How it went
Did it last?
- 8 of 12 said the benefit wore off (including the 3 who relapsed).
- 1 of 12 needed to keep doing it to stay well.
Read from what people wrote. A story that ends without a follow-up counts as lasting, so treat these as minimums.
| Outcome described | Accounts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Full recovery | 3 | 25% |
| Near-full | 1 | 8% |
| Substantial | 1 | 8% |
| Partial | 4 | 33% |
| Relapsed | 3 | 25% |
| No benefit | 0 | 0% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Severe | 5 | 80% | |
| Very severe | 1 | 0% |
6 accounts don’t say how ill the person was.
How often it comes up
Posts that mention Paxlovid / nirmatrelvir, per 1,000 posts each year. Hover a point for the count.
Show as a table
| Year | Posts mentioning it | All posts | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 0 | 184 | 0.0 |
| 2010 | 0 | 682 | 0.0 |
| 2011 | 0 | 704 | 0.0 |
| 2012 | 0 | 1,491 | 0.0 |
| 2013 | 0 | 1,995 | 0.0 |
| 2014 | 0 | 2,707 | 0.0 |
| 2015 | 0 | 2,566 | 0.0 |
| 2016 | 0 | 2,023 | 0.0 |
| 2017 | 0 | 3,381 | 0.0 |
| 2018 | 0 | 2,523 | 0.0 |
| 2019 | 0 | 1,637 | 0.0 |
| 2020 | 0 | 3,318 | 0.0 |
| 2021 | 0 | 2,469 | 0.0 |
| 2022 | 0 | 1,871 | 0.0 |
| 2023 | 8 | 2,362 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 10 | 2,176 | 4.6 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1,349 | 3.7 |
| 2026 (so far) | 6 | 899 | 6.7 |
Posts in the forum threads and blog comments we archived, 34,337 in all, counted per year. A mention means the post names the treatment, not that the writer took it. These pages all contain a recovery story, so they show what those communities discussed, not everyone with ME/CFS or long COVID. All trends
All 12 accounts
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No easy home runs: early Long COVID Paxlovid and monoclonal trials
Amy Engebretson took part in Yale's PaxLC trial of Paxlovid and has continued taking ritonavir, one of Paxlovid's components, because she says it "improved my symptoms quite a bit"; the article gives no specific dose or treatment duration for her. It does…
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Dr Chia finds enterovirus ME/CFS patients given remdesivir remain in remission (Teodora)
A long COVID patient with associated enterovirus involvement. A Paxlovid course produced remarkable reductions in pain and improved energy, but stopping it triggered a horrendous symptomatic rebound. A later molnupiravir course gave only modest benefit by…
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People with Long COVID turn to online drug markets (Tiff)
Tiff, in the US, took a 10-day course of Paxlovid plus sofosbuvir, a hepatitis C antiviral, that a friend brought back from India, after having Long COVID since 2020. She said she felt like she did before 2020, with her energy back, no PEM crash and no brain…
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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Turns Mathew's Long COVID / ME/CFS / POTS Around
Mathew developed long COVID with ME/CFS and POTS after a COVID infection in February 2020 and cycled through severe crashes for four years, at times 20 hours a day in bed, despite midodrine, low-dose naltrexone, Abilify and Paxlovid. In late 2023 he…
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ME patient gets better on paxlovid [Reddit] [2023]
Noticed only "a very slight improvement" on Paxlovid, far more modest than other posters in the same thread, and reports the improvement "stopped... within a day of stopping the medication," i.e. it reversed almost immediately once the course ended.…
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ME patient gets better on paxlovid [Reddit] [2023]
Took Paxlovid and reports "Paxlovid also seemed to help my ME/CFS," gaining energy and reduced fatigue "with every dose" during the course. Says the effect "lasted for several weeks after I finished" the medication, i.e. it did not evaporate the moment the…
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ME patient gets better on paxlovid [Reddit] [2023]
A five-day course of Paxlovid was reported, via a Reddit post relayed on the forum, to have improved eight years of ME/CFS that began after swine flu in the UK. godlovesatrier writes she "got better" and "improved her ME also," judging that "she does seem…
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Impact of extended-course Paxlovid in established Long COVID (Case 11)
Case 11, a 33-year-old woman roughly three years into severe Long COVID/ME since March 2020, initially bedridden and dependent on caregivers and later "mostly housebound," had a 5-day Paxlovid course in May 2022 that brought significant improvement, ending…
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Impact of extended-course Paxlovid in established Long COVID (Case 7)
Case 7, a 29-year-old man about 10 months into Long COVID/ME since July 2022 with extreme fatigue, PEM, tachycardia, POTS, persistent headache, brain fog, chest pain and shortness of breath, took a 15-day extended Paxlovid course in May 2023 while also on…
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Impact of extended-course Paxlovid in established Long COVID (Case 5)
Case 5, a woman with roughly three years of Long COVID since March 2020 causing respiratory issues, fatigue, PEM, brain fog and body aches that had stopped her from exercising daily, took a 10-day extended Paxlovid course in June 2023 while otherwise only…
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Impact of extended-course Paxlovid in established Long COVID (Case 4)
Case 4, a 51-year-old man about 6 months into Long COVID with fatigue, daily headaches, brain fog, mental exhaustion, PEM, racing heart, palpitations, tinnitus and visual/sensory disturbances, took a 15-day extended Paxlovid course in March 2023 alongside…
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Impact of extended-course Paxlovid in established Long COVID (Case 2)
Case 2, a 45-year-old woman about 11 months into Long COVID with orthostatic intolerance, tachycardia, short-term memory loss, word-finding trouble, fatigue, PEM and MCAS symptoms, took a 15-day extended course of Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir) in…