Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsLiving With One KidneyEffectsMaintaining Your HealthHaving One KidneyWhen to See a Provider
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Living With One Kidney
Effects
Maintaining Your Health
Having One Kidney
When to See a Provider
Most people have two kidneys, and kidney failure is a serious and dangerous disease. It is possible to live with only one kidney. You may have only one kidney due to an anatomic difference present at birth, a severe kidney injury, cancer, or kidney donation.
Having only one kidney instead of two is risky because if your single kidney starts to fail, it could cause serious health problems, which can be fatal.
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How People Live With One Kidney Instead of Two
Your kidneys, located in your lower mid back, remove waste material and toxins from your blood and eliminate them in the urine it produces. In addition to removing waste material, your kidneys also maintain a tight balance of minerals and fluid in your body.
As blood runs through your kidney tubules (tiny vessels in your kidneys), your body regulates the proper concentration of fluid, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium,and the pH (acid/base ratio) of your blood. Any disruption in this balance can lead to serious health consequences—or even death.
If you have only one healthy kidney instead of two, your single healthy kidney can effectively remove waste material from your body and balance your fluids, minerals, and pH.
Short and Long-Term Effects of Having One Kidney
You can survive with just one kidney—but having only one kidney increases your risk of kidney disease affecting your remaining kidney.Health consequences can occur if you have a single kidney and already have or later develop kidney disease in that kidney.
Life Expectancy of Kidney Donors
If one or both of your kidneys are not functioning as they should, you can develop mineral imbalances and a buildup of toxins in your body, which can cause short- and long-term harm to your health.Rapidly worsening kidney failurecan lead to a sudden decline in your health and a high risk of death.
Symptoms of kidney disease include:
These effects of kidney disease occur due to a disruption of the minerals, pH, and fluid in the body. Usually, mild or gradual imbalances can cause subtle changes, such as fatigue, muscle aches, or dizziness. Rapid changes can cause more serious effects, such as seizures or cardiac arrest.
Kidney disease also causes anemia, which is low red blood cell count or function. Symptoms include fatigue, feeling cold, pale skin, dizziness, and palpitations.
Causes of Kidney Pain
How to Support Renal Health and Remaining Kidney
If you have kidney disease, you must make some health and lifestyle adjustments. Maintaining a healthy blood pressure is crucial for the survival of your remaining kidney. Additionally, it is crucial to avoid smoking and alcohol if you only have one kidney.
Kidney failure can make certain nutrients, foods, and medications toxic to your body, even if they would be healthy for you otherwise.You also might have to follow somedietary restrictions, such as needing toreduce sodium (found in salt).At some stages of kidney failure, protein might be restricted as the kidneys process the components of its breakdown.
Avoiding Kidney InjuriesIf you are living with one kidney, a traumatic injury to your remaining kidney can be fatal. Your doctor might advise you to avoid contact sports or other activities that increase your risk of trauma.
Avoiding Kidney Injuries
If you are living with one kidney, a traumatic injury to your remaining kidney can be fatal. Your doctor might advise you to avoid contact sports or other activities that increase your risk of trauma.
Reasons for Having One Kidney
Causes for having only one kidney include:
Outcomes Associated With Cause
Your survival and overall health with one kidney are related in many ways to the reason why you only have one kidney. For example, if you are a kidney donor, this usually means that your kidneys are healthy because pretesting is a typical part of the assessment to see whether you qualify to be a kidney donor.If you’ve had a traumatic injury to one kidney, your other kidney may be healthy.
Sometimes, cancer is detected at a very early stage, and you might have a nephrectomy of one kidney for treatment of cancer while your other kidney is unaffected.
There’s no single answer for how long you will live with one kidney because your survival depends on the health of your remaining kidney as well as your overall health.
When to See a Healthcare Provider
If you have kidney disease, it’s important to follow up with a healthcare provider on a regular basis. You need to go to your scheduled appointments, and you will needongoing monitoring of your kidney function. You also need to make sure that you get medical attention for any new or worsening signs or symptoms of kidney disease.
Make an appointment if you have new or worsening:
Some symptoms and effects of kidney disease require urgent medical care because they could lead to permanent harm to your health or could even lead to death.
Symptoms requiring prompt medical attention include:
The symptoms could indicate sudden and extreme changes in your body’s mineral concentration or pH.
