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Staying on Track With Your Medications
Because your body will work to get rid of your new organ, medications (called immunosuppressants) are needed suppress the body’s response. Your transplant team has prescribed a group of these medications to keep your organ healthy. You may have also been prescribed additional medications to help ease any side effects you may have. Stopping one or all of your medications—even skipping a dose—without guidance from your doctor is very dangerous.
For the success of your transplant and for your long-term health, take every dose, every day, exactly as directed by your doctor. Here are some tips to help keep you on the right track:
- Use a treatment diary to keep track of what medications to take, when you need to take them, and the doses prescribed
- Use a pill box to organize your medications into daily doses
- Set an alarm on your cell phone, watch, or clock to make sure you take your medications at the same time every day
- Refill your prescriptions BEFORE you run out
Some tips to consider when traveling:
- Purchase a two-time-zone watch with an alarm feature. To make sure you take your medications when you’re supposed to, set one zone to the time back home, and the other to the time zone you are in (or traveling to). Use the alarm feature to remind you when it’s time to take your medication—which could be in the middle of the night if the time zone you are in is 12 hours or more ahead of or behind your home time zone.
- Talk to your doctor for tips regarding adjusting your medication time when traveling abroad for a long period of time.
- Split your medication into daily doses and keep half in your carry-on and the other half in the carry-on of a traveling companion.
- Find out where the local pharmacies are wherever you travel.
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