Food No No’s: Was anyone told to stay... - Kidney Transplant...

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Food No No’s

Dara3351 profile image
8 Replies

Was anyone told to stay away from lunch meat? I was told it would need to be heated to 165 degrees. What are some of the foods you were told not to eat besides grapefruit and juice, pomegranate and juice, raw seafood, sprouts and soft cheeses?

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Dara3351 profile image
Dara3351
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8 Replies
Falkenhayn profile image
Falkenhayn

The concern with lunch meat is probably just to protect immunosuppressed patients from incidental infections from improperly processed food. What interests me more are the very many foods that are, or should be, contraindicated in patients taking cyclosporine, because of drug interactions. It turns out that some citric juices have extracts of the same substance that makes grapefruit contraindicated for transplant patients, such as the soft drink Fresca. Other lesser known substances, such as the supplement turmeric, can interfere with cyclosporine metabolism. What concerns me is that transplant clinics don't seem concerned about warning their patients about anything more than grapefruit.

Dara3351 profile image
Dara3351 in reply to Falkenhayn

I take prograf and cellcept. I kept having vomiting episodes and told the transplant team but they didn’t do much. It was sporadic so I didn’t know if it was something I ate. After months of these episodes I told my family physician and she sent me to a G.I. specialist. Long story short I just had a endoscopy to remove gallbladder cysts on my bile duct and just had my gallbladder removed. My nephrologist ordered an ultrasound on my liver and gallbladder and after a month still has not told me the results. Sometimes you just have to do things on your own to make sure they’re done. So I had another episode of vomiting on the weekend and went to the ER. Problem solved.

Falkenhayn profile image
Falkenhayn in reply to Dara3351

The more research I do the more alarmed I am by the number of commonly used foods and supplements that interact negatively with cyclosporine -- and yet transplant coordinators never bother to warn their patients about anything except grapefruit and St. John's Wort. It turns out that eating onions, turmeric, gingko biloba, and various forms of citrus juice can all negatively impact cyclosporine levels.

Dara3351 profile image
Dara3351 in reply to Falkenhayn

I knew about the citrus and even in soda. I really don’t miss some of the foods we are not supposed to eat. I am just happy I don’t have anymore vomiting episodes. That scared me because the immunosuppressive drugs came out as well. When I did that food sensitivity test I was shocked of the foods that I was sensitive to, and eliminated seven more foods. If I am ever in doubt I just research on the internet. It’s definitely a learning experience.

Falkenhayn profile image
Falkenhayn in reply to Dara3351

I had never heard about the dangers of eating soft cheese, but this is again probably an infection risk. Internet research also shows that ginger interacts badly with cyclosporine, so check to make sure any ginger ale you drink is just ginger flavored and does not contain any actual ginger. You would think standard lists would have been published and have been available everywhere, but for some reason as fussy as transplant follow-up teams are, they seem to have overlooked a lot.

in reply to Falkenhayn

Strange that i was told Ginger is okay once in a while. I drank Ginger tea when I was sick, but only had a few cups, because I was scared. I was told Turmeric was okay, and when I took it, my Tac levels went up. This was years ago. I think (we) patients do more research than the actual docs do sometimes. I saw pickles had turmeric in them! The ones I looked at (organic) I stay away from pickles. LOL

charlen24 profile image
charlen24

Cant have ginger, alfa alfa, undercooked eggs, meat (steak) raw fish (sushi) expired food, pomegranate, grapefruits , sprouts.

Falkenhayn profile image
Falkenhayn in reply to charlen24

Another food not to eat is evidently barberry, a type of tart, vitamin-C rich fruit that some cultures like. It's scientific name is berberis vulgaris, and it interferes with the metabolism of cyclosporine.

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