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Would you donate a kidney?

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For family - absolutely.

For close friends - that's a tough call.

For strangers - it would take $100,000.
 
Family or spouse.

Biological family'd be a better match anyway, and if my brother needed a kidney in a few years, it would suck if I'd already given mine away.

But since you went and shot your mouth off, might as well - it's good karma.
 
I personally would only donate a kidney to family. Medical science is kidding itself that we only need one kidney, or that we can live without our gallbladder, thyroid, appendix etc. with only medicine as a substitute. Sure we will live, but capacity and quality of life diminishes, sometimes dramatically. These organs were all placed there by the 'creator' for a very specific reason.
 
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yeah, having one kidney will function sufficely for sometime. But ultimately the increased load will cause it to lose function at a higher rate than if the filtering load was shared by two.
 
brainhulk said:
yeah, having one kidney will function sufficely for sometime. But ultimately the increased load will cause it to lose function at a higher rate than if the filtering load was shared by two.
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Even if that was the case, it would still be to slow for it to matter.
People can function with kidneys only working with little more 10% of normal capacity.
To even be considered for a transplant function has to drop below ~15%.
 
Matthiasa said:
Even if that was the case, it would still be to slow for it to matter.
People can function with kidneys only working with little more 10% of normal capacity.
To even be considered for a transplant function has to drop below ~15%.
Click to expand...

i agree filtering capacity does not drop until there is much glomerular dysfunction(as nephrons pick up the slack for the non-functioning ones, but doing so shortens their lifespan). However mileage my vary depending on the state of the kidney to begin with, genetics, and load throughout its lifetime.

i have a friend who had 1 kidney that failed him after ~14 years. He's on dialysis right now.

being able to function with low renal capacity entails much monitoring and modifications to your lifestyle
 
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lothar said:
A liver grows back. A kidney does not.
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I believe that the mortality associated with donating part of your liver is actually higher than with donating a kidney.

Edit: Donating part of your liver is no joke. Mortality is about 3 in 1,000 and up to 10% of donors experience complications. I think that the mortality from kidney donation is much lower but there doesn't seem to be great data out there.
 
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I'd donate one to a family member, close friend, or even to a relative of someone I was close to. To a coworker I wasn't close to though? Sorry but no. I'm not so worried about the risk to myself but if someone I care about ever needs a kidney I want to have a spare one to donate.
 
I would definitely donate a kidney to a friend or family member if they needed it, and if I die in a car crash or something, I am more than happy to know my organs will go to people who need them.

I can understand people who say no though, it's their decision. My little sis was in desperate need of a kidney a year ago (I'm not a match). Things were looking pretty grim and then a donor was found (lady died in a car crash). It's very sad, but that woman's organs saved my sister's life and another boy in that same hospital. I used to be against organ donation before everything my sister had to go through, now I'm all for it.
 
For a coworker? lol, hell no.
You won't even remember her name 5 years from now if you don't work together anymore.

You would probably be taking 5 years off your life, at least.
Not to mention risking immediate death.
 
I completely get not wanting to give a kidney to a stranger. I'm in the same boat, would want to keep it in case someone close to me ever needed one.

But, what if said stranger offered a large sum of money for your kidney? Would it change your mind? I think I would still say no.
 
brainhulk said:
yeah, having one kidney will function sufficely for sometime. But ultimately the increased load will cause it to lose function at a higher rate than if the filtering load was shared by two.
Click to expand...

So wrong that it's not even funny.
 
brainhulk said:
LoL, pls explain to me how that is wrong
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The increased load does not wear out your kidney faster and there are absolutely no studies that show having one kidney shortens your lifespan or that the remaining kidney loses function quicker. The only reason you have two is a failsafe.

If you eat right, keep your blood pressure regulated, exercise and don't smoke, your risk of kidney disease is low. Load has nothing to do with kidney longevity.

To support my argument with numbers:

We have about a million glomeruli (what the kidney utilizes to filter out waste) in a kidney. We lose about 100,000 of these each decade regardless of load. You can live with no symptoms and normally with about 20% (200,000 glomeruli) of what we start with. Well, that puts you at 80 years old, when you are at the low end of what you need to live normally.
 
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CPA said:
The increased load does not wear out your kidney faster and there are absolutely no studies that show having one kidney shortens your lifespan or that the remaining kidney loses function quicker. The only reason you have two is a failsafe.

If you eat right, keep your blood pressure regulated, exercise and don't smoke, your risk of kidney disease is low. Load has nothing to do with kidney longevity.
Click to expand...

When you modify diet, keep blood pressure low, and excercise you are decreasing load and will be able to prolong the longevity of the kidney. I will try provide some literature later regarding renal pathology later if you care to read.
 
Red Storm said:
But, what if said stranger offered a large sum of money for your kidney? Would it change your mind? I think I would still say no.
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I would for a few million dollars.

I could live the easy life and could afford to buy a kidney if I ever needed it. 😀
 
CPA said:
T
To support my argument with numbers:

We have about a million glomeruli (what the kidney utilizes to filter out waste) in a kidney. We lose about 100,000 of these each decade regardless of load. You can live with no symptoms and normally with about 20% (200,000 glomeruli) of what we start with. Well, that puts you at 80 years old, when you are at the low end of what you need to live normally.
Click to expand...

that is with 2 kidneys, keeping the same load one kidney will wear out faster, thus the renal lifestyle modifications
 
CPA said:
The increased load does not wear out your kidney faster and there are absolutely no studies that show having one kidney shortens your lifespan or that the remaining kidney loses function quicker. The only reason you have two is a failsafe.

If you eat right, keep your blood pressure regulated, exercise and don't smoke, your risk of kidney disease is low. Load has nothing to do with kidney longevity.

To support my argument with numbers:

We have about a million glomeruli (what the kidney utilizes to filter out waste) in a kidney. We lose about 100,000 of these each decade regardless of load. You can live with no symptoms and normally with about 20% (200,000 glomeruli) of what we start with. Well, that puts you at 80 years old, when you are at the low end of what you need to live normally.
Click to expand...

I apologize if I'm coming off as a jerk, I dint read your post about you donating your kidney to your son.

Sorry and I hope your procedure goes well.
 
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