Positive Dipstick Protein Reading- False??

[amberstrika]

Today at home I had my first positive protein reading on my dipstick. It went to a +1 reading meaning 30 mg in the cup. I know they're very unreliable, so I wasn't panicking. I'm 38 weeks 4 days currently, and I've had preeclampsia twice. I'm hoping to make it to the end with no problems.

My question is: TMI!!- For the specimen that gave me a positive reading there was so much discharge in the cup I could see clumps of tissue floating around. The urine was extremely cloudy and full of clotty tissue. I'd imagine it's my mucus plug coming out. Would the tissue and discharge make a false positive protein reading, you think? I've never had this happen before. I do know that at 36 weeks +3 days I had a 24 hour urinalysis of 250mg, so there is protein coming out.

Thanks!

[alexis]

Yeah, discharge can cause a false positive--it's partly why they have the clean catch instructions. However, if you had 250 by 24 hour, then you could've had a 1+ anyway. In addition, the dipstick is related to concentration, so a concentrated sample will give you a higher dip than you'd expect.

The only way to know is to get a repeat 24 hour, unfortunately.