keto test shows 3+.... Nurse said it's not good!! Help!!!
Anicamarais
Posts: 46 Member
So I went for a Keto urine tests to see if my blood has ketones in it.. Turns out my test came out 3+ which means my levels are very high.. The nurse said it's not good for the ketones to be that high.. She said my body is hungry. It didn't make sense cause my blood sugar levels were normal... Do I have reason to be concerned??? I need some pointers...
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Urine strips won't give you an accurate reading of your blood ketone levels. They only show what is being excreted in your urine and fluctuate greatly based on hydration levels. If your nurse is worried about Ketoacidosis she should know you are no where near that level and only a type 1 diabetic needs to be concerned with that.0
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Well I'm not diabetic at all.. like I said, my blood sugar test is normal..1
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The nurse thinks you have ketones because you are starving. This is a huge clue that the nurse does not understand nutritional ketosis.
I would disregard her.
Actually I would've left the office shaking my head in disbelief that yet another medical professional doesn't understand the purpose of ketones in the body. So many think they are a sign of something being wrong which is untrue. They're a sign that you're burning fat. That's all. Their job is to determine WHY YOURE BURNING FAT. But they dont take it any further than that.
There are 4 reasons a person would be burning fat at ketone producing levels.
1.) The person is fasting (starving). Has eaten no food in many hours. Even this is not a medical problem unless the person does not have access to food or has a mental health issue where they are intentionally starving themselves for unhealthy reasons.
2.) The person has very little to no insulin in their body an is unable to use present glucose for energy because of it. This person is always a Type 1 Diabetic. Even then, ketosis is only dangerous when combined with high blood sugar. Nutritional ketosis is perfectly safe for a T1D.
3.) The person is an alcoholic and has been on a drinking binge long enough to cause their pancreas to shut down preventing insulin production. This person would also be incredibly dehydrated at emergency levels and be starving as well. This is very rare.
4.) The person eats a very low carb diet where their body has been trained to use fat for fuel and is in nutritional ketosis, which is perfectly healthy.
In ALL of these cases, the ketones are a natural energy source that the body uses when it is unable to use glucose for fuel. And in the extreme cases, the fact that our bodies do this at all is to sustain us. For the T1D and alcohol scenarios, the ketones are an effort to keep the person alive until their other conditions (the life threatening ones) can be corrected. The ketones are not the enemy. They are life savers. Literally.13 -
Anicamarais wrote: »Well I'm not diabetic at all.. like I said, my blood sugar test is normal..
If you don't mind me asking, what sort of blood sugar test did you have - A1c or fasting blood glucose?
(A single fasting blood glucose test cannot establish that you are not diabetic...)
PS. You can buy urine test strips (aka "pee-stix") cheap. Around $7 for 50 at Walmart.0 -
A1c0
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Whew. Glad to hear!
I hope you're safely in "the (dark) green".....
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Nice chart, could you post the site link? any explanations for the conversions?0
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@camtosh @RalfLott created a new thread to discuss this chart: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10453541/for-t2ds-conversion-table-a1c-mean-plasma-glucose-u-s-mpg-uk-canada
::flowerforyou::
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Nice chart, could you post the site link? any explanations for the conversions?
Here you go:
https://healthesolutions.com/what-are-normal-blood-sugars-what-are-antibody-tests/2 -
So I went for a Keto urine tests to see if my blood has ketones in it.
There's your first clue to disregard anything from there on out.
Urine is, by definition, a waste product. While it can tell you some things (like the fact that your body is making ketones), trying to gauge what your blood levels are by what's in your urine is like trying to gauge how many carrots a household eats by how many are thrown away in the trash each week.
It makes no sense, then, to test urine for blood ketones (though it is a common thing, largely due to the gross and horrible misunderstanding regarding ketones and the assumption that everyone follows a high carb diet).0 -
Anicamarais wrote: »So I went for a Keto urine tests to see if my blood has ketones in it.. Turns out my test came out 3+ which means my levels are very high.. The nurse said it's not good for the ketones to be that high.. She said my body is hungry. It didn't make sense cause my blood sugar levels were normal... Do I have reason to be concerned??? I need some pointers...
Congratulations on getting into nutritional ketosis so well.
ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2013/11/30/Ketosis-Measuring-Ketones
Show the nurse the first chart in the link above.
Ketone levels do not show hunger per say. It shows your body is using fat for fuel more than carbs as I understand it.
I typically feel the best when in the 1-2 range personally and have tested as high as 3.4.
Testing at 3 does indicate you may be able to eat some more carbs and when this happens I may eat a whole apple, etc.
Keep up the good work.
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