I know a bit about the dangers of ketones in your urine because of high blood sugars. However, has anyone experienced ketones in your urine after having perfectly normal blood sugar ranges? Last night I woke up and had a regular reading, but in the morning I had ketones in my urine. Yesterday, I walked around a lot and didn't have a chance to eat much until dinner time. Frankly, I don't enjoy eating these days and didn't like it much pre-diabetes diagnosis. I get too worried about having a high blood sugar that I prefer not to eat much! So why in the world would I have ketones?! It is very confusing. If anyone else has had experience with this, I'd appreciate your thoughts! My endo says I'm different from his "usual" patients and doesn't have much of an answer for me :(
Low amounts of keytones in your urine indicate your body is burning fat instead of carbs and is not dangerous. Most people will show low ketones in the morning because they are fasting, this would be consistent with your description of what you ate yesterday. Ketoacidosis is the presence of high amounts of keytones and high blood sugars simultaneously and is very dangerous. This often happens in T1's on diagnosis because they have no insulin in their bodies. Here is a link to a discussion about the differences.
I am just about always in ketosis and my blood sugar levels are very good. My diet is pretty ketogenic. I get most of my energy from burning fat instead of glucose. Ketones are the by-product of fat burning.
The dangerous combination is ketones + high blood sugar.
I think that most people feel anxious or frightened of food for awhile after diagnosis. You can work through that, though. Really, you can! If you follow a structured food plan for a bit, you won't have to worry about going too high or too low. You might have a look at Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. He describes a very thorough, detailed way of eating that is safe. You may decide that you want to eat more carbohydrate than he suggests--lots of people find they can eat more carbs without spikes--but giving yourself a break from the anxiety might be a good thing to try for a bit, first. You can make small changes from there with confidence that you're not doing anything harmful to your body.
Following a low carb diet I have had trace and marginal ketones show up. Also, when I exercise, if I test right after exercise, I'll often see ketones. All despite having a normal blood sugar. I think exercising causes your body to burn fat, generating ketones and then when you stop, some extra ketones are just dumped, causing your urine ketones to jump. Again, perfectly normal. Only high ketones with high blood sugar is of concern.
Diets like the Atkins diet deliberately induce a ketotic state. In fact people on the diet would use ketostix to make sure they were doing the diet right and inducing ketosis. But ketosis does not equal ketoacidosis.
I am going to get this book tomorrow, it sounds like it will be very applicable to me. I am definitely feeling frightened of food...in addition I'm celiac and have some damage that I'm trying to heal at the same time. I try to not get too caught up with my long list of foods I can't have and try to focus on eating to live! Thank you so much for your advice. I had a moderate level of ketones this morning, with a fairly low 4 mmol/l upon waking. My blood sugar levels have been amazingly stable lately with my change of diet (no dairy or grains, tons of veggies and juicing). I don't think I drank enough water yesterday as I was running around with errands, so I've had a few cups of water to hopefully flush the ketons out!
I think you should just eat more and healthier with more focus on quality. Eat and learn about the effects of different foods. Try new food, fail, learn, adjust - you will find a way to handle the food you like but you need experience to achieve that.
If you get some ketone strips that are semi quantitative instead of pos or neg, You can see how much ketones are present. A 1+ or 2+ can be normal if you are on a low card diet or losing weigt. If you are in the 3+ or 4+ range, I think you have a problem.
I don't even bother to check ketones anymore because the results are not very useful.
I have had ketosis twice from having my pump set pull out, and there is no way to miss that you are experiencing it, I get nauseous and dizzy and my sugars take twice the insulin to bring down.
Low levels of ketones are normal. I am not sure why doctors still tell us that we need to "watch out" for them. It is like blood sugar, we need to keep them in range.
I have had normal blood glucose and have moderate to high levels of ketones. Can't seem to figure it out other than maybe my body needs more carbs/insulin. So my endo increased my carbs/insulin intake and I still find that I can have mod to large ketones. I used to think I'd get them the morning after I worked out but now that is not the case. I almost always get them the morning after working my 2nd job. (refereeing inline hockey). Can stress cause moderate to large ketones?
Ketones are an acetone acid that is a byproduct of breaking down protein.
When our bodies have no sugar, your body goes for more protein. There are normal levels of this of course but high levels suggest that your body is not getting enough sugar, I'm not sure if stress can cause it, but I know that stress causes insulin resistance which in turn can cause more protein synthesis.
It sounds like you're doing a great job with your diet, Jodi. Morning fastings in the 4 mmol/L range are terrific.
Don't worry about the ketones. In fact, I suggest that you stop testing for them. I live in ketosis most of the time. Drinking a lot of water doesn't make a difference. Eating more carbohydrate does, though, and also spikes my BG!
Are you losing weight? If you are, is it weight you need to lose? I ask because it could be that you're not eating enough, period. In that case, the ketones are a byproduct of your body breaking down muscle tissue. That can leave you feeling weak and tired. You can increase the amount of protein and fat that you're eating and expect to feel better in a couple of days. Most people don't eat enough protein without thinking about it and lots of us have a hard time eating enough fat, too, after spending so many years trying to lower the amount of fat we eat. There's information about dietary protein requirements here.
I found this article about ketones (link).
I think it is "exaustive".
what about large amounts of ketones and normal blood sugar?
Ann8: with regards to your statement “I am just about always in ketosis and my blood sugar levels are very good.” What level of ketosis are you talking about? Large ketones? Moderate? trace?