Sweet smelling urine

Cloobie · Nov 13, 2020

Ive noticed recently a sweet smell to my urine. Last night I didn’t feel well I also have query ulcerative colitis?? Currently undiagnosed but symptomatic and I was having a bad night I decided to do my blood glucose at 4 am as I haven’t been testing often it was 15.8 it went up to 17.3 after lunch hadn’t eaten since 8 pm last night and so today I rang the gp they’ve sent off a urine sample for testing and are doing a hba1c next Tuesday I don’t know what my last hba1c was but it was last done in July 2019 so the dr is organising a diabetic review. I’m currently taking metformin maximum dose. Feeling quite worried

Oldvatr · Nov 13, 2020

As a T2D who used to clock up test results twice as bad as yours daily, I can empathize, There are two possible reasons why this is occurring, One form of T2D is due to the pancreas being unable to produce enough insulin, in which case there may be a need for treatment with insulin. This is not the end of the world and is quite manageable but is a shock if it is the reason, the other form, which is what happened in my case, is severe insulin resistance where I produce loads of insulin but my body cannot use it properly. This can be treated by medication or as I can vouch for, by changing diet and lifestyle. We cannot advise which is the cause, and you will need some follow up testing by your doctor to confirm a diagnosis. All we can say is Yep, welcome to this site. When the doctor tells you what flavour, then you can find loads of advice here to help you recover and control the beast.

In my case, I was having resistance problems, and last month my HbA1c was 40 *i,e, normal) and minimal oral medication. I am not cured, but I am in control.

I do not wish to worry you, but I strongly advise you to read up about Diabetic KetoAcidosis (DKA) just in case you have the insulin depletion version and need insulin, Those test results on an empty stomach are unusual and should not be ignored.

Cloobie · Nov 13, 2020

Oldvatr said:
As a T2D who used to clock up test results twice as bad as yours daily, I can empathize, There are two possible reasons why this is occurring, One form of T2D is due to the pancreas being unable to produce enough insulin, in which case there may be a need for treatment with insulin. This is not the end of the world and is quite manageable but is a shock if it is the reason, the other form, which is what happened in my case, is severe insulin resistance where I produce loads of insulin but my body cannot use it properly. This can be treated by medication or as I can vouch for, by changing diet and lifestyle. We cannot advise which is the cause, and you will need some follow up testing by your doctor to confirm a diagnosis. All we can say is Yep, welcome to this site. When the doctor tells you what flavour, then you can find loads of advice here to help you recover and control the beast.

In my case, I was having resistance problems, and last month my HbA1c was 40 *i,e, normal) and minimal oral medication. I am not cured, but I am in control.

I do not wish to worry you, but I strongly advise you to read up about Diabetic KetoAcidosis (DKA) just in case you have the insulin depletion version and need insulin, Those test results on an empty stomach are unusual and should not be ignored.

Thank you. I’m waiting until next week now I guess to see what goes forward. I’ll look up DKA and I’ll follow up on this when I know more

Oldvatr · Nov 13, 2020

Cloobie said:
Thank you. I’m waiting until next week now I guess to see what goes forward. I’ll look up DKA and I’ll follow up on this when I know more

Good Luck. If you start to feel under the weather before you get to the doctor, you must take the possibility of DKA seriously and seek immediate medical assistance since it can be quite sudden and serious, When a car runs out of petrol it splutters to a halt. Same with us and insulin but we do not normally carry a jerrycan of it in the medicine cabinet to get us running again.

Cloobie · Nov 13, 2020

Oldvatr said:
Good Luck. If you start to feel under the weather before you get to the doctor, you must take the possibility of DKA seriously and seek immediate medical assistance since it can be quite sudden and serious, When a car runs out of petrol it splutters to a halt. Same with us and insulin but we do not normally carry a jerrycan of it in the medicine cabinet to get us running again.

I will thank you

Cloobie · Nov 14, 2020

So my blood glucose upon waking was 14.3

LaoDan · Nov 14, 2020

What’s your current diet like? Are you low carbing?

Oldvatr · Nov 14, 2020

Cloobie said:
So my blood glucose upon waking was 14.3

Are you doing anything to help reduce these test results such as medication or diet adjustments? Metformin alone will not make much difference to blood sugars and is generally reckoned to only give one or two mmol/l drop at full dose and a following wind. It will certainly not dent a test that's over 10 mmol/l.

You have posted in T2 and have access to a monitor, so you are obviously not a Newbie to the condition. One thing you could do today is to go to the chemist and buy some urine test strips. These could confirm that it is glucose in the wee, and warn of ketone building up, and also if you are fighting an infection. If you are not cutting back on carbohydrate food, then bgl will tend to remain high since excretion in the wee is not very efficient and may lead to UTI to boot.

Cutting carbs is something you can do right away, and the results can be impressive. But it would not help if you are insulin depleted. so you do need to get that dilemma sorted asap. However, if cutting carbs has an almost instant effect on the test results, then it may point to insulin resistance but it is not a diagnosis.

michita · Nov 14, 2020

Hi, I had sweet smelling urine (quite distinct smell) for a while before diagnosis and it was for me the smell of ketones. I agree with @Oldvatr I’m adult onset type 1 doing well in terms of managing the condition. Either way you will be ok after you find out more.

