxlovid on day 5. I was considered high risk because of my Inflectra infusions and age. I developed very liquid stools prior to starting Paxlovid. It only got better after starting Paxlovid. I considered the taste no worse than taking flagyl.

I am back to baseline now.

Jan

I had Covid last week and also took Paxlovid. Only thing i noticed different was the awful taste in my mouth

Just saw this post after I made a separate post...good to hear people have had good results with Paxlovid. I hit the daily double and was diagnosed with both COVID and the flu. I am a teacher, and I swear I always get sick right when breaks start. Hoping these body aches and fever go away soon...

Three doses of Paxlovid in and i have horrible diarrhea...stomach does not feel great either. I am considering stopping the meds. I started it on the 3rd day after symptoms, so I am guessing I was starting to feel better without the Paxlovid. Did anybody else have this happen?

@samwold posted:

Three doses of Paxlovid in and i have horrible diarrhea...stomach does not feel great either. I am considering stopping the meds. I started it on the 3rd day after symptoms, so I am guessing I was starting to feel better without the Paxlovid. Did anybody else have this happen?

the diarrhea could be from Covid itself..

I have now officially tested positive for Covid on both the Antigen and PCR tests. I started experiencing symptoms (fever, chills, nausea) Sunday afternoon and started Paxlovid today. I am not really understanding the comments here on the taste of the pills as I haven't noticed any bad taste at all (and I have not lost my sense of taste). I am wondering if the posters here are dry swallowing it or else savoring it and swishing it around the mouth like wine or candy? When I take pills like this, they barely hit my tongue. To me flagyl has a noticeably much worse taste, but I flush it down and off my tongue quickly with copious, aggressive chugs of liquid. I don't suck on the pills like they are Jolly Rogers, because they aren't. The Paxlovid pills touched my tongue only briefly, but long enough for me to sense any foulness, and I had no such sense. I took them with a meal, which was pork and shrimp dumplings that were quite tasty.

My doctor told me to stop taking two of my medications, cialis and tamsulosin which I am taking for some urinary difficulties. These interact with Paxlovid.

I am mainly concerned about the other side effects like diarrhea and nausea. We will see how that goes.

Hey CT- you are lucky then.  The foul taste comes about 30+ minutes after taking it and persists for as long as you are taking the pills (5 days), ending only once you stop taking the medication, a few hours later.  My let theory is that the medicine expresses into your saliva- I found the taste was worse if I was salivating and after I ate.

I actually stopped partway through because it was so bad.  It tasted like something had died in my mouth, for days.

Lovely Carrot,

Thanks for the warning. I took the medication an hour ago and I am kind of now noticing a strange taste in my mouth, so your theory may be correct. It's not a taste of death, nor is it a pleasant taste. For now I will deal with it.

Sure thing.  I got a pack of lifesavers and sucked on those - it helps a bit.  

I have tried using the Ricola liquid center cough drops, first because I am coughing from the Covid infection, and second because they have a potent menthol flavor that wipes that strange taste out of my mouth.  It will be interesting to see if the taste is still in my mouth when I wake up tomorrow.

Also, I feel like I am salivating excessively, so I am wondering if that is my salivary glands trying to excrete the medicine out, resulting in the strange taste, which would be in accordance with your theory on the medication.

I used mouthwash to get rid of the bad taste.   That worked for me.

I was just wondering how soon after finishing Paxlovid did you guys start testing negative? I finished Paxlovid Sunday, 12/11,  tested negative yesterday (12/14), but then tested positive this morning, 12/15. It's being called a "Paxlovid relapse" because I have absolutely no symptoms, nor have I had any symptoms since last week. Anyway below is this morning's positive result- I am very bummed because I am out of work for the 9th straight day today:

I rebounded too- tested negative on day 3 of medication and then positive again 5 days later.  Seems to be pretty common occurrence.  There seems to be uncertainty whether the rebounds are true infections or false positives from virus particles that aren’t scavenged due to the reduced immune response that you have when taking Paxlovid.

@LovelyCarrot posted:

I rebounded too- tested negative on day 3 of medication and then positive again 5 days later.  Seems to be pretty common occurrence.  There seems to be uncertainty whether the rebounds are true infections or false positives from virus particles that aren’t scavenged due to the reduced immune response that you have when taking Paxlovid.

I think that is probably all correct.  However, because of the positive test, I cannot go to work, must continue working remotely from home (which I hate, because I cannot do everything I need to do at home), and I am going to miss my firm's holiday party tomorrow night, which is a MAJOR bummer.

I also wanted to tell everyone I know exactly how and why I got Covid and to caution everyone on this board, because we are now in the midst of what  appears to be the usual post-Thanksgiving Covid and flu spikes.  I got infected at the UConn-Oklahoma State men's basketball game at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut on Thursday, December 1, 2022.  I had brought a mask to the game, but failed to wear it.  There were over 10,000 fans in attendance at that game, and during and after the game I was in close proximity to other fans.  Some fans at the game wore masks, but I would estimate probably 10% or less.

My symptoms developed exactly 3 days later, on Sunday, December 4, 2022.  Unfortunately, over that weekend, I was in close contact with my 85 year old father (who lives next door to me in his own, adjoining condominium).  My father developed symptoms and tested positive on Tuesday, December 6.  Fortunately, he was vaccinated and boosted x4, so his symptoms were relatively mild.  He also went on Paxlovid and is now symptom free, thankfully.

Anyway if you are all going out to holiday parties and family events, mask up!!!!!!!  Do not let your guard down like I did.

So I took the paxlovid again because I got covid for a second time this past week. I again got the same symptoms, really bad butt burn and more frequent runny stools. It's crazy, but I had forgotten about starting this thread back in May. I had even forgot about the possible side effects I experienced the first time. Now I am wondering if my jpouch never really got that much better after my initial post.  I did end up giving up coffee in August which really seemed to reduce to the butt burn to almost nothing, but I feel like I am having more rectal bleeding in general.  My GI gave me Anucort suppositories and did not seem that concerned, but I still need to give a stool sample. I think I am going to request another scope just to put my mind at ease. It has been about 19 months since my last one. Hopefully it is jut my fissure and hemorrhoids. So has anybody else had elevated Pouch symptoms since having Covid or trying Paxlovid? Or does anyone have issues with bleeding and burn from fissure and or hemmorroids? Another change in my lifestyle is I have become more sexually active and as a female, I am wondering if that can irritate my pouch? I am told I have a rectocele as well.

Any of you guys get Paxlovid and not the vaccine?