Hi, im new here.

Status
Not open for further replies.
I

Ian3001

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I was recently diagnosed with type 1 on Christmas Eve after I had a DKA. (I had no idea I was diabetic before this)

Anyway, is it normal to have quite high ketone levels (above 1) after? I'm struggling to keep them down..

They dont go above 1.6 but I'm worried as they dont seem to go below 1. The diabetic nurse said it's potentially dangerous.. What's the best possible way to bring them down or am I doing something wrong? It's all so overwhelming& I've not been in this position before.

I'm taking my insulin as normal too.. I'm worried if I'm honest ☹
 
Hi @Ian3001 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Type 1 is overwhelming to start with and there’s a lot to get your head round.

What’s your blood sugar? What insulins are you taking and when?
 
I'm taking 26m Levermir on a morning & 6m novarapid 3x a day before I eat.. So roughly about half 9ish on a morning, Novarapid about lunch time (between 12.30-1.30pm) & another Novarapid around 5PM-6pm. My blood sugar seems to be high sometimes too between 13-17, I'm new to all this so I'm not sure what its suppose to be, or where I'm suppose to be at?
 
Ok @Ian3001 🙂 When you’re first diagnosed, they’ll be trying to bring your blood sugar down gradually because it can cause damage to bring it down too fast. So the targets you have now will probably be higher than ones you see on this forum. Your team will then gradually adjust your insulin to bring your blood sugar down into the normal range.

Are you at home now? Do you have someone you can contact for advice or who’s checking in with you to see how you’re getting on? If so, ask them what your target blood sugar is at the moment.

Insulin is measured in units. Your Levemir is a basal/background insulin which is to keep your blood sugar steady in the absence of food. The Novorapid is a bolus/fast-acting insulin which is to deal with the food you eat. It can also be used to correct high blood sugar once you know what you’re doing.

Have you been told how to count carbs? That’s important because your Novorapid amount will eventually vary depending on how many carbs you’re about to eat. It’s not a hard thing to learn. As you’re on fixed doses, you might have been given a carb amount to aim for for each meal. That’s good if you have.

Keep good records of your blood sugar and what you eat. Those records will help your team adjust your insulin over the next few weeks. It’s perfectly normal to have slightly higher blood sugar early on and to find it a bit erratic.

Normal blood sugar is roughly 3.5 to 8 (but can on occasion go as high as 10). But at the moment you’ll be in a higher range and that’s sensible as I mentioned above. However, if you’re getting a lot of blood sugars over, say, 15, I’d be mentioning that to your team as they might want to tweak your insulin slightly.

It will all get easier, I promise. It’s a lot to learn to start with and a big change to get used to.
 
Well if your blood still has an appreciable level of ketones, the first thing you will always need to do whenever you get em is drink more water to encourage your kidneys to flush em out via your urine so don't stray ever so far from a loo whilst you are flushing em out! - but as I don't suppose yomping across Dartmoor etc will be your priority just now, probably not too much of a problem!
 
Welcome to the forum @Ian3001

Sorry to hear that you are still struggling with ketones - I suspect this is because of the elevated blood glucose - if you can gently get them down to nearer 10 that will really help.

Do speak to your clinic about their suggestions for your levels. Have they introduced you to the idea of balancing carbohydrates in your meals with the doses you are taking?

This introduction might be interesting

The nuts and bolts of carb counting

When you live with type 1 diabetes, carb counting is a great way of managing your blood sugar or glucose levels. It can give you more freedom and flexibility in what you eat when you're preparing meals at home, grabbing food on the go or eating out. Carb counting does take some time and effort...
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top