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Does Diabetic Ketoacidosis Change Cholesterol levels?

Diamattic

Well-Known Member
Messages
678
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
This may be a weird questions but i was comparing some blood work i had done in January 2011 (back before i had T1D) and the blood work that was conducted a couple days after i was admitted to the hospital. I have nothing in between those dates.

I was admitted to the Emergency room with Diabetic Ketoacidocis, and they drew blood everyday but only on the first day did they do a full work up which included my cholesterol levels.. when i compare these numbers to what i had come back from the lab in 2011 i find quite a difference. The May 2014 numbers are much lower across the board then the Jan 2011 numbers.

My question is - Is this change because i likely spent so much time undiagnosed and in which case they will likely go back up? or does DKA not really affect these numbers and thats just an accurate look at my levels these days?

Thanks!
 
Well, i kept searching and found this research paper - http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh22-3/211.pdf

It talks mostly about Alcohol use in diabetics, BUT it mentions DKA can occur tom alcohol abuse and then goes on to explain how that DKA can alter lipid metabolism, which isn't exactly what i was looking for BUT it does say that it can lower your LDL, and raise your HDL for a short period in which it will return to normal afterwards.. So maybe my levels were abnormally low but returned to where they were afterwards...


SIDENOTE - This paper also mentions that in non-habitual drinkers having 2.5-5 standard alcoholic drinks occasionally can be beneficial to BS levels haha However, habitual drinking (i.e. - daily drinks) is a no-no..

Does anyone know anything conclusive though, I am still wondering how much i can trust these numbers?
 
Ketosis based diets are known too rely on burning triglycerides for fuel instead of glucose of fuel, as well as to reduce LDL and increase HDL.

DKA is effectively ketosis but on a more problematic scale. This time it is brought about not by a restriction in carbs and lowering of glucose but by a lack of insulin to transfer the glucose to the blood, I would expect both to have a similar effect on lipids.

Where triglycerides significantly reduced after DKA?

Not that DKA would ever qualify as a treatment for high cholesterol!

Pavlos
 
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Many people even before they get to DKA at diagnosis have a period where they are losing weight through ketosis As Pavlos says this means the fat in your body is being broken up and used for energy (one of the roles of insulin is to inhibit this breakdown (lipolysis). At some point, depending on how much insulin function is left the ketones build up to a point where the blood becomes acidid hence DKA. There are at that point lots of fatty acids in the circulation and the lipid profile is quite deranged
When I was diagnosed I had very high LDL, relatively high trigs and slightly reduced HDL. Moreover, my plasma was described as opalescent (now it is described as clear and straw coloured which is normal) Because I didn't have a rapid onset of DKA I had also developed a small xanthoma (a cholesterol deposit) below my eye and another on my leg . I was put on statins but everything returned to normal quite quickly, the horrid lumps went away and I was able to reduce them and eventually stopped taking them.
Here is a picture of what I imagine it would have been like; apparently it is typical of DKA
http://usmlepathslides.tumblr.com/post/18562203537/test-tube-turbid-specimen-when-a-tube-of-turbid
Here is a technical medical forum answer which describes the process http://aippg.net/threads/sba-in-diabetic-ketoacidosis-the-following-would-be-expecte.6908/
You can find more if you search for Type V hyperlipoproteinemia DKA
 
I don't have any scientific knowledge, but was what said above seems quite right to me. DKA is a very big ketosis, and ketosis is burning fat, so it seems logical to have less fat left in your blood (all that is very simplified though).
 
Pavlosn - my triglycerides went from 0.62 to 0.58... and my HDL and LDL dropped from 1.3 and 1.6 both down to 0.85.. So basically all of my numbers were cut in half except my Triglycerides.. which seems odd because they seem unrealistically low almost.

(also, i looked back at my old physical and they have a spot where they check blood glucose and it was 5.1, ahh those were days! lol)
 
Just to update everyone, i spoke with a couple doctors and they said that DKA would mess with my numbers and those likely aren't realistic results. I have blood work monday to see what has happened to my cholesterol levels since May 2014 when those numbers appeared.

Im pretty curious to see how much things have changed in that time. Fingers crossed that they are good results!
 
Final update here - in case anyone is curious.

I have the results of my blood work back, (blood was drawn last Monday, Dec 15).

My cholesterol levels did go up, and my triclyerides stayed the same....

-----------------------DKA Reading ------ 8 Months post DKA

Triglycerides ------------0.58 ------------------- 0.58
HDL -----------------------0.85 ------------------ 1.07
LDL ----------------------0.86 ------------------ 1.58

So it looks like DKA tanks cholesterol values...

I guess this wraps up this thread! Let me know if any one has any questions lol
 
Again just to update! I have seen my endo, and have had blood work which shows my cholesterol levels now about 10/11 months post DKA

-----------------------DKA Reading ------ 8 Months post DKA -----11 months Post DKA

Triglycerides ------------0.58 ------------------- 0.58-------------------------0.76------------
HDL -----------------------0.85 ------------------ -1.07 -------------------------1.19-------------
LDL -----------------------0.86 ------------------ --1.58 ------------------------1.84--------------

The numbers have gone up, but to be fair i have started to eat eggs.... I normally have never eaten eggs, but now i have found that they can actually taste somewhat ok for breakfast so i usually have 2 eggs on the weekends every now and again.

I would think my numbers have stabilized though, so the 8 month post reading was likely just about stable as well.

I think i can say that DKA lowers your Triglycerides, HDL, and LDL values for reasons, i can only suspect (without further research) that the body burns the fats in the blood stream while struggling to energy lol
 
I spent 6 years in DKA and my cholesterol levels never changed, they are the same now (2 and a half years later) without DKA and hba1c of 5.8%
 
Whoa, 6 YEARs in DKA!? I was hospitalized after maybe a month!

Perhaps its the severity of the DKA that would make the most difference, i can see mildly producing ketones over longer periods would be different then severe DKA in shorter time.

From what i have been reading, there are some studies that show DKA does reduce cholesterol to some degree by the way the body needs to burn fats as fuel, which means it burns the fats in the blood stream as well.

I guess this is just one of those 'everyone is different' situations, as all of my numbers were pretty much cut in half, and then double back up to normal afterwards, so i am fairly confident it was the DKA in my case.

oh well! We are both normal thats all that matters right!
 
Yep we are normal now ( normal May not be the right word for me!!)

I stopped taking insulin for 6 years as part of an eating disorder. Whenever the DKA got to the point I couldn't breathe and was throwing up I would inject a couple of units, just enough to keep me alive!

Crazy when I think about it but that's mental illness I suppose!!
You don't realise how crazy your behaviour is until you stop doing it!!
 
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