Life After Kidney Transplant Surgery- Noticing the Signs of Organ Rejection

The fear of a donor organ rejection still stands as the Lex Luthor to the Superman that kidney transplant surgeries are.

It is clearly scary to live in the fear that one of the vital organs in your body could be attacked by your immune system and could render you back to where you were before the transplant.

It is important to discuss how an organ rejection should affect you as a person who has gone through kidney transplant surgery & recovery phases.

These Are the Signs That Hint about Something Being Not Quite Right in Your Kidneys

• Pain in and around the operation site
• Symptoms that mirror that of a Flu
• Changing weight
• Fever
• Changing heart rate
• Cranky behaviour in kids
• Decrease in urination frequency
• General feeling of not being well

These are the general signs that wave a red flag. If you spot any of the above and you have had a kidney transplant procedure, you must visit your health care officials quickly.

Acute and Chronic Rejection

Even when you have a real good match for the kidney transplant donor requirements, rejection after surgery is always a threat.

Acute rejection could occur within a year of the transplant. It is also possible that it could grow into chronic rejection and leave your new organ useless and dysfunctional.

With time, in regular cases, the fear of your body rejecting the organ goes down. But you must stay healthy and do everything possible to keep your condition shining so as to thwart any budding efforts of your immune system to reject the new kidney.

Immunosuppressants Could Help

Organ rejection is an attempt of your body to do away with the new organ because it sees the transplanted kidney as a threat to your safety. It is the way immune systems are wired to act.

Immunosuppressant drugs are useful because they can control how your natural defences work. They reprogram your immunity system into believing that your new kidney is not a danger to your body.

However, since these drugs let your defence system’s guard down, you can become vulnerable to various foreign conditions, mainly infections. You have to maintain the balance between rejection and infection for your safety.

Your medicine has to be appropriately dosed, and you have to follow the doctor’s words down to the last letter. If you don’t take enough medications, you will be at the risk of organ rejection. If you take too much, you will be in the danger of catching infections.

Precautions You Can Take after Kidney Transplant Surgery

Wash your hands on a regular level to reduce germ exposure.Try to avoid people who have measles, or flu, or chickenpox, or any other infectious disease.

Stay away from anybody who has recently been vaccinated. Certain vaccines tend to have a live virus in them, flu vaccine for instance.

Limit the time you spend with a pet because they are germ houses. Don’t work with soil for a few months. It contains terrible bacteria.

Keep your mouth healthy and free from infections. Brush and floss and do it regularly. Be it a scratch or a cut, bandage it and keep a careful eye out for any further signs of infection. Safe sex is critical for you. STDs are extra dangerous for someone who has just had a kidney transplant surgery.