After transplantation
A kidney transplant places a healthy kidney from another person into your body.
Transplants can come from:
- The transplanted kidney may work immediately or after several days
- Dialysis treatment may be needed during this time
- You will receive anti-rejection drugs, which may have some side-effects
- The average hospital stay for a kidney transplant is 4-10 days but it varies for each patient
- After discharge, medication will be adjusted to your needs
A new kidney may start working immediately or may take up to a few weeks to produce urine. In rare circumstances, it may not work at all. You may need to have some dialysis treatment while you are waiting for the transplanted kidney to start functioning fully.
You must take medication (anti-rejection medicine) daily to prevent your body from rejecting the new kidney. Sometimes these drugs cannot stop rejection. The anti-rejection medicine can have unwanted side effects – the most common are a decrease in your body’s ability to fight infection, weight gain, high blood pressure, changes in appearance and increased cholesterol. Although these are common, some patients have few or no problems.