Hypos and keto diet

Generally speaking, if you are properly fat adapted, it should be quite quick, even as little as 12 hours, but we all know just how different we react to everything. the important thing is your health. You HAVE to treat the hypo, so it's inconvenient, but very NECESSARY.

Have you spoken to your DN? As while doing keto you may need your insulin dose reduced.

Helen40 said:

Is doing keto pointless if you get kicked out every time you have a hypo?

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What is your motivation for doing Keto?

Helen40 said:

Hi all, a quick question with hopefully a quick answer I'm doing keto around 30grams a carb maximum or less,but last night I had a hypo and had to treat with glucose I'm so mad as I feel my efforts have now been wasted!!

How long will it take to back into keto?

Is doing keto pointless if you get kicked out every time you have a hypo?

Thanks for any advice as I'm pretty clueless and the Web hasn't been helpful!

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Your efforts are extremely unlikely to have been wasted, unless you have been having lots more hypos, or much deeper hypos than on your previous regime.

I think I signposted you to Dr Ian Lake? In conversation he reckons he has far fewer hypos when keto, because his highs are rarely so high as before, nor his hypos as deep or sustained.

If you are enjoying your new regime, then I'd urge you to think about some of these things as bedding in glitches - especially as your insulin needs may well be changing due to your new eating regimes..

Clearly it is vital you still treat your hypos in a timely manner with appropriate treatments.

Helen40 said:

Sound advice snd something I'd not thought of I guess? It's the first hypo in a week without any terrible h8ghs either so that makes me happy! One other thing I'm finding is that I tend to test about 10 during the day, I can't take insulin cos then I go too low but I'm uneasy staying at that level everyday? Even though i feel great and its way better than 2 weeks ago! During the Nighttime are around 8 and I wake up at about 5.6 to 6 so that's a vast improvement. I will have a look at Dr Lake thanks!

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maybe your basal requirements are changing over a 24 hour period ...

Helen40 said:

my primary aim is to stabilise my bm levels

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In which case, you're not going to have undone anything by treating a hypo with glucose. You've simply switched from one technique for controlling you're bg to another and then back again.

Helen40 said:

I'd hoped that as a side effect of very low carb some weight loss may also occur.

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Don't forget that even on a ketogenic diet it's possible to put on weight if you're consuming more energy than you're body is using. Being in ketosis means that you're utilising fat for energy. But that fat may solely be coming from the food that you're eating rather than from you're stored body fat.

Have you done any testing to establish whether you're getting into ketosis in the first place? Worrying about kicking yourself out of ketosis when you're treating a hypo might be a moot point. If you're finger pricking anyway then I'd suggest you also used a ketone meter. The GlucoRx HCT is on Amazon for £16 and a box of ten test strips is £17. So for £33 you can gain knowledge of what's happening in your body and you'll be able to assess how long it's taking you to get back into ketosis.

Helen40 said:

Could be, I'm 3 weeks into using tresiba which I much prefer to my old lantus regime!

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Tresiba acts over too long a time period for adjustment of basal dose for time of day

Answering another of your posts I didn't realise you were on top of 'clean' eating and, previous to PDR, accomplished at keeping lean!

When on keto I found using Libre to monitor glucose every minute (previously every 5) when necessary and using its ketone testing strips was ideal.

The following is by no means advice but my observation:
When in ketosis I found that my hypos were asymptomatic and I was able to gradually increase my glucose level and accounted for those carbs as part of my total for the day.à

The longer I was in ketosis the lower fasting glucose levels and, in addition, excercise lowered my ketones rather than glucose. Do look up Dr Lake as mentioned earlier; he has experience if reversing PDR albeit not as advanced as yours or mine.

Definitely do not add a worry of being out of ketosis to your list of stressors; you'll be able to measure ketones with the strips which should be available on prescription for you and it is so much more preferable than risking the negative effects of hypoglycaemia.

ATB