Blood ketones around 20 mmol/L

(Reto Gmür) #1

Normally my Ketone levels in the blood are around 4 mmol/L which is what I aim for in my therapeutic ketosis. The record so far was a morning measurement of 6.9.

Today however I measured 15.2 in the morning (glucose 4.2 mmol/L). And later on 19.7 ketones and 3.8 glucose. To the best of my knowledge I have no diabetes or insulin resistance.

The ketone values are high as in a ketoacidosis but the glucose is low. Should I be worried? Eat some carbs?

I’ve informed my doctor but I’m still waiting for an answer.

Thanks for your advice.

(Carpe salata!) #2

The other possibility is a false reading or contaminated test stick. That reading is way high for sure.

(What The Fast?!) #3

Are you in the middle of a fast?

(Reto Gmür) #4

I wrong measurement is what I thought in the morning, but as a new strip showed an even higher result this has become less likely. Of course, in principle it could be the device.

I’m not fasting, yesterday I ate 202 g of fat, 70 g of proteins and 13 g of net carbs. This is slightly below my caloric target but far from fasting.

(Reto Gmür) #5

More data: breath acetone in the morning 43 ppm, now 109 ppm.

(Duncan Kerridge) #6

Any other symptoms? Have you been ill recently?

(Reto Gmür) #7

No, not really. Smoked some cannabis yesterday, but I did that before.

(Todd Allen) #8

What are you using to measure blood ketones? My meters only go up to 8.0 mmol/L, above that they just say HIGH.

I doubt it is keto acidosis because of the normal glucose, but I’d definitely look at all the symptoms and if you had even small signs of any of them I’d be concerned. I wouldn’t eat a lot of sugar but a moderate amount of carbs, say something like a couple handfuls of cashews, ought to gradually lower your ketones without hopefully making anything go crazy.

(Duncan Kerridge) #9

Same with my meter

(Duncan Kerridge) #10

Can you test someone else with your meter to get a baseline?

(Reto Gmür) #11

I have an Abbott precision freestyle device. And I haven’t found a blood donor yet to test the meter.

(Reto Gmür) #12

After eating a pack of Macadamias my ketones went back to 5.3 and my glucose to 4.6. Everything looks normal now, so I’m no longer worried. Still would be interesting what happened. In my understanding the low glucose value indicate that there wasn’t a lack of (response to) insulin, so why did my body decide to produce such an amount of ketones?

#13

thanks for the update! 20 seems really high. It would be interesting to know what happened, but I’m glad you’re back to normal!