Summary
Living with only one kidney is possible, but it increases the risk of serious health problems and death if the remaining kidney is not healthy. There are many reasons for having only one kidney, and if you only have one kidney because of a health problem, it’s likely that your remaining kidney is also unhealthy.
Having an unhealthy kidney that isn’t functioning properly requires medical care, and you might eventually need to start dialysis. Additionally, you can survive with one kidney if you want to donate a kidney, but you would need pretesting to ensure that both of your kidneys are healthy.
8 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders.Your kidneys and how they work.Okumura K, Yamanaga S, Tanaka K, et al.Prediction model of compensation for contralateral kidney after living-donor donation.BMC Nephrol. 2019;20(1):283. doi:10.1186/s12882-019-1464-1National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Solitary or single-functioning kidney.Kiberd BA, Tennankore KK.Lifetime risks of kidney donation: a medical decision analysis.BMJ Open. 2017;7(8):e016490. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016490Zeng D, Wang B, Xiao Z, et al.Early diagnosis and treatment of kidney injury: A focus on urine protein.Int J Mol Sci. 2024;25(20):11171. doi:10.3390/ijms252011171Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Chronic kidney disease.National Kidney Foundation.Living with one kidney.Jeon J, Yu JY, Song Y, et al.Prediction tool for renal adaptation after living kidney donation using interpretable machine learning.Front Med (Lausanne). 2023;10:1222973. doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1222973
8 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders.Your kidneys and how they work.Okumura K, Yamanaga S, Tanaka K, et al.Prediction model of compensation for contralateral kidney after living-donor donation.BMC Nephrol. 2019;20(1):283. doi:10.1186/s12882-019-1464-1National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Solitary or single-functioning kidney.Kiberd BA, Tennankore KK.Lifetime risks of kidney donation: a medical decision analysis.BMJ Open. 2017;7(8):e016490. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016490Zeng D, Wang B, Xiao Z, et al.Early diagnosis and treatment of kidney injury: A focus on urine protein.Int J Mol Sci. 2024;25(20):11171. doi:10.3390/ijms252011171Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Chronic kidney disease.National Kidney Foundation.Living with one kidney.Jeon J, Yu JY, Song Y, et al.Prediction tool for renal adaptation after living kidney donation using interpretable machine learning.Front Med (Lausanne). 2023;10:1222973. doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1222973
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders.Your kidneys and how they work.Okumura K, Yamanaga S, Tanaka K, et al.Prediction model of compensation for contralateral kidney after living-donor donation.BMC Nephrol. 2019;20(1):283. doi:10.1186/s12882-019-1464-1National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Solitary or single-functioning kidney.Kiberd BA, Tennankore KK.Lifetime risks of kidney donation: a medical decision analysis.BMJ Open. 2017;7(8):e016490. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016490Zeng D, Wang B, Xiao Z, et al.Early diagnosis and treatment of kidney injury: A focus on urine protein.Int J Mol Sci. 2024;25(20):11171. doi:10.3390/ijms252011171Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Chronic kidney disease.National Kidney Foundation.Living with one kidney.Jeon J, Yu JY, Song Y, et al.Prediction tool for renal adaptation after living kidney donation using interpretable machine learning.Front Med (Lausanne). 2023;10:1222973. doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1222973
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders.Your kidneys and how they work.
Okumura K, Yamanaga S, Tanaka K, et al.Prediction model of compensation for contralateral kidney after living-donor donation.BMC Nephrol. 2019;20(1):283. doi:10.1186/s12882-019-1464-1
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Solitary or single-functioning kidney.
Kiberd BA, Tennankore KK.Lifetime risks of kidney donation: a medical decision analysis.BMJ Open. 2017;7(8):e016490. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016490
Zeng D, Wang B, Xiao Z, et al.Early diagnosis and treatment of kidney injury: A focus on urine protein.Int J Mol Sci. 2024;25(20):11171. doi:10.3390/ijms252011171
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Chronic kidney disease.
National Kidney Foundation.Living with one kidney.
Jeon J, Yu JY, Song Y, et al.Prediction tool for renal adaptation after living kidney donation using interpretable machine learning.Front Med (Lausanne). 2023;10:1222973. doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1222973
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