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ketoacidosis?

claymic

claymic

Well-Known Member
Messages
503
Location
Leicester
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
hi

i am a bit confused with ketoacidosis (spelling). i read that you get it if you are running high blood sugars. so i am worried that if i go on a very low carb diet...would it cause ketosis or ketoacidosis...because at the minute i am running sugars between 10 and 14 most readings.

how can it be distinguised.? are there physical symptoms to look out for if ketoacidosis is occuring?


thanks
Claudette
 
Thanks.yes I have read that topic before hence my question. How high should the bg be to be in danger of ketoacidosis
 
claymic said:
i am a bit confused with ketoacidosis (spelling). i read that you get it if you are running high blood sugars. so i am worried that if i go on a very low carb diet...would it cause ketosis or ketoacidosis...because at the minute i am running sugars between 10 and 14 most readings.
Click to expand...

In order to get into nutritional ketosis you'd have to reduce your carbohydrate intake to such an extent that your BG would be less than 6mmol/l. Nutritional Ketosis occurs when you starve your brain of glucose, while you're levels are high it'd feed off the that rather than breaking down fat and producing ketones.

I'd just worry about getting your BG levels down. If you start seeing ketones and your BG is high, then go the Doctors. Ketoacidosis is a consequence of having no insulin in your blood, not of trying to get into nutrional ketosis.
 
If you do a low carb diet, your blood glucose should come down and spike less. In that case, you should not need to check for ketones. They don't start forming until your blood sugar is high (around 12 or above, as far as I recall).

Ketoacidosis is more common in type 1 diabetics who have no insulin of their own and cannot do sugar-metabolism without help from injected insulin.

If you do get very high blood sugar readings for any reason, do check, of course. However, a low carb diet should make it less likely to happen at all.

So, if you have high blood sugar, test. If you low carb, you should NOT have high blood sugar (as much). Bottomline - I would not be worried, on the contrary.
 
my daughter had a period when her bs was never under 20 and often in the 30s yet never had ketones in her blood. are some people more suseptible to ketoacidosis?????
 
elainechi said:
my daughter had a period when her bs was never under 20 and often in the 30s yet never had ketones in her blood. are some people more suseptible to ketoacidosis?????
Click to expand...

Anyone that does not produce enough insulin needs to be careful of ketoacidosis (usually insulin users who accidently mismanage their dose because of illness or someother reason). Ketones don't necessarily occur when you have high BG levels, but when you have very low insulin levels (which will result in high BG). Ketones and BG are potentially very serious, and your daughter should get urgent medical advice if she gets them.
 
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