Diabetes Education: Ketones

This is how I understand ketones. Your body uses glucose and turns it in to energy. In order to do this, your body needs insulin. When Boaz's sugars run high we need to check his urine for ketones because the meter is telling us that his body does not have enough insulin. When your body can't turn the glucose into energy it turns to fat in your body. The by-product of that process is ketones. They get into your urine and can be very dangerous if left untreated. When ketones are present you must 'flush' them out. You do this by drinking lots of water, and usually some insulin. Ketones are measured by a scale of negative to large. With large ketones you may very possibly end up in the hospital so they can give you an IV to flush them out. Boaz has only had large ketones once, thankfully. With lots of cucumber-lemon water we were able to flush them out quickly.