My First Ketone Test

(J) #22

Thank you, Paul. This helps allay some of my reticence. I am curious how long I should be experiencing this brain fog which has accompanied much of last week and this week. I have begun purposely increasing salt intake, as well as an electrolyte supplement.

#23

I donā€™t think a lot of information is available on what should be ā€œnormalā€ for someone on keto. Especially when different situations of type 2 exist.

As was mentioned on another thread, Iā€™ve seen online discussions of people having blood sugars in the 30ā€™s and 40ā€™s, with no ill effect. Check out the Cahill reference later in the thread. Also, someone mentioned theyā€™ve seen reading in the 30ā€™s when people have fasted for days (presumably already on a keto diet).

Is there another way for glucose to show up other than eating carbs or Gluconeogenesis?

In any case, I believe hypoglycemia should be defined by symptoms instead of a blood sugar reading, or at least the blood sugar reading has to be interpreted differently under different dietary conditions.

Iā€™m a T2D thatā€™s been on keto for over 5 years, with varying strictness. I have seen blood sugar reading under 100. Probably the lowest was 83. Last fall, my A1c was 4.8.

(Joey) #24

@jh5899 Coming back to this thread, I see youā€™re getting plenty of good input from many others, so Iā€™ll simply wish you the best as you continue on this great change in health.

Please keep us posted with your progress! :vulcan_salute:

(J) #25

Update: Things seem to balancing out. My reading 2hrs post meal was 78 mg/dl glucose, 2.3 ketones, with 1.8 GKI.

(Jane) #26

:laughing:

(Joey) #27

Excellent. Thanks for the update :+1:

(Bob M) #28

My guess: this personā€™s pancreas is overreacting and thatā€™s whatā€™s causing low glucose. A 2 hour Kraft test would be nice to see. I expect blood glucose to stay low, which insulin shoots really high. My best guess, anyway.

Another possibility: something is wrong with glucagon (which counteracts insulin to raise blood glucose). I think the high insulin level would be indicative of this though.

Makes me wonder: should a Kraft test include glucagon?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #29

I started to object to this at first, then as I thought it over, I realised that, given that heā€™s been diagnosed as a Type II diabetic, it is inevitable that he is insulin-resistant, so of course his pancreas is overreacting. Duh!

In my defense Iā€™ve only had two or three cups of coffee so far today. Iā€™m busy remedying that, even as I type.

(J) #30

Any idea on how long these higher ketone levels remain before leveling out a little? I just checked again and had a .7 GKI (76 mg/dl, 5.6 ketones). After a certain point, I donā€™t really plan on monitoring these things much, because it seems I can now discern ketosis by how Iā€™m feeling (or is that not a good measurement by which to go?).

(Bob M) #31

That is a good measurement, at least in the beginning and for some people.

I didnā€™t start testing until several years into keto, and had 1-3 for high during normal (no long term fasting) times. I donā€™t know what my levels were before then, however.

(Bob M) #32

Paul, at least 1% of the time or so, Iā€™m correct! :wink:

(Jane) #33

I didnā€™t get a meter until I was 6 months into keto, so no idea what my ketones were when I started out. I only saw those kinds of numbers after fasting for 3 days. You probably will see the ketone numbers go down over time and that is normal - nothing to be concerned about.

Your glucose numbers look great - you doc should be very pleased with your next a1c in a coupld of months.

Also - my KetoMojo meter is obsolete and I canā€™t get test strips for it anymore. The company offered a trade-in but I havenā€™t bothered as I donā€™t test anymore. I am in my 4th year of keto.

(Bob M) #34

And I started testing when the strips were $5/each. Had to go to Ebay to get them near $3/each. At least theyā€™re $1/each now.

Though like Janie, I have an older Keto Mojo that they no longer support.