Thump - sorry to hear about the health of your fiancee. Hope everything works out.
Yes, Septra is an antibiotic. It's also called Bactrim over here stateside. It's used to treat any number of infections; you may have heard of it used to treat urinary tract infections. I'm no renal transplant specialist, but from the little pieces I can gather from this thread, I imagine she's taking the Septra prophylactically to guard against any potential infection.
That being said, I tend to doubt that Septra is the cause of your fiancee's problems. When the doctors say "it hasn't happened to anyone else taking the drug," they not just referring to the people they've been taking care of. They're talking about the accumulated experience of thousands upon thousands of kidney transplant recipients all over the world and through time. Yes, every individual person is different. But the biochemistry that works in each of us (and processes drugs) is almost identical. Is there a chance that someone can have some biochemical oddity that causes them to react differently? Sure - but it's really remote. Donated kidneys are really precious; I'm sure your doctors aren't f-ing around willy-nilly with medicines.
It sounds to me that your fiancee has had a number of run-ins with acute rejection - episodes where your fiancee's immune systems says, "Oi! What's this odd lump o' flesh doing in here?" and tries to attack it. It's hard to predict when they'll come; I hate to say that you've had a bit of bad luck, but it would be the truth. I think the fact that she's been on Septra during this rough patch is a coincidence. It's a rather lousy coincidence, and I'm sorry for that. Certainly her doctors will be reviewing and possibly tweaking her immunosuppressant regimen. Certainly you'll want to make sure that she never ever ever forgets a dose of her medicines. Certainly the both of you are tired, frustrated, and looking for something to blame. All I can recommend is to learn as much as you can, ask as many questions as you can, and if you feel like your doc isn't listening to you, by all means get another. Best of luck.
Thordic - totally agree with you on WebMD. It can indeed be a wonderful resource. An informed consumer of health care (or anything else for that matter) will always get better results. As for antibiotics, most of the time what you said is correct, namely that antibiotics are "take until you get better" sorts of medicines that aren't used indefinitely. In some cases, however, they are used indefinitely. And this is one of them. Since thump's fiancee is on a load of immunosuppressants to protect her new kidney from rejection, she's a lot more vulnerable to infection. That's why she needs additional protection from her antibiotics. And since she's going to be on immunosuppressants for as long as she has that donor kidney, she'll most likely be on antibiotics indefinitely, too. Canadian vs. US health care is a whole other can of worms...
ASDadam - what you said about doctors is ridiculously unfair. I hope your statement doesn't reflect the true state of health care wherever you come from; I shudder to think of what that would mean.
Yes, Septra is an antibiotic. It's also called Bactrim over here stateside. It's used to treat any number of infections; you may have heard of it used to treat urinary tract infections. I'm no renal transplant specialist, but from the little pieces I can gather from this thread, I imagine she's taking the Septra prophylactically to guard against any potential infection.
That being said, I tend to doubt that Septra is the cause of your fiancee's problems. When the doctors say "it hasn't happened to anyone else taking the drug," they not just referring to the people they've been taking care of. They're talking about the accumulated experience of thousands upon thousands of kidney transplant recipients all over the world and through time. Yes, every individual person is different. But the biochemistry that works in each of us (and processes drugs) is almost identical. Is there a chance that someone can have some biochemical oddity that causes them to react differently? Sure - but it's really remote. Donated kidneys are really precious; I'm sure your doctors aren't f-ing around willy-nilly with medicines.
It sounds to me that your fiancee has had a number of run-ins with acute rejection - episodes where your fiancee's immune systems says, "Oi! What's this odd lump o' flesh doing in here?" and tries to attack it. It's hard to predict when they'll come; I hate to say that you've had a bit of bad luck, but it would be the truth. I think the fact that she's been on Septra during this rough patch is a coincidence. It's a rather lousy coincidence, and I'm sorry for that. Certainly her doctors will be reviewing and possibly tweaking her immunosuppressant regimen. Certainly you'll want to make sure that she never ever ever forgets a dose of her medicines. Certainly the both of you are tired, frustrated, and looking for something to blame. All I can recommend is to learn as much as you can, ask as many questions as you can, and if you feel like your doc isn't listening to you, by all means get another. Best of luck.
Thordic - totally agree with you on WebMD. It can indeed be a wonderful resource. An informed consumer of health care (or anything else for that matter) will always get better results. As for antibiotics, most of the time what you said is correct, namely that antibiotics are "take until you get better" sorts of medicines that aren't used indefinitely. In some cases, however, they are used indefinitely. And this is one of them. Since thump's fiancee is on a load of immunosuppressants to protect her new kidney from rejection, she's a lot more vulnerable to infection. That's why she needs additional protection from her antibiotics. And since she's going to be on immunosuppressants for as long as she has that donor kidney, she'll most likely be on antibiotics indefinitely, too. Canadian vs. US health care is a whole other can of worms...
ASDadam - what you said about doctors is ridiculously unfair. I hope your statement doesn't reflect the true state of health care wherever you come from; I shudder to think of what that would mean.
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