As others said, it depends more on the situation in which the kidney is lost.
My very healthy friend donated a kidney in 2010 (just to donate it, not to someone he knew or anything) and he has had zero side effects. His recovery from the surgery was even unusually quick and easy. He has a good family healthy history and takes excellent care of himself, there’s no reason it should ever cause him issues.
My sister had a kidney removed many years ago (maybe 40? I was too young to remember). As far as I know she’s had no issues whatsoever, and it didn’t change her lifestyle at all.
An older friend of mine went for x-rays for an unrelated issue and was discovered to only have one, very healthy kidney. Apparently, there is no sign of her ever having had two kidneys.
She counts herself as very lucky now to have survived her youth as a drug-ingesting flower child without only a single kidney.
I lost a kdney about 5 years ago to Renal Cell Carcinoma. I was told, afterwards, to not play football or any other real physical sports and also to avoid riding (or, more correctly, falling off of a) motorcycle.
I only ad one problem since. A very nasty bout of stomach flu put me into the hospital. I was losing more liquid than I was taking in and became dehydrated. The remaining kidney shut down (which is an incorrect term, they don’t actually shut down, they just are not able to handle what’s being thrown at them). This led to major cramps all over my body and extreme exhaustion. I couldnt cross a room without a rest…
I was taken to the hostpital, denied food for a few days and got all my sustenance from an I.V. bottle. I was there for about 5 days while my creatinine level came down to normal. The normal creatinine level is below 1…I arrived with a level of 11 and was close to getting dialysis.
Other than that little episode of shittiness, I havent had any problems. And no medications, either.
So, be sure you keep properly hydrated when dealing with stomach flu…
My aunt lost a kidney probably 40 years ago. I believe it was a car accident, but since I wasn’t born at the time, I’m not sure. She had cancer 25 years later, but the two are unrelated.
Gave or sold?
So if those born with only one kidney live perfectly healthy lives and those who donate a kidney usually suffer no ill effects, it begs the question: why are we born with two?
We sort of have two of everything. The organs that it seems like we have one of are really two joined parts. I don’t know why kidneys didn’t join, but since they are such simple organs they wouldn’t really benefit from combining. They are also more crucial than some people realize, as a major regulator of blood pressure, it may have beneficial to have the kidneys seperate with a backup system since it’s possible.
<hoarder imitation> 'Cause why buy one when you can buy two? </hoarder imitation>
Having 1 means you have to be careful, but physiologically, you will function normally.
My wife has 1 functioning kidney