Last week, my family and I developed Covid symptoms. I immediately took an at-home Covid test and it returned a positive result. We’ve managed to avoid Covid for more than three years, so we were disheartened to find out that it finally caught up with us. My wife and I are both vaccinated and I have had a booster within the last six months. However, while my wife and sons seemed to be moving through the Covid symptoms pretty quickly, I was struggling. I have a history of getting bronchitis when colds/cases of flu don’t heal quickly, and so with that in mind, I went to a clinic within a Walgreens near my house yesterday to have my lungs checked for any signs of inflammation.
During the visit, the person that was treating me asked if I had heard of Paxlovid. It’s an anti-viral treatment for Covid that essentially prevents Covid from reproducing. I had only heard the name of it in passing but didn’t have a lot of information on what it could do for me. The provider mentioned that since I have a recurrent history of chest infections with colds, she could prescribe it to me as I was considered “high risk”. She told me how the drug worked and I agreed to a prescription.
It comes as a five-day course, with three pills in the morning, and three pills in the evening. Two of the three pills prevent the Covid virus from reproducing, and the third pill acts as sort of a preservative to keep the first two pills in your system longer. Frankly, I didn’t expect what happened next. In the time between the first and second doses, my symptoms dramatically decreased. Before taking Paxlovid, my body was really fatigued and I was struggling with even walking in a straight line. I was dizzy, feverish, so so tired, and felt faint most of the time. I had to take frequent breaks and naps just to make it through the day. Within 12 hours of taking my first dose, about 50% of that was gone. I took another dose this morning (the third dose) and 90% of my Covid symptoms are just gone. I’m still coughing a little bit, and have a tiny little headache, but that’s it. I felt well enough this morning that I could go to work (don’t worry, I work remotely). I don’t think I’ve ever taken a drug that had such a dramatic effect on my body and well-being. I’m simply blown away. This is a game-changer for people infected with Covid but it doesn’t seem like anyone is really talking about it. Oh, did I mention it’s free?
Thanks to Pfizer for such a great product. You’ve earned a fan for life.