How to tell the difference between ketosis and diabetes?

Question

My family has a history of diabetes. So I've been very cautious with my diet lately and i try my best to avoid eating too much carbohydrates and sweets. I've been experiencing some excessive thirst, and i think frequent urination. I like to drink water a lot cause i think it would help me flush out excess sugar if i do have diabetes. But lately, i've been experiencing an irritating feeling of thirst. Plus, i think my breath is somewhat different because of this. I've read in the internet that these symptoms are similar when a body is in a state of ketosis. But i also know these symptoms are very much like diabetes. Are there any differences to distinguish between the two? Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

Some of the more common symptoms of diabetes are:

Frequent urination

Excessive thirst

Extreme hunger

Unusual weight loss

Increased fatigue

Irritability

Blurry vision

Since your family has a history of diabetes it would be best to speak with your doctor and get you tested. Diabetes runs in my family and so, when I started to have some of the symptoms you described my doctor did a simple urine test to see if there was sugar in my urine. Since it was normal I didn't go further with testing.

Answer 2

Hi, you are definately showing symptoms of Diabetes,  I would have the blood test asap.

Ketosis is the mechanism where your body's muscles can longer absorb glucose (due to insulin loss or relative insulin resistance) and use this for energy so it switches to protiens (muscle fibre itself). the by-product is ketone bodies that build up and can be detected on the breath via excretion through the lungs (this is the condition of ketosis).

A simple glucose test will suffice and I highly recommend this. Diabetes can be managed very well so don't worry,  it's in your family history so take 5 and check it out.

best of luck, I hope it's not anything at all.