Q: I am a kidney transplant patient. I was operated five months back and the donor was my father who is 60 years old. My weight is 46 kgs. The medicines I am taking are: 1. Cyclosporine Neoral- 125mg morning; 100mg evening 2. Azoran-75/100 mg alternate day 3. Prednisolone-15mg 4. Amlodipine-10mg 5. Atenolol-50mg 6. Septran-480mg 7. Atorvastatin-5mg 5. Urea-42. My creatnine level is -1.7 and the Total WBC-6800. My questions are: 1. Will my creatnine level go down or not? 2. When can I get married?

A:It appears you received a living related kidney transplant almost 5 months ago. Your creatinine now is 1.7. It seems unlikely that it shall come down any further. But this should not be a cause of worry. As individuals are known to do fairly well even with creatinine levels like yours. However, what remains puzzling is why your creatinine did not come down to normal despite receiving a living related kidney. In the absence of detailed history, I am not in a position to state a reason. But I can think of few reasons that may possibly be responsible for incomplete recovery. Since the age of donor (your father) is 60, it is possible that his kidney may have some age-related or other disease-related changes and was subnormal to begin with. Other possibilities include any rejection, operative complications or antigen mismatch you may be having. One common side effect of NEORAL is that it may cause some kidney damage if levels are too high. Please DO NOT stop taking it. I only mean if cyclosporine levels are not monitored and are high, it can cause kidney dysfunction as well. As far as your question regarding marriage goes, you can certainly get married as long as you are not a minor (you did not state your age). If you are a female, I will only suggest that you should not get pregnant: 1. in first year post transplant 2. if your creatinine is more that 1.5-2.0 3. if you had a recent rejection within past 6 months. You should also consult your doctor regarding medications as some of them may be harmful to fetus. If you are a male and not a minor, you can definitely get married.