Living with one kidney, can you stay healthy?

The kidneys function to filter blood to make it clean when it is circulated throughout the body. Normally, humans have two kidneys, but there are some people who live with one kidney from birth or removal because they have kidney disease.

So, can someone who does not have complete kidneys live a normal life and what is their next lifestyle?

Cause a person is living with one kidney

The kidneys play an important role in human survival. However, the phenomenon of living with one kidney is now not a rare thing. The following are the three causes of a person having only one organ that is included in the urinary system (urology).

Birth defects

Birth defects are one of the reasons why a person has only one functioning kidney. This condition is caused by several diseases, including renal agenesis and renal dysplasia.

Renal agenesis (not forming kidneys) is a condition when a person is born with the loss of one or both kidneys. Unilateral Renal Agenesis (URA) is the absence of one kidney, whereas Bilateral Renal Agenesis (BRA) does not have both.

In fact, this agenesis event is quite rare and occurs in less than one percent of births each year. This means that less than one in 1,000 newborns has URA. Meanwhile, BRA is much rarer, occurring in about one in 3,000 babies born.

If agenesis causes a person to be born without one or both kidneys, it is different with kidney dysplasia. People with this condition do have two kidneys, but one of them is not functioning properly.

This can occur due to one or both of the fetal kidneys not developing normally while in the uterus. Unfortunately, most babies have a single kidney it is not known what causes this to happen.

Sometimes, this condition is part of a bigger problem and affects other organs (syndrome).

Meanwhile, most babies do not have a definite cause although it can sometimes be linked to diabetes in pregnant women and certain drugs.

In fact, both renal dysplasia and agenesis are rarely realized until the sufferer undergoes unrelated examinations and surgery.

Surgical removal of the kidney

Apart from birth defects, another reason people live with one kidney is having had surgery to remove this bean-shaped organ. This operation, known as a nephrectomy, is performed in an attempt to treat kidney disease and cancer.

Kidney donation

Every year, thousands of people will donate their kidneys (one of them only) to patients who need healthy kidneys. Donor recipients are usually family members who are related or close to the donor, such as spouses and friends.

By giving one healthy kidney to save another person, the donor has to live with one kidney.

Will kidney function be affected?

If you were born with one kidney, the other kidneys will get bigger and heavier. The reason is, the remaining kidneys will work harder by up to 75% of normal kidney function.

If you have congenital kidney disease that makes this organ incomplete, decreased kidney function may occur. This will probably happen after about 25 years later.

If your kidneys are removed when you are an adult, chances are that your body will not experience any problems, especially the first few years after surgery. This means that living with one kidney does not affect your lifetime.

Risk of living with one kidney

Although living with one kidney doesn't affect your lifespan, you still need to live a healthy lifestyle and be more careful when doing your activities. The reason is, a single kidney tends to develop faster than two kidneys that are functioning normally.

Therefore, people with this condition are more prone to injury, especially from strenuous exercise. On the other hand, various long-term health problems are also at risk, so special monitoring and treatment are needed.

Here are some diseases that may occur when you are not careful when living with one kidney.

• Hypertension because the kidneys also function in maintaining blood pressure.
• Proteinuria also called albuminuria because people with this condition sometimes have excess protein in their urine.
• Low glomerular filtration rate (GFR) due to decreased filtering function of the kidneys.

Can you still get pregnant even with one kidney?

For women who want to have children even though they only have one kidney, they need to consider carefully.

Compared to people who have kidneys, women with this condition are more at risk of developing problems with pregnancy and fetal development, such as gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia.

A finding was published in a study of pregnancy in patients with one kidney in 2017. This study states that during pregnancy, blood flow to the kidneys and the rate at which blood is filtered will increase.

This condition apparently has no impact on women with normal kidney function. However, the workload of the kidneys will be heavier in women who have one kidney, so that it can decrease its function.

Meanwhile, another study conducted on several women who donated kidneys found that pregnancies with this condition were relatively safe.

Even so, the risk of preeclampsia still exists. In fact, the delivery process can also run normally if there are no annoying problems.

Therefore, the process of consultation and discussion with obstetricians is very important for women living with a single kidney. With thorough monitoring of the mother's health, pregnancy can be a safe and relaxing process.

Tips for a healthy life with one kidney

Basically, the guidelines for living with one kidney to stay healthy apply to everyone. This includes fulfilling nutrition for the body, maintaining body weight, exercising, and carrying out routine checks.

Even so, there are a number of things you need to pay attention to to prevent the risks of diseases that have been mentioned, including kidney failure, which are as follows.

1. Perform routine checks

Those of you who live with one kidney may need to have kidney tests once a year. This examination can range from simple blood and urine tests to checking blood pressure and especially:

• albuminuria tests, such as urine tests and blood tests,
• blood pressure check, as well
• glomerular filtration rate (GFR) test to see the filtering function of the kidneys.

2. Healthy diet

In fact, people who have one kidney do not need to go on a special diet, but still need to take care of their kidney health. This especially needs to be done when your kidney function is reduced, so you need to make dietary changes, namely:

• limiting salt and sodium intake,
• reduce eating foods high in protein, and
• stop drinking alcoholic beverages.

Don't forget to consult with a nutritionist about what diet is right to balance the nutrients in the body according to your condition.

3. Avoid strenuous exercise

Exercise is good for health. However, it is important for those of you with one kidney to be careful and protect it from injury. This recommendation applies to anyone with this condition.

Some doctors consider it better to avoid strenuous and high-risk exercise, such as:

• boxing,
• hockey,
• soccer,
• martial arts, and
• wrestling.

You may be able to wear protective gear, such as a padded vest under clothing that can help protect your kidneys from sports injury. This aims to reduce risk.

Consult a urologist if you want to do certain sports because the risks still exist even when using protection.

4. Drink enough water

Another important tip for staying healthy even with one kidney is to meet your body's fluid needs. Drinking 8 glasses of water per day or two liters can lighten the performance of the kidneys because urine disposal becomes smooth.

If you are a patient with kidney disease, ask your doctor how much daily fluid you need. The reason is, people who live with a single kidney and its function does not work properly have different needs.

5. Stop smoking

The dangers of smoking are undeniably damaging to blood vessels. As a result, blood flow to the kidneys is also disrupted. If the kidneys don't have enough blood flow, this organ may not function properly, especially in people with a single kidney

What about a child who has one kidney?

In fact, children with a single kidney should be treated no differently from other children. They don't need a special diet. Just like children with other two kidneys, children with this condition only need to undergo a few tips above.