Transplant anti-rejection medications. What's your advice?

Good morning @tjdog 😊 Wow, you definitely have years of experience with your kidney transplants. It sounds like your first kidney functioned well from 1994 to 2017, so 20 years, right? That's wonderful! Did you have a living donor?
I am a one year post kidney transplant patient on MMF and Tac too.
Congrats on your new transplant in 2019! My question is, what has been your experience with protocol kidney biopsies? How often did you have them and were they helpful for "catching" signs of rejection or problems or did your docs use other tests to diagnose? Thanks @tjdog

Thank you so much @tjdog 😊 I am very happy to meet you. You are a fabulous and unique combination of a recent kidney transplant patient AND a person with a wealth of knowledge from years of transplant experience! ❤ I am happy to report that my kidney function is good. My creatinine is 1.0 and my BUN is 21. Is that close to what you are experiencing too?

A creatinine of 1.0 is excellent! Mine goes up and down between 1.4 and 1.7. My latest BUN is 31. But my doctor is fine with that. My problem is I don’t always drink enough water. They want 8-10 cups daily. My creatinine was never under 2.0 with my first transplant in 1994. And it lasted almost 25 years. So you never know. Everyone reacts differently to the transplant and the drugs.

Thank you so much for this very comforting information @tjdog ❤
Meeting you has made me very happy and very hopeful that I may get 20 years from my new kidney!! I just turned 61, so 25 years would super wonderful.
Question- Did you have a hemodialysis fistula in your arm before your transplant? My fistula is growing too large and I am planning on having surgery to shut it down. Do you have any experience or know anyone that had that surgery?

Dear I am in Asia . Here we go direct to Nephrologist weekly visits now it's by weekly . I had a mild elevated creatnine in my last test scan was done kidney was fine but bladder retention was there so the doctor thinks it could be the retention that's causing the creatnine spike. He put me on urimax feel much better after taking it . Next test this Saturday. Hope it has settled down . I did pre emotive transplant never did dyalisis. I feel the drug dosage is high . I feel really good just finished golf. Hate creatnine spikes !!! I geuss who likes it !

A creatinine of 1.0 is excellent! Mine goes up and down between 1.4 and 1.7. My latest BUN is 31. But my doctor is fine with that. My problem is I don’t always drink enough water. They want 8-10 cups daily. My creatinine was never under 2.0 with my first transplant in 1994. And it lasted almost 25 years. So you never know. Everyone reacts differently to the transplant and the drugs.

@ninalw, Glad to hear that your nephrologist is looking into this. It sounds like you are getting good care. I understand, now why you are concerned about the tacrolimus dosages. I have my hopes up that you will have some answers on your next visit.
It sounds like you are doing very well after the transplant. I am amazed at you playing golf already! As for me, I had a lot of reconditioning to do because I was dependent on a wheelchair and walker prior to my transplant. I was able to go to my son's wedding at 4 months post transplant, and to go on some hiking trails at 9 months.

Is tacrolimus your only immunosuppressive medication?

Hi . I take cellcept 2mg . And prednisone 10mg and tacrolimus 4mg daily . Prednisone is a bother I get tremors from it and indian doctor said eat a Banana daily . Seems to help my potassium is 4.1 so I love the Banana but I have been always fit I was on the treadmill day before I went into Hospital with a creatnine of 8 .
But doctor's are extra cautious here they stick to the taper schedule as they dont want rejection episodes

A creatinine of 1.0 is excellent! Mine goes up and down between 1.4 and 1.7. My latest BUN is 31. But my doctor is fine with that. My problem is I don’t always drink enough water. They want 8-10 cups daily. My creatinine was never under 2.0 with my first transplant in 1994. And it lasted almost 25 years. So you never know. Everyone reacts differently to the transplant and the drugs.