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Personality Change of Kidney Transplant Patient

Caregivers | Last Active: Nov 21, 2023 | Replies (63)
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@berdyaev11

I'm very interested in the research now on cellular memory. I have also read some articles on how tastes and memories of the donor appear in some patients who have received a transplant. It is disturbing though to read about the amount of distress reported by transplant patients according to a study I saw on pubmed. This probably has to do with all the meds but perhaps something more. In the Bible, body and spirit intimately connected, so I wonder about this too. There was also an interesting article in the New York Times about bone marrow transplants with the title "When a DNA Test Says You're a Younger Man, and Live 5,000 Miles Away." Thanks and God bless.

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Replies to "I'm very interested in the research now on cellular memory. I have also read some articles..."
Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | Jan 14, 2020

Hello @berdyaev11 and welcome to Mayo Connect!

Thank you for the article about DNA and bone marrow transplants. That is very interesting. I found a link to this article online to share with anyone who would like to read it:
https://www.avpress.com/news/when-dna-test-says-you-re-younger-man-live-miles/article_c5dcd4fa-197e-11ea-a9d7-ef7c4aa6dd03.html
Are you interested in this because you or a loved one has received a transplant of some type, @berdyaev11?

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cindyt63 | @cindyt63 | Jan 15, 2020

My nephew has now had his fourth kidney transplant. His personality changed with each one. The first donor was a family member and had the least change. The others were cadaver kidneys. The third donor had high blood pressure and took medication for it. My nephew had to take BP medication because the kidney was accustomed to it. The doctors are all aware of these changes in the recipients but the information is not shared with the family or general public. It is up to us to do our research and learn as much as we can.

I had always heard that patients who undergo open heart surgery experience a change in their personality as well. I think it is more than just those who have open heart surgery that are affected. My husband has had angioplasty to insert two stents in a blocked artery and I saw a change in him. He later had to have a defibrillator installed and I have noticed even bigger changes and not for the good. He has changed to someone who has little or no interest in anything including personal hygiene. He is now 72 years old and refuses to do anything that will improve his ability to participate in things we had planned to do during retirement. I am 64 and although I have physical limitations that make me a little slower I am still doing what I can to maintain my mobility.

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