How many kidneys can you have

Most people find taking medicines a small trade for the freedom and quality of life that a successful transplant can provide. After Your Transplant. What happens after I go home? Once you are home from the hospital, the most important work begins—the follow-up. For your transplant to be successful, you will have regular checkups, especially during the first year. At first, you may need blood tests several times a week.

One thing that you and your healthcare team will watch for is acute rejection, which means that your body is suddenly trying to reject the transplanted kidney. A rejection episode may not have any clear signs or symptoms. That is why it is so important to have regular blood tests to check how well your kidney is working. Things you might notice that can let you know you are having rejection are fevers, decreased urine output, swelling, weight gain, and pain over your kidney.

The chances of having a rejection episode are highest right after your surgery. The longer you have the kidney, the lower the chance that this will happen. But even if a rejection episode happens, there are many ways to treat it so you do not lose your transplant. Letting your transplant team know right away that you think you have symptoms of rejection is very important.

Rejections happen much less often nowadays. However, the risk of rejection is different for every person. For most people, rejection can be stopped with special anti-rejection medicines. How soon you can return to work depends on your recovery, the kind of work you do, and your other medical conditions.

Many people can return to work eight weeks or more after their transplant. Your transplant team will help you decide when you can go back to work. People who have not had satisfactory sexual relations due to kidney disease may notice an improvement as they begin to feel better. In addition, fertility the ability to conceive children tends to increase. Men who have had a kidney transplant have fathered healthy children, and women with kidney transplants have had successful pregnancies.

Women should avoid becoming pregnant too soon after a transplant. Most centers want women to wait a year or more. All pregnancies must be planned. Certain medications that can harm a developing baby must be stopped six weeks before trying to get pregnant.

Birth control counseling may be helpful. Be sure to use protection during sexual activity. In general, transplant recipients should eat a heart-healthy diet low fat, low salt and drink plenty of fluids. If you have diabetes or other health problems, you may still have some dietary restrictions. A dietitian can help you plan meals that are right for you.

Finding a Kidney. Where do donated kidneys come from? A donated kidney may come from someone who died and donated a healthy kidney. A person who has died and donated a kidney is called a deceased donor. Donated kidneys also can come from a living donor. This person may be a blood relative like a brother or sister or non-blood relative like a husband or wife.

They can also come from a friend or even a stranger. When a kidney is donated by a living person, the operations are done on the same day and can be scheduled at a convenient time for both the patient and the donor. A healthy person who donates a kidney can live a normal life with the one kidney that is left.

But the operation is major surgery for the donor, as well as the recipient. As in any operation, there are some risks that you will need to consider. Kidneys from living or deceased donors both work well, but getting a kidney from a living donor can work faster and be better.

A kidney from a living donor may last longer than one from a deceased donor. To get a deceased donor kidney, you will be placed on a waiting list once you have been cleared for a transplant. The kidneys filter waste from the blood and remove it from the body…. Learn about positive lifestyle changes that may improve your glomerular filtration rate GFR and slow the loss of kidney function for people with…. If you have kidney disease, reducing your potassium, phosphorus, and sodium intake can help manage it.

Here are 17 foods that you should likely avoid…. Renal pyramids are kidney tissues that are shaped like cones. Another term for renal pyramids is malpighian pyramids. Botox is often joked about and criticized as complicit in the perpetuation of damaging, unrealistic beauty standards.

But for me, getting Botox is the…. Having a high creatinine can indicate a number of conditions, from the fairly minor to the very serious. We'll share what high creatinine symptoms can…. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Living with One Kidney: What to Know. About Precautions Diet Alcohol Dialysis Monitoring Transplant Takeaway Although most people have two kidneys , you only need one functioning kidney to live an active, healthy life.

Keep reading to learn more about living with one kidney. What is it like to live with one kidney instead of two? Are there any short- or long-term problems associated with living with one kidney? Should you follow a special diet? Can you drink alcohol with only one kidney? Will you need dialysis? How often should I see a doctor? What about a kidney transplant? The takeaway. Read this next. Kidney Transplant. Medically reviewed by Elaine K.

Organ procurement organizations OPOs are responsible for recovering organs from deceased donors and getting these organs to transplant centers.

They help people express their wishes about organ donation while they are alive, speak with grieving families about organ donation, and coordinate the deceased organ donation and distribution process.

They raise awareness about organ donation. Many factors contribute to whether or not an organ will be offered to you, including, but not limited to: blood type, how long you have had kidney failure, medical urgency, where you live an organ must be safely transported the distance to the transplant hospital , and in some instances your weight and size compared to that of the donor. What is the average wait time for a kidney transplant? Once you are added to the national organ transplant waiting list, you may receive an organ fairly quickly or you may wait many years.

In general, the average time frame for waiting can be years at most centers and even longer in some geographical regions of the country. You should ask your transplant center to get a better understanding of the wait times. Why do some patients wait longer than others for a transplant?

Changes to the US organ allocation system have impacted the way kidneys are allocated to patients. These changes to the waitlist have allowed some flexibility with the factors listed above. For example, donor matching is now done to more closely match the age of the donor and recipient. This means a kidney coming from a year old donor will more likely go to someone in that age range. This is called longevity matching. Another big change that was made has to do with patients who joined the waitlist after being on dialysis.

You now build wait-time from the time that you started dialysis- or from when it is documented that your GFR dropped to below Finally, extra priority is now also given to patients who are extraordinarily hard to match because of having high levels of antibodies from prior transplants, blood transfusions or pregnancies. How do I know my status on the transplant waitlist? UNOS will not confirm your placement or your status on the waitlist, but your transplant center must inform you when you are placed on the waitlist, and you should be able to confirm with them that you are active on the list.

Your transplant team will call you and will need you to respond quickly if there is an organ available for you. Each transplant center has different procedures. You should discuss this with your team so you have a plan in place for when a kidney is available to you. What would prevent or disqualify me from receiving a transplant?

Does my age matter?