[Closed] one kidney?

i had an uncle who lost one aged 21 after a bike accident. he was 79 when he died and it didn't slow him down much in life he was still camping and caravanning till his mid seventies and was a noted scottish country dancer

My mum had one out about 6 years ago, it the change in diet that took her some getting used to.
If your a caffeine junky start weaning yourself off it now.
All the best for the op and a speedy recovery.

My son was born with just one.

Docs say we only need 25% of one to survive on.

Based on that, worry not.

My mate burst one of his in a bike accident, he's coping fine (rode his bike round the world not too long after!). Worry not, and all the best 🙂

Greg LeMond won 3 TDF's on 1 so don't even think about using it as an excuse when you get back in the saddle.

cool,sounds positive then.

just been slightly concerned that when i've tried to ride recently, I end up feeling a whole lot worse,would assume then that it's purely down to having one heavily infected /disfunctional kidney still inside me and not the fact one kidney is having to work double time.

the caffeine issue sounds like a definate downside though! 🙁

I was considering donating one to a friend last year. I thought about it very hard, and came to the conclusion that I'd be fine with just one. Your consultant will be able to reassure you on this with stats and evidence.

I was born with just one and am a healthy 29 year old. Had no impact on my life at all 🙂

Apparently when i did my medical studies some people are born with 1 and some people have been born with 3. Didn't make the slightest bit of difference to there lives regarding energy etc, currently seeing a patient with 1 kidney after having 1 removed, doesnt notice any difference whatsoever he says.
Wishing you the best of health

If the other kidney is healthy then you will be fine - just there is no backup tis all - Your new kidney will undergo something called compensatory hypertrophy (gets bigger) and will cope with more work accordingly - You will not have any ill effects if everything else is fine 🙂

would assume then that it's purely down to having one heavily infected /disfunctional kidney still inside me

I would think this is the problem not your other kidney doing more work 🙂 And if you have infection then this will be making you feel rough!

I was born with just one and am a healthy 29 year old. Had no impact on my life at all

That was exactly what I was going to post!

My work mate had a dysfunctional one removed a year or so ago. He is fine, still has coffee and a beer on work do's. If anything he is better thsn when he had the knackered one still.

My mother had one and a half kidneys removed when she was in her 40's. She died just before her 86th birthday, so it didn't seem to do her much harm.

When my Nan died at the ripe old age of 87 they discovered (had to do autopsy or whatever it's called to be sure of cause of death) she only had one kidney and would have been born that way. She was one of the most active and healthy people I've known, still riding her bike well into her 80s - we had to confiscate it in the end!

OP - sorry to hear about your predicament but it seems like you've nothing to worry about. I'm quite amazed at how common it seems to be. Good luck with the operation.

A friend of mine lost one in a cycling accident and recovered fully .He is still cycling and working in a physical job.Good luck I hope all goes well

Grandma still alive at 93 having had one removed in the 1940's or 50's.

http://www.kidneyresearchuk.org/shopping/living-with-kidney-disease-dvd.php

Until the discovery of antibiotics it was quite common to loose a fair chunk of functionality through kidney infections and then full recover as you only need about half of one to function. I lost about 10% of mine through a Prostatitis and an incompetent GP.

I was a bit brief just cutting and pasting that link last night. I'd recommend getting the DVDs above, specifically the first one which details what 'lifestyle' changes you can make to ensure kidney health and as a result, longevity. They're very, very good.

Cycling accident- what happened?!

wow. best response to a thread i've started!

Thanks all for your advice and thoughts, its much appreciated. I'm not hugely worried by it all, i don't think anyway, it just sounds a little extreme and not knowing anyone who's had it done before didn't know in the real world what to expect.

Genuinely sounds like there is nothing to worry about though, and if it's a step up from where I am now, and have been for the last 6-12 months, then I'm happy.

Thanks Pook for the link to the video, will get a copy ordered.

Onwards and upwards anyway

Mrs LJ is a renal dietitian and has said coffee is not always definite no-no if your potassium levels are under control. It's not caffeine thats the issue, it's potassium, so tea is fine for example. You may get input from a dietician who will point you in the right direction and hopefully you won't have to make too much of an adjustment. All the best anyway.

I would want more than one, a good plate devilled with toast would be my choice

dont wan put scare tactics on you but make sure they take out the right one !
i new someone once who had the healty kidney taken out by mistake....oh dear.... you can guess what happend shortly after !
good luck anyway and have a speedy recovery.... 😉

I have a horseshoe kidney, which I think just means one big one instead of two smaller ones
in 52 years it's never stopped me doing anything

dont wan put scare tactics on you but make sure they take out the right one

the_prophet - make sure you get the first one though, with Dr Chris Steele presenting it.

This place is fantastic though- you come here with a genuine concern about a health issue and there's loads of folk available to reassure you due to their personal experience.
Nice one. Good on you all

yep completely agreed kt, not a bad place to waste a few hours.

pook - emailed the address in the link ref ordering one. thanks again for posting it.

I'll be making sure i draw an arrow on my side before i go in, steve-austin, fire me over your address and i'll get it in the post to you once it's out.....

Hope it helps

You will have to tear up your donor card...

...and that's it...

It's nature's version of redundant systems, innit. I get this all the time on servers. Hard disk fails, the server keeps going, all you get is a little message going "you can take that out, then."

You will have to tear up your donor card...

I'd presume that donating a kidney when you've only got one is a considerably larger issue before you've died?

RAID1 kidneys, heh.

Man, I amuse me.

Fair point - should have said your career as a live donor is over...

I should know the answer about cadaveric donations - I suppose the kidney will have run up more miles