Living with a heart transplant


Find out what to expect after a heart transplant

Key points

  • Once your heart function is stable, you should have more energy and be able to get back to your usual activities
  • Eating well, keeping active and looking after yourself will help you recover
  • It's important to remember that everyone's recovery is different
  • Support is available if you or your loved ones are struggling or if you need to talk

Watch our video about life after a transplant

Getting back to normality

Find out when you can go back to work, drive again, go on holiday and exercise.

When can you start doing things?

Taking care of yourself at home

Find out how to best look after yourself when you return home from a heart transplant.

What do you need to know?

Staying healthy

Eating well and doing moderate exercise will help your recovery.

Get health tips and advice

Medicines and side effects

Learn about the medicines you will need to take and how they might affect you.

Learn about heart transplant medicines

Warning signs

What to watch out for after a heart transplant and when to seek medical advice.

Watch out for these signs

Getting support

Find out about treatment centres, support groups, and primary care teams

Find support

Planning a family?

You may be able to start trying for a baby a year after your transplant.

Get information on family planning

Possible considerations

Infections and heart transplants

Infections are very common immediately after a heart transplant, partly due to the medications.

Learn about infections

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy, or CAV, is a common yet potentially fatal condition that can affect transplanted hearts.

Learn about CAV

Rejection of the transplanted heart

Rejection is when your immune system starts to attack your transplanted heart. You'll be given medicines to prevent this.

Learn about rejection

Things to know

Writing to your donor’s family

After a heart transplant, many patients like to write to their donor’s family. Your letter can be a great comfort to the donor’s family. Please speak to the nurses and doctors looking after you to get advice on how to do this.

Get guidance on what to write

Vaccines

As the risk of infection is higher after a transplant, it’s important to have a flu jab every year. Please note, transplant patients must not have live vaccines (the flu jab is NOT a live vaccine). Your heart care team and your GP can tell you which vaccines are safe for you.

 

View NHS vaccine advice

Screening for cancers and other diseases

The risks of cancer are higher in patients with a heart transplant than the general population. Please attend cancer screening programmes if you receive an invitation. The ones that are currently active in the UK are for breast cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer. Screening tests are also done for abdominal aortic aneurysms.

View NHS screening information

Go to the first page in this section: Getting back to activities >


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