5 Disciplines that Might Diagnose Your Hypoproteinemia

Hypoproteinemia is not a diagnosis, it is a manifestation of some other cause.  Hypoproteinemia simply means low blood protein.  That said, the following disciplines, and possibly others, may get involved in finding the cause of yours. 


1. Rheumatologist - A Rheumatologist may check a number of areas of the body since autoimmune causes of low protein can be found in  multiple systems. Here is a list of some: Blood and blood vessels, Digestive tract (including the mouth) Glands, Heart, Joints, and Kidneys.

2. Gastroenterologist - Since the cause of your low protein might be digestive in nature, this type of doctor may want to examine you. He/she may scope your upper and lower GI tracts.  This discipline would probably do CT scans of your digestive tract first though.

3. Cardiologist: May look at heart issues in infants, children, the elderly, or others for issues causing low blood protein. It’s my understanding that weak hearts can cause protein loss. Also, there are some heart birth defects that cause  hypoproteinemia in infants and children.  Fortunately, doctors can fix some of these.

4. Hematologist: These doctors may look for clues in the blood for what might be causing a decrease in protein.

5.  Geneticist: This kind of doctor would look at your family history, and examine you for clues as to a genetic cause of your hypoproteinemia.

As always, this list is not the end-all list of specialists that might see you. Your low protein may cause secondary issues that might require even other types of doctors.

It’s for this reason that it’s extremely important to have a good primary care doctor who can, and will coordinate your care with all these specializations.

I’ll soon post some suggestions for primary care doctor’s that may come in handy for you, the patient.

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