General
Transplant and Suicidal Ideation
I read an article a while ago about suicide, and how in French it can be translated to the call of the void, or the call of death. I don't know how accurate that translation is, but the article went on to talk about the idea of living close to death. I think this is something as transplant recipients especially we are all very familiar with.
I've said it so many times - transplant is one of the only disease areas I know of where we go through hell and are expected to be grateful. Which of course there is so much gratitude, but minimizing the very real pain of transplant, ignoring our mental health struggles and the impact of living so close to death does no one any favours.
I had and have so many feelings post transplant regarding my closeness to death, immense guilt for having survived when I know so many don't, thoughts that someone else could have used this organ and lived a life better than what I was living. No one prepared me for that, and it wasn't until I connected with a mental health professional and started getting the help I needed that I started to understand this wasn't abnormal, and there wasn't anything wrong with me.
The more time I've spent talking to other recipients and people involved in transplant, the more I realize how common mental health struggles are post transplant, and how big of an unmet need this is.
If you've struggled with your mental health post transplant, you should know you're not alone. What you're feeling matters, and there are people who are able and willing to support you.
If you need to talk, or are looking for mental health and suicide prevention resources, you can call the national suicide prevention lifeline - 1-800-273-TALK or text 741741 from anywhere in the US and 45645 in Canada
