My 12 year old daughter went for her physical last week and had a positive urine for protein, then had it repeated a week later and it was a +3. This morning I dropped off a 24 hour urine test, so am waiting for results. In the meantime she had a fainting spell this morning. I am very worried! Anyone have any thoughts as to what this could be??

Hi, there. Just a few possibilities, but you shouldn't worry too much until you know more. Protein is a large molecule that under normal circumstances, would be present in urine at zero or very low levels. Something that stresses or damages the kidneys on a temporary or permanent basis causes the holes in the filters of the kidneys to stretch open large enough to let these large proteins out of the bloodstream and into the urine, where they do not belong. How many 24-hour urine tests have I done... a lot in the past year since I was diagnosed with Lupus. That is one remote possibility. Any chance that she is diabetic? It could also be as simple as an ongoing infection that needs to be taken care of. Of course, the possibility of kidney disease or nephritis of some kind that just rises up out of nowhere exists. This could be very temporary, so please don't panic until you get some more information. Best wishes to you and your daughter.

Thanks for your reply. We went to the doctor yesterday and he ordered bloodwork and told her to drink lots of fluids, and in the meantime we're waiting for the results of the 24 hour urine. He had her collect two different samples, one from waking hours and one from just waking on the second day, to see if the protein is there because of physical activity or if it's there at waking as well. Hoping to hear something soon.