Kidney-liver recipient here. The total of “35 pills” is somewhat misleading, in my opinion, because it counts pills and not prescriptions.
Prednisone pills come in a 5mg size: 1 per day, in the morning.
FK506 (tacrolimus) and cyclosporine pills, two common immunosuppressants, come in two sizes: think of it as 10 mg and 5 mg (although cyclosporine are big fat gray gelcaps, and FK506 are tiny time-release caplets). If your dose is an uneven number (say, 15 mg twice daily) then it’s two pills, twice daily, for a total of four per day. But it might be 10mg 2x day, cutting your dosage by 33% but cutting your pill count by 50%.
Mycophenylate, another immune suppressant, comes in different brands: one brand is in 500 mg time-release capsules, another comes in 1000 mg pills. Obviously, depending on which brand your pharmacy carries, you could double your daily pill count. My dose is 2x1000 mg x2 daily.
Magnesium oxide mineral supplements also help, because immune suppressants tend to deplete the body’s supply. One might take 2 or 3 pills of it, twice daily.
Then there’s a passel of other drugs that the patient might or might not also be taking, depending on his condition: one of the -statin drugs for cholesterol, possibly a water pill (like Lasix) for edema, a vasodialator to relieve high blood pressure symptoms, a stool softener for regular bowels, some kind of antibiotic or antiviral inhaler (for lung transplant, perhaps), vitamin pills (such as folic acid), and so on.
Bear in mind, too, that right after transplant, the patient is on higher doses of all medications, meaning more pills; and the patient is also taking several medications (such as to kill off opportunistic infections) only for a few weeks after surgery.
I’m nearly 8 years out from kidney/liver transplant and I’m only on the first four meds. Total monthly cost, with my insurance: $5.00 per prescription, or about $20.00. Without insurance I’m told it can run into the high hundreds, or even a thousand, though I’ve never seen that myself.
