Kidneys and albumin/globulin ratio? help?

T

tx askerrrr

New member
Among many other strange symptoms and health concerns, one of my longterm symptoms has been occasional foamy urine, some days I notice it, some days I don't. Recently I also seem to be noticing slight water retention in various areas of the body although I've had this symptom a while too.

Here's a relevant part of the blood test results I acquired today (I had blood drawn in May of this year, so that's about 6 months ago):

Comprehensive Metabolic Panel w/EGFR

....................................In range...Out of range...Reference Range
Glucose..........................65..... .........................65-99 mg/dL
Urea Nitrogen (BUN).........12........................ .......7-25 mg/dL
Creatinine.......................0.87... .........................0.50-1.30 mg/dL
eGFR Non-Afr. American....>60......................... ....> OR = 60
eGFR African American......>60....................... ......> OR = 60
Bun/Creatinine Ratio.........14........................ ......6-22 (calc)
Sodium...........................140.... .........................135-146 mmol/L
Potassium.......................4.1..... .........................3.5-5.3 mmol/L
Chloride..........................103... ..........................98-110 mmol/L
Carbon dioxide.................28.............. .................21-33 mmol/L
Calcium..........................9.8.... ..........................8.6-10.2 mg/dL
Protein, total...................7.3............. .................6.2-8.3 g/dL
Albumin..........................5.0.... ..........................3.6-5.1 g/dL
Globulin..........................2.3... ...........................2.1-3.7 g/dL (calc)
Albumin/Globulin ratio.......................2.2 H...........1.0-2.1 (calc)
Bilirubin, total..................1.2.............. ................0.2-1.2 mg/dL
Alkaline Phosphatase.........62.................. .............40-115 U/L
AST...............................27.... ...........................10-40 U/L
ALT...............................32.... ............................9-60 U/L

As you can see the Albumin/Globulin ratio is one tick to the "high" range. When the doctor called back with these results, he made no mention of this, so I assume it may not be a concern..?

However, could a high ratio be an indicator of kidney problems? Could this be connected to the foamy urine? I have heard high Creatinine levels are the "gold standard" for indicating kidney problems, but that came out normal.

Anyone?

(Anxiety alert: Could I ask that you guys don't scare me and tell me I have definite kidney problems? I have heard that Proteinuria can be caused by many things, even stress, etc...)
 
hi bill. i am not too certain on the albumin/globulin ratio part of things here so i cannot really say too much on that,but i do have both a kidney and liver disease and what i really watch for with my kidney labs is the creatinine AND the GFR. those two things with blood labs kind of show more. but one thing i would highly recommend to you that be done is a UA to check for protien in your urine if you have any concerns about it. its just one of the very first early indicators of a possible kidney disease. this is what mine did many years ago,way before i even knew i had born with a form of kidney disease. all my labs are still(as of a few months ago) within all normal ranges,which if you could actually see my kidney/liver ultrasounds would just totally freak you out. they are huge and have cysts,many cysts within and on the outter sides of both,but great labs still. unbelievable to me. they are also close to being almost four times their normal size too. very bizzarre.

i did notice while looking at the hepatics that your bilirubin is just right at the very top of going out of range,thats just kind of high(my last bili was 0.8),but your others look great. it wouldn't hurt you,since this was done 6 months ago? to just have another set of labs done along with obtainig an ultrasound on the kidneys and the liver just to really see what they look like in there. the best overall picture of how your organs really "are' would be to do the labs,UA for protien and also the US. this really would give you the very best overall info on these particular organs.

by the way,having to actually 'do' with certain labs? the one thing i did find out after having some of the more obscure labs go out of range,like your glob and alb.is that they only really actually 'mean something' when they do that along WITH other labs being out of range too,you know what i mean? that could just be one reason your doc didn;t mention it,it would not actually matter too overly much unless other particular labs were also out of range too. so that in and of itself may not be a real issue for you. but i would get a comparative study along with what else i mentioned just so you actually know the 'full" picture. hopefully everything 'looks' okay in there. i hope this helped some. please keep me posted on anything else you find out,K? FB
 
Thanks for the insight feelbad. You've been very helpful.

I'm a worrywart though and I have GAD/social anxiety. Going into the doc and informing him about the urine issue and the likelihood that I'll need to discuss drugs/alcohol is a lot for me... I don't know how I can approach this.

Notwithstanding... without insurance, are the UA and ultrasound generally affordable?

