It’s a fact of life that once you get a transplant, mine being a kidney, that you will need to take medication for the rest of it’s life so that your own body doesn’t reject it. The medications used for this fall under one of the following categories:
Azathioprine~Imuran, manufactured by Prometheus Laboratories, Inc.
Basilizimab~ Simulext, manufactured by Novartis
Cyclosporine~Neoral, manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceudicals Sandimmune, manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceudicals
Muromanab-CD3~Zenapax, manufactured by Roche Laboratory Inc.
Mycophenolic Acid~myfortic®, manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Mycophenolate Mofetil~CellCept, manufactured by Roche Laboratories Inc.
Prednisone~Deltasone, manufactured by Upjohn
Meticorten, manufactured by Schering
Orasone, manufactured by Solvay
Sirolimus~Rapamune, manufactured by Wyeth
Tacrolimus~Prograf, manufactured by Astellas Pharma US, Inc.
Writing this post, I have actually learned a lot about the medicines that I am taking. It’s amazing how long I have been taking some of these meds and am just now finding this out. Shame on me!
I take Prograf, Cellcept and Prednisone (for the Lupus). The Predisone I have taken for many years, even quite a few years prior to the transplant. The Prograf and Cellcept are new since the transplant. I am so excited that my nephrologist has dropped the amount of Prograf that I am taking again to two in the morning and two in the evening. I wish that he would drop the Cellcept because those are really big pills compared to the Prograf.
Here’s my confusion though. I was diagnosed with SLE when I was 17 and have spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals since then. Over the past year, I find that this may be “simply” an intolerance to gluten. I do believe this to an extent because if I stay away from the stuff, I feel better, have a lot less headaches, pain and strange bathroom experiences. Now the kicker…I read the list of side effects (yes, the lovely side effects) of the transplant medications I am on and they list the same stuff as the gluten intolerance list.
Cellcept Side Effects Gluten Intollerance
- constipation constipation
- diarrhea diarrhea
- headache headache
- heartburn mouth sores
- nausea moodiness/depression
- stomach pain bone/joint/muscle pain
- vomiting fatigue
- weakness tingling numbness in legs
- acne vomiting
- dizziness reflux
- skin rash and more…
- trouble in sleeping
What’s a girl to believe? Personally I go for results. If I stop eating gluten and feel better then why wouldn’t I so just that? Since I have been told that I will have to take this medication for the rest of my kidney’s life, I might as well just do what I can to diminish the side effects.
What do you do to have a better quality of life while taking these medications?
