Can i survive with one kidney

How to ask someone to be your living kidney donor. View all related stories. Share this story. Download the app today! Living Better. Physician's Name. Find out how you can partner with your nephrologist, gain emotional support and continue to live well after a kidney disease diagnosis. From kidney disease basics to treatment options and patient stories, watch videos that will help you learn more about kidney disease.

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There are three main reasons why this could be: A person is born with only one kidney. A kidney has been removed due to health problems. A person donates a kidney. What precautions should people take if they have one kidney? However, there are special precautions that should be taken by someone living with a single kidney: Blood pressure - People with one kidney may be at risk for high blood pressure. What happens if the kidney starts to fail? Summary Many people with one kidney can live essentially the same as those with two.

Share Print. Related articles on DaVita. It needs more protection. Single normal kidneys tend to grow faster and get larger than normally paired kidneys. For this reason, single kidneys can be more vulnerable to injury — especially from certain heavy contact sports. Transplanted kidneys are also less protected than other kidneys because they are usually placed into the pelvis.

If you still want to participate in these sports make sure you are extra careful and always wear protective padding — but always seek medical advice first.

Tests have shown that some people who have had one kidney removed can have increased function in their remaining kidney.

These increased function levels can equate to around 70 per cent of that normally achieved by two kidneys. Most people with a single normal kidney have few or no problems, particularly in the first few years. However, doctors would generally recommend that people are followed up more closely than those with two normal kidneys — especially if they were born with two kidney but have had one removed.

Children who have had a kidney surgically removed may have some slightly increased chance of developing abnormal amounts of protein in the urine and some abnormality in kidney function in early adult life. Similar abnormalities have been found in individuals born with a single kidney. There is also a greater chance of developing a slightly higher blood pressure than normal. But the decrease in kidney function is usually mild, and life span is normal. Although nephrons stop functioning at a rate of 1 percent per year after 40 years of age, the remaining nephrons tend to enlarge and fully compensate for this demise.

Evidence strongly suggests that living kidney donors are highly unlikely to develop significant long-term detrimental effects to their health, as illustrated by donors whose renal function has been assessed for up to 30 years following donation. The main problems with donors are rare instances of complications having to do with the surgery, not the lack of the kidney.

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