Ask a doctor on the topic of General medicine

Question about phosphate

September 19, 2019 | 20,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Frauke Gehring

Hello Mrs. Gehring, I am writing to you after a long time, Lupus patient, 26 years old. I had a comprehensive check-up on Monday - my values are stable and the protein excretion has also decreased slightly (24h urine, still 0.8 grams of proteinuria)...
I am of course very happy - but two values are a little worrying me, the doctors didn't see any reason to mention them at all - but the internet is making me a little scared.
I already inquired about my phosphate last year - they also saw it as rather unproblematic. It has been below the target value (0.6) for almost 1.5 years now, and my calcium is also slightly low at 2.0 - normal would be above 2.1, which could possibly be due to the cortisone. My vitamin D is normal as far as I understand. Last time they said that such extremely slight reductions would be unproblematic and if it has been like this for a while now, it shouldn't be anything acute, so worries are still unnecessary? I feel otherwise very well. Thank you in advance.

Dr. med. Frauke Gehring

Good day,

Actually, slightly low phosphate levels are insignificant if all other values are normal and calcium is not elevated. In your case, it is low, which suggests there is no underlying disorder in phosphate metabolism.

You really don't need to worry.

Sincerely, Dr. Gehring