Re: Jeanie - and (H)

[Guest guest]

Actually, the spilling of ketones usually happens before blood sugar

drops. But I don't know if a child who has low blood sugar

necessarily has large/moderate ketones.

The presence of ketones happens on the way to dropping blood sugars

in a lot of kids/people. If left unchecked, then keto-acidosis can

develop which means the body chemistry is out of whack. The child

can then start vomiting and not be able to stop. For example, a few

years ago I had a stomach virus. A really bad one. I could not

stop vomiting, I was weak and could barely talk. I checked my own

ketones and knew I was in trouble. I whispered to my husband that I

had to go to the ER, but I was too weak and sick to even get to the

stairs. He had to call an ambulance. The doctor explained that I

was in keto-acidosis and would not have stopped vomiting and would

have eventually lost consciousness if I had not gone in. I was able

to be rehydrated via IV for a number of hours, went home and then

was tired but fine.

Max, on the other hand, will spill ketones when he cannot eat and

then the vomiting starts. He follows the same course as I did, but

it takes him days, not hours, to recover. That is more typical of

our RSS kids. But he has had large ketones, been acidotic and not

had low blood sugars. I do not understand the chemistry, or if it

was explained to me, I don't remember it.

Now, if you suspect low blood sugars, you should test for them. Do

NOT rely solely on ketones. I don't know if checked Ian for

ketones when his blood sugar has been low, but if she did, then she

can tell us if there was a connection. But in the practice of good

medical data collection, each test should be done as a separate

entity: one for ketones and one for blood sugar. I'll bet anything

that after a time you will see a pattern.

Jodi Z