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Taking care of ourselves and being proactive is always the best way to go - and ALWAYS working with our medical provider - especially as transplant patients Thank you for stressing the importance of this:-)
We are on many different medications for a variety of complex issues related to our own organ(s) and individual needs. Now you have me thinking about this! I will definitely bring this up at my next appointment.
Since this conversation has specifically mentioned the drug Tacrolimus, here is what I found:.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/tacrolimus-oral-route/proper-use/drg-20068314
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@rosemarya If you do mention it and find out that these medications do not have negative long-term effects I would be very interested in hearing that. I just did some googling and although I know I saw some negatives about being on them for a long time (for us, forever) I couldn't find that now. Frankly, if there are no long-term negative effects I will go back to taking it with food, that would be way easier. The only short-term effects I have had are the same with both doses, but that makes sense because the higher dose does not get metabolized into your system as much.
I did not see any mention on the Mayo link that you provided about long-term effects at all.
I have had a number of messages to the first line of communication recently so I don't want to ask her this, plus, although I think she is very intelligent, I don't think she is really good at this! I probably mentioned before, after I started taking it without food and being able to decrease my dose I mentioned something to her about the effect of taking it with food vs without. She said that was not the reason that the number changed. She intercepts all of the portal messages so she would be the one who would respond.
JK
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@rosemarya, @contentandwell, @jodeej, @jolinda, @ca426 and others,
Medication discussions can offer great advice to everyone, but we always suggest that anyone, regardless of the medication type, check with the team who is caring for you for recommendations on how and when to take your medication before you make any alterations to your meds. Our nurses say that most medication is better tolerated with food. Mayo Clinic doesn’t offer a preference for taking immunosuppression medications with or without food in general, but we do recommend that patients be consistent, because switching back and forth between with and without food can change the absorption of the medications, particularly of tacrolimus. Again, please don’t make any changes to your medication routines without first checking with your personal transplant team.