wife tested positive for covid. It's bad. Online Doc refused to prescribe #Paxlovid citing she's <50yrs. Said LongCovid isn't real and pretty much gaslit the thing.
PCP offices are closed.
CVS w/o prescription requires labwork that we don't have handy.
@upol@betsythemuffin My partner and I used https://hidrb.com/ to get COVID meds. She was prescribed Paxlovid, they gave me molnupiravir. We filled out a form on the website, a doctor approved it in 2 hours.
Didn't even have to use insurance. They provide a discount card for you to use at the pharmacy. Both of us got the meds for free, though, somehow.
@jamie@betsythemuffin sorry to hear about LC. I too have neuro LC. It's been hell. I don't wish it on my worst enemy. I am glad to hear molnupiravir worked for you. My guess is that Mvir has had bad interactions with females of a certain age but not males.
I hope you're managing LC as best as one can. I hope your body is healing as best as it can. I pray you are not having to fight with your own family bc everyone thinks LC is "all made up in our heads".
@upol Just got over Covid, again. I’m 64 and doctor prescribed plaxlovid without office visit. Get a new doctor. Plaxlovid helped keep Covid mild, tested negative after 5 days. Plaxlovid leaves bad taste in mouth, though. Found out later that cold 7-Up supposedly kills the bad taste.
@upol you may be oerwhelmed with replies. but if you see this, a neti pot helped me get over covid. studies have also shown they can be beneficial. just something to consider. and best wishes to you and yours, glad you got the paxlovid!
PCP here. Glad you got a prescription. A few comments:
One has 5 days from onset of symptoms to get the benefits from Paxlovid. A couple of days isn’t likely to make a significant difference, but glad to get started earlier than later.
An Emergency room is usually staffed with more experienced docs than an urgent care and more likely to get more sophisticated care there. Emergency rooms are usually quiet in the early mornings and get swamped as the day goes on, so go EARLY.
Always good to find a PCP that has coverage after hours. Even if they don’t take your insurance, or cost more, it’s worth it when trouble arises.
All docs are not the same. Find one on the same page as you, and has after hours coverage so you’re not at the mercy of urgent care docs you don’t know and don’t know you.
@lesmoutonenrages I agree. Do you have guidance on a systematic way to find docs with after-hours care other than just calling/individually going to their websites? Is there a repository/database one might search?
EDIT: many thanks for chiming in and sharing the info re: urgent cares vs ERs. This is helpful.
@upol
Unfortunately I don’t know a way to find if a PCP has after hours coverage other than calling and asking specifically. The hospital I admit to requires it, but it’s a dying service. Most find me by word of mouth.
If I moved to a new town, I’d Google best docs in the area then call and ask. How they answer the phones also can tell you a lot.
@lesmoutonenrages that last piece about how they answer the phone is a good heuristic. Thank you so much for sharing it. I wish we had more docs like you
@upol
I think there are a lot of great people in medicine but they’re trapped in a screwy system that brings out the worst. I don’t have the answer to fix it. There are so many entrenched special interests.
@upol I called my local urgent care last week after my weekend positive test and asked about paxlovid and they said to me they were no longer recommending it for anyone because of the side effects and told me to rest and drink fluids and take Advil. I am over 50. So I’ve white knuckled through this week with the hacking cough and four days of fever and I wonder if I was led astray due to ignorance. Wonder why the advice on this drug is so inconsistently applied.
@upol When I got Paxlovid (I’m over 50) I still had to get lab work to verify kidney function OK. So, maybe that CVS requirement is for a medical reason?
@upol
Here in very rural northern California, my boss and his wife were only able to get Paxlovid by going to the emergency room at our local hospital. They are both over 60. Doctor's office was closed for the weekend and pharmacy would not prescribe. Not a great option, I know. I am 58 and when I had covid in June, my doctor's office did not return my calls. I did not get Paxlovid. Best of luck to you and your wife.
@upol If the online doctor you already tried isn't "Dr. B," give them a try: https://hidrb.com/faq They have doctors license in every state, and charge $15 for your appointment.
@upol when I got covid a few months ago I called around to some walk in clinics and went to one in Alabama that said it would prescribe Paxlovid. I am a little over 50, but I think it probably just depends on the doctor. I recommend just calling some walk in clinics and specifically asking if they'll prescribe it and just go to the first one that says yes. Your insurance probably won't pay for it though.
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