Newly diagnosed

[Redsoxfanuk]

Hi all. Just joined as I was diagnosed with type2 diabetes on Tuesday. Have to test blood 4 times daily and urine once a day for ketones. How would I know if I have too much ketones in my urine? Advice please.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Northerner]

Hi all. Just joined as I was diagnosed with type2 diabetes on Tuesday. Have to test blood 4 times daily and urine once a day for ketones. How would I know if I have too much ketones in my urine? Advice please.
Thanks in advance.

Hi @Redsoxfanuk, welcome to the forum 🙂 How did your diagnosis come about? It sounds like there's a possibility you may be Type 1 given the treatment regime you have been started on and the ketone testing advice, but it may be too early at the moment for them to make a firm diagnosis. Often, in adults, Type 1 diabetes can be slower to materialise so the symptoms can be very similar to Type 2. What sort of readings are you getting on your blood tests?

Most people produce some low levels of ketones as it's a natural consequence of, for example, weight loss, or if you haven't eaten for a few hours - they are a by product of your body burning stored fat because you aren't able to get enough energy into your cells from food. I'm not sure of the scale used on urine testing strips as I haven't used them for many years - I use blood ketone testing strips which are much more informative and accurate (although they are considerably more expensive!). I'd suggest reading the leaflet that comes with the strips very carefully and see how far up the scale your ketone levels are when you test. If your ketones are high you will also usually start to feel very unwell - nauseous, short of breath, and others may be able to smell a pear drop smell on your breath. If you are unsure, then I would suggest contacting your nurse for advice 🙂

Please let us know how things go.

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum Redsox.
I look forward to hearing more of how your diagnosis came about.
There is plenty of hel available on here from people who, like you, are managing this on a daily basis.

 

[Drummer]

Did your HCPs advise you that you should be trying to reduce your blood glucose levels by restricting carbs? It is a powerful tool for lucky type twos who can restore normality by eating low carb - so if not, why not, and if they did, did they explain to you that ketones in the urine would be what you should expect, and that it is a good thing?
If I seem exasperated - I am.

 

[Redsoxfanuk]

Hi all,
I was prediabetic for approximately 18 months at risk but not enough to worry about I suppose. I was told by my Gp that I was on that borderline again just before Christmas but I have a habit of sticking my head in the sand and hoping it will go away. The last few weeks I've had incredible thirsts so much so that a sugar free 2litre bottle of fizzy drink would be gone in 2 hours. Anyway on Tuesday I went to my GP again and explained the symptoms again and she pricked my finger and the monitor showed 17.7
Which even I know is way too high. So she prescribed me 500mg Metformin and gave me loads of advice as in cutting carbs down and sugar out. I was then sent to see the nurse who gave me a blood glucose monitor and showed me how to use it. So returning home after a trip to the pharmacy I took my first Metformin tablet and tested my blood at lunchtime..it had jumped to 25.4... I had lunch which was not totally unhealthy... But maybe too much carbs... Chicken stir-fry with noodles. I was given ketostix to measure my urine and told that if it was too high to go back to the surgery. The test strip results so far have been middle shades of pink. So I assume that it's ok. But when does it become dangerous? The only good news was that since just before Christmas I've lost 11kg without really trying... So I guess every cloud does have a silver lining. Readings wise my lowest was 14.9 and the highest 32.7 in these first few days. Can only hope that things improve in the future.

 

[SB2015]

If your BG are still in the teens all the time then you are running at a level that your body is not going to be happy with. Some ketones are produced when there is insufficient insulin in you, and the body is unable to use the glucose from your blood so burns the fat, and the ketones are a side product of this. As for what is too high, if I had ketones all the time I would be feeling very poorly, and would work to get my BG down to avoid this.

As suggested you need to loook at the carbs in what you are eating. Chicken with noodles is a high carb meal, and will often increase a person’s BG very rapidly. It is all carbs that will be converted to glucose inside you, and that include pasta, rice, potatoes and cereals (breakfast cereals are just a bowl of sugar in disguise!!!). Your BG levels are not going to improve on their own. To bring them down, you need to know what different carbs do to your glucose levels, and how much you can eat in order to keep your levels in a normal range (between 4 and 7). If you started to keep a log of your BG before and two hours after a meal, alongside the amounts of carbs your eating at those meals, you will start to get a picture and you can start to change things.