Liver
Tacrolimus side effects
I read recently that most medications and medical innovations were developed and tested on white individuals, specifically white males. This may be changing, this was an older article that I read.
But I've been tracking my symptoms for the last few months and noticed irregularity in my menstrual cycle as well as worsening PMS symptoms and tacro side effects around this time. I called my doctor, they did testing, and they ended up just chalking it up to good old tacro side effects.
I just wonder how much doctors really know about the effects of these drugs on the female body. I know I was told to avoid pregnancy, but that also seems to be relatively new knowledge and my doctor said to my face there isn't enough data to be able to determine what exactly would happen during pregnancy.
This was the article I found just listing that menstruation irregularity isn't uncommon with tacrolimus use. And I've been trying to do more research on the effects of extended tacrolimus use on the female body but there isn't a ton out there. If you have any resources, please send them my way.
I'm not planning on getting pregnant, but I just thought it was shocking how little information I was given on this and yet I was exessively warned about things like not consuming grapefruit or ibuprofin.
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I also heard about avoid pregnancy. They told me there weren’t many post transplant pregnancy data to give accurate information. A lot of side effects we deal with daily is blamed on “good ole tacro”.
I also heard pomegranate was an issue with Tacrolimus.
Transplant Patient
It is not recommended to carry a child when on certain immune suppressants but tacrolimus is not one of them!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4196812/#__sec3title
Transplant Patient
@Karin thats very interesting. I was told there wasn’t enough data and to avoid it. And everything I’ve read also has the same sentiment. Either way, it’s not in the cards for me but this is interesting information
Interesting.. thank you for sharing.
Transplant Patient
@AliEm14 it can be done but you have to be carefully monitored and be switched off drugs such as cellcept and azathioprine etc… there is also the alternative of gestational carriers - ie use ivf and then don’t carry the fetus yourself!
Transplant Patient
@Karin i have heard of this. Still something that’s not available to me. Also personally I feel why would I spend thousands on IVF when there are so many children out there who need parents?
My question was less geared towards pregnancy and more towards how the drugs affect the female body itself in its normal state. I have cholangitis and get extreme cholestasis flares during my cycle. And no one can tell me why because all the research that’s been done is in male patients.