Diabetic ketoacidosisDKAA medical emergency in which a severe lack of insulin makes the body burn fat for fuel, flooding the blood with acids called ketones.
Ketones
Acids the body makes when it burns fat instead of sugar for energy. Small amounts are normal; large amounts in someone with diabetes are dangerous.
Ketones appear whenever the body runs on fat — during fasting, on a very low-carbohydrate diet, or when is too scarce for to be used.
In someone without diabetes that is harmless. In someone with diabetes and high blood sugar, rising ketones are the warning sign of .
Testing for them
Ketones can be checked with urine strips or a blood ketone meter. If you have type 1 diabetes, keep strips at home and test whenever your blood sugar is persistently high or you are unwell.
Related terms
- InsulinInsulin hormone, Insulin injectionInsulin is the hormone made by the pancreas that moves glucose out of the blood and into cells. As a medicine it replaces or supplements what the body cannot produce, and it is given by injection because stomach acid would destroy it.
- Type 1 diabetesInsulin-dependent diabetes, Juvenile diabetesA form of diabetes where the immune system destroys the cells that make insulin, so insulin injections are needed for life.