Hi, I recently had a follow up with my kidney specialist and had a high albumin level. All my other test results were normal and even my A1c had come down. He asked me if I had been eating anything different, and I did tell him I had been eating a lot of fast food and not watching what I eat because of a job promotion.
He said that would do it and did not seem worried at all and said we would retest in 6 months. I personally feel that I have a residual UTI and that caused my level to go high.
Question is…if he isn’t worried and everything else was normal…should I be worried?
I only have one kidney due to hydronephrosis. I had the right kidney removed when I was a baby.
Please advise.
High albumin could be as simple as you are eating a high amount of animal proteins, or you were dehydrated when you had the blood test. I don’t know a lot about hydronephrosis or about what blood work looks like when you have one kidney, but these things do affect albumin. Next time you get blood work done, make sure you are well hydrated and pay attention to what you’ve been eating for the last day or so.
One reason a doc will fail to react to one bad test result is that they know enough about the patient and the whole context to be aware that a blip is not necessarily a trend. In a case like that, they will do just what yours has done: retest in a little while to see whether the situation persists.
This is your call, naturally. If your history with your doc gives you reason to trust the soundness of his judgement, then he’s probably chosen the right course. OTOH, if it’s causing you serious worry or loss of sleep, talk to him about it.