All About Ketones and Diabetic Ketoacidosis
Understanding ketones and diabetic ketoacidosis is a necessity for everyone living with type 1 diabetes. Diabetic ketoacidosis is a life-threatening—but often preventable—complication of diabetes.
What Are Ketones and Diabetic Ketoacidosis?
Also know as DKA, diabetic ketoacidosis occurs when the body is not receiving enough insulin to break down glucose, forcing the body to break down fat as fuel.
This releases ketones into the bloodstream, which can cause the blood to become acidic— eventually resulting in system failure and even death.
Recognizing, testing for and effectively treating ketones and diabetic ketoacidosis are basic survival skills. However, they are often left out of the health-education conversations that focus on day-to-day blood-sugar management.
A recent poll of Beyond Type 1 community members found that over half had experienced diabetic ketoacidosis while living with type 1 diabetes, and more than a third have no way of checking for ketones at home.
With a goal to provide vital information and help mitigate risks of diabetic ketoacidosis, we have consolidated some helpful resources and personal stories.
Diabetic Ketoacidosis Resources
Testing For and Managing Ketones
A fundamental component of spreading DKA prevention is to address ketones. Here you'll find the commonly recommended steps for ketone checking and handling.MORE
Ketone Meters: What to Look For
You might be surprised to hear that ketones are a necessary part of your body’s metabolic processes – after all, any mention of “ketones” is usually accompanied by feelings of dread among PWDs...MORE
STICH Protocol for DKA Management
With SGLT inhibitors increasingly being used off-label to treat Type 1 diabetes, it is vital that patients on these drugs know when and how to treat for ketones.MORE
Ketones vs Ketosis vs DKA
What are the differences between ketones, ketosis, and DKA? These terms are commonly used in the type 1 community but what do they mean? Here is a breakdown of their definitions and differences.MORE
Ketones — The 6 Must-Knows
Ketones are chemicals that build up when your body starts to burn fat for energy. The most common cause of ketones in diabetics is insulin deficiency.MOREDiabetic Ketoacidosis Stories
Flaws in Technology: A Case of DKA
Ilse Michelle Mora Rodríguez is a doctor who has lived with Type 1 for nearly her entire life. Her brush with DKA came when she least expected it.MORE
‘This Doesn’t Happen To Me’ — A New DKA Perspective
Neil Greathouse shares his DKA experience and how the incident truly humbled him.MORE
A Deadly Lack of Information
Jillian Rippolone shares the story of one of her DKA experiences. She laments not having more information and her inability to recognize symptoms.MORE
Lessons Learned: Michelle’s Unusual DKA Experience
Michelle Lord shares her DKA experience + the importance of testing for ketones.MORENote: Updated resources on how to recognize and treat diabetic ketoacidosis while managing type 1 diabetes were made possible with a grant from Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, an active partner of Beyond Type 1 at the time of publication.
