jjraak
Expert
I know it's not meant for me
But I found your explanation very clear, easy to understand & informative
..... bravo .
-
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High albumin in urine, would like thoughts on my labs
- Thread starter Antje77
- Start Date
But I found your explanation very clear, easy to understand & informative
..... bravo .
Not at all, and I'm the one who asked for thoughts on my results, happy you shared yours!
What do you think about making sure I add some iodine rich food first and see how this changes my next labs, considering I'm only just over the threshold and it has risen together with eating much less foods with added iodine? A deficiency seems likely, especially because it is so common, and it seems to be the most common cause of an elevated TSH result.
There's also the list of symptoms I found, of which I only ticked the depression box but I've ticked that one for decades with normal TSH results. (Not sure about fertility, never tried, not sure about regular menstruation either, I can't count apparently.)
As a rule, I'm all for doing a confirmation test first if some result seems off before adding a whole barrage of tests!
jjraak
Expert
Hi @Antje77 .
Most likely you found this online elsewhere.
But for my test results UK
I get a link to labs online to find further info about each etc.
Quite informative & expansive on many of the test results
I looked for albumin but it kept sending to acr (the ratio)
And point about what else may cause a rise gives further culprits to consider.
Anyway here's link.
If not useful to you, maybe others may benefit ?
Best wishes .
labtestsonline.org.uk
Most likely you found this online elsewhere.
But for my test results UK
I get a link to labs online to find further info about each etc.
Quite informative & expansive on many of the test results
I looked for albumin but it kept sending to acr (the ratio)
And point about what else may cause a rise gives further culprits to consider.
Anyway here's link.
If not useful to you, maybe others may benefit ?
Best wishes .
Urine Albumin
Describes how the microalbumin test is used, when a microalbumin test is requested, and what the results of a microalbumin test might mean
There's also this to consider.
There's no way anything would be treated with my numbers, so more diagnostic test wouldn't make a difference I guess.
The TSH test is included in my regular diabetes blood tests (the T4 is automatically added if the TSH is flagged as high) so any changes will not go unnoticed anyway.
Have you had your antibodies tested? As a T1, you likely know auto-immune conditions tend to hunt in packs, given the chance, but the reason I ask about antibodies is Hashimoto's thyroiditis often show significant swings in TSH.
One of the "best" (in a rubbish way) things about taking T3 is all my levels (except antibodies) are tested every time. Silver lining and all that.
I'd say antibodies first, then try whatever you feel best with the aim of improving levels, though do be mindful thyroid hormones, particularly TSH are dynamic, so can vary. I always have my bloods done first thing (as close to 8am as I can), fasted, but that is very important as I am taking meds which contain the hormones, so testing after a dose is counterproductive, in terms of assessing a steady state.
But why?
If it's not going to be treated anyway at my current levels if I understand correctly, having or not having antibodies won't make a difference short term.
And if a slight change in diet should bring levels back to normal it was likely not autoimmune, but if levels get higher it would be an indication to look further into it.
What benefit could there be in further testing at this point?
Mind, I'm not opposed, but if I want further testing I should be prepared with good reasons why I want it right now, and not depend on my next blood draw. My endo tends to agree with anything I want as long as I have a sound reason for wanting it, even if she doesn't completely agree.
I don't know any reason to want it though at this point, so please tell me!
If you have antibodies (aka Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis) that should be treated irrespective of TSH, in order to minimise the chances of the antibodies damaging the thyroid gland (aka killing it off).
From what I can find, Hashimoto's is not treated until TSH goes above 10.
What treatment is usually done before labs go up?
I'll take this up with my endo on our appointment but I feel it's not very urgent right now.
I'll need to plan strategically, having only 10 minutes, and she'll likely have her own planning in mind as well.
- Bit of socialising (very important).
- Diabetes management. Very quick, considering hba1c and TIR, although she will want to know about my experiences with using two different basal insulins, I'm being a first for her. Oh, and a review of my 8 month experiment with metformin as well, got it prescribed last time I saw her but quit again last summer.
- The elephant in the room: the albumin result, plus BP results and medication, and discussing a follow up.
- And then the TSH I guess. Depending on the lab, cut off is either at 4.0 or 4.2. I really don't think she'll be too concerned with my 4.1 for now, especially considering that my dietary changes could very well be the cause.
I promise I'll ask though, and I'll make sure it's included in whatever next blood test I'll have!
Treatment would be T4 to bring down the TSH to euthyroid levels, but as you say often ignored for a while at least.
(T4 is a cheapo option, but first steps is baselining your position, which seems to be a gentle, but steady upwards trend since 2017, if I interpret your graph correctly.)
