How can you prevent dka

May 1, Issue. Am Fam Physician. What is diabetic ketoacidosis? What causes DKA? What are triggering factors? How can I prevent DKA? What should I do?

Contact your doctor if you have: Vomiting more than once Stomach pain Diarrhea five or more times in six hours Two blood glucose level tests higher than mg per dL A blood glucose level less than 70 mg per dL more than once or symptoms of low blood sugar Trouble breathing Moderate or large ketones if you are using urine test strips High beta-hydroxybutyrate levels if you are using blood test strips If you have signs of infection, including fever, cough, sore throat, or pain when you go to the bathroom, see your doctor to make sure you are getting the right treatment.

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Purchase Access: See My Options close. Best Value! To see the full article, log in or purchase access. Both methods for self-monitoring of ketone bodies at home are clinically reliable and there is no published evidence favoring one method with respect to DKA prevention.

Conclusions: DKA is still a severe complication potentially arising during prolonged hyperglycemic episodes with possibly fatal consequences. Education of patients and their social environment to promote frequent testing - especially during sick days - and to lower their glucose levels, as well as to recognize the early symptoms of hyperglycemia and DKA is of paramount importance in preventing the development of severe DKA. Call your health care provider at once if you experience the following conditions: Your urine tests show high levels of ketones.

Your urine tests show high levels of ketones and your blood glucose level is high. Your urine tests show high levels of ketones and you have vomited more than twice in four hours.

What causes DKA? Here are three basic reasons for moderate or large amounts of ketones: Not enough insulin Maybe you did not inject enough insulin. Or your body could need more insulin than usual because of illness.

Not enough food When you're sick, you often don't feel like eating, sometimes resulting in high ketone levels. High levels may also occur when you miss a meal. Insulin reaction low blood glucose If testing shows high ketone levels in the morning, you may have had an insulin reaction while asleep. High Morning Blood Sugars. Living with Low Vision? Retina Specialist? These symptoms are caused by the sustained hyperglycemia usually lasting several hours that typically happens before someone develops diabetic ketoacidosis.

How do you know if your child has diabetic ketoacidosis? The signs and symptoms can mimic or be triggered by other illnesses, like the flu. So, it's very important to check your child's blood sugar levels and urine ketones during illness — especially if there are high blood sugar readings — or if your child has symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis. Because high levels of ketones in the blood cause ketones to appear in the urine, ketones can be checked at home by testing a sample of your child's urine.

If the urine test for ketones is negative, it generally means that symptoms are not due to diabetic ketoacidosis. If the urine test is positive, contact your child's diabetes health care team. Tests done by a lab or hospital can confirm whether a child has diabetic ketoacidosis , if necessary. Some newer blood glucose meters also offer the option of testing blood for ketones. Ask the diabetes health care team if such a meter is a good idea for your child.

Diabetic ketoacidosis requires immediate medical treatment with intravenous IV insulin and fluids and close monitoring in a hospital. Contact the diabetes health care team immediately or seek emergency care if you think your child is having symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis.

All adult family members and your child's caregivers and school staff should know about the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis in a child with diabetes, and they should know when to call Besides identifying your child as having diabetes, these IDs can provide emergency contact information.

The best way to prevent diabetic ketoacidosis is to treat high blood sugar levels appropriately, which means following the diabetes management plan prescribed by the diabetes health care team. By regularly monitoring blood sugar levels, you'll know when your child's blood sugar is high. If that happens, contact the diabetes health care team for more information and to learn how to help bring your child's diabetes back under control. Hyperglycemia and Diabetic Ketoacidosis.

Seekford, ARNP. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. Causes of High Blood Sugar Levels A major goal in controlling diabetes is to keep blood sugar levels as close to the desired range as possible.