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help with ketones

L

laura123

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Messages
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Hi,

I am looking for some advice on ketones. I am following a low carb diet and have been ill with a throat infection which I am taking penicillin for. My blood sugars have been raised slightly but only to what they used to be before I followed a low carb diet (when I was following a low carb diet I did not have ketones).
I have not been feeling great and so I tested my ketone levels and they were dark purple at the highest level. I am really worried about this as I know a small amount of ketones is ok but high levels are dangerous. Im not sure whether to keep eating low carb as this may encourage higher levels of ketones.
I dont want to ask my diabetic specialists as they do not agree with the low carb diet and have warned me about having ketones.
Any help on this matter would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Laura
 
A little ketone is normal on low carb. especially if you are losing weight. Could the infection hav pushed your BG up higher than you thought?
 
No I check my blood sugar 4-6 times a day and even more when im not well so im sure about how much my blood sugar has been raised.

Laura.
 
Hi Laura,
Have you still got keytones today? When my son has them which is always when he's ill or on antibiotics, his doctor told him to drink plenty, helps flush them out of the system, and it works for him(water is best) Hope your feeling better
take care
Suzi x
 
Thanks, I stayed with the low carb plan and drank plenty of water last night and within 3 hours the ketones were completely gone. They are back at a normal low level now.

Do you know how much ketones are a dangerous level? My doctor kept teling me ketones would cause complications even at low levels.

Thanks,
Laura.
 
Hi Laura,
not completely sure of how much keytones, but would assume it would be more for high keytones over a long period of time which would cause problems. Think keytones now and again coupled with what you experienced (not being well) is power for the course,(Its your bodys way of telling you something is wrong) where as if you weren't looking after yourself ie, not injecting and eating wrong diet then you would have complications including keytones,weight lose,ect, (similar to what probably led you to diagnosis) I only test Andrew for keytones when he's feeling poorly, or has had high readings over a 6hr period.

Hope this has helped in some way, though i'm no expert.
take care
Suzi x
 
Hi Laura, hope you're feeling better.
I just wanted to say your doctor might want to look over his first year medical notes sometime. Ketones in the blood is a perfectly natural and healthy state. It means, in effect, that your body is metabolising fat properly, just as it's supposed to do. If you had no ketones, you would only be able to build fat stores, not burn them.
He may be confusing ketosis with ketoacidosis, which is when the body has insufficient insulin and ketones then build up until the blood becomes dangerously acidic. It's a common mistake for doctors to make unfortunately.

All the best,

fergus
 
Thanks suzi and fergus for your reply. I explained the difference between ketosis and ketoacidosis to the doctor and he along with the dietician kept looking at me as if I was crazy despite having the best results I have had in years. He agreed that dietary ketosis was different from ketoacidosis and kept talking about how even ketosis would cause kidney damage in the long term and was likely to cause miscarage if I decided to have children. I just want to know what is right.

Laura.
 
dietary ketones with low blood glucose are harmless. that's how Atkins dieters keep watch on weight loss.
DKA ( diabetic Ketoacidosis) has ketones and High BG and is dangerous. the 2 conditions are not the same.
 
Laura,

Lois Jovanovich is the low carb doctor who works with pregnant diabetic women to normalise their blood sugars. She wrote a very good article, "Lets not be ketone cops". I have the hard copy but it has come off the web. In this she explains that it is having abnormal (high) blood sugars that is the problem in pregnancy NOT whether you have ketones or not.

She recommends no more than 30g of carb per meal and no more than 15g carb for snacks (if they are really needed).
 
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