Concerned about blood ketones reading

(Debbie Ravelo) #1

Hi I just received a blood meter and my ketone level was 1.7. The manual said to contact a doctor because of high risk for Keto acidosis. I’m not diabetic but I was 4 months ago. I’m afraid I’m doing something wrong. I cut sugar out of my diet and have not had over 20 net carbs a day since March 15. Lost weight and reversed diabetes.
Can anyone tell me if I’m even in Ketosis?

(Allie) #2
(Jo) #3

1.7 is nothing to be concerned about. Yes you are in ketosis. I am at that level most of the time, sometimes going up to 3 - 4.

(Nathanael Schulte) #4

You have to normally be around 25 to be in ketoacidosis and you normally have to be a Type 1 Diabetic to even get it. It can happen for a Type 2 if you get really dehydrated according to Dr. Adam Nally, and I heard Dr. Eric Westman day recently he had a patient on one of the newer classes of diabetes medications present with ketoacidosis.
If none of these apply to you and you’re not feeling symptomatic, then I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.

(Bethany) #5

Hey! Congrats on losing weight and reversing diabetes! According to the UK Diabetes website (as well as many ketogenic sources), you don’t have to worry about ketoacidosis until readings of over 10 mmol/l: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/ketosis.html. There are other sources that indicate that a lower blood keto level could indicate ketoacidocis, but ONLY if it is accompanied with higher levels of blood glucose. If your manual is used to dealing with clients with a standard high-glucose diet, then the standard response is to say that anything over 1.5mmol/l of ketones is bad (https://www.healthline.com/health/ketosis-vs-ketoacidosis#diagnosis), but if your glucose intake is low, then 1.7 is an ideal reading (see first link: 0.5-3.0 is considered nutritional ketosis). If you are worried about ketoacidosis (and especially if you were a type 1 diabetic), check your glucose levels at the same time as keto.

(Debbie Ravelo) #6

Thank you so much!

(Alex Marco D'angelo) #7

This is great reading for ketones. Do not worry about keto acidosis until you see more than 12 - 15 (even tho safe numbers are up to even 20 but no one can reach even 10 trough diet alone). Do not chase high numbers, all you need to monitor you Re between 0.5 and 3.0 which means you are in ketosis.