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

@cmael Have you had any side-effects from Fosamax? I am still deliberating on which medication I want to encourage my endocrinologist to recommend.
JK

I haven’t noticed any side effects yet from taking Fosamax. I have to take it once a week first thing in the morning at least a half hour before other meds with a full glass of water. I can’t lay down again after taking it. He told me the percentage of problems, like thigh bone fracture, are low.

@cmael Have you had any side-effects from Fosamax? I am still deliberating on which medication I want to encourage my endocrinologist to recommend.
JK

A after my transplant two years ago, I was losing a lot of hair, I contacted my transplant team at Mayo and they referred me to the specialty pharmacy. I was told by them to take 1000 mcg of biotin a day. It really helped. I no longer take it. My hair seems to be back to normal.

Hair loss! One of my first side-effects showed up just days after being released from the hospital when I noticed gobs of hair falling out in the shower. I was so grateful for the new kidney and it seemed petty to care about my hair but I worried if it would never stop. One of my doctors at Mayo Clinic theorized that my hair loss was caused from a combination of trauma to my body from surgery, being severely anemic and as a side-effect from one of my anti-rejection drugs. She prescribed Vitron C (an high-potency iron supplement with vitamin c) to treat the anemia but there was nothing else she could do. My hair continued to fall out to a lessening degree for the next two years until it finally rebounded. I will never have the same hair but it got better. I was recently told hair loss should be treated by a dermatologist which I think is interesting.

At my recent 2 year checkup at Mayo I saw a endocrinologist, since I have thyroid nodules and have been diagnosed with osteopenia. He put me on Fosamax. I also take Prednizone

MY close family knows about certain things that I cannot have, but there are events, like graduation open houses, wedding and baby showers etc., where we really have to be diligent about checking with the host/hostess to see if any of those ingredients are included. Because of the virus, we're not attending those events so much, however.

@rosemarya I just avoid anything with them in them and make sure I check ingredients. The ingredients I was told to avoid were grapefruit, pomegranate, and Seville oranges, plus many herbals. I think it's always wise to check the ingredient list when purchasing something new. I had not heard of clementines before when I have those around I would only two, or a maximum three in a day. More often just one.

Good info in the link. Being on sirolimus since tacrolimus was causing a creatinine problem for me I only have to take it once a day. I have chosen to take it without food so I can take a smaller dose. When I changed from taking it with food to without I went from 4mg to 2.5mg. For me the reason was feeling that the fewer drugs I take the better but for people who have to pay for their medications that could be a good reason to take it without food.

I was surprised at how many drugs it said you may take at the beginning. I took tacrolimus, Cellcept, and prednisone. I think I took Cellcept for 6 months and then just the other two. I know many people are able to get off prednisone but due to my blood counts I will probably need to take it forever. For those of you who are taking prednisone, please be aware that it does weaken your bones. I now have osteoporosis because of it.

One more thing, before I take any medications prescribed by other doctors I run it by the transplant team. I think many other doctors are not aware of the potential problems that some medications can cause. To us, it doesn't seem as if transplant patients are such an oddity but when I went to my gynecologist after my transplant he said I was the first patient he had ever had who had a transplant! He was about 60 so not a new doctor either.
JK