That's what it looks like to me, nicely correlating with my diabetes diagnosis at the end of 2017 and a gentle but steady change of diet cutting out more and more foods with added iodine through salt.
I don't know if it's the same in the UK, but in the Netherlands salt used in bread and other processed foods has added iodine because deficiencies are so common.
I'll discuss with my endo but I'm not opposed to some waiting and seeing until my next blood draw.
Whatever the cause, the effects don't seem alarming at the moment, especially without symptoms.
Besides, I did do some googling on seaweed and living close to the sea, I plan to see what I can find!
Got any good fresh seaweed recipes?
I have no idea what kinds of seaweed I can find yet, but I'll share my adventures on the What have you eaten thread.
No, I haven't had them tested @AndBreathe . It wasn't mentioned and I didn't know to ask. Do you literally ask for your antibodies to be tested? What reason would I give?
Yes. I'd just be direct.
Sometimes there is resistance, but ask anyway.
If you want to learn a load more (than you ever though you might want to), have a look on HealthUnlocked. The thyroid space there is fabulous. A bit like here, but for wonky thyroids.
Posts - Thyroid UK | HealthUnlocked
Read community conversations. Get support and information from people sharing their experiences with overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism), underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), thyroiditis and more.
healthunlocked.com
Wish me luck, endo appointment tomorrow!
Collected a couple of days of BP measurements at random times, will bring urine too in case she wants to do more labs on the albumin.
If she does, I'll ask to add a urine test for iodine to see if there might be a deficiency.
Collected a couple of days of BP measurements at random times, will bring urine too in case she wants to do more labs on the albumin.
If she does, I'll ask to add a urine test for iodine to see if there might be a deficiency.
jjraak
Expert
All the best for tomorrow
You won!
I was already on 10 mg of enalapril, a low dose, considering the regular maintenance dose is 10-20 mg and I'm way heavier than average with my 114 kg (17 stone 13 pounds I think).
ACE inhibitor doses are weight dependent, my trick to find out if a medication is, is to look it up in vet recommendations, there's much more variety in weight between dogs than between people.
Telling my endo this trick made her have a good laugh to start the appointment in a good mood too!
So dose will be upped to 20 mg, also based on my borderline high BP as taken at home, she was happy to dismiss the ridiculous values as taken in the hospital.
BP seems to follow the same stress pattern as BG on those appointments, BG shot up from around 6 to 9,4 right before seeing her so I told her those appointments are bad for my health.
And she immediately remembered that 9.4 is a very unusual number for me.
I'm still fat, obviously, but at my last appointment I was 116.6 kg, and this time I even kept my sturdy sandals on so I somehow managed to lose some 3 kilos over the year!
New urine test in two months.
Neither of us are sure the albumin is a sign of kidney problems or just caused by covid, but upping the BP meds seems sensible either way so we'll see what happens.
As for the TSH, I asked for iodine to be tested in my urine portion and she agreed but it wasn't a box she could tick. So I'll have my TSH and T4 tested again together with the urine instead, and I'll make sure to add some iodine to my diet in between.
Ate a nori sheet today to see if I liked it but that really needs a good recipe if I'm to eat it more often. Straight from the package is ok but quite boring.
Had some fun with my lipids (@bulkbiker , I'm sure you'll like this part).
They have been ridiculously perfect, according to the norms, and they definitely weren't when I first had them tested around my diabetes diagnosis 6 years ago.
I told my endo this had changed while following a (moderate, mostly because beer, and yes I told her that too) LCHF diet and you could just see her brain working.
She asked if I ate special fats, to which I replied it's mainly generously buttering my low carb bread and crackers and eating pork scratchings with aioli in bed.
I also mentioned that a lot of people on my favourite forum find the same improvement upon cutting the carbs.
She didn't seem to be quite ready to believe those things were directly correlated, but she definitely was interested. And she did absolutely believe me on what I told her on my diet. One of the reasons she's a very good endo for me is that she believes me, on diet, on home BP values, on hypos. I don't have to prove it by showing her my Libre, my word is enough. Which means I trust her in return.
And just now came the surprise, looks like she really is intrigued!
GP's get a letter from specialists after every visit, and the copy goes into my file where I can read it as well. It came just in and this was in the letter:
('Without medication', and 'fraai' means something like 'nice' or 'beautiful'.)
Looks like she's really interested!
Thanks again for all your thoughts everyone, it really did help with my anxiety before the appointment and with getting there well prepared!
If it's any consolation I got put on enalapril when I was thrty and stayed on it fr twenty years, eventually on a max dose of 2 * 20mg per day I think. So you've definitely got scope for an increase.
