Protein in urine

[dollydimples123]

Hi,
I am Type1 diabetic and have been for last 28 years. Have always had tight control and long term count (that HC1 thingy!) has always been below 6. Anyhoos last week whilst at my diabetc clinic appointment I gave a urine sample and had my period at the time. Blood was present in my sample and doctor mentioned this and asked if it was monthly period. Yesterday I get letter from clinic saying they have traced protein in my urine and want me back for second test. Doctor said she thought this was most likely due to blood in urine sample, but wanted to check to be doubly sure. Well I have googled all this and it is appar the case that menstruation can cause fale protein reading in urine...but am still petrified that maybe I have start of kidney disease and am going to die before I get to 43!!! Anybody able to help me out on this one? How likely would CKD be in a well-controlled diabetc? Everything else at clinic was fine. Just this darned urine thing....grrrrr :***:

 

[mrburden]

Hi,
I am Type1 diabetic and have been for last 28 years. Have always had tight control and long term count (that HC1 thingy!) has always been below 6. Anyhoos last week whilst at my diabetc clinic appointment I gave a urine sample and had my period at the time. Blood was present in my sample and doctor mentioned this and asked if it was monthly period. Yesterday I get letter from clinic saying they have traced protein in my urine and want me back for second test. Doctor said she thought this was most likely due to blood in urine sample, but wanted to check to be doubly sure. Well I have googled all this and it is appar the case that menstruation can cause fale protein reading in urine...but am still petrified that maybe I have start of kidney disease and am going to die before I get to 43!!! Anybody able to help me out on this one? How likely would CKD be in a well-controlled diabetc? Everything else at clinic was fine. Just this darned urine thing....grrrrr :***:

Well, on the plus side, I've been diabetic for 35 years now (during the early years I had poor control) and I've had CKD stage 3 for at least the last 5 years...and I'm 46 and still not dead!
The likely reason for a recall is to confirm the result at a different time of the month. Protein in the urine can be caused by a few things including infections and, as you mention, menstrual cycle. Of course, the one thing they want to try to rule out is CKD, but it isn't terrible news even if that is the cause of the blood. CKD, if noticed early on, can be held at bay for a long time with good blood pressure and glucose control. I take a couple of tablets, one to keep my blood pressure nice and low and one is a water tablet which together help to relieve the work that the kidneys do. My kidney function has been as low as 25% in the past, but it is now back up to near 50%. To put that in some perspective, kidney dialysis is not often considered until the function gets closer to 10% and many people are lucky enough to get a transplant before that point.
I eat a normal balanced diet, suffer no side effects of the CKD and live a normal life (in respect of the CKD) so there is no real need to be too worried about the results. There is every chance that you will supply a clear sample this time.

 

[dollydimples123]

Thank you so much for your very positive and careful response! I have had a wee look on the internet and yes you are correct it's no major horror story and ACE inhibitors can pretty much deal with it and stop fast progression.

I have today had the delivery of my protein urineanalysis sticks which I bought off the internet from a pharmacy!!! (I am a nightmare for going off and diagnosing myself way before the hospital has time to!!! LOL) Anyhoos, did an early morning test and it came back negative. Have tested a few times today and it is still negative. Then very deviously...did another test but this time dribbled a good few bits of blood from my finger into the urine and hey bingo came up a darker green colour showing positive. So it does indeed seem to be blood that can affect the result. Anyway, I am best off leaving it to the professionals and hoping that it comes back a negative and was just due to my silly periods...if not I have to man up and be as positive as you are and just deal with it. After all what else can we do??? But thank you so very very much for answering my post. I am sure you have got things sorted out with your diet and glucose levels and are battling the kidney thing successfully. I wish you all the best healthwise and pray for your levels to always stay at 25 and to never dip EVER.

 

[Defren]

I'm really pleased for you, but do see your Doctor just to be on the safe side. We always feel better when we get the official all clear any way.

 

[agold]

I've always been told that if your sugars go above 14 you should test for keytones in the urine. If they're present, you should take double your correction dose (your normal correction dose won't work effectively if have keytones) and then re-test an hour later (time dependent on diff circumstances). If still present, keep doing the same until your test is clear. So, even if you do get keytones occasionally, as long as you know how to treat them, then it's OK and all part and parcel of having this delightful condition! I think if you're continually having high sugars and/or keytones in urine, or you feel ill with them, you would need to speak to the doctor/nurse or go to A&E, but sounds like you're well controlled. Just test if you're above 14, otherwise I wouldn't worry. Perhaps you could ask your DSN about this to confirm.

 

[mrburden]

I've always been told that if your sugars go above 14 you should test for keytones in the urine. If they're present, you should take double your correction dose (your normal correction dose won't work effectively if have keytones) and then re-test an hour later (time dependent on diff circumstances). If still present, keep doing the same until your test is clear. So, even if you do get keytones occasionally, as long as you know how to treat them, then it's OK and all part and parcel of having this delightful condition! I think if you're continually having high sugars and/or keytones in urine, or you feel ill with them, you would need to speak to the doctor/nurse or go to A&E, but sounds like you're well controlled. Just test if you're above 14, otherwise I wouldn't worry. Perhaps you could ask your DSN about this to confirm.

? :?

 

[dollydimples123]

Hi,
I just thought I would respond on my initial thread incase anyone else had similar problem or question later on. I got my urine test results back yesterday and there was NO sign of any protein in my urine and so it seems that the protein was indeed from the menstrual blood and nothing else. Really quite daft of them to even have bothered testing my urine at such a time of the month...made me worry for no reason!!!!

Anyway, I will continue to keep my sugars as low and stable as is humanly possible for another 20 years or so....hopefully they will have a cure for this illness my THEN!!!!!!!

Thanks for all answers during my time of worry.