Almost all human being has born with two kidneys. However there may be instances when you found a baby with single kidney. In addition there may be instances where you would find people with single functioning kidney due to various causes including obstructive uropathy, live donor transplant and etc. So can you live with one kidney?
What is the function of the human kidney ?
Human kidney has various functions in the body. Both kidneys work together to do provide adequate kidney function in body. The functions of the kidney are vary. It has lot of metabolic function to maintain the balance of the chemical balance in the body. In addition it has hormonal functions.
These are the list of functions of the kidneys;
- Produce urine and remove unnecessary amount of fluid from the body
- Remove waste products like urea, creatinine and etc.
- Maintain acid base balance of the blood
- Maintain electrolyte balance of the blood
- Produce glucose from the body (Glyconeogenesis)
- Produce Erythropoitein to maintain hemoglobin levels
Why there are a two kidneys ?
If you want to know the answer for “can you live with one kidney”, you probably me think why we have two kidneys instead of one. So there may be different explanations for the reasons for two kidneys. However scientist define this as the “Bilateral symmetry” of the body.
Not only you have 2 kidneys, but also you have lungs, eyes, hands, foots, ears and some of other organs as pairs. So when you have some organ as a pair, it two clones of the organ can work cooperatively to achieve its function. Likewise two kidneys can function better than single kidney.
What are the conditions causing single working kidney?
Sometimes you might not believe that there are people who born with single kidney. (unilateral renal aplasia). Usually it is around 1 /1000 live births. In addition there are some other instances for having one kidney.
Unilateral renal aplasia
As mentioned above some babies born with only one kidney. It may be either right kidney or the left kidney. Unilateral renal agenesis usually do not show any symptoms, unless you detected it by chance. In addition you may notice the absence of one kidney due to renal failure which developed later. This is usually due to rare genetic mutation.
Horse-shoe kidney
Congenital horse shoe kidney is another type of problem arises at birth. Even though you have two kidneys, they are fused together and worked like a one kidney.
Unilateral kidney failure
In some situations you may have to face disease conditions like obstructive uropathies due to posterior urethral valve, urinary calculi, urinary track strictures and etc. In such situations, there is a risk of kidney failure in one side.
Donor of kidney transplants
There are some instances you would find people with single kidney due to the live donor kidney transplants. If you become a donor of a living-donor kidney transplant, you have be with only one kidney through out the life.
Can’t we live without two kidneys?
Even though we have two kidneys, most of the patients with one kidney lives fairly normal. Additionally sometimes we do not even notice these patient with unilateral renal aplasia as they do not show any symptoms to the outside.
Therefore it having two kidneys is not a necessary part of maintaining the renal functions. Rather it plays a function of reservoir for future benefits.
How can you live with one kidney through out the life?
One of the common problem for kidney donors is “whether can I live with only one kidney after the donation?” So simple answer is YES, you can live with one kidney. But you have to take precautions to protect remaining kidney.
Steps for live with one kidney
Undergo regular medical screening
When you have only one kidney, you have to protect the kidney through out the life. Unless you will loose the remaining kidney. Then you will have renal failure and has to be haemodialysis dependent patient. So it is necessary to under go regular medical check up and screening. Regular screening of blood pressure, blood sugar levels, Urine reports are some of the very important screenings to protect the kidney.
Control your blood pressure
High blood pressure is one of the common issue causing the renal failure. When you have only one kidney, it is necessary to have strict blood pressure control to protect the kidney.
Control blood sugar levels
You can live with single kidney only when you have good blood sugar control in addition to the blood pressure. Both these play a major role to damage the remaining kidney.
Seek medical advice early
Life with one kidney is not simple as you think. You need to take every possible effort to protect the remaining kidney. There are some special conditions you need to take medical advice soon as possible
- Pain during urination
- Fever with back pain
- Bleeding with urination
- Pus in the urine
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