Ketones

hale710 said:

I'm just curious as to what level of ketones is considered something to worry about?

I'm ill and currently have ketones of 0.2. When I was diagnosed it was 0.9 and no one was overly worried so I know I don't need to be concerned now, but just so I know for if it rises!

BG was high for a few days but has levelled out to around 10. Still high for me but a significant improvement, until the ketones showed up!


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It's still low, rather than explain it to you read the following Hale:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-and-ketones.html

Go back to your DAFNE sick day rules, adn as your freind says, drink plenty of water.

I just happen to have a pot of ketone test strips in front of me
0-0.6 = Green - drink water, lower your BG with QA insulin
0.6-1.5 = yellow, keep the water going in, up the monitoring frequency.
>1.5 = red - consider medical attention

Hope youre back to normal soon enough.

teh pot just gives you the colours, I added the rest from my memory of DAFNE

hale710 said:

I'm just curious as to what level of ketones is considered something to worry about?

I'm ill and currently have ketones of 0.2. When I was diagnosed it was 0.9 and no one was overly worried so I know I don't need to be concerned now, but just so I know for if it rises!

BG was high for a few days but has levelled out to around 10. Still high for me but a significant improvement, until the ketones showed up!


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For me personally I dont test for keytones and never had in 35years I make a stict point of not going into that terroritory and it cuts out the worry and time factor of an extra task you have enough to be thinking about never mind keytones. If your readings are high you can smell the keytones and the blood drops on your finger are dark and thick which is a pre warning signs ypu need to get on top of things you dont need a numerical figure o underline this.

my blood can be dark and thick at 5.5. I'm a very efficient user of O2. It only goes bright red and spurty during exercise.

hale710 said:

Thanks noblehead! I finally managed to dig around and find my DAFNE stuff and that only mentions the 1.5, not the 0.6. So it's good to have that extra figure to aim to stay below!

I have a friend who's a dietician who's worked at kids diabetes camps etc. she's told me to get a litre of water down me over the next few hours and that should flush it


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The water advice is good advice hale
.
I might be strange but I never seem to show any ketones when I'm ill even though I do test for them, certainly they are something everyone should monitor for when unwell! and I don't think the colour or texture of your blood is a true indicator.

hale710 said:

Back to 0, let's keep it like that!


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Bring back the clapping smiley.....

I think it's important to test for ketones if you are ill. It doesn't matter if your glucose is high or low. You can get DKA at low glucose levels if you are vomiting or have diarrhoea or are just not eating. It's more likely in children and pregnant women but not unknown for older people.
http://pjms.com.pk/issues/janmar08/article/bc2.html
or this you tube up to about 4.5 min (this was clever I only put in the link and now it appears by magic)

Ketosis / Ketoacidosis

Diabetics, and even some health professionals, often confuse two quite distinct metabolic processes - ketosis and ketoacidosis. Ketosis is a perfectly natural and healthy state during which the body uses stored or dietary fat for fuel. In order to enter this state, carbohydrate intake needs to fall below a certain level. Ideally, a healthy metabolism should regularly use ketosis, while fasting overnight for example, to fuel the body's processes and utilise stored fat reserves. Most of the body's organs, the heart for example, in fact run very efficiently on ketones.

Ketoacidosis is quite different and is typically the result of a chronic lack of insulin, not a lack of carbohydrate. With insufficient insulin, the body attempts to fuel itself by breaking down fat and protein stores in an uncontrolled way, a process which results in the blood becoming dangerously acidic. In short, ketosis usually occurs when blood sugars are at the lower end of the normal range, and ketoacidosis occurs when blood sugars are dangerously elevated. Ketosis is a result of low carbohydrate intake, ketoacidosis is a result of inaquate insulin levels.

Posted by a long term type one diabetic.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/low-carb-diet-a-newbies-guide.9427/

FB