Weight gain

[Kimhannah]

I am thinking about donating a kidney but have been told that I will probably gaIn weight from the loss of the kidney & adrinal gland.  I am presently around 150 & struggle greatly with my weight.  I eat healthy & exercise a lot.  Can someone tell me their experiences with this?

Thanks!!!

[Fr Pat]

I myself have not had a weight problem after kidney donation (14 years ago).
      They almost never remove the adrenal gland when they remove the kidney for transplant, but the change in the connection of the blood vessels may cause that adrenal gland to not function as well.
      You might want to also post your question at the FaceBook page of Living Donors on Line, as many more people check in there rather than here.
     best wishes,
        Fr. Pat

[Kimhannah]

Thanks Pat!!!

[Michael]

I donated more than 20 years ago and have gained weight and lost hair. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it! 

OK, the reality is that after more than 15 years of monitoring living donation issues I've not heard of a relationship between weight gain and kidney donation. While medical research has shown things like higher levels of proteinuria and blood pressure associated with donation, weight gain has not one of the associated factors.

As Fr. Pat suggests, try the Facebook group to see if you can get more information, although it may be anecdotal.

Let us know if there's anything else we can to do help.

[Kimhannah]

It's been a rough week so I'm just checking in.   Thank you for your input!!!

[CK]

I don't think I gained weight related to the donation (though I certainly gained back all the weight I lost from donating  . 

I've never heard this link before, and it doesn't really make sense, medically speaking, IMO.

[RKEM]

I'm only six months out and after the surgery I lost about 10% of my body weight ... I think mostly from not eating all that much and not moving. But it has all come back. However, I don't see any difference in terms of how easy or hard it is to gain or lose weight. As an aside, I was told by the surgeon that the adrenal gland is not taken during the surgery.

[pilotjjc3]

I did gain weight after the surgery.  I don't think it was a direct result of the surgery, but it was because I wasn't as active for a while and the holiday season came and went.  But I was able to lose any weight I gained after about a year.