Living With a Kidney Transplant - Kidney Health Education for African, Caribbean and Black Communities

Life After Transplantation

Lifestyle Changes

Life After Transplantation / Lifestyle Changes

You may need to adjust aspects of your life after a kidney transplant. To manage your overall risk of complications, you should follow the advice of your healthcare team which may include staying physically active, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy diet/weight.

Specifically, you should consider these aspects:

**Medication & Prescriptions –** take your prescribed medicines and talk with your healthcare team if taking new medicines

**Immunizations & Vaccinations** – speak with your healthcare team about which vaccines are recommended (ie. flu shots) and not permitted (ie. live vaccines)

**Skin care** – for ACB individuals, the chance of burning is increased as medications taken to suppress the immune system’s rejection of the kidney can make you sensitive to the sun
Immunosuppressants may affect hair, eye and dental health. Speak with your healthcare team on how to care for these areas.

**Routine Examinations**
Taking immunosuppressive medications may increase your risk of certain cancers. You should perform breast and testicular self-examinations every month and continue your regular medical appointments and annual exams. Additionally, you should visit your doctor for annual breast exams, PAP smears, and testicular exams, and send these results to your transplant team.

Relationship/Sexual Changes
It is advised that you speak with your transplant team before resuming sexual activity as you are at higher risk for STI infections following transplant. Open communication with your partner(s) as well as your transplant team and doctor is important when moving forward.

To read about managing comorbidities, see here.

Managing Comorbidities >