Are my kidneys okay if I had a protein leak years ago?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am a 24-year-old female. When I was 18, I went to the doctor, and they said I was leaking high amounts of protein.

Also, I had some bacteria showing up in my urine, so she gave me medicine for that, which I had to stop taking before the dosage was out, because I reacted badly to it. Then she sent me to a kidney doctor who ran a bunch of tests and found nothing wrong. He said I might have an autoimmune deficiency, and they might have to do a biopsy. It scared me, and I never went back.

Six years later, and I feel perfectly fine, no frequent urinating or any of the symptoms I looked up. I was always in shape, even though I do not eat healthily.

I was wondering, after all these years, should I be concerned about my kidneys? I do not want to have kidney failure, and my mom has the condition sarcoidosis, which I know causes protein and a bunch of other stuff to happen.

Kindly assist.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have read your query and can understand your concern.

Going by the history given by you, it seems that you had proteinuria (that is, protein leaking in the urine due to some defect in the kidneys). There are multiple conditions that can lead to proteinuria.

The treatment varies depending upon the cause, which can be established by a kidney biopsy. There are a few causes that can resolve spontaneously, which most probably happened in your case.

Still, I would advise doing a kidney function test (urea, creatinine), urine routine, and urine protein creatinine ratio (spot). If these investigations show any abnormality, we should proceed with a kidney biopsy to guide further management. Also, please check your blood pressure as well.

I hope I have answered your query.

Revert in case of any doubts.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I have read your query.

In your age, a few common reasons for protein leak in urine include minimal change disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, and membranous glomerulonephritis.

Anyway, most probably, the way it responded to you with a short course of drugs, it must be minimal change disease, which is normally a benign and well-treatable condition.

But one can say with certainty only after a kidney biopsy if the protein leak is also persisting now. If it is not persisting, then nothing needs to be done.

I hope I answered your queries.

Revert back in case if you have more doubts.

Thank you.