Paxlovid and rebound. Worth it?

Paxlovid, an antiviral drug for treatment of COVID-19 made by Pfizer, was approved in the USA in december 2021. on Jan. 17. It is indicated for mild- moderate Covid-19 with a positive test and potential for progression to severe disease.

Initially people trying to get Paxlovid has been difficult and has had obstacles and has been mostly in some walgreens, but at Prevention Clinics we are able to prescribe when needed.

Needs to be taken within five days of symptoms to be effective .

Patients are definitely not taking full advantage of this and therefore we will get you the help and support you need in getting this medication.

For more information please go to our website www.preventionclinics.com or give us a call.

If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19, or think you may have the virus, contact Prevention Clinics immediately. We can help put you in touch with a healthcare provider who can advantage of this and currently the monoclonal have just been removed for approval as they are not effective against the new variant.

The medication is important for immunocompromised, diabetics, elderly and unvaccinated.

It is not given in the hospital as they are with severe progressive disease at that point.

It works by interfering with the proteins that help the virus multiply and slows the breakdown so it lasts longer in the body to work.

The medication is in pill form, taken twice a day for five days.

Precautions need to be taken to reduce the risk of symptomatic patients infecting other people,

The drug interacts with a with a lot of other medications. It's critical you tell your doctor, nurse practitioner or pharmacist what other medications you're on. 

They'll help you weigh the risks versus benefits, or decide if you need a dose adjustment.

if you are pregnant it is not indicated.

It is a combination of two antivirals nirmalrevil and ritonavir and it has no connection to ivermectin.

Remember at Prevention Clinics the key is to use precautions when possible to avoid contracting covid-19, keeping a healthy diet that includes supplements of zinc, vitamin d and antioxidants. Keeping proper sleep , exercise and weight .

There is a lot of discussion about alternative treatments for covid-19 and those include but not limited to ivermectin, but from my experience at Prevention Clinics , majority of people will get better with only supportive measures, so does that mean if they took ivermectin it worked? but then again the same can be said of Paxlovid, except we do have some science to back it up, so until then I will take my chances with science and avoid getting caught up in the confusion, even though at normal doses ivermectin is generally safe.

A very concerning finding for some people is what is called paxlovid rebound, where someone takes paxlovid for mild to moderate disease and after finishing the course, they turn negative and then rebound with mild symptoms a few days later and retest positive.

My opinion is this could be related to the disease process of covid and not necessarily rebound. People suffering from covid-19 and having not taken paxlovid, also have similar waxing and waning symptoms and if it persists it may become long covid.

I believe that paxlovid may potentially prevent long covid, as it will reduce the viral load and the irrational immune response that occurs as a result of this and is so common in long covid.

Isolation should be the same recommendations as the general public without paxlovid if testing positive with masking for the second 5 days. 

Good luck from Prevention Clinics LLC and stay strong full of antioxidants, sun and zinc .

Maged Boutros MD