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COVID-19 and Transplant Patients
Transplants | Last Active: Mar 6, 2021 | Replies (459)Comment receiving replies
Joyces @joyces It sounds like you are a wonderful cook and caregiver for your post transplant husband. One thing I questioned early on from your post is when you said “one very important thing to strengthen our immune systems is to .....”. The thing about being post transplant and on immune suppression medication is that we need our immune systems weakened (NOT strengthened) on purpose so that we don’t reject our transplants. That is mainly what puts us at a greater risk of catching and then not being able to fight off bad stuff. We have to be vigilant in finding other ways to avoid the bad stuff and protect ourselves.
Replies to "Joyces @joyces It sounds like you are a wonderful cook and caregiver for your post transplant..."
!cehunt57: There's something else at work when you eat real food instead of the crap that comes in pkgs. I think it's a little like adding flax meal to my dog's kibble: it makes his skin so healthy that fleas go elsewhere. Although we've done the food from scratch thing for decades, which does make us much healthier and resistant to diseases that others catch (immunity?), his kidney doc reduced the amount of immunosuppresant drugs during first three years post transplant. All of his quarterly tests are A-OK, indicating that he's in no immediate danger of rejecting the kidney.
Eating properly-prepared (at home) foods low in fat, salt, and sugar is part of an overall healthy lifestyle: adequate rest, exercise, avoiding stress, etc. We know that all of those things can make you feel far better every day, and that does improve your ability to avoid infection. It may be why he, insulin-dependent for decades, never gets infections, not even when our cat forgets to keep his slicers in! Docs have always been amazed at how nicely/quickly he heals following surgeries.
Perhaps this is a slightly different kind of immunity. I don't know, but I do know that it works, so we'll continue.
@cehunt57 Be mindful of our diet, our lifestyle, and our social interactions is so critical is this time whether it is clouded by the coronavirus or not. My husband is a transplant recipient, I am also in an at-risk category due to age and other medical issues that I deal with. I agree with eating as healthy as possible and I have an overactive immune system which is the cause of so many of my issues. We are each being very careful about how we handle each day.
If you are a sewer or you know someone who is, here is an article that you might find helpful. While there will be arguments against wearing these homemade masks, I feel that they are better than nothing and they can be laundered which is a big plus in a time of shortage. I will be making some for both of us here!
https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2020/03/18/coronavirus-deaconess-ask-public-provide-medical-face-masks/2865273001/
Ginger
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@cehunt57
Well said!!! As transplant patients we have a responsibility to take our medications keeping our immune systems at the appropriately LOW levels in order to prevent rejection. I shudder when I hear transplant recipients taking high amounts of Vitamin C, herbal medicines or other non-prescribed remedies to "stay healthy", when in fact boosting the immune system in transplant patients is proven deadly. @joyces healthy eating is certainly a good idea as is maintaining optimal BMI and daily exercise but self prescribing other immune boosting supplements are ill advised without doctors orders.