A lung transplant can drastically improve your quality of life. However, it is a major operation with significant risks. You’ll also need to take immunosuppressants to prevent your body from rejecting your new lungs.
Once you’ve been approved for a lung transplant, your healthcare providers will put you under general anesthesia. They will insert a tube in your mouth and into your windpipe.
1. Eat a Healthy Diet
A healthy diet is important for anyone, but it’s particularly critical after a lung transplant. Your new lungs need adequate nutrition to heal and to help regulate blood pressure, control diabetes and fight infections. Your medical team will design an eating plan to meet your specific needs and tolerances, including avoiding foods that may interfere with your medications.
A well-balanced diet will also help you maintain a healthy weight, which can lower your risk of problems like high blood pressure and heart disease. Plus, it will help reduce side effects from the immunosuppressive medications you must take for life. These drugs are essential to preventing rejection, but they can have serious side effects, such as high blood sugar and increased vulnerability to infection.
After lung transplant surgery, your medical team will monitor you in the intensive care unit (ICU). They’ll wait until they see that the new lungs are functioning properly, before they disconnect the mechanical ventilator and catheter. You’ll be moved to a post-transplant unit, where they’ll continue to watch you and adjust your medications.
Once you’re in a post-transplant center, you’ll make frequent visits to your doctor to keep an eye on your health. This includes regular blood tests, chest X-rays and lung function testing. It’s a good idea to have a supportive network that can help you get to all your appointments.
In addition to helping you stay on top of your health, a good support system can help you cope with the stress of living with a chronic illness. If you’re struggling, seek out a mental health professional for therapy and counseling, or join a support group. If you have depression or anxiety, treating it early can improve your chances of a better outcome from a lung transplant.
2. Exercise Regularly
It’s no secret that regular exercise can increase energy, improve sleep, lower blood pressure, promote weight loss, improve muscle strength and endurance and decrease risk factors for heart, lung and vascular disease. For transplant patients, however, it can be even more important.
It can also help maintain the limited lung function that remains after transplant surgery and enhance the functioning of the new lungs. But exercise can’t be too strenuous – it must be within the limits of your reduced lung capacity. That’s why many transplant patients take advantage of pulmonary exercise training or pulmonary rehabilitation, which is a specialized form of exercising that takes into account the limited reserves in your lungs. Other safe forms of exercise include walking, swimming and cycling. In general, most physical activity can be resumed as soon as you’re well enough.
3. Take Your Medications as prescribed
When it comes to lung transplant survival rates, researchers are always looking for ways to improve them. Two general surgery residents at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, John Iguidbashian and Alejandro Suarez-Pierre, wanted to give patients more accurate information about their life expectancy following a lung transplant. To do this, they analyzed death rates in both lung transplant patients and adults who did not undergo a lung transplant. you're on your own kid taylor swift
Then, Iguidbashian and Suarez-Pierre compared these statistics and separated them by age, gender, race and socioeconomic status. They found that younger patients, females and Hispanics had the highest gap in mortality between lung transplant patients and nontransplant patients. They also found that single-lung transplant patients had lower survival rates than double-lung transplant patients. In addition, the risk of death due to heart and lung complications is higher for lung transplant patients than the general population.
Lung transplants are a major surgery and require years of follow-up care. However, if you do the right things after a lung transplant, it is possible to extend your lifespan and improve your quality of life. To increase your chances of a successful outcome, it is important to take your medications as prescribed and to keep up with routine doctor appointments.
Lung transplants are typically performed on people who have advanced disease and cannot benefit from other treatments. One of the reasons why lung transplant survival rates do not match those of other solid organs is that immune-suppressants that help prevent your body from rejecting the new lungs also pose serious health risks, such as an increased risk for cancer and other health problems. To protect your new lungs, make sure to avoid smoking or other unhealthy habits, such as drinking alcohol or not getting routine health screenings, and to stick with your immunosuppressant regimen.
4. Stay Active
A lack of physical activity is associated with a greater risk of disease and death in lung transplant patients. Getting enough exercise is essential to good health, regardless of age. Whether it is working up a sweat at the gym, dancing around to an aerobics DVD in the privacy of your home, or going out for a bike ride with friends -- it doesn’t matter what type of exercise you do, as long as you do it regularly.
Aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, or break it up into smaller chunks of 25 minutes of exercise a day to achieve the same health benefits. Taking a walk during lunch, parking further away at work, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator can help you get more exercise in. You can even turn everyday chores like yard work and house cleaning into workouts by incorporating movement into them.
5. Stay Healthy
The major risk of lung transplant surgery is organ rejection. Your body’s immune system will identify the donor lung as foreign and try to destroy it to protect you, similar to how your body reacts when you get a splinter in your finger. To prevent rejection, you will need to take immunosuppressants. These medications interfere with the body’s natural immune response, but they can also increase your risk of infection. Make sure to follow your transplant pulmonologist and surgeon’s instructions carefully. If you suspect an infection, contact your GP or the transplant team right away.
Taking steps to stay healthy can help you get a better survival rate when receiving a lung transplant. A nutrient-rich diet, regular exercise and avoiding smoking can improve your breathing and heart health. Avoiding alcohol and practicing good oral hygiene are important as well. Getting regular doctor’s appointments and taking your medications as directed can also improve your survival rates.
If you’re interested in having a lung transplant, it’s best to get on the waiting list at a hospital that performs them regularly. You’ll be reevaluated every few months to see how your condition has changed. If you’re a good candidate, the transplant team will discuss your options and provide instructions about how to prepare. You should be ready to travel to the hospital immediately when a donor lung becomes available. This means having a ride to the hospital, a backup plan for when you don’t get the transplant and an emergency bag filled with items you may need during your stay at the hospital. Your transplant team will provide you with detailed instructions about how to care for your surgical wound and how to manage your medications after the operation.