Ketones

[chezpez]

Can someone settle my mind, i've been under a lot of stess and upset lately and the other night a woke up in the middle of the night in a panic which i think was a panic attack.. anyway when i finally got back to sleep and woke a few hours after my waking sugar was 14! i had ketone of 0.4 in blood did correction and it took all day to get it under 10..
But this morning woke up with bs of 7 and still feel a bit off checked ketones and they are 0.2.. is ketones of 0.2 normal? shall i stop stressing about it? thanks

 

[Northerner]

Hi chezpez, did you test yourself when you woke in a panic? I wonder if you had had a hypo in your sleep and then had your liver dump glucose into your blood to raise your levels? If not a hypo, then it is possible that the stress and the broken night's sleep could have caused your levels to rise - do you know what you were before bed? The ketones are low and not something to worry about - have you been eating properly? If not then they may have been 'dietary' ketones, caused by breakdown of body fat for fuel. I can't remember offhand what the various levels of ketones mean have a look at the leaflet that comes with the ketone strips, it should tell you.

You may have also had an infection where your raised blood sugar and feeling off may have been the only real symptoms. I hope you can get a good night's sleep tonight 🙂

 

[chezpez]

My level before bed was 10 so did correction then when i had panic, i was still 10.. coz i thought it was a hypo.. i have been cutting down on carbs sticking to 40 carbs per meal as trying to loose a little weight.. i found my ketone leaflet and says 0.4 and 0.2 are traces and to give corrections etc.. but doesnt it take a while to get out of system the ketones?

 

[Northerner]

My level before bed was 10 so did correction then when i had panic, i was still 10.. coz i thought it was a hypo.. i have been cutting down on carbs sticking to 40 carbs per meal as trying to loose a little weight.. i found my ketone leaflet and says 0.4 and 0.2 are traces and to give corrections etc.. but doesnt it take a while to get out of system the ketones?

I think you don't need to worry about things then, given this information 🙂 The rise was most likely due to the stress causing a liver 'dump', and the ketones due to the reduced carbs in your diet, so dietary ketones. Normally, I don't think you need to worry about ketones unless your blood sugar is above 17 (this is what I was told), as this would suggest your didn't have enough insulin circulating. But with levels of 10, or even 14 and trace ketones, I wouldn't worry in your situation - only if your levels were persistently high and ketones were rising despite corrections, then I would be seeking medical help 🙂

 

[Otenba]

As Northerner has covered most of the basics. Good that you have your ketone leaflet to reference now. Hopefully it says that ketones get high risk is 1.5 or above to help reassure you.

Under the DAFNE guidelines, your ketones levels fall under minor illness, and your leaflet is advising you correctly.

Just out of interest - how much time are you allowing your insulin to work? Most people's quick acting can take from 2-5 hours so unless you're sure of what time your insulin does for you, I wouldn't be too keen to re-test. Just incase it doesn't say it on your ketones leaflet - while in a minor illness stage, aim to check your BGs and ketones every 4 hours.

Also - sorry - did you know that you produce a small amount of ketones when you exercise? Completely harmless levels (like now) because it's a natural weight-loss thing. So don't always be alarmed when you find ketones - just keep an eye on them. 🙂

Take care! You'll be okay - just keep monitoring until they're gone.

 

[chezpez]

Thanks soo much! i'm feeling better already, not too worry so much about ketones, i had no idea you can get traces of ketones from exercise and reduce diet.. i'm on novorapid and lantus morning and night, i've been putting more corrections in and it is slowly getting under 10 again! I just feel so rubbish when its not under 10 and i suppose i start worrying which makes things worse..Thanks again i love this forum xx

 

[Northerner]

Thanks soo much! i'm feeling better already, not too worry so much about ketones, i had no idea you can get traces of ketones from exercise and reduce diet.. i'm on novorapid and lantus morning and night, i've been putting more corrections in and it is slowly getting under 10 again! I just feel so rubbish when its not under 10 and i suppose i start worrying which makes things worse..Thanks again i love this forum xx

If you're having to correct a lot more than usual then it's quite possible that you have a minor infection, which would explain why you're feeling rubbish - sometimes we don't know whether we feel rubbish because we're high or rubbish because we're ill, and the illness is making us high and therefore more rubbish! 🙄

Hope you settle down and feel much better soon 🙂

 

[chezpez]

Thanks again.. just checked BS and i'm definitely getting more control now, feeling a lot better 🙂

 

[Northerner]

Thanks again.. just checked BS and i'm definitely getting more control now, feeling a lot better 🙂

Ah, great to hear! 🙂

 

[trophywench]

Err, personal Q here but, do your BGs always go a bit higher at your time of the month? and do you know when to expect the hike and have a planned strategy for adjusting your insulin to deal with this?

OTOH if it was a real panic attack then yes your BG could go up, however if I am anything to go by when I was having em, I'd go up to 30 ish.

 

[chezpez]

Err, personal Q here but, do your BGs always go a bit higher at your time of the month? and do you know when to expect the hike and have a planned strategy for adjusting your insulin to deal with this?

OTOH if it was a real panic attack then yes your BG could go up, however if I am anything to go by when I was having em, I'd go up to 30 ish.

My BS is a total pain around time of month can go up then come down.. I think it was a panic attack, heart racing, feeling confused, total panic! absolutely awful! its only happened a couple of times in my life when had stressfull situations, but ive never experience a BS over 20mmol since diagnosed 8 yrs ago. Must be terrible for you😱

 

[trophywench]

Fortunately I was able to ditch the main stressor, ie pack in work, otherwise I'd have landed up in a padded cell sucking my thumb.

Can you identify what does this to you? - I found two things - 1. I would have a reactive hypo after these things and 2. My DSN came up with the idea of when I knew it had to be stress and not caused by User Error (wrong amount of insulin taken etc) - to correct only using 50% of what I would otherwise take. So say my BG was 31 and I wanted it to be 7, I needed to get rid of 24 which would normally take 8u of Novorapid. Take 4 units instead. That would actually reduce it by about 16 and the swing back down would take care of the rest of the reduction. But if I took any more I could guarantee a hypo.

Sounds potty but it worked; OK I wouldn't have a marvellously low BG that day but neither was it as high as it would otherwise have been. It worked all the while for definite panic induced highs but at lower levels of high, I often couldn't be sure whether it was just an iffy jab site or the panic.

 

[chezpez]

Fortunately I was able to ditch the main stressor, ie pack in work, otherwise I'd have landed up in a padded cell sucking my thumb.

Can you identify what does this to you? - I found two things - 1. I would have a reactive hypo after these things and 2. My DSN came up with the idea of when I knew it had to be stress and not caused by User Error (wrong amount of insulin taken etc) - to correct only using 50% of what I would otherwise take. So say my BG was 31 and I wanted it to be 7, I needed to get rid of 24 which would normally take 8u of Novorapid. Take 4 units instead. That would actually reduce it by about 16 and the swing back down would take care of the rest of the reduction. But if I took any more I could guarantee a hypo.

Sounds potty but it worked; OK I wouldn't have a marvellously low BG that day but neither was it as high as it would otherwise have been. It worked all the while for definite panic induced highs but at lower levels of high, I often couldn't be sure whether it was just an iffy jab site or the panic.

Thanks for the advice - good idea not too put too much insulin for the high's.. all is good now thank goodness.. thanks for your support 🙂