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Who tests regularly for ketones?

Do you test regularly for ketones as a T1

  • Daily

    Votes: 4 10.5%

  • Weekly

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Monthly

    Votes: 1 2.6%

  • Never

    Votes: 14 36.8%

  • When needed (e.g. when ill)

    Votes: 19 50.0%
  • Total voters
    38
LittleGreyCat

LittleGreyCat

Well-Known Member
Retired Moderator
Just looking at a health tracking App and it doesn't have a field for ketones.

As far as I know most T2s don't test for ketones (unless on a ketogenic diet) but I assume that T1s have to be wary of high BG and high ketones leading to diabetic ketoacidosis.

Gah! Hit the wrong key. I meant to include a "never" field but it looks as though I may not be able to edit a poll. O.K. My, the "edit" option is teeny tiny for the poll, isn't it?

Can't edit the title, but I didn't mean to exclude insulin dependent T2s. Sorry!
 
I'm a T2 and have eaten up to 30g carbs daily for a few years. I have never tested for ketones as it doesn't worry me one way or the other.
 
I'd imagine the answer would be pretty universal @LittleGreyCat

I test when I need to - that us, when my BS is over approx 13 and when ill if needed.

Perhaps you could add a When Needed option?

You might also want to specify Type 1s in your title.
 
azure said:
I'd imagine the answer would be pretty universal @LittleGreyCat

I test when I need to - that us, when my BS is over approx 13 and when ill if needed.

Perhaps you could add a When Needed option?
Click to expand...

Done.

Really I'm trying to check that my understanding is correct and that it would be useful for a health tracker to include a field for ketones.
 
It depends what the purpose of the app is. I haven't needed to test for ketones for ages fortunately. So it's not a regular thing I'd record really.
 
azure said:
I test when I need to - that us, when my BS is over approx 13 and when ill if needed.
Click to expand...

Is the number 13 related with being on a pump? I was also told when needed if unwell but a higher BG number which I suspect may be related to being on MDI.
 
Until I was on a pump I never tested for ketones - I had no ability to do so.
I was given a new meter with my pump which, with different test strips provides this capability. However, even if my BG is high, I rarely test for ketones. I give myself a correction dose and monitor.
The only time the ketone test strips come out is when I am feeling truly awful and have high BG. This has happened once and now I know how it feels, I probably would just inject to monitor. I suspect my ketone test strips will expire before they get used.
 
Tested for ketones once in 30+ years.

Pump failures or in my case body/cannula failures necesitated in needing to once. I gad had quite a few failures and big highs resulting from the failures but if I can get back to target level in 5 hours I certainly have never been bothered.
 
Back in the day. The day before man discovered fire I used to get a product on prescription called Ketodiastix. They were twee little things that you used to urinate on and they changed colour. Not once diid they ever serve me any practical purpose whatsoever. I stopped asking for them and my GP never questioned why? I suspect he never saw the benefit for me in ketone testing either. Ain't diabetes quaint?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks to all for the useful input.
The App that I am looking at is a general health and mood tracking App which is also used in research projects.
My local surgery is intrigued, and as an IT literate expert patient I have been asked to give it the once over.

https://umotif.com/news/simple-heal...cord-their-symptoms-could-save-nhs-1bn-a-year for one of their news items. The App looks quite interesting for research trials and tracking daily/weekly symptoms where this would benefit the patient.

One of the first bits of tracking I looked at was the Diabetes segment, which recorded BG test results, carbohydrates and insulin dose but didn't mention ketones. Hence the question to see how many people tested. From the responses so far I think a record of when ketones are tested alongside the BG values etc. could be quite useful. I wonder if the HCPs even know about DKA "near misses".

As a T2 who tests occasionally but who has a PC application which saves all the test results over USB I can see little immediate value for me and I'm not sure the surgery staff have the time or inclination to look at my results on a regular basis. There seems to be scope for integration with 3rd party products including fitness wearables and cycling/exercise sites such as Strava but nothing obvious for BG meters. Anything is possible given a strong enough justification.

However there does seem to be scope to configure/modify it to record key metrics form T1s and T2s to form a health log where you can record what you eat, what you weigh, how you feel, what you drink, what your BG level is, how much exercise you take......for someone to analyse over a large number of patients to see if there are obvious correlations. This does of course require a motivated set of patients.

I haven't yet found if the patient can analyse the results.
This would be far more useful to me.
I still keenly feel the loss of the excellent analytic tools which came bundled with EMIS now that the surgery has (reluctantly) moved over to Systemonline which seems to have far less investment in front end tools to assist the patient in tracking their health.
 
I can smell ketones on my own breath if I hold the palm of my hand in front of my mouth. Used to get them sometimes in the days before DIY blood tests were available.
 
I'm going to train my dog for hypo's and levels above 8. Apparently its done with samples of saliva with those levels and showing dog to react then to your breath.
Thats my next challenge with my puppy dog....
 
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