Posted by Jose on 5/6/2003, 7:03 am, in reply to "Post Transplant" 5 weeks is quite early to say things arent going well, there are so many factors involved including the meds, as you mentioned. Although a lot do actually feel a great improvement in a matter of days. An important thing to consider is that the meds affect different people in different ways, which is why it is very difficult to just compare one transplant patient from another. A lot also depends on how long your sister has been on dialysis since the body gets more wasted as dialysis drags on which will take some time to recover. How is the kidney functioning? If it is okay and producing the proper levels then that's a good sign. Are her labs okay? Because if the labs are good, then a lot may be psychological also, since the drugs do cause depression. Anemia is a byproduct of kidney failure and it will take a while before the hemoglobin, rbc, hermatocrit levels come back up, months for some. And for some like me they never come back up to normal, although I dont feel tired in anyway. The nausea, diarrhea and shakiness are common side effects of the drugs we take, especially in very high levels, which most transplants are during the 1st 6 months to a year. These go away by themselves when dosage is lowered. Although in some cases, you may want to ask your doctors about the nausea and diarrhea, since your sister's body may not like the reaction to the meds, which can be changed. Cellcept and Prograf are the main drugs in your sister's case. The cellcept seems okay since I'm 2+ yrs out and still on the same dose. I cant say much for prograf since I use cyclosporine. The iron should help stimulate the blood production. I dont know if you should force her to walk, although doing so is good both physically (for blood circulation, etc) and mentally (feeling that you are back in the world). Finding a way through the depression is important since it hinders the recovery of the body. It also weakens the already suppressed immune system which opens the way for infection (which is something we avoid as much as possible). There's a lot of reasons for the depression, maybe fear, the feeling of being different, maybe not fitting in again in the world... but a lot of us did go through that and I think all will agree it takes a little step at a time to get back everything to as normal a life as possible. Try to get her to do things she likes or places she used to go, so she'll forget about her circumstance even from a brief moment, and remember the nice things she can return to doing. After a while it become more and more normal the things that depressed you dont exist anymore. Hope this helps. Jose
Carlene,
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