High ketones in urine

(Azeem) #1

Hi

I’ve been doing keto now for about a month and lost around 5kg.

I recently purchased some keto test strips and have been using them for the past few days. I’ve been seeing small trace of ketone on the strips (1.5mmol/L)
Testing randomly during the day.
However today, I tested first thing in the morning and it was showing 16 mmol/L, I did a bit of research and this could have been down to not drinking enough water. Later in the afternoon I tested again and I was back down to 1.5.
I tested again few minutes ago and its back at 16 mmol/L.

I did a little bit more research and now I’m concerned as high ketone levels could indicate DKA and Its telling me to see my doctor ASAP??

Is this normal when doing a keto diet?
I don’t have any underlying health issues that I am aware of.

Thanks in advance

#2

Urine levels mean nothing, don’t waste your time. You’re only a month in, not using ketones correctly yet and peeing out more than you’re burning as fuel. Unless there’s a medical reason to constantly monitor ketones, don’t waste your time.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

If you’re diabetic, especially type 1, yes, see your doctor ASAP. If you’re not, follow the advice of @lfod14. Or keep tracking/recording with the understanding that you’re measuring discarded/unused ketones. Eventually the amount of ketones your liver synthesizes will more closely synch with the amount your cells actually use, so you’ll piss away less. It takes awhile for your cells to figure out that ketones are useful and start using them efficiently.

#4

You may be a bit dehydrated. I would certainly not worry unless you are type 1 diabetic, as someone else has said. Test again in a little bit. Urine strips show the ketones your body wasn’t able to use. As you become more fat adapted, there will be fewer and fewer ketones in your urine.

I think you would probably not feel very well if it was a problem. I worried about things like this when I first started Keto a few years ago.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

Yeah, the ketone strips are intended to give Type I diabetics enough warning of an incipient attack of diabetic ketoacidosis to get to the hospital before life-threatening symptoms start (they usually show up when the ketones reach 20 mmol/L). For people with a functioning pancreas, the insulin they secrete eliminates diabetic ketoacidosis as a concern.

On the other hand, I’ve been hearing lately that they are discovering a fair number of Type I diabetics who have been mis-diagnosed as Type II, so if you are at all concerned, you might want to check with your physician, just in case. Type I usually begins in childhood (hence the alternative name “juvenile-onset diabetes”), but it can start at any age, as the Australian radiologist, Dr. Troy Stapleton, can attest. He was 40 when his symptoms began and, being a physician, he recognised them for what they were and was able to start treatment right away.

Type I diabetes is an immune disorder and has been around forever. It was first described in classical antiquity (the word “diabetes” comes from an ancient Egyptian word for “syphon,” since it appeared that sugar was being syphoned out of the body). Type II diabetes has been with us really only since cheap industrially-processed sugar became available in the 1860’s, and is a metabolic disorder, resulting from overloading the system with carbohydrate.

(Joey) #6

I’ll echo the comments about urine strips being more or less pointless…

If the point of testing is to determine whether you’re “in ketosis” and/or track how your own unique body reacts to different conditions (e.g., fasting, exercising, dawn effect, eating certain sweeteners to see if they trigger any “glucose” effect/actually insulin effect), then I’m not sure the urine strips are useful for any of those purposes.

Blood serum glucose and BHB ketone test kits (like the Keto Mojo) can help you figure out some of those things cited above. Again, I’m not sure you can determine much of anything with the urine strips.

If someone would like to correct me, please feel free, as I’ve never bothered trying the pee sticks and have no firsthand experience with them.

(Jane) #7

Not to correct you…… but I am one of those :unicorn: whose body is so damn inefficient I still make too many ketones after 3-1/2 years and can turn a pee stick pink with normal keto or dark purple when fasting. I have a KetoMojo but still pee on a stick about every 6 months to see if anything has changed. Nope! :woman_shrugging:

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #8

Been there done that.

(Jane) #9

That’s why I still have pee sticks! LOL. I went and bought sone for your survey and don’t think about using them except out of curiosity every few months so they gonna last me looooong time :laughing:

(Joey) #10

Please feel free … when it comes to pee sticks, I squat corrected. :wink:

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #11

@SomeGuy Joey, check out the topic I linked above. Quite interesting.

(Joey) #12

Fascinating. Thanks for pointing me there - I’ve read enough of the posts to see the error of my ways. I’ve had no personal experience with urine sticks - everything (I thought) I knew about how they function change over time on keto was gleaned from numerous reports found on this forum.

But now I know better (having read more reports found on this forum) Thanks again :+1: