Hello. Recently received my test results for protein/creat ratio. It’s pretty high at 526. I need to go get 24h urine test now.
Has anyone gone through this?? Can protein come back down? It should be somewhere between 0-200mg. I had the test done 5 years ago and regularly at that. It was around 60-80.
Hoping it goes down without any further intervention. Please let me know if you guys know anything more. Thank you!
Have you had any changes of medication recently?
I did add a renal multivitamin. I decided to stop taking it for now to see if that’s the cause? I have been itching like everyday now. I’ll go back to my old diet of low red meat high vegetable fruits seafood. I need a change of doctor. I feel as if they don’t really care
Proteinuria can be caused by leakage from old kidneys, strong antivirals
May i know your creatinine
hello my creatinine has been around 1.5-1.6 for awhile now. It’s been stable there for at least 8 years I believe!
A 24 hr urine will be more accurate than the small catch they probably tested...It could be diet or you may have some kidney disfunction...Most Nephologists will want 3 or more test results before diagnosing....be careful with salt and Colas...do not take any NSAIDS...stay hydrated and try to follow a Kidney Diet in the meantime
yes I’m trying to do that even more! Thank you!!
Proteinuria can also be caused, and treated, by medication. When my blood protein went up to 3+, I was put on a low dose of Losartan
Okay. That seems like a lot of protein. Mine is negative but doctor might put me on low dose blood pressure medicine if it keeps going up. Thank you.
My hubby's Albumin/Creatinine Ratio (Urine) is 1284, so double your figure. 
His kidney failure was due to Type 2 Diabetes. Although he had completely controlled his diabetes and was on no meds for it at the time of his transplant, his transplant meds brought it back. This creates problems in labs. Also, his transplant was an "average" match, so his immunosuppressants are undoubtedly higher that others who had great matches. Anyway, just want you let you know that you're not alone, others grapple with the issue too.
thank you so much. I really appreciate your sharing! I’m so glad to know that I’m not alone. Even though, I supposedly received the most perfect match, my creatinine is still higher than the avg. I still struggle with issues like that and I am still anemic. I thought it would be so much better but even when it’s not, I’m thankful for my transplant. Doctor said as long as creatinine doesn’t surpass 2.0 for for many many years, it’ll keep me away from dialysis .. compared to if someone had the perfect creatinine but only lasted a couple of years… let’s make the best of our kidneys. Thank yky
Yes, that's true. We've accepted that a transplant is a "treatment" with the usual ups and downs. My hubby's creatine is 1.7 in his latest labs. His eGFR is in the low 40s. Not great, but acceptable, and better than dialysis. He's a wee bit anemic. The team says his labs are "holding and normal for you considering the surrounding circumstances". We simply assume that that we'll always have some red flags on the labs, and the important thing is how his body feel. So we try hard to push the worries off to the side and trust his docs to decide on actions to take when they need to happen. We do the best we can to care for our gift day-to-day. We'll embrace the ride and journey on. No one knows what the future holds.
yes exactly!!! We have similar creatinine and gfr!!! Never know. I’m hoping our kidneys will simply last a long time. Tomorrow is my 24hr urine test. Thinking the best and hoping for normalcy again 
have a blessed one!!
hey a quick question. So his kidneys are functioning fine even with high protein levels? Are they doing anything to lower it?? I heard some people have high protein levels and take meds for them without any sign of kidney rejection. Thank you for sharing again. Much appreciated
Yes, his transplant is functioning fine with all those flags - nearly two years out. We heard back from the transplant team (on Monday by phone) and from our local nephrologist (in person yesterday). Both reported that according to his latest labs his transplant was stable and doing fine. His nephrologist added his "trough level of Tacrolimus is good at 6.4 too". I asked about his diabetes and protein levels and he responded that the blood pressure was fine and that his diabetes was being controlled. I got the distinct impression he wasn't worried about it. He ended the session by saying my hubby looked great and that it was wonderful we were enjoying life - to continue doing so. I know it can take a very long time for diseases like diabetes (as seen in high protein levels) to kill kidneys, so maybe the more immediate concerns like rejection and viruses take precedence. That's just a guess, though. Yes, there are new blood diabetes meds that diabetics and noni-diabetics can take to control protein so that's something one can look into. However, my hubby is beyond those - he takes insulin, generally once a day. Next time, I'm going to directly ask him how serious these high protein levels actually are. They do grab your attention, that's for sure.
that’s good to know! Yes my doctors seem to think it’s pretty serious. Told me a lot of things but if kidney is doing well.. he says he isn’t too worried. Will lower it with meds to ensure long kidney life. I just turned my urine test in. Had foamy urine last night. It’s been going on and off. Im not too worried but hoping it settles down. Keep me updated. It’s nice to share with other transplant patients. it’s wonderful how you’re there for your husband!!
How many grams of protein? Did they propose a biopsy if they think it is serious?
hey Lisa!! It’s been awhile. Well at UCSD said it’s mild and not too concerned but at the same time, since it was never there, it’s best to keep track of it. Hoping it’s temporary but still spilling foamy urine. Just got 24h urine test done. Waiting on the results. Meanwhile, I received my omigraf results. It’s like the allosure Dna testing non invasive biopsy. It came out excellent. No rejection nor abnormalities. I’m waiting on the protein results!
Yeah I was curious as to why they think it is serious but not offering you a biopsy. And yes protein in urine is very prevalent and can be related to medication side effect, normal aging (transplant getting order), and rejection. We do not need to panic and assume the worst. The Trugraf and Truc tests are not "biopsies" though. They simply look for evidence in urine and blood- gene expression markers that may indicate possible signs of rejection. They are also indirect measurements that reflect many other health processes so only longitudinal data are helpful clinically. There is nothing that will be as accurate as biopsy to reveal if any cellular damages are happening to the transplant (rejection) and reveal the specific type of damage to guide treatment. Glad none of that seems to be applicable to you. Stay happy and healthy!
my nephrologist doesn’t think I am having a rejection and thinks my kidney is stable. He will offer low dose of bp medicine if it continues and take it from there. We will see how my results come out next week. Thank you for the info how are you doing btw??
I've found this thread on protein/creatinine extremely interesting. I really wonder why they aren't more worried now about my hubby's. They're so dismissive. Let us know what they find with you. Also, thanks for your kind words re me supporting my hubby. We all need to lift each other up. We journey this world together.
I’ll keep you updated. I should get the results back next week. it is wonderful to be part of tx community. Keep in touch!!
hey!! I got all my results back yesterday. After my 24/h urine test confirming mild Proteinuria, they ordered more tests. DNA marker, allosure, bk virus and protein/creat ratio. Im excited to say that everything came back normal. I had protein January and it’s no longer there. All the tests came back negative with my creatinine improving as well. I didn’t do anything diff except drink 3 liters of water and take pro renal kidney vitamins everyday. I think the vitamins work. It helped my dads kidney come back to normal and my gfr improved. How are you guys doing?? Hope all is well!
Excellent! Really appreciate your feedback. I'm going to check in with my hubby re his water intake and also get his take on the vitamins you're taking. I think you've really found a great solution and highly suspect hubby isn't doing enough in either area. We're headed to his transplant center next week for his 6 month review. We'll see what they say. Keep on keeping, Dna4christ. You're on a great path!
aww thank you so much for the support!! Yes I highly encourage you to check those two areas. Long story short, I started taking them after seeing my dads kidney function returning normal after his creatinine rose last year. I found them on Amazon (did a lot of research, asked three centers etc). Before I couldn’t even eat meat without my creatinine shooting to 1.8. Now I eat everything and it’s still fine. Actually it went from 1.6 to 1.4 now. Number which I haven’t seen in years. Im really hoping maybe it can go further down.. around 1.2-1.3. Would be awesome! Anyways keep me updated on your hubby. Long kidney health to him
Thank you! I'll keep you posted.
Well, we met today with our transplant team for our 6 month visit. My hubby brought his two-month-old lab report with him. During the visit, we brought up up my hubby's very high proteinuria level with the nephrologists in the room and neither of them liked it. One said proteinuria reflects "pressure inside the kidney" and prescribed a blood pressure med to counteract it. My hubby's blood pressure has indeed been a bit high. The other looked over the lab report and said it could also reflect, "debris from a high white blood cell count" probably because of a constant low-level uti that my hubby lives with. Then that doctor added the AllSure blood test to a new blood panel order to double check my hubby's kidney's status. If that blood test reflects a problem, then a biopsy would be next. He added that the chance of that happening would be low. So we hope (and pray) that the outcome will be fine on Monday when the results should be in. I also asked if my hubby could take renal multivitamins and was told that would be okay, but his proteinuria was simply too high for multivitamins alone to fix it. We'll probably add that in after the situation settles down.
I really appreciate you for bringing up the proteinuria matter. That's what made us go back and revisit our lab reports. I'm really glad we had to chance to go over the matter with our team. It really does take a community like this one to catch things, pass on information, and keep us on path to wellness. Thanks so very much!
that’s great news! I’m so glad they are finally taking initiative to take care of the issue!!! I also had the allosure testing done as well has lots of urine tests. I saw my doctor yesterday in person for the first time. He said everything kidney wise looked awesome. Numbers he hasn’t seen in years for me. My hemoglobin was also normal which is abnormal for me. I always have anemia by the time I go to my appointments after procrit shots. He told me to keep taking those vitamins and that it’s working for me. Just need extra dose of vitamin d. I’m so glad I found something that actually works for me. I hope you guys can reap the same benefits as I have!!! Take care and thank you for the update!! Really helps!
Hi Dna4christ - I’m so glad to hear your labs are normal! What pro kidney vitamins do you take? Never heard of them.
hey there!! I take these: Nephroceuticals ProRenal+D Kidney Multivitamins 90-Day Supply!!
So far they have been working wonders. I can eat meat now without worrying about my creatinine shooting to 1.8! If you have any more questions, you can directly send me a chat!
I will check out! Thanks so much!
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