Hi community,
Recommendations on which ketone test kit to have on hand. Urine or blood?
Also, what should be in my sick day kit? I have glucagon and glucose tablets already.
I’ve always used urine dip sticks for ketones - have never done a blood test for them.
I haven’t been sick in ages but I think I kept saltines and ginger ale - both are good for upset stomach and if need be I would sip on some sweet ginger ale to keep my numbers from dropping. For some reason I always craved fresh fruit rather than regular mealtime foods - they were much lighter on my stomach.
If you develop ketones drink plenty of water or sugar free liquids to wash them out. Check with your doctor for sick day guidelines - how to adjust your insulin.
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You could ask your doctor about prescribing Zofran or some other anti-nausea drug. Our endo recommends keeping some in the house just in case. She’s only used it twice in six years, but it definitely helped.
We’ve always had the urine test strips for ketones; our endo prescribed them when she was first diagnosed along with everything else, and told us to use them whenever she was over 300 and when she was sick regardless of BG. When she was on shots, she almost never had ketones thanks to the long-lasting basal insulin, which meant she pretty much always had some insulin on board. Since she switched to a pump they told her to check over 250 (and when sick regardless of BG; that didn’t change). Since the pump just uses constant tiny doses of the rapid-acting stuff, when the pump stops working for whatever reason, she’s got nothing on board that much sooner, so ketones are more likely to develop.
Have your doctor advise you how much insulin to take when you do have ketones. Depending on the size, they might tell you to give a multiple of your usual correction, or they might tell you to do the usual correction but check more often. And as Dorie said, drink lots of water.
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@wadawabbit thanks, as always!
@srozelle thank you!
So is there a monitor and test strips only for the urine kit?
All my endo said was if I test high for ketones, go to the hospital.
Oh, I see online that for urine test, only test strips needed.
As mentioned below, my endo simply said that if I test mid to high for ketones, go to hospital.
No kit - you just pee on a strip and compare the color with the one on the bottle. They’re available over the counter but your insurance may cover them. My pharmacy has them in the area with glucose tablets. If you see more than one I don’t know that one brand is better than another (ask your pharmacist) - I just grab a box.
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Yes there is a keto meter and it has keto strip and it tests blood. If you want/need it.
There’s also ketone urine strips as @wadawabbit said. No meter just urine strips and a color chart.
I’ve never needed them. If I get high I take insulin. If I was high for hours and felt sick/nauseous then ketone testing is indicated but it’s never happened to me. When I want to lose weight and when I’m actually losing weight there are always ketones and so ketones with normal sugar isn’t dangerous, it means you are losing weight. There are typically ketones present in the morning due to fasting.
If I wanted ketone test strips I’d buy the cheap urine ones. Once you open the bottle the strips won’t last. Cheers and good luck 
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As a volunteer medical staff with kids in a diabetes ADA camp, we utilize the urine dipstick to measure ketones.
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@joe thanks, as always!
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Interesting. Ours told us to call and get advice over the phone. Depending on the size of the ketones, we’ve given multiples of her usual correction, but never had to go to the hospital, thank goodness.
The worst it’s ever been was one ski trip: altitude and cold, plus less familiarity with dosing for restaurant meals at the time, did a real number on her. She skipped dinner that night, felt awful, had a bad headache and vomiting. On the endo’s advice, we gave her lots of insulin and water, and thankfully she felt better enough by morning that she even went skiing as planned (though she did take it easy — by her standards, anyway 
). Had a great day, and a great rest of the trip, too. She’s a rock star.
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Hi Cathy, Welcome! I’d had a BG meter, test strips, lancets, and an extra battery. I use chicken broth and depending if I need to raise my BG or lower it I use decaf 7up with or without sugar, SF or regular jello. I hope you don’t need to use it very often.
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@Janine83965 thanks! I hope, too!
@srozelle she sounds like a trooper!
Hi @HopeFloats2020 ! Funny you should mention ketone kits. My steps have expired and I have to get some new ones. Glucose is okay but I’ve been peeing a lot so I want to see what’s going on. In the meantime I just drink water or something sugar free to wash them down. Ordinarily I don’t even bother with strips but I’m feeling like I’m getting sick so…
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@wadawabbit FEEL BETTER!
Thanks much! I’m getting ready to curl up in bed on a heating pad.
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Get better soon, Dorie! 
Last year, I got my first and only blood test kit for ketones, the Precision Xtra. It seems to work okay as I have tested a few times just to become familiar before I ever actually needed it. That meter also would double as a blood glucose meter but I don’t and won’t use it for that.
Prior, I occasionally used the pee strips. Not enough that I ever have any on hand that aren’t expired, so no help there.
The keto diet crowd have really increased the number of blood meters that are available. If you get a blood meter, I’d suggest one from a company that you might have actually heard of before.
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My T1D daughter also uses the Precision Xtra blood Ketone monitor and much prefers it to the urine strips. The test strips are a bit expensive so you may want check to see if they are covered by insurance. They are a huge benefit though for sick days and at night when I need to test her since she doesn’t need to get up or necessarily need to pee.
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