I would like to ask you what symptoms of kidney disease you have besides the proteinuria. Do you get strange/powerful reactions to certain drugs (presumably because the kidneys can't filter them out effectively), any water retention (pitting or non-pitting??), do you get back pain or a feeling of pressure back there (mine is more a feeling of pressure, but I have pressure everywhere in my body now, especially my head.)

Do you find you urinate excessively or not enough, etc...
 
while i can understand how you feel about your past issues,it really is nothing to be ashamed of ya know? its what you learned from it and how you do things now that matters much more. i too have a history of addiction,my doc knows it all too. but this is in your PAST,not now ya know? it really is a very common thing that docs do hear about all the time. trust me bill,we are not alone there. BUT,you don;t actually HAVE to say anything about that(tho i do personally think he should know since something "could" be up)until you feel more comfortable,but this would also give your doc much more solid reasons for doing more in depth testing too. personally,i think it would be much better healthwise to just let him know what happened in your PAST. but that is of course up to you.

i wouldn't think doing the UA and the repeat labs would be too overly spendy,and the US really is one of the cheapest ways to get that "look' inside to really see whats going on. this really is a great test to just monitor the kidneys and liver as well. i have one done yearly along with my labs done 2 times per year. i am about due agian for the labs. my sister has the same kidney/liver disease i have and her kidney labs just within the past month finally went out of range for the first time. kind of suprised me since she has been sober now for over 25 years and eats much better than i do and does not have to take a bunch of nasty meds to treat pain like i do either. i KNOW mine will be changing sooner vs later. it will suck but what can ya do? my particular disease is simply a progressive one that you cannot stop.

what i have experience'd as far as symptoms may be a bit off or different than yours just becasue my spinal cord injury tends to create its own little insane things in my body(i also have sympathetic nervous system damage too),but what i can tell you that i am pretty certain are just things happening from my kidneys is,the edema in my ankles which at times can be pitting or non,but only really in my ankles. lots of radiating low back and used to have(before my kidney on the right got too big and pushed itself to my front along side my ribcage in my upper abdomen and chest area)like a dull pressure up there kind of around the shoulder blade area or under it? now i have this in the front where the kidney moved to. luckily for me, becasue of my SNS damage,my BPs have been either right on target or actually HYPO instead of hyper?thats the only good thing that came fromthe SNS damage,it tends to keep BPs lower than normal.

but the reasons mostly for my kidney pain are just the overall size of them and not 'within" the actual kidney so much? they are just way too big for my small body size right now and when i do get to the tx stage,while most keep the old kidneys in,mine will most definitely have to come out. like i mentioned before,my right one is about almost four times the norm and my left about three times. our kidneys should be about the size of our own fist,mine are wayyy bigger than that,its all from cystic formations.

i have had some of the most off ther wall reactions to meds that are mostly metabolized within the kidneys. geez,lyrica almost made me go insane with its side effects on me. the lyrica made my kidneys swell so bad,thats when my right one popped out of my back and into my front. it just got forced out of that smaller space in my back. this med also gave me bad eye crap and also really affected my ability to even walk a straight line,even when i tried to. cymbalta was another whole nightmare of its own too. i do feel a bit more sensitive to certain meds but don't know if this is indeed kidney or my SNS damage along with also having my liver affected with cysts too ya know?

i just really do think bill you will be much better off just talking to your doc about your concerns and telling him everything,or enough so he understands why you want this done. not telling our docs everything just is not something you really should be doing. its your health ya know? you are not going to ever get the best possible overall care from any doc without them knowing everything they just really do need to know. just tell him that you have been worried about your symptoms and also how to approach this just like you told me here,and then tell him. remember,that is in your PAST. its done and over ya know? and now,you just really do need to check out for any possible damage and tell him your ongoing symptoms too bill. you just really need to do this hon. believe me, i am not proud of my past either,but i simply could not not tell my primary ya know? he DOES have my best interest at heart in the decisions he makes for me too.

it comes down to choices.you made some bad ones before and now you need to start making good ones for yourself. and its just the right thing to do in this particular situation. he will know much better what possible areas of damage to look for(and what type) and be able to do a better job for you with ALL the knowledge you have that he simply needs to know. its just really IN your best interest bill. please keep me posted. good luck, FB
 
Thanks for your long response, words to chew on, for sure..

But just had to ask, are there *any* minor causes for proteinuria and other kidney-related symptoms...?

