Pancreas Transplant

Hi Guys
I had a Pancreas only transplant just over 17 years ago at St Marys Hospital Paddington London and it is still functioning well so I get annoyed when some Healthcare professionals give an average of 3-5 years not true at all as I personally know many patients that have exceeded 10 years with their transplanted Pancreas. I must say that it has not been a walk in the park far from it, I have still suffered ongoing complications of my Diabetes, Retinopathy requiring further laser treatment post transplant years, severe gastroparesis requiring surgery, and last year diagnosed cardiovascular disease, total heart block requiring a pacemaker and also two stents. My autonomic neuropathy is now affecting my heart and blood vessels so it does not necessarily improve the complications of Diabetes even though I have had normal blood sugars for 17 years, although it has stopped those awful hypos. With my Diabetes the damage had already been done many years ago and it has taken all these years to actually raise its head. I am glad that I had the oppurtunity to have the transplant as I have been told that I wouldn't be here today. This is a high risk procedure and should be thought about carefully before making any decisions.
I just get on with life, well you have to dont you......

PS I did get my Driving Licence renewed ( no medical exclusions) and do not have to renew it as I did when I was Type 1 Diabetic,

Dragonflye said:

Hello everyone,

Its been a LONG time since I last logged on. I have posted before about my severe nighttime hypo's (no warning and them lasting 12hrs+ - on average i usually have my insulin pump suspended from 10 to 15hours when I have these).

Well after having my baby that caused so many complications with my diabetes, like they do, I went back to work... Since then I've had to have a few days off due to these hypo's and ultimately they are not impressed with me (we work on stages and im almost at the end before they considering waving bye to me) so they asked for information from my specialist...

I saw him last week and while going through the questions we discussed my history of these hypo's and he commented we may need to look into pancreas transplant. To be honest the idea has freaked me out a little but after sleeping on it I figured it wouldnt do any harm to try looking into this and I figured I would start my research and come back here and see if anyone has any experience of this?

Click to expand...

Hi there, saw your post and thought I may be able to answer some of your questions. I am like you in that I have really bad nocturnal hypos with no warning and they all need assistance. In December 2012 my consultant suggested a Beta Cell Transplant. This means that they don't transplant the whole pancreas, just the insulin producing Beta Cells. I had my first one in June and my second in August (you normally need 2).. I'm still on insulin but have some of my warnings of approaching hypos. That was my main problem. I would collapse with no warning and couldn't even go for a bath incase I drowned.

Transplant 1 was a breeze, no 2 was so much more difficult. The medication regime is very strict, so you have that plus the normal stufff that goes with being type 1. Getting good control is difficult as one of the most effective drugs they give you seriously mucks with the sugars. Not ideal!

Since no 2 I've had a lot of infections and have felt lousy, would I do it again. I think so. I've got some of the warnings back so that's the best thing I could have hoped for. If you have any questions, shout!