New & Confused...What am I doing wrong?
 

I have been on Atkins induction now for about 10 weeks. I have lost about 28 pounds. I am a type II diabetic. The problems I am having are I am testing with ketone strips and during the day they do not turn color or if they do it is a very very pale purple. In the middle of the night, however, I seem to be doing much better as they turn very purple. Sooo question 1 = Is this normal and why don't they turn during the daytime. I think I am staying on 20 carbs or less per day.

My other problem is when I take my diabetic medicines which is actos, glyburide and glucophage (metaformin) and eat less than 20 carbs per day my blood sugars are excellent (in the 90's) but the ketone strips do not turn colors at all and I seem to not lose weight very quickly. When I discontinued all diabetic medicines after discussing this with my doctor I am losing weight (about 1 pound every two to three days) but my blood sugars have jumped up to the mid 200's. Sooo question two = Are there any diabetic medicines available to help with the blood sugar and not interfere with the weight loss?

I am very new to this forum and websight but any help given will be greatly appreciated and listened to intently. Thank you!

I'm not totally educated about this, but I believe it has something to do with when you test for ketones - I had read somewhere that it is always lighter if you haven't eaten much fat yet for the day, and after a higher fat meal, they are darker.

Again, not 100% sure on that....

From what I've read here, any purple on the keto stix is a good thing--varying degrees of color don't make a difference. Do you drink more and use the restroom more frequently during the daytime? Likely as not you're just losing a little stronger concentration at night than during the daytime because of that. :)

I sure wish I knew the answer to your other question.

Hi,

From what I read in the book I understood that you lose more weight at night, and so you naturally lose more ketones at night. My sticks are darker first thing in the morning than they are later in the day. Sorry, I don't know about your other question. Maybe as you go on, your blood sugar levels will get better. Do you drink caffiene? I know that can affect blood sugar levels.

I beleive metformin is the drug of choice to a diabetic that wants to lose weight.

Isn;t a 200 blood suger high? I would be concerned with having high blood sugar and throwing ketones. ASK YOUR DOCTOR not us there are more important things here then your weight.

ANY colour on the ketostix is good enough. Even the lowest lightest pink. So don't bother testing multiple times in the day or night.

More ketones leave via the breath than any other way, but it takes a big expensive machine to measure those. And more leave via the intestines.

I am going to move this to the Bernstein Diabetes forum so it will be seen by people in the same situation as yours.

I hope you are keeping your MD informed of your blood sugars. Any small stress on your body could send you into DKA if you are no longer on meds. Please be careful and consider the long term effects your high blood sugar will have on your body. I'm sure your goal is to be healthy and thin........not thin and dead.

If you have a BS of 200 and keytones in your urine, you need to see your doctor.

BigT..

Blood sugar readings in the mid-200's warrant a call to your doctor ASAP. If your blood sugars have been running that high for more than a few days, it might also explain the weight loss.
Metformin (Glucophage) is known to help with weight loss and Actos probably won't interfere with weight loss either.
Weight loss is more difficult for diabetics because of the insulin resistance that is part of our disease. That doesn't mean it's impossible; just more difficult and will probably be slower than others.
Please contact your doctor as soon as possible so the two of you can work together to get your blood sugar readings back where they should be. You can concentrate on the weight loss issue once you have your blood sugars back under control again. :)

..............First Im not a doctor here...so I will only give you my advise.....200 is a very high....and I would ((( scream ))) if it would happen to me.....:-))))
You need to cut down on your portien's portion...it says in Dr.Bernshtien's book. ......and then go and seek your Dr advice................Take care and lots of health

metformin
 

The only diabetic medicine that doesn't make you gain weight or cause edema is glucophage (metformin). You can safely take that and see if it helps your blood sugar- in fact it will help you lose weight. If you add intensive exercise daily to that, and eat a very low carb diet permanently, you may be able to control your blood sugars that way.

Thank you
 

Thank you for all the informative responses. I see my doctor again on Monday and it gives me some more information to discuss with him. What is this Bernstein Diabetic thing that was mentioned and is there a link to it? I would love to log on to it and read further. Again thanks to all for the help.

The link to Dr. Bernstein's website is www.diabetes-book.com. Read about Dr. Bernstein's own experience as a type 1 diabetic himself and read the testimonials. Then have a look at the Diabetes Forum. It's very worthwhile.

Karen D.

If you are diabetic the first priority is control of your blood sugars...or at least it is for me. Without control you will never have the stability in your blood chemsitry that make other tasks possible. If you are having blood sugars in excess of 200/11.1 you are being damaged. You can't see it but it's there just under the skin and at that BG level you can bet it's having a blast.

I would restart the meds. One at a time, glucophage first. You might not have add back all you were taking before. Glucophage can actually encourage weight loss in the diabetic. When you have your blood under control you can turn to other things...like weight loss.

You answered your own question too. When you were taking your meds and eating 20 carbs a day your blood sugars were excellent. I've been LCing for 4 months now and have only dipped a stik twice..once I got color...once I didn't...I knew something was going on tho because I've lost about 25 lbs. in that time, got an excellent lipid panel back and the last A1c was 5.3. If my blood sugars weren't controlled and I tried to lose weight on lnsulin I don't think it would happen. What I find interesting about the process is that the limited carbs that do so much to contribute to blood sugar control also put us in the metabolic state to lose weight. After that all you gotta do is juggle diet with exercise until you find your spot.

Good Luck....:D