Is the presence of protein in urine a serious condition?

Q: My 4-year-old daughter has protein in her urine. I took her to the doctor because she had blood in her stool. Initially I was told that she is constipated or has small tears causing bleeding. A stool sample was taken but no blood was found. After months of us still seeing blood in her stool, I took her to the doctor who did a urinalysis that revealed that she had urinary tract infection. She was given an antibiotic and we were told to have her urine rechecked after 2-3 weeks. We have done the stool slides but got no result. The urine recheck showed the presence of protein. We are going to do a 24 hour urine test and have her blood pressure checked. She appears to be a healthy child. She weighs about 36 lbs, but has not lost weight. What can cause protein in a child's urine? Can this be related to blood in stool? When she was 2 years old, she had atypical seizures. Her blood sugar level is fine. It was determined that she had pneumonia, but fever was not very high and she did not show symptoms of fever. In these episodes, she would shake all over, cry uinconsoleabley and looked really tired. After several days, the seizures stopped and never recurred. An EEG was done which was normal. Could this be related to the protein in the urine and blood in stool?

A:Presence of protein in urine requires careful evaluation. Many children have transient excretion of mild quantity of protein in urine. It usually has no obvious cause and resolves spontaneously. Large amounts of protein in urine as detected by a quantitative test on 24 hour urine indicates a problem with the filtration of the kidney as in conditions such as nephritis or nephrotic syndrome. Further blood and urine tests can confirm the diagnosis. Blood in stools do not cause proteinuria. Nor does epilepsy.