Contents:
- Medical Video: 6 MUST HAVE TIPS AFTER KIDNEY TRANSPLANT
- How do kidney transplants work?
- Treatment after transplantation
- Kidney rejection
- Immunosuppressant side effects
Medical Video: 6 MUST HAVE TIPS AFTER KIDNEY TRANSPLANT
If you suffer from advanced and permanent kidney failure, kidney transplantation can be a treatment option that allows you to live as before before suffering from kidney failure.
But the transplant doesn't cure; this is an advanced treatment that requires you to take medication for the rest of your life. And, waiting for kidney donations can take years. Successful transplantation requires coordinated effort from all your health care teams, including nephrologist, transplant surgeons, transplant coordinators, pharmacists, nutritionists, and social workers. But the most important member of your health care team is you and your family. By studying your care, you can work with your health care team to give yourself the best results, and you can live an active life.
How do kidney transplants work?
Kidney transplantation is a procedure that places a healthy kidney from another person in your body. This new kidney takes over the work of your two failed kidneys. A surgeon will place a new kidney in the lower abdomen and connect arteries and veins from the new kidney to your arteries and veins. Your blood flows through new kidneys, which make urine, just like your kidneys do when they are still healthy. Unless they cause infection or high blood pressure, your kidneys will be left in place.
Treatment after transplantation
Successful transplants require coordinated effort from all your health care teams, including nephrologist, transplant surgeons, transplant coordinators, pharmacists, nutritionists, and social workers. But the most important member of your health care team is you and your family. By studying your care, you can work with your health care team to give yourself the best results, and you can live an active life.
Your immune system is designed to keep you healthy by feeling that there are "foreign invaders," like bacteria, and rejecting them. However, your immune system will also feel that your new kidney is foreign. To protect your body from these rejection, you must use drugs that suppress the body's immune response. You may need to take two or more immunosuppressants, as well as drugs to treat other health problems. Your doctor will help you learn the usefulness of each pill and when to take it.
Make sure that you understand the instructions for using drugs before you leave the hospital. If you are already on hemodialysis, you will find that your post-transplant diet is much lighter. You can drink more fluids and eat lots of fruits and vegetables which you should avoid beforehand. You may even need to gain a little weight, but be careful not to gain weight too quickly and avoid salty foods that can cause high blood pressure.
Kidney rejection
You can help prevent rejection by using drugs and following your diet, but keep watching for signs of rejection - such as fever or pain in the new kidney area or changes in your urine count. Report any of these changes to your doctor.
Even if you have done all the things that need to be done, your body may still reject the new kidney and you may need to go back to dialysis. Unless the doctor determines that you are not the right candidate for transplant, you will be back on the waiting list for other kidneys.
Immunosuppressant side effects
Immunosuppressants can weaken your immune system, which can cause infection. Some drugs can also change your appearance. Your face may look fuller; your weight may increase, or the appearance of pimples or facial hair. Not all patients have this problem, and diet and makeup can help.
Immunosuppressants work by reducing the ability of immune cell functions. In some patients, over a long period of time, this reduced immunity can increase the risk of getting cancer. Some immunosuppressants cause cataracts, diabetes, excessive stomach acid, high blood pressure, and bone disease. When used from time to time, this drug can also cause liver or kidney damage in some patients.