Cloobie · Nov 14, 2020

Oldvatr said:
Are you doing anything to help reduce these test results such as medication or diet adjustments? Metformin alone will not make much difference to blood sugars and is generally reckoned to only give one or two mmol/l drop at full dose and a following wind. It will certainly not dent a test that's over 10 mmol/l.

You have posted in T2 and have access to a monitor, so you are obviously not a Newbie to the condition. One thing you could do today is to go to the chemist and buy some urine test strips. These could confirm that it is glucose in the wee, and warn of ketone building up, and also if you are fighting an infection. If you are not cutting back on carbohydrate food, then bgl will tend to remain high since excretion in the wee is not very efficient and may lead to UTI to boot.

Cutting carbs is something you can do right away, and the results can be impressive. But it would not help if you are insulin depleted. so you do need to get that dilemma sorted asap. However, if cutting carbs has an almost instant effect on the test results, then it may point to insulin resistance but it is not a diagnosis.

Thank you I have cut carbs a lot but I know I could do more. I was diagnosed 4 years ago lost a lot of weight and went into pre diabetic range. Then I was put on an antipsychotic injection which has caused a lot of weight gain for all my different co morbidities arthritis ulcerative colitis? Or chrons disease. Schizophrenia asthma psoriasis diabetes sleep apnoea I’m on a lot of meds. I’m finding it hard to lose weight but I have lost 7 kgs in the last 3 months.

Cloobie · Nov 14, 2020

LaoDan said:
What’s your current diet like? Are you low carbing?

Trying my best but I know I could do a lot better.

Cloobie · Nov 14, 2020

michita said:
Hi, I had sweet smelling urine (quite distinct smell) for a while before diagnosis and it was for me the smell of ketones. I agree with @Oldvatr I’m adult onset type 1 doing well in terms of managing the condition. Either way you will be ok after you find out more.

Ok thank you. I’m waiting on test results and another hba1c test on Tuesday

Cloobie · Nov 15, 2020

Oldvatr said:
Are you doing anything to help reduce these test results such as medication or diet adjustments? Metformin alone will not make much difference to blood sugars and is generally reckoned to only give one or two mmol/l drop at full dose and a following wind. It will certainly not dent a test that's over 10 mmol/l.

You have posted in T2 and have access to a monitor, so you are obviously not a Newbie to the condition. One thing you could do today is to go to the chemist and buy some urine test strips. These could confirm that it is glucose in the wee, and warn of ketone building up, and also if you are fighting an infection. If you are not cutting back on carbohydrate food, then bgl will tend to remain high since excretion in the wee is not very efficient and may lead to UTI to boot.

Cutting carbs is something you can do right away, and the results can be impressive. But it would not help if you are insulin depleted. so you do need to get that dilemma sorted asap. However, if cutting carbs has an almost instant effect on the test results, then it may point to insulin resistance but it is not a diagnosis.

Hi oldvatr I just wanted to let you know I cut carbs as much as I possibly could yesterday. And my bg dropped to 10.9 long way to go I know but wanted to say thank you for your advice

Oldvatr · Nov 15, 2020

Cloobie said:
Hi oldvatr I just wanted to let you know I cut carbs as much as I possibly could yesterday. And my bg dropped to 10.9 long way to go I know but wanted to say thank you for your advice

You are welcome. Low carb took me a couple of weeks to get decent results but I took the high road and gently eased myself into it. I advise this route since (a) it is not necessary to rush to get into keto mode - it helps but is not essential. (b) gently does it and hence the shopping is easier, the keto flu stays away, and there is less risk of a hypo so controlling medication becomes less of a helter skelter ride. I suppose I took about 3 weeks to get into the 5-8 mmol/l ranges, and even then my fasting levels were still being boosted by liver dumps. It takes a month or two to reduce FBG to match the others.

The book I found was a turning point for me was Blood Sugar 101 by Jenny Ruhl. I do advise keeping a food/ results log so you track how you react to different foods. I use an Excel spreadsheet for mine since it allows me to do some trending analysis so I can control my medications as appropriate. Mine has nearly 2000 daily entries in it now (5.4 years worth) But then I am a touch nerdy in that respect. I carb watch, but have never carb counted. I have no idea what I consume in a day but estimate it to be between 50 and 130. I have never weighed anything not even when baking a cake I just weigh myself. If I get it wrong, then I get higher bgl readings - hey ho its the average over the day or the week or month (depending on how strict on myself I want to be that day) so I never worry too much. Learn from the mistake and move on.

Sweet smelling urine

Cloobie

Active Member

Oldvatr

Expert

Cloobie

Active Member

Oldvatr

Expert

Cloobie

Active Member

Cloobie

Active Member

LaoDan

Well-Known Member

Oldvatr

Expert

michita

Well-Known Member

Cloobie

Active Member

Cloobie

Active Member

Cloobie

Active Member

Cloobie

Active Member

Oldvatr

Expert

Sweet smelling urine

Active Member

Expert

Active Member

Expert

Active Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Expert

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Active Member

Active Member

Active Member

Expert

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency