Hi Virginia,
Here is a bit of info about urine tests:
Specific gravity: This is how concentrated the urine is. You'll be given a number result for this always, but actually your result is quite dilute. This means you were drinking enough, and weren't dehydrated - so a good thing.
Protien: Negative is the normal finding, so this is excellent news. With SLE involvement in the kidneys, it is protein you'd expect to see, so the fact that you are negative at the moment is great.
Haemaglobin: This is one of the components of red blood cells, so having these found in your urine goes hand in hand with finding RBC's.
RBC's: Red blood cells - these are not found in normal urine, but can be there for a couple of reasons. The most likely cause is a bladder infection. When the bladder is irritated from infection, it will bleed a tiny bit, not usually enough to make the urine red, but enough to detect on a dipstick or microscopy analysis. Another reason for their presence can be if you had a period at the time of the sample - then it is just contamination. Another possibility is kidney damage, but in that case you would expect to see protein as well, so it is unlikely to be your problem.
WBC: These are usually indicative of an infection. So this would make sense in light of the blood in your urine too. Do you have any sympltoms of a bladder infection? What did the doctor say about this?
Epithelial cells: This is the medical name for skin cells. Basically it means some skin cells were washed with the urine into the sample pot. It is refered to as a contaminated specimen, but doesn't mean anything serious - just that it should probably be redone to try and get a cleaner sample. I
the best way to get an uncontaminated sample is
1. Wash 'down under' being careful to wipe from front to back
2. Pee a little into the toilet, being careful to hold the labia apart (so the stream can fall without touching your skin.
3. Pee a bit into the sterile pot you've been given, or a clean, soap free dry bottle.
4. Pee the rest into the toilet so you emply your bladder - it isn't good to only partly empty your bladder as the 'stale' urine can increase the chabce of a bladder infection.
Turbid: means a bit cloudy. This is what you'd expect from a contaminated sample. It just means there is mucous and skin cells in the urine, and if you've a bladder infection, bacteria too.
Hope this explains it a bit.
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