Ketones Test Price in Pakistan: Rs 280 at Marham Lab

A ketones test measures the level of ketones in your blood or urine. MedlinePlus explains that ketones are acids your body makes when it breaks down fat for energy. At Marham Lab a blood ketones test costs Rs 280, reduced from Rs 400, and a urine ketones test costs Rs 350.

MedlinePlus explains that normally the cells in your body use blood glucose for energy, which you get from foods such as carbohydrates. If your cells cannot get enough glucose, your body will break down fat for energy instead, and this process produces an acid called ketones. If your body breaks down fat too fast, ketones can build up in your blood and urine.

It then states the danger: high ketone levels make your blood too acidic, a serious condition called ketoacidosis. The most common type is a complication of diabetes called diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, which MedlinePlus describes as a medical emergency that often develops quickly and can lead to a coma and be life-threatening.

MedlinePlus lists the symptoms of ketoacidosis.

• Extreme hunger or thirst
• Urinating a lot more than usual
• Dehydration
• Headache
• Nausea and vomiting
• Pain in your abdomen
• Confusion
• Trouble breathing
• Fatigue
• Dry skin and mouth
• Breath that has a fruity smell
• Muscle stiffness or aches

MedlinePlus warns that without treatment symptoms can