• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Blood sugar high on Keto

nanabon

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi All,
1st time I have posted here. I am T2 diabetic and weigh 160kg. I also am post rai Graves Disease and have Thrombophilia, Atrial Fibrillation and possible fibromyalgia. I am not taking any meds for the diabetes. So I have been Keto for 8 weeks and feel much better; the pain is a lot less and I have more energy so am moving around a lot better. Not losing weight but that's ok for now as I am sure that will come eventually and my goals here are to feel better and improve the numbers. My blood ketones range between .9 and 2.5 depending on what I have eaten and when I check it. However, my blood sugar readings are higher than I expected. Before starting Keto, fasting was averaging 7.5. But now, fasting is consistently 8.5 - 9 and doesn't seem to come down as much during the day. The curve is flatter but it's way higher than I expected. I have not had any labs done recently so maybe that might show something different. Don't know what to think. Don't want to give up as I feel so much better. Is it possible that my blood insulin is lower due to the diet and the sugar will come down eventually? Anyway, any advice or encouragement is welcome :) Thanks
 
It could be that your body is taking advantage of the dietary changes you have made to "dump" out the excess sugar that may have been stored over the years. Although 8 weeks is quite a significant period for this to still be happening.
Could you give us some examples of what you are eating? It might be that there are still some errant carbs in your food that are causing the higher levels?
 
It could be that your body is taking advantage of the dietary changes you have made to "dump" out the excess sugar that may have been stored over the years. Although 8 weeks is quite a significant period for this to still be happening.
Could you give us some examples of what you are eating? It might be that there are still some errant carbs in your food that are causing the higher levels?

Ok, so yesterday
Breakfast - eggs scrambled in butter and homemade hollandaise
Lunch - Keto Quiche Recipe from Diet Doctor with sasuage crust (filling was cheddar cheese, tomatoes, bacon, ham, cream and eggs)
Dinner - Sauerkraut and meatloaf with chorizo and cheese
Snack - between breakfast and lunch I had a snack size bag of pork crunch

This morning fasting sugar was 9.3. This is pretty typical of what I've been eating although I usually have more green leafy stuff at dinner like spinach, chard, sprouts, or cabbage. I'm pretty careful about carb creep as I failed on this diet a couple years ago by allowing processed 'keto' foods in. The pain came back and I kinda drifted off the diet. Don't want that to happen again as I really do feel much better. This time I am using the lists from the Real Meal Revolution and choosing from the green list. And not hungry so portions are way down from when I started. Might try to add in a fast as I'm not sure what else to do.
 
Welcome! What does your normal diet look like? When I was first diagnosed, I did a really drastic carb cut, like a target of zero, started losing weight pretty much right away, mostly water at first. Once you’re fat adapted, intermittent fasting is an option .
 
@nanabon Just out of curiosity are you on any other meds for your other conditions, some can raise blood sugars - eg statins can, steroids, do, other may do as well.
 
@nanabon Just out of curiosity are you on any other meds for your other conditions, some can raise blood sugars - eg statins can, steroids, do, other may do as well.
Hi,
I take:
Levothyroxine - thyroid
Bisoprolol - AFib
Warfarin - Thrombophilia
Lisinopril - High BP
Progesterone - to limit heavy monthly bleeding due to warfarin
Seroxate - mood swings (20 years - low dose - keeps the mood swings in check)
Codiene - pain control

No statin as I refused it after an uncharacteristic episode where I nearly stuck myself with a knife after being on them for a month. Went back to doc and asked *** and he said it couldn't possibly be the statin! That was the only thing that changed and stopping it fixed the mental garbage. In my opinion statins are dangerous and it's not just the aches and pains. Some of us have really weird mental reactions so I declined to try a different one. Total cholesterol was 7 but my grandfather lived to 96 years with very high cholesterol (over 300 in US measurements) and refused statins.
 
Welcome! What does your normal diet look like? When I was first diagnosed, I did a really drastic carb cut, like a target of zero, started losing weight pretty much right away, mostly water at first. Once you’re fat adapted, intermittent fasting is an option .
Thanks for the welcome :) Before I went on Keto I had cut out a lot of the processed foods anyway but I was eating things like lentils, beans, corn, quinoa and other 'healthy grains' as well as a lot of fresh veg but not so much fat.
 
I would suggest talking to an actual degree-qualified pharmacist and asking whether any of your meds can raise blood glucose singly or in combination. If the answer is yes, then you can tackle your doctor.

People without diabetes or prediabetes who eat keto have sometimes experienced a diabetic fasting blood glucose, and the reason was thought to be peripheral insulin resistance. With less glucose coming in, cells became insulin resistant, to spare the little glucose there is, for the brain. On the keto forum, the people just upped their carb levels a bit.

I'm not suggesting that you do that, as I'm not a doctor. I would ask yours if it's possible that is what's happening with you. Keto doesn't suit everyone and low carb can work to lose weight. It's feasible that your liver is dumping glycogen because your brain doesn't think you have enough glucose for energy. It might improve in time or it might not. Bodies are weird.
 
Back
Top