Low Albumin

[Anonymous]

Anyone treated for this? Basically, blood protein level is low. 55yo female 5 5" 130lbs. Exercise and eat protein regularly. Not doing extra protein shakes or anything. Doc wants me to see endo for possible thyroid but can't get in there for months. So I said what if I just eat more protein? But no, doc still wants me to go. Did eating more protein fix it for you?

[Anonymous]

It’s usually due to malnutrition. But if you don’t have an eating disorder, abnormally low protein intake, or a somewhat recent major injury or illness…probably something else is going on. Are you having any swelling/water retention?

[Anonymous]

first thing to rule out is protein loss , is there any protein in your urine? did he just do u/a or protein/creatinine ratio too?

[Anonymous]

OP here - no protein in urine (routine urinalysis), no swelling in legs. I'm thinking it's diet because I was probably only getting 30 maybe 40g of protein per day on a good day when I should be eating nearly double that. I've changed my diet to include more protein. Hopefully, that will do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - no protein in urine (routine urinalysis), no swelling in legs. I'm thinking it's diet because I was probably only getting 30 maybe 40g of protein per day on a good day when I should be eating nearly double that. I've changed my diet to include more protein. Hopefully, that will do it.

That seems low for a person eating a normal diet. I’m a vegetarian and probably eat 50-60 grams per day without even trying or making a conscious effort to “eat protein.” Are you being restrictive?

[Anonymous]

No, not restrictive, just not hungry sometimes. For instance, for breakfast, ate oatmeal and coffee. Went out to lunch and had a decent size sandwich and was not really hungry for dinner, so had a salad and a Costco fudge pop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, not restrictive, just not hungry sometimes. For instance, for breakfast, ate oatmeal and coffee. Went out to lunch and had a decent size sandwich and was not really hungry for dinner, so had a salad and a Costco fudge pop.

If you are eating like a normal person (which I’m not convinced you are) it is unlikely your diet is so deficient in protein that your albumin would be low. It’s likely something else, But it can’t hurt to eat more protein and see if anything changes

[Anonymous]

How low? Was it ok last year? While you wait for the appointment eat well and ask to re-test in a month. Your GP could also run a full thyroid panel in the meantime.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it was low last year but not below the threshold so was not called out. Trying to eat better and up protein intake while I wait.