What does high protien in my urine actually mean ?

Question

I am 31 weeks pregnant and my midwife tells me that I have high protien in my urine. She says she is not concerned beacuse my blood pressure is normal. Can I control the protien in my urine through diet or is this a normal occurance in pregnancy ? Is there anything I can do to stop is gettting worse or improving it ?

Answer 1

Protein (or albumin) is a very large molecule that floats in the blood, with the kidneys acting like a fine 'sieve' filtering the blood and generally preventing protein from being passed into the urine. During pregnancy, it is normal for the kidneys to excrete small amounts of protein. However, large amounts of protein in the urine (or 'proteinuria') can be a physical sign of very high blood pressure during pregnancy or 'pre-eclampsia' . This is because an abnormally high blood pressure can cause the 'sieve' in the kidney to become somewhat impaired or damaged, allowing more protein to slip through into the urine. (Occasionally, proteinuria will be a physical sign of a urine infection or underlying kidney disease.)

In practice, protein in the urine is tested for by using rapid urine screening tests in the form of reagent strips, known as 'dipsticks'. Dipsticks have many small, coloured squares of litmus paper on them and are designed to be soaked with urine to get a result. The urine is placed on the dipstick either by putting the dipstick into a urine sample, or by the woman passing urine over the dipstick in the toilet. If certain substances are present in the urine, such as protein, the relevant litmus square on the dipstick changes colour. In the case of protein it usually changes to a darker shade of green.

Answer 2

It could mean you are getting preclampsia toxemia. I had the same thing with my last baby a year ago. It happend at the end of the pregnancy. Are your feet and hands and face swollen? like extra fluid? are you gaining wait very fast? I was taken into hospital a week before baby was born. they checked my urine every morning for protein levels and blood pressure. They induced the baby early as that is only cure of toxemia. sadly for me my body was not ready and after long labour of it not progressing I ended up having emergency C Section but even though the labour was long and I only ended up at 6cm open I personally did not find the labour pains up to then unbearable. gas was enough. If you do have preclampsia then be prepared that they will want to bring the baby early and if it ends up like it did for me then don't worry because you get through it and the doctors these days have lots of information on how to treat preclampsia. good luck

Answer 3

The reason your midwife checks for protein inthe urine is to make sure you don't develop pre-eclamsia. I'm the opposite of you, I have high bood pressure but don't have protein in my urine. There are several factors that mean you have pre-eclamsia, protein in the urine, high blood pressure, swollen face, or feet, or sudden increase in weight gain. The protein could mean there is something being produced in your liver or kidneys that could harm the baby but if your blood pressure is normal then I wouldn't worry about anything.

Answer 4

Having protein in your urine is a sign of pre-eclampsia; the condition is usually determined by high blood pressure. They will continue to monitor your protein and blood pressure. If you develop Eclampsia, this is life threatening to mother and baby, can cause extrememly high blood pressure resulting in stroke and/or seizures in the mother and fetal death. They monitor this to make sure you do not develop Eclampsia (also known as Toxemia). Relax, they are taking every precaution and no, there isn't anything you can do to prevent it, the only cure for pre-eclampsia and Eclampsia is delivery.

Answer 5

protein when your diet isn't balanced enough. You're not either eating or drinking enough. I have that problem with every pregnancy. I've even had to be admitted and get IV fluids with a couple of my kids.

Answer 6

Sometimes it is a sign of high blood pressure and other times it can mean you have an infection they obviously didn't find any bacteria with it so i think your fine.