Thirst and Dehydration

[RKEM]

I was wondering how donating has affected you in terms of thirst and dehydration.

I've read all the recommendations about how it is important to drink a lot of water afterwards but I wonder if those of you who have donated found that they felt different.

I'm asking because it seems that, compared to most people I know, I seem to drink a lot less. I eat a lot of veggies and fruits and I'm not a huge fan of meat so maybe I get a lot of my water through my food, but you'll never catch me carrying a bottle of water. I find that if I just drink for the sake of hydrating (rather than because I'm thirsty) and I'm not thirsty or eating food, it seems to go right through me ... to the point where it seems as though I'm peeing clear water.

I've actually had arguments with some well meaning relatives about my apparent insufficient water drinking but I've been doing this for 37 years, I'm evidently not sick and my kidneys are doing just fine ... so right now it works, but I wanted to know if I should get ready for dramatic changes thirst and such after donation?

Thank you

[Fr Pat]

     I have always heard that we kidney donors are not more prone to dehydration that 2-kidney folks, but will FEEL the effects of dehydration quicker and more strongly if it does happen to us. But I don't ever recall seeing any real scientific study of this.
     As far as I know, we just have to be normally careful to keep well hydrated (and foods with a high water content do help in this) in order to help keep our remaining kidney well. What I read at the National Kidney Foundation site (www.kidney.org) is that the color of the urine (as you noted) is a very helpful indicator: the darker the color the more or a problem.
      When we get older (I'm almost 70, 13 years after kidney donation) we do not tend to FEEL thirsty when we need more liquid, so we do have to be watchful about hydration and any signs of dehydration. Whenever I might feel a bit woozey or out-of-sorts I grab a glass of water just in case dehydration might be contributing to the problem, and I have sometimes been surprised at how quickly I feel better. I still do long distance running (half-marathon0 and have not had dehydration problems.
                   best wishes,
                          Fr. pat

[CK]

I was told that hydration was the single most important thing to be mindful of after donation, and that as long as my urine was the color of lemonade, I was doing fine.  I love water and drink lots of it, so that was not an issue for me.  I'm 3.5 years past donation and my creatinine has been .9 for quite some time (which is what it was pre-donation), so I assume I'm doing something right.

At first I thought I felt the effects of dehydration more, but now I think that was just psychological.  At any rate, I haven't found it particularly hard to stay hydrated.

[Clark]

Water intake from all sources is the issue, balancing that lost through respiration, perspiration, urine, and the colon. Urine color is the easiest, least expensive, lease invasive, most accurate way to judge for yourself how you're doing. The principle issue for us long term is our lack of reserve nephron mass if we get into a situation hazardous to our nephrons. Whether infection, hypertension, cancer, trauma, crystals due to dehydration or diet, or another of the amazing number of ways we've learned that kidneys can suffer, we have half the mass we might otherwise at our age, all in one place. Getting enough water so that no crystals fall out of solution in our blood and slice up our nephrons is a simple, daily thoughtfulness we give ourselves. Best wishes.