Maybe some of this is related to an infection? I have had infrequent burning urination for a decade or so (but very infrequent, not constant) maybe when I went through a brutal period of addiction/alcoholism that made infections/inflammation in my body a lot worse? Holds up in theory...? (As you may or may not know my first symptoms including the foamy urine began when I was a terrible addict, and I was getting sick a lot at that time, would have had a weakened immune system at that time from poor diet/extreme stress on the body...)

I just need some reassurance that I may not have acute or chronic kidney disease... that's not a nice one to have...

not to take anything away from your struggle, of course!

also, you didn't answer a question I had from my other post, about urinary frequency.. do you find you urinate less, or more, than you should..
 
like i said bill,this IS in your past,so look at it as history and things needing to be checked out from THAT,K? that really is the only true way you are going to really know everything you want to know,ya know? give yourself some credit here bill,really,you did something very difficult for an addict and alcoholic,remember that,always.K?

as far as the protien in your urine thing,the only other reason i know of off hand would be strenuous excercising before the test. there can be others i sure,but this is the only other reason i personally know of off hand. just do a bit of searching on protien in your urine,it may bring you to a better explanation. thank god for the internet. its gotten info for me that i just HAD to have for my son and for me. quite the info tool.

as far as urinary frequency,its kinda been all over the map at times. i was having to,for about three years,get up at LEAST two times a night,then that stopped and now i only need to go really early in the moring(once) and when i wake up. before that,i never had to get up at night to pee. like i said,all over the map,so really don;t think you can really compare one person to another on that,you know what i mean? i also drink water non stop,all day long up til about an hour before bed,just to keep my kidneys well flushed,so that would also impact how much output i have too. its kind of looking at how much you drink during the day compared to how much you are putting out type thing.one particular type of test that your doc can order for you is the 24 hor pee test? you just collect your urine in this big red container for one 24 hour period and then you return it to the docs office and they can really test alot of differet things having to do with your urine this way. this is kind of a more individual way of really checking 'your" personal numbers. not everyone will fit really nicely into the ratios set and thresholds set by the national standard of the testing ratios either,this is just more within 'your" physiology and your condition. thats just another thing you need to remember here too.

have you ever been tested for a possible UTI or bladder type of infection? this is just one possibility that considering your symptoms,could be causing you problems if you actually have one that was never treated. just something to have tested when you see your doc. i really really do think bill,that you just have to come clean with your doc,you don;t have to get into the details but he really does need to know ya know? the one thing i DO know and understand is the brain of an addict. lying and stealing is not beyond the relm when you are in the grips of an addiction. this is the one thing you can still change,your past addict thinking patterns. you are still there bill whether or not you realize it or not. this is just how you WERE,not who you are now,and you do need to start thinking that way. honesty was not something i really cared about all the time either. there is fear there and few other things. believe me, being sober and clean is not easy,and your doc does know that,you should be very proud of what you have already done for yourself,you probably saved your own life ya know? thats not a bad thing bill,its agood thing and the best possible thing you could have done for yourself. now its time to get rid of the "old' thinking patterns and on to the new ones that come along with sobriety. you just owe this to yourself and the people who also care about you to do this all the right way for the best possible eval of your current kidney/liver status. but,like i mentioned before,that choice is up to you bill.

unfortunetly bill,the only real true way you are going to really know about your kidney and liver functions or any other problems you may have is to just see your doc and get the things tested that i mentioned. this would give you a pretty clear overall picture of just whats going on in your body and the kidneys and liver espescially. just the repeat labs along with the abdominal US would really show alot,believe me. the thing here is my particular kidney disease was something i was simply born with but never knew it til my son became gravely ill with liver failure. he recieved a mutated form of the PKD gene that created it all to begin with. my symptoms of my kidney disease would not realistically be the exact same as someone who has a kidney disease for a different reason,you know what i mean? just do the best possible things for yourself now,K? how have your BPs been,okay? in some people with kidney disease,one ofthe earlier signs is a raise in their normal BPs. it all depends upon the type of kidney disease you have and what created it as to when the BPs would realistically be affected.

just make an appt to see your primary and you can always tell him that many many years ago,you had an addiction and alcohol problem and have been worried ever since you became sober as to any real damage that may have been done to certain organs. you just really need this all checked out as i KNOW you are concerned and this is making you way nervous to boot. knowing the condition,and it may not be as bad as you are thinking either so keep that in mind too, will help get rid of that fear of the unknown at least. if you have any more questions,i am here,K? good luck bill, FB
 
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