Reported as common to those in ketosis: unique/different odor to urine and armpits (from perspiring) that smell like "fingernail polish" or a "kitty litter box that needs to be cleaned of urine".

Also, you might just be dehydrated in general. Low carb can flush water & salts from your system, so you may find an increased need for staying hydrated and keep electrolytes up.

@goatlady6 WELCOME! While it is a good idea to increase your water intake, please don't forget to make sure you're getting the amount of sodium that you need. I couldn't see your diary, but water can act like a magnet drawing the sodium right out of your body. On keto, you need to make sure you're getting plenty of sodium.

I've been smelling of something sweet. Not like acetone, but sweet like candy. Not good because then I want candy.

I wonder if that is why I'm in a sort of a stall. Kind of going back and forth between 198.8 and 197.4. My blood sugar has been running in the 80's with exception to that one over 100 after pizza party. Usually it's between 95 and 100.

@KnitOrMiss LOL...thank you for making me laugh! I hope the creepy crud exits your system soon!
I have an appointment next week with a diabetes educator and then another appointment next month with a diabetic dietitian. So hopefully I'll learn more about this disease. I have a bunch of questions for them. My mom is concerned for me doing the keto woe. She thinks my blood levels have dropped too fast. So we'll see what the educator and dietitian have to say.

I absolutely agree that it's not about getting too healthy too fast!!!

It's more that our livers have that little glycogen release function as a way to KEEP US ALIVE in hard times, etc. And so the liver is a little ... overprotective?

Also, our body kind of does this thing where it holds steady in a glucose range. As we abuse ourselves, and the glucose numbers go higher, our body adjusts that range to just be higher... So if you average glucose as a healthy person was 90-100, the body might say, okay, at 65 or so, we need to release glycogen to prevent going too low, and at 135 we need to release more insulin to bring it back down (random example, based off of my really loose recollection of numbers).... So say your body was getting less efficient, and your average was around 150... The body might adjust and consider 115 your new "scary low" because it's adjusted the high to be closer to 185... Imagine for some folks who get sicker and sicker, and have average glucose readings over 250 or more!!! That would mean that your formerly high scary warning zone was now BELOW the new "scary low" zone!!!

If that isn't terrifying, I don't know what is, because we know realistically that our body really still won't be in trouble until it gets below that 65 or so range, but the body has it's watch zone. And to make us feel NOT SICK at the higher levels (it's coping mechanism), it bumps up that range.... It's kind of scary how much our bodies will max out to help is feel normal and keep functioning...but kind of reassuring, too. It's just that eventually that elastic range gets too much for even the body to keep adjusting to, which is generally when we get sick enough for doctors to catch it, if they weren't already monitoring for it...

Some people are far more sensitive that others to the changes, and might catch it earlier, and some of our bodies are just really good at adapting to bad changes to attempt to keep us functioning, etc. as along as possible.

The longer you keep your average glucose numbers numbers down, and your spikes down, and your fasting numbers down, the sooner your liver will realize that you've learned your lesson, and that you're on the job now, so to speak, and that you can work together to keep the body healthy, and that you don't need it to carry all the stress of glucose management all by itself. Once the liver realizes that the long term numbers are all improving downward, it will stop having that reaction as often, and you'll get back to fat losses and such.

If you are on actual insulin, and not just an insulin sensitizer like Metformin, you can be dropping too low, but as long as you plan to stay on plan, please don't let a doctor talking you into eating to your medication, rather to adjusting your medication needs to your eating. Doctors in general don't like doing that because long term, people just aren't compliant. It's far easier for them to medicate you to less compliance than it is for them to trust you to being compliant and actively involved in monitoring and adjusting yourself - not to mention the liability if something doesn't adjust well.

I'd check in here on some of the diabetic posts (linked in the sticky) and get more advice from those who've gotten off meds, reduced or reversed their diabetes, etc. I imagine that a small fat/protein based snack when you get to a certain point may stave off the auto-release of glycogen, but I'd talk to your team about what is best for you how to adjust until your liver glycogen release level readjusts to your new health levels....

TL;DR - Information is power - monitor your numbers and how you feel at different levels and engage your team in the best long term solution for YOU! @Jigglypuff00

I just know that in several tv shows I've seen it referenced "a sweet smell on your breath," "have you been drinking," "why do you smell like oranges," and so on...

The one where he was asked about smelling like oranges, the guy was a Type 1, and immediately explained that it means his numbers are getting too low.

The "sweet smell on the breath" one was used by a blind person to identify a murder suspect, presumably same reason...

And the "have you been drinking" one was a really spectacular example of LADA Type 1 in an adult on a TV program that had a woman end up in diabetic ketoacidosis, and nearly a coma! It was actually very detailed and accurate... They did not give her actual blood glucose number, but said that it was so high, she almost died, etc.

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

Also, our body kind of does this thing where it holds steady in a glucose range. As we abuse ourselves, and the glucose numbers go higher, our body adjusts that range to just be higher... So if you average glucose as a healthy person was 90-100, the body might say, okay, at 65 or so, we need to release glycogen to prevent going too low, and at 135 we need to release more insulin to bring it back down (random example, based off of my really loose recollection of numbers).... So say your body was getting less efficient, and your average was around 150... The body might adjust and consider 115 your new "scary low" because it's adjusted the high to be closer to 185... Imagine for some folks who get sicker and sicker, and have average glucose readings over 250 or more!!! That would mean that your formerly high scary warning zone was now BELOW the new "scary low" zone!!!

I have gone up and down on my fasting glucose levels, and I suspect it is this phenomenon. It gets "low" during the night, and the liver freaks out and boosts it. When I check at 5 AM it might be 120. If I get up early - (like 3:45 this morning), it is more like low 100's (104 this morning).

Every now and then I see this during the day. Yesterday I had a 94 an hour after lunch - canned salmon. Two hours after eating and I was 90. These are great readings and not problematic. I did not eat anything between lunch and supper. Right before supper I checked and was 120. The only explanation I have is that liver had freaked out and given me a boost when I did not need it (for whatever reason that made sense to it).