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Switching CellCept (mycophenolate mofetil) for Sirolimus (rapamycin)?

Posted by hello1234 @hello1234, Oct 14, 2025

Hi Transplant Family!
I am celebrating my FIVE year kidney transplant anniversary. Everything is going great except all of the sudden I am now dealing with lots of MOHS surgeries on my scalp and face for squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell. My doctors are discussing swapping my Cellcept for Sirolimus (Rapamycin). I wanted to see if anyone in our community is successfully dealing with these types of skin cancers and also if anyone switched to Sirolimus (or Rapamycin) and what was your experience with the switch. It makes me nervous to switch immune suppression meds since my kidney transplant is nice and stable. Please let me know your thoughts and any experience you may have with these skin cancers and possibly switching to Sirolimus or Rapamycin. Thank you so much everyone!

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selayedath | @selayedath | Feb 9 9:22am
In reply to @m1rmiller "I am halfway through my 3rd year post transplant of a kidney. For the first or..." + (show)
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I am halfway through my 3rd year post transplant of a kidney. For the first or sfew months I was taking both Cellcept and Tacrolimus. Then they stopped the Cellcept and it was only Tacro for a few months. Then they started sending me to a dermatologist for full body checks every 3 months. At the first check I was found to have a malignant melanoma in the middle of my chest. It was still in situ so it was pretty easily removed.. They also switched me to Sirolimus and stopped the tacro. They also added Prednisone. So far no other malignancy has shown up anywhere else and the Sirolimus is not been a problem.

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@m1rmiller
How was the transition to Sirolimus. I was diagnosed with SCC in my mouth, finished surgery and chemo/radiation. Now switching to Sirolimus from Azathioprine. I've been reading about are effects, were they ok to deal with?

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m1rmiller | @m1rmiller | Feb 9 10:02am
In reply to @selayedath "@m1rmiller How was the transition to Sirolimus. I was diagnosed with SCC in my mouth, finished..." + (show)
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@m1rmiller
How was the transition to Sirolimus. I was diagnosed with SCC in my mouth, finished surgery and chemo/radiation. Now switching to Sirolimus from Azathioprine. I've been reading about are effects, were they ok to deal with?

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@selayedath So far no problems, but some others do report side effects. I think it's ok for me but each of us is different. Give it a try and let us know what happens. Good luck!

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Mentor
Rosemary, Volunteer Mentor | @rosemarya | Mar 5 8:14am
In reply to @selayedath "@m1rmiller How was the transition to Sirolimus. I was diagnosed with SCC in my mouth, finished..." + (show)
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@m1rmiller
How was the transition to Sirolimus. I was diagnosed with SCC in my mouth, finished surgery and chemo/radiation. Now switching to Sirolimus from Azathioprine. I've been reading about are effects, were they ok to deal with?

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@selayedath
I'm just checking in, and wondering how the switching to Sirolimus is going for you. Have noticed any side effects that you were concerned about,? And most important - are your labs responding favorably?

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selayedath | @selayedath | Mar 5 12:36pm
In reply to @rosemarya "@selayedath I'm just checking in, and wondering how the switching to Sirolimus is going for you...." + (show)
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@selayedath
I'm just checking in, and wondering how the switching to Sirolimus is going for you. Have noticed any side effects that you were concerned about,? And most important - are your labs responding favorably?

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@rosemarya
Thank you for checking. It's been going fairly well. I've been on it for about 2 weeks now. I have some minor mouth ulcers, but not impacting me significantly.
So far labs have been good as well. Will need to check urine protein in a couple weeks to see if there's an impact

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hello1234 | @hello1234 | Mar 5 1:58pm
In reply to @selayedath "@rosemarya Thank you for checking. It's been going fairly well. I've been on it for about..." + (show)
Profile picture for selayedath @selayedath

@rosemarya
Thank you for checking. It's been going fairly well. I've been on it for about 2 weeks now. I have some minor mouth ulcers, but not impacting me significantly.
So far labs have been good as well. Will need to check urine protein in a couple weeks to see if there's an impact

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Thank you for your 2 week update @selayedath
It's very helpful to me to hear how your transition to sirolimus is coming along!
It sounds like so far, things are going well. It's also sounds like your SCC was resolved with surgery and chemo/radiation.
Please keep in touch with updates on how everything is going for you!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. It's extra valuable to hear a real transplant patient experience (instead of reading the drug insert paper and warning label!)

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