Hi everyone..long story short, I was eating no carbs the past couple of days. Did intermittent fasting for 2 days, didnt eat until dinner the day before yesterday and then yesterday did intermittent fasting until lunch when I had an avocado and cottage cheese. Was trying to do something different for weight loss.
Later in the day had some grilled chicken nuggets as a snack, then for dinner I had rotisserie chicken and guacamole. I was diagnosed at age 40, and Im 42 now and Ive never dealt with this before so please give me grace…
Last night I started feeling really weird..legs were restless, just felt off. Decided maybe I should check my ketones and they were slightly elevated. Drank a coconut water, had some popcorn and drank water and kept going pee and they were gone by 430 AM. Didnt dose any insulin because my sugar was 93.
This morning when I woke up at 7, I checked and now they are moderate. I finally talked to my doctor after trying to get ahold of him since last night and he said that I could have ketones, even though my blood sugar has been 80-100 because my body has been starving of insulin. It’s only gotten what was being delivered through the basal rate with my tandem tslim. Which, as you all know, was probably lower due to my sugar being low to normal. And my body obviously couldn’t operate on that little bit of insulin, which I didnt think about. He said I could be in ketosis, but that if the ketone levels keep rising, I will need to go to the ER for an acid blood test. I have drank three or four glasses of water since getting up at seven and I ate oatmeal so that I could dose insulin.
Can anyone else give me any insight or tips on how I can get the ketones to stop rising or what else I should look for or do? Im so nervous. This is stressing me out. DKA is a huge fear for me. Do you all think this is just ketosis? Or that Im going into DKA?
Hi Sarah @HisWifeTheirMama , I won’t provide medical advice but I will explain what is happening, scientifically. First off, know that hyperglycemia [high blood sugar] and ketoacidosis or DKA or acidosis are not the same thing and that one could have sustained very high BG [500+ mg/dl] without displaying ketones and, under the “right” circumstances, the reverse could be possible. True, that both ketoacidosis and hyperglycemia are often caused by the same factor - not sufficient insulin present for the body to properly feed itself.
Acetone, appearing as acidosis, is a by-product when the body consumes stored body fats to feed its own nutrition needs - self cannibalism, if you like. People with or without diabetes need to monitor ketones while practicing keto-dieting. The human body needs carbohydrate, especially the brain and will do what it needs to get them.
I hope this provides some insight to what MAY be happening, but do follow advice of your physician.
I can’t add any words of wisdom do what @Dennis had already said - he is a huge fount of knowledge. But on a side note I wanted to suggest that as you take in sugar free fluids to wash out ketones consider using sugar free Gatorade from time to time. It is possible to drink too much water and wash out electrolytes, which is a problem of its own. Keep us posted on how you’re doing!
Hello @HisWifeTheirMama You have ketones because your body is metabolizing fat instead of sugar. I read you post 3 times and you were extremely light on carbohydrate intake, so your body will begin to metabolize fat for energy and it produces ketones. This the entire point of a ketogenic diet: to make ketones. Now if you have no insulin in you at all, your body CANT metabolize glucose so your blood sugar rises, you begin to metabolize fat and ketones rise, and THAT is the bad one. Then it’ll be just like @Dennis said and that bad chemistry starts DKA
You want ketones gone? Eat 40 grams of carbs per meal plus an carb/fat snack at 10:30 pm and control your blood sugar with insulin and in 48 hours they’re gone. Assuming you aren’t super active then your minimum carbs per meal will go up. But you have to eat carbs. Popcorn is carbs.
You want to lose weight? Keep doing exactly what you’re doing any yes you’ll have ketones and you will begin to lose weight.
