Very? low blood sugar and high ketones: 48 hour water fast

(Cidersky) #1

Hello-- this is my first post here. I’m changing up my diet after a brain MRI showed significant atrophy in several significant regions. Nothing like a dash of mortality to throw you on another path.

I’ve been doing intermittent fasting off and on for a year or so. But I wanted to kick things up to the autophagy range (just learned about it! :grinning:). This Wednesday eve I went on a water fast that I ended Friday evening. About 50 hrs. I was hoping for a 3 day fast, but I grew concerned with two readings on my KetoMojo GK+. Glucose 23 Ketones 5.3; about an hour later glucose 37 Ketones 7.

Although it felt a little hard at the 50 hour mark, my thinking was clear, I did not feel sick. I did have a bad headache but all else was well. I didn’t supplement with electrolytes during the fast, as I didn’t know about doing that till later (just a tiny bit of Himalayan sea salt).

My questions are: Was I in danger of anything going wrong with those numbers? And what would cause my blood sugar to go so low & the ketones so high?

I thank anyone who can help me with this information. My google searches come up with something called ketotic hypoglycemia, but I’m not sure if it applies to me and if it should cause me to not fast in the future.

(Bill) #2

Sounds very much like a rogue reading to me…
Did you re-test the blood sugar number to see?
That would have been my first idea after a very unusual reading.

Edit to add… maybe get a “normal” person to test their blood glucose level on the same meter too just to check it’s not got a weird reading… I’ve never used the ketomojo so don’t know how accurate it is…

There was an experiment done years ago where blood glucose levels were pushed right down using insulin with subjects in ketosis… I think they did go down to levels close to yours with no ill effects.

(Bill) #3

Knew I had it somewhere…

(Bob M) #4

That is low blood sugar, but not unheard of. That is, I’ve heard of people getting blood sugar that low, but usually it’s after longer fasting.

What is your “normal” blood sugar? When you first get up, for instance?

Yeah, any time you’re fasting and don’t feel good, it’s (1) time for more electrolytes (usually, at least salt), and (2) if that doesn’t help within a short time, it’s time to bail.

(Cidersky) #5

Thank you both. This was my first post to this forum. I wasn’t sure if I’d start having seizures or whatever other terrible things people talk about happening with sugar that low.

I think possibly my ketone numbers pick up quickly. I’ve been intermittent fasting for about 20 hours and my ketones are at 7.

(Cidersky) #6

I read the article-- mainly I could understand the ending. Will reread again. Thank you.

(Cidersky) #7

I’m not sure yet of my normal levels. I’m new to this, so just starting out. But my health scare is creating the will power to try just about anything. :slight_smile:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #8

Welcome to the forums!

Absolutely not. Research done by George Cahill and his team in the 1960’s showed that a euglyacaemic hyperinsulinaemic clamp could be used to drive serum glucose to astonishingly low readings without ill effect, in fasting patients. The reason the research subjects were fine was that they’d been fasting for several days, so their ketones were therefore elevated.

As Stephen Phinney, who knew Dr. Cahill, likes to joke, “The only people who were sweating and had palpitations were the ones wearing the white coats.” The explanation is that the brain is perfectly fine on a low level of blood sugar, so long as it has ketones to feed itself with.

As mentioned, so long as you are not experiencing symptoms of hypoglycaemia, you are fine. Ketones were originally considered extremely dangerous, because they were discovered in the context of diabetic ketoacidosis. But diabetic ketoacidosis is impossible if one’s pancreas is producing insulin. So if you are a Type I diabetic, be sure to take your basal dose, and you’ll be fine.

And by the way, Gary Taubes makes the point in his latest book that hypoglycaemia was unknown as a medical condition until 1923, when insulin treatment for Type I diabetics was instituted. It occurs when the patient over-doses his or her insulin.

#9

How did your doctor describe it to you?
Focal - Damage occurs in one area of your brain.
Generalized - Damage expands to your entire brain.

Did they run other tests to rule out potenial casues?
Do you have the APOE E4 gene? What course of action did your doctor recommend?
Do you have family history of brain issues?

Be careful with exteneded day fasting as you cannot meet your protein requirements and thus you will lose muscle mass.