Is an abnormal urinalysis a common thing?

Hi Lisa,

It would depend on the numbers probably. Have they mentioned what type of epithelial cells they are e.g. squamous? You can get those from contamination from skin. You can also get a small amount of leucocytes and bacteria from that too. If there is any vaginal or cervical infection it will show up leucocytes also.

pH has a wide range from around 4.5 to 8, are you above that?

love
Lily

Hi Lisa,

Do you know about the clean catch method of collecting urine?

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003751.htm

If you already do this and have those results then I should think that you have a low grade infection that needs treating because of the bacteria, leukocytes etc.

love
Lily

I was thinking about clean catch technique - and making sure that you get a really good sample. I get caught out sometimes if I don't really need to pee but just want to squeeze some out so I don't have to go back later to do it - it's hard to do a good midstream if their aint much there in the first place :lol:

Did they culture it to see if anything grows ?

cheers

raglet

I do usually do a clean catch mid-stream. I can plan when I get the test done, so I make sure that my bladder is full enough to behave. No, they have never done a culture. It just seems like the docs are not concerned.

Do you have any symptoms of a UTI? If you don't, that may be part of the reason they appear unconcerned especially given the high squamous cells which indicate contamination of the sample. Personally, I don't rub/clean down there anymore, but just pee a little, stop, pee in cup, stop! When I did the cleaning bit of the clean catch technique, that is when I'd get the contamination cells!

There are occasionally nearly symptomless UTI's though too, or the symptoms can be very vague & not specifically point to a UTI being the cause. If you have any symptoms of a UTI, I'd request for a culture to be done...

My doctors always think I have a UTI but it turns out (every time) that it's just from the scars left from my lupus on my kidneys that stop them from functioning completely fully. It's not a bad thing, it just means I pee out a little bit of what I should keep in, like protein. Does that fit with your case at all or no?