Recovery (Months 1-3)

MelissaK

Hi all,

I received a LDLT on 6/23/26 after finding out I had end-stage liver failure via AIH in January. I was 37 and am now 38. I moved home immediately and went into complete pre-transplant survival mode for 5 months. I still worked remotely, which helped immensely.

After transplant I quickly realized I’d spent my entire year so far focused on surviving and getting to transplant, and not preparing myself for a day after. The intellectual and psychological fallout has been intense. I’m in a rut as far as what I want to do with myself and who I am. I’m also dealing with a lot of survivors guilt, loneliness, and bouts of depression. I’ve become hypervigilant about my weight, every bite I take (calories and protein), and I’m walking outside at least 3 miles a day. I realize I’ve become obsessive.

Has anyone else experienced any of these feelings? I have no reference point or peers in this situation and I’d love to hear any of your stories or advice.

Shaw

I”m 5 years post liver transplant, and I felt the same way early in my recovery. I hyper-fixated on many things but I was able to eventually find my new “normal”.

I sought professional mental health care and that helped me tremendously with the survivor guilt and anxiety/depression.

In my situation, it just took a while before I was ok with my new normal daily life.

I hope this helps.

AliEm14

oh hi, story of my life 😅

I find so many people (myself included) do everything to prepare for the transplant itself, or the medical side of transplant, and the psychological and mental health side is overlooked. I still have days where I look in the mirror going WTF just happened, what am I doing with my life, I don't even know which way is up.

Prior to transplant I had a feeding tube, so suddenly post transplant I was responsible for eating the entirety of my caloric intake, and I did get a bit obsessive. I also had a major crash out, made some reckless decisions, tried to burn my whole life to the ground and completely start over.

All this to say I relate completely. I'm always here if you want to chat. I know in the early days how much I clung to stories of other young liver transplant recipients. We also have a really rad crew of humans that hang out in our support groups where I promise we're not all just depressing and complaining about our post transplant lives (you can find the entire schedule under the support groups tab under education at the top)