Ketones

Hey I have been in the hospital Monday thru Thursday. This Monday morning is my first day back to work since before then. This morning I woke up was feeling fine. My fasting blood sugar was 296 that’s ok I will just take some more insulin with my breakfast. Normally if it’s a little high I test my ketones. I had a small amount there (It wasn’t tan or a little darker than tan…it was actually pink not light not dark, but pink…lol) Guess my question is what amount of ketones is an alarm to give your doctor a heads up?

If you ketones do not go away within 12 hours OR your blood sugar does not go down, I would call your doctor. Though you may actually want to call the doctor right away since you were just in the hospital.

You should never have more than a low level of ketones (and that is usually only in the first urine of the morning or after fasting).

How is your blood sugar now?

My sugar before dinner was 273. The ketones went away though, but came back just a little.

I think that you should call your doctor. Highs for this long with ketones can be dangerous.

What did they tell you when leaving the hospital? Were you supposed to change anything about your treatment (like the amount of insulin that you are taking)?

They actually increased my insulin. Other than that they was like take it easy. I go to the doctor for a follow up appointment on Thursday. I think I can hold out until then because I feel fine. Would ketones have anything to do with my kidneys? I know they said they found protein in my urine which can be a sign of kidney failure.

I don’t know about whether ketones damage the kidneys, but high blood sugars do (anything above 140 is causing damage). I go above 140 often, but really try to avoid going above 200. If you are regularly above 200, then it sounds like you might need even more insulin or less carbohydrates.

Glad that you have an appointment on Thursday. How often are you taking insulin and what type ?

I saw that you have LADA. Did you get diagnosed with LADA right away? Or they thought that you were type 2?

They thought I had type 2 and started me on pills for a few months. After being on pills and sugars still running above 300 my doc decided that wasn’t working for me. Then when I flat out asked him what type do I have. He was like the kind “in between”…lol. I was like type 1.5 and he was like if that’s what you want to call it. I go to a reg doctor not an endo so I don’t think they like calling it back it’s name or something.

Right now I am on Novolog and Levemir. I take 38 units of Levemir a day. And then take Novolog before each meal according to my BG before than meal in addition to the amount of carbs that is in that meal. I might need to reduce my carbs. I was just getting the hang of this carb counting deal.