In hospital with high bg and ketones: recommend getting the ketone meter

Thanks Brian, It was really awful to say the least. I’m not sure about the dehydration now because I reviewed the blood work with an np at my gp and an endo from the hospital yesterday, I didn’t actually see it myself yet. They both said in the blood work there weren’t signs of severe dehydration which would be elevated kidney values according to the np. The endo said they could have based it on clinical signs maybe.

But my runs were not that severe I thought to cause dehydration but I guess with D you never know. I never drink the electrolyte drinks for diarrhea/dehydration because they give me diarrhea. I tried some electrolyte water starting yesterday and now I have the runs again, worse than before. The NP said to try mixing it with regular water but it doesn’t seem to be helping. It also could be caused by something else. I was put in a room with someone who had community pnemonia so now I’m worried I may get that too. Sometimes you can get runs from that but I think mine are from my original bug and the electrolyte water.

Thanks Jen :sunny: I will be getting one for my purse now too and I just got an rx for more strips too.

my current strips are expired but they still work obviously so you can keep them for ages for emergencies

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:slight_smile: Thanks Mari, I have been here but just mostly answering questions.

Thanks Yeagen :relaxed:

Thanks JuneBugg, no I haven’t yet. At one point my endo said he thought I had it but I never did the testing. I’m going to go to my gastro doc and ask her to do it. I have some other issues I need to see her for anyway. I think it may be a combo of that and my IBS which affects how the food is metabolizing vs insulin. Yes D has been awful for me from the day I was diagnosed… really messed my life up. And this type of thing with crashing with meals makes life very miserable. What do you do for your meals? Even if I don’t have it, something is going on obviously. I do notice when I’m constipated is when I have the worst lows maybe sometimes.

@rgcainmd @CatLady06 Thanks ladies :relaxed: Unfortunately I’m now worried I may have walking pneumonia because I’m coughing but hopefully it is just bronchitis.

http://www.d-mom.com/free-blood-ketone-meter/

Here is a link on the ketone meters/ketone testing- another reason a ketone meter is better is that it tells you what your ketones are currently, according to the info here, while the ketostix tell you what they were 2 hours ago. I wasn’t aware of that.

I was diagnosed as a type 2 for years and on my 50 birthday I went DKA, ended up in the ICU for three days - kidney failure, heart attack. The Endo then said I was now a type 1. I had been ill all day and night vomiting, never drinking water and at 5 a.m. could barley function and my family took me to the ER. Now I am on a pump and doing better with numbers than I ever did as a 2.

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Wow that is awful Linnny, I’m sorry you went through that. I’m glad you survived it all and you’re on a pump now.

Hi meee,

So sorry that you have had such a difficult time! I greatly admire that you were so on top of what was happening and got yourself to the hospital! So glad that it didn’t get even more serious!

Best wishes on a good recovery with no pneumonia!

marty1492

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Thanks Marty, you are so kind, thanks for caring. So far no pneumonia, I did have some congestion coughing but they said my lungs are clear so it’s prolly reflux etc.

@meee so sorry you’ve been sick - recovering from this type of thing can take a little while in my experience, so make sure to rest up! I was in the hospital for 4 days with DKA this past February. I spent the first 24 hours of that in ICU which was all a big blur. The bounce back is a little rough, but it does get better.

My DKA seemed to come on rapidly, and out of nowhere…and it’s extremely scary. I had just received a type 2 _mis_diagnosis and had started finger pricks the week before and sugars were 400+ at first, then down under 200 by the time I got sick, and 145 when I got to the ER. I was researching online as to why I could be so sick with diabetes, came across DKA and noted all my symptoms matched, so sent my husband to the pharmacy to buy some ketone strips. After the color on the stick matched the highest ketone level on the scale shown on the bottle, it was time to go the ER. After that, I switched from a GP to an endo, who diagnosed with type 1 after testing c-peptide and antibodies. Honestly, I think my body had been building up to DKA for a while, combined with improper treatment for an incorrect diagnosis (getting meds for type 2 when I should have been getting insulin for type 1), and compounded by severe dehydration that comes along with no desire to eat or drink anything for a couple of days because of the bad pain/nausea that accompanies being sick with DKA. Plus a complete lack of knowledge as to what DKA was, or the signs to look for. Thank my lucky stars for Google-not sure what would have happened if I would have waited much longer to go to the ER!!!

Jumping to now–I’ve been battling a cold, followed by a bad sinus infection for 3 weeks, and used the same ketone strips from the pharmacy to test ketones again to be on the safe side–but haven’t used them at all in between. I’m not sure what makes some tests strips better than others, but I think mine are just pharmacy/generic brand in a bottle. They seem to do the trick and were not that much.

Continue to get better and take care of yourself!

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@kerland Thanks :smile: That is a horrible story and somewhat similar to what happened to me in my diagnosis dka. I wasn’t in dka yet this time thank god. I’ve been having lots of digestive issues and it has been rough. I’m sick again now with vomiting and the runs, hopefully this is just a virus or mild food poisoning. bg is normal and no ketones as far as I know. I’m only able to eat chicken broth for now but I want to try some juice and more later.

I’m very glad you survived your ordeal and you had the sense to google your condition.

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