Here's How to Live a Healthy Life with One Kidney That You Must Know

The kidney organ plays a role in filtering the blood so that it becomes clean when it is spread to all bodies. Generally, humans have two kidneys, but there are many people who live with 1 kidney from birth or removal because they have kidney disease.

Then, what can a person who does not have a complete kidney live normally and how does their lifestyle continue?

Triggers for a person living with 1 kidney

Kidney organs play an important role in human survival. However, the event of living with 1 kidney is now not a very rare thing. Here are 3 triggers for a person to have only one organ that is calculated in the urinary mechanism (urology).

Birth defects

Birth defects are an argument as to why a person has only one kidney at play. This situation is caused by several diseases, one of which is renal agenesis and renal dysplasia.

Renal agenesis (non-creation of kidneys) is a condition when a person is born with the loss of one of them or all 2 of his kidneys. Unilateral Renal Agenesis (URA) is no one kidney, and Bilateral Renal Agenesis (BRA) does not have all 2.

Actually, the incidence of agenesis is quite rare and occurs in less than 1% of births each year. That is, less than 1 in 1,000 newborns experience URA. In that case, BRA is more rare, occurring in about one in 3,000 babies born.

When agenesis results in a person being born without one or all 2 kidneys, it is different from renal dysplasia. People with this condition have two kidneys, but one of them does not play a good role.

This can happen because one of them or the 2 kidneys of the fetus does not develop normally while it is in the womb. Unfortunately, generally babies with a single kidney are not recognized what results in this can happen.

Sometimes, this situation is the side of a problem that is getting bigger and affects other organs (syndromes).

In that case, the majority of babies do not have a certain trigger even though it can sometimes be linked to diabetes in pregnant women and certain medications.

In fact, neither dysplasia nor renal agenesis is rarely acknowledged until the patient undergoes unrelated checks and comparisons.

Surgical removal of the kidney

In addition to birth defects, another trigger for people living with 1 kidney is to have undergone surgical removal of this organ in the form of a bean. The operation, which is said to be a nephrectomy, was carried out as an effort to cure kidney disease and cancer.

Kidney donors

Each year, several thousand people will donate their kidneys (one of them only) to patients who need healthy kidneys. Those who receive donors are generally parts of the family that are inbred or close to the donor, such as spouses and colleagues.

By being given one of them a healthy kidney to save a person, the donor must live with 1 kidney.

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What role will the kidneys affect?

If you are created with 1 kidney, the other kidney will become bigger and heavier. The problem is that the surviving kidneys will work harder by up to 75% of the normal kidney role.

If you have a congenital kidney disease that makes this organ incomplete, a reduction in the role of the kidneys is likely. This could likely happen after about 25 years after that.

If your kidneys are removed when they are adults, it is likely that the body will not experience any problems, especially the first few years after surgery. That is, living with 1 kidney does not affect the period of your life.

Risk of living with 1 kidney

Even though living with 1 kidney does not affect the period of life, you need to continue to live a healthy lifestyle and be more vigilant when doing activities. The problem is that a single kidney leaning to develop can be faster than two kidneys that play a normal role.

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

Here are a number of diseases that are likely to occur when not alert when living with 1 kidney.

Hypertensionbecause the kidneys play a role in maintaining blood pressure.
Proteinuria or mentioned albuminuriabecause people with this state are sometimesexcess proteinin their urine.
Low glomerular filtration movement (GFR) due to reduced role of renal filtration.

Can you still get pregnant even with 1 kidney?

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

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

A finding was contained in a study of pregnancy in patients with 1 kidney in 2017. This research says that throughout pregnancy, blood vessels towards the kidneys and blood filtration movements will increase.

This situation apparently has no effect on women with normal kidney roles. However, the workload of the kidneys will be heavier in women who have one kidney, so it is estimated that they can reduce their role.

In that regard, other studies that have been carried out on some women who donate kidneys have found that pregnancies with this condition are relatively safe.

Even so, the risk of preeclampsia remains. In fact, the delivery process can run normally if there are no disturbing problems.

Therefore, the process of discussion and dialogue with obstetricians is important for women living with a single kidney. With complete monitoring of the health of the future mother, pregnancy becomes a safe and calming process.

Guide to healthy living with 1 kidney

In essence, the basis of living life with 1 kidney to stay healthy applies to everyone. This is calculated to fulfill nutrition for the body, maintain body weight, exercise, and regularly check.

However, there are many things that are important for you to look at to withstand the risk of the disease that has been mentioned, calculated as unsuccessful kidneys, namely as follows.

1. Do regular checks

For those of you who live with 1 kidney it is likely necessary to undergo a kidney check once a year. These checks can range from simple blood and urine tests to blood pressure testing and in particular:

albuminuria tests, such as urine tests and blood tests,
blood pressure checks, and
glomerular screening movement test (GFR) to witness the role of renal filtration.

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2. Healthy eating schemes

In fact, people who have one kidney do not need to do a special diet, but need to maintain the health of their kidneys. This especially needs to be done when the role of your kidneys shrinks, until it is necessary to switch eating schemes, namely:

limit the consumption of salt and sodium,
reduce the consumption of foods high in protein, and
stop drinks containing alcohol.

Don't forget to consult a nutrition expert about what diet is right to equalize the nutrients in the body according to your situation.

3. Stay away from strenuous exercise

Exercise is indeed good for health. But, it is important for you with 1 kidney to be alert and protect it from injury. This advice applies to anyone with these circumstances.

Some doctors see it as better to avoid strenuous and high-risk exercise, for example:

fist
fortune,
football
martial arts, and
Wrestling.

You can likely wear protective gear, such as a padded vest under your shirt that can help protect your kidneys from injury during exercise. This has the goal of reducing risk.

Ask a urologist if you want to do certain sports remember that the risks still exist even when wearing protection.

4. Drink enough water

Another important guide so that you can still be healthy even with 1 kidney is to meet the needs of body fluids. Drinking about 8 glasses of water every day or 2 liters can facilitate kidney performance because urine removal is smooth.

If you are a kidney disease patient, ask your doctor how much daily fluid is needed. The problem is that people who live with a single kidney and their role does not work well have other needs.

5. Stop smoking

The harm from smoking undeniably destroys blood vessels. As a result, the blood vessels to the kidneys are also disturbed. If the kidneys do not have enough blood vessels, this organ cannot play a role properly, especially to people with single kidneys

What about children who have one kidney?

Actually, children with a single kidney should be enforced no differently than other children. They don't need a special diet. Similar to children with 2 other kidneys, children with this situation need to undergo some of the guidelines above.