Life After Pancreas Transplant
Activity / Exercise : Patients are generally allowed active walking and routine activities at the time of discharge. Regular exercise increases energy level, strengthens muscles and makes one feel more active. Deep breathing exercises must be performed regularly to improve lung function.
Work/ Sports : Patients can resume normal physical activities after 3 months. This much time is required to achieve optimal flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance and aerobic capacity and to provide proper postoperative would healing and graft stabilization. Patients should start with light activities such as walking, stair climbing, golf and fishing. Table tennis and volleyball can be suggested as medium intensity activities. Swimming, athletics, badminton, cycling, squashes, tennis and running are recommended after getting used to light and moderate activities. High impact and contact sports such as football, basketball, boxing, karate, bungee jumping, rock climbing etc. are not preferable as they may cause serious trauma and organ damage. Recovery may take longer for patients who are very sick before transplant. Family support is very crucial to lead an active and productive life in the long-term.
Driving/ Travelling : Driving can be resumed in about 2 months after surgery. Most patients can undertake occasional train/plane travel in 2-3 months. If one is travelling to another city/ country, discuss the trip with your transplant team to make sure that the patient carries enough supply of medications and is put in touch with a doctor locally who can take care of urgent problems.
Vaccination after transplant : Live or weakened virus vaccines are not allowed after any transplant. Examples of these are small pox, yellow fever, measles, mumps, rubella, and the oral polio vaccine. Immunizations that are acceptable are dead or inactivated virus vaccines. Examples of these are flu, diphtheria-tetanus (as a booster only), the mantoux (TB) test, and the pneumococcal vaccine. Transplant recipients may also receive the Hepatitis B vaccine series. Whether or not a patient will receive these vaccines needs to be determined on an individual basis. Post-transplant recipient should wait atleast for six months after transplant date before receiving any immunizations.
Sexual activity/ Pregnancy : There are no restrictions on sexual activity and these may be resumed when one feels comfortable. Do not worry about hurting the newly transplanted organ. The majority of men regain their potency and are able to have an erection 6-12 weeks after transplant. Women find that their menstrual cycle returns to normal 2 -12 months after the operation.
Many men have successfully fathered children after transplantation, and a large number of women have given birth to healthy children. While all types of birth control have risks, the best thing for transplant patients are OC pills, condoms and diaphragms. Use of oral contraceptive pills and hormonal injections should be done in consultation with the transplant team.
If the pancreas/ kidney-pancreas is functioning well and there is no problem with high blood pressure or diabetes, then patient may try to conceive one year after transplant. However, this should be discussed with the transplant team and the nephrologist beforehand as some of the immunosuppression medications may cause birth defects and need to be stopped before trying to become pregnant.
