Rejection after 5 years post transplant

[kasbury2]

I had my transplant live donor when I was 19. I’m 25 now and 5 years post transplant. This past month I found out I had E. coli infection in my urine which seems to have woken up my immune system and now I’m back in kidney failure. I’m rejecting and all the normal treatments aren’t working. My creatinine will go down a little bit but start climbing right back up the next day.

I’m 99% sure I’m going to need another kidney since it’s been over a month with no improvement. Has anyone gone through something similar? I’ve had to postpone going to nursing school and I might have to postpone my wedding.

[Donaldson0007]

Very sorry to see this. While I have not experienced this, I do have fellow transplant recipient friends that have had 3 transplants each all due to late term rejection. Each of them is fine and have been on their 3rd for as many as 10 years now. With each of their rejection episodes the kidney simply stopped functioning for no various reasons, infection, death of the organ etc. Good luck and stay positive, though I know that can be hard with this effecting your life.

[kevinlally]

Oof, that sounds rough, I'm sorry to hear it. I'm one of those who've had three transplants. It's been tough at times, but I've never felt better (or had better numbers) than I do now, three years out from my third. Hope is a tricky beast when it comes to chronic illness, but if my story can offer you any, I hope it does. I was diagnosed at 21 and was on my second kidney by 23. I'm 38 now and I'm married with a kiddo and am finishing my graduate degree this year. Happy to chat more, and I've written about all this at mrkevinlally.blogspot.com

[Drdetroit]

I am 7 yrs post transplant & after 6 & 1/2 yrs, the BK virus came back & I was in rejection I did not have the virus before transplant but my deceased donor did. UPMC TRANSPLANT reduced my prograf & eliminated the cellcept for about 3 months. The virus is now in remission. GOOD LUCK!

[Balap]

creatinine can increase due to tacrolimus. what are your meds?

reducing tacrolimus or changing to sirolimus may reduce the creatinine. But you need to undergo kidney biopsy to find out the exact cause.

biopsy will tell the reason for creatinine to rise:

a) tacrolimus toxicity

b) cellular rejection

c) antibody mediated rejection

what treatments have you taken so far?

have you done DSA?