Ketones

I've not been well and running bg at approx. 8. Went to the gp today and found I had ketones. I am curious to know when do you start to check for ketones ? I imagined I'd need to be running much higher...

According to the DAFNE golden rules, any single occurrence of BGs above 17, or two consecutive readings (e.g breakfast and lunch, or lunch and dinner) above 13.

If you are sick though, you might want to check even if those conditions are not met, as you can develop ketones from dehydration too. My wife who is not diabetic had severe hyperemesis (severe morning sickness), and was tested fro ketones on several occasions because she couldn't drink plain water - only soft drinks. There are occasions where you don't need to be diabetic to develop ketones.

Thanks for this.

I had ketones during a hospital fasting test, and in the 27 hours without food my sugars stayed below 5, yet I was building up ketones...so not always due to high sugars.
Insulin is needed to get rid of them tho!

Hi Vickyp
That's really interesting. I always imagined my bg would be running high to have ketones. Was your bi still running when you had your stay in hospital ?
mda

Hi, no it wasn't... I am on a pump and needed to have no insulin during the tests, so pump was switched off...I keep hypoing (and have ketones at these times) so docs wanted to see what happened during a fast with no basal insulin but sugars stayed constant in the 4s with rising ketone levels so tests were cancelled!
Btw I have rare form of diabetes, so body behaves differently to normal T1 or T2 diabetics

Vicky what's your BGs before the hypo started as I'm not on pump but a get ketones when I crash they think its a delay with me

Note as well if your fasting you'll get starvation ketones when we all can get with or without diabetis

I generally run low end (between 4-6) but am also insulin sensitive...hence the need for the pump.
I can hypo with no insulin in my system! Hypos generally are mid morning an mid afternoon (between 3-4hours after breakfast/lunch) I take no insulin at these times to try and stop the hypos but doesn't make much of a difference tbh. Lowest hypo was 1.7 when I was on injections and 3.1 since being on pump. I generally feel hypo around 4...which is a regular bg for me!

Vicky I crash really bad as well with no insulin but I've lost all warning which scares me but I'm being seen march by pump team to see if it may or may not help