Trace protein in Urinalysis

[Sarah_402]

Hello In the last urinalysis taken my protein level was trace. It had always been negative before. I noticed my doctor didn't order another urinalysis the last 2 times for labs. In the past, he has told me he rarely orders 24 hour urines for his patients. Is trace protein in a urinalysis a sign things are progressing in your experience?

[FThomp]

What it says depends on the lab you use and if they made changes. Sometimes the same lab changes their ranges or wording as well. Some say negative/trace or just negative. Talk to the lab if you can to find out. Trace is still good and not a sign from what I know, but I could be wrong. I’m pretty sure everyone has trace amounts of protein in their urine to an extent especially if you exercise and stuff or exert yourself physically more than just walking.

It’s when you get into the positive +1 or 2 territory on the dipstick that it gets more complicated and things need to be considered.

[Sarah_402 in reply to FThomp]

Thank you FThomp It’s hard not to get nervous when you see changes, you know. Thank you so much for your reply. I’ll talk to the lab and see what they say.

[FThomp in reply to Sarah_402]

Of course! I had the same thing happen to me then found out they still put trace with negative on my labs. So mine was negative but it’s still coded as negative/trace. Regardless, if it’s a negligent amount, there’s no need to worry. It’s only when you start spilling large amounts do you need to worry

[RoxanneKidney]

If you have ckd, protein in the urine is the speed of the train.

[Sarah_402 in reply to RoxanneKidney]

Thank you Roxanne

[RoxanneKidney in reply to Sarah_402]

I have this issue. The Lisinopril took care of it along with a low protein diet for nearly 2 years, but now it is hack SO I have an appointment mid June. I plan to ask for a SGLT 2 inhibitor along with the ACE.

[Sarah_402 in reply to RoxanneKidney]

My doctor said maybe he’d offer me a SGLT2 inhibitor next year. I’m not diabetic but I heard the studies were promising on this site. I’m still not sure why he wants to wait til next year? Anyways thank you Roxanne

[RoxanneKidney in reply to Sarah_402]

I am not diabetic either. Nor did I have high blood pressure until the protein rocked...Anyway. We will see what happens. When the ACE was taking care of the protein, my neph and I were opposed to another pill; however, that does not seem to be the case now. STRESS is huge for me. I am involved in a lawsuit with a family member, so that has been #1...that is when my health tanked, when all this shit hit the fan. So I'll see what is up. They scheduled other tests, but aside from the protein, so far, everything else is normal.

[Sarah_402 in reply to RoxanneKidney]

Hugh amounts of stress I believe contributed to some of my health issues too Anyways thanks for all your reply’s I really appreciate it.

[KidneyCoach NKF Ambassador]

No, not all have protein in urine. It is generally considered a warning flag. Most doctors use this indicator as a sign to further investigate via blood tests. If you've already been diagnosed with CKD, it's just another indicator. Have you tried a discussion with your doctor? If not I would start there. Blessings

[Sarah_402 in reply to KidneyCoach]

Thank you KidneyCoach I’ll talk to him soon and get his opinion.

[WYOAnne NKF Ambassador]

For me, I had a transplant over 22+ years ago, I almost always have protein in my urine. My lab has <12 mg/dl of protein as normal. My creatinine is stable at 0.8 - 1.0 and my protein in my urine was <5 mg/dl this last time.

Your doctor should be consulted. A trace of protein may mean you exercised the day before, ate a meal high in protein, stressed - all can effect your lab work. Or a trace can be a fluke.

Only your doctor can tell you for sure.

Best of luck.

[Sarah_402 in reply to WYOAnne]

Thank you WYOAnne, I really appreciate it

[userotc in reply to WYOAnne]

My mum's urinary total protein is generally stable at 0.08 g/l (i.e. 8 mg/dL) and apparently this seems "low" at <20 mg/dl according to 1st link below (no normal lab range supplied). But her 24h protein output is over-range (x3 last time out at 0.44g) and has risen rapidly in past 2-3yrs. Do you know yours? A similarity to you is that she had a nephrectomy ~5y ago and theres reported evidence of higher proteinuria with single kidney e.g. 2nd link.

NB. With our personal urinalysis strips, mum consistently shows "negligible" protein, her serum data are excellent whilst her urinary creatinine steadily declined to ~5000 umol/l before dropping suddenly to 1800 last time out.

healthcheckup.com/general/p...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/406...

[Sarah_402 in reply to userotc]

Thanks userotc. I asked my doctor for a 24 urine a few months ago and he said he rarely does that and didn’t order it. So I don’t know my 24 hour result. I will look at the links thank you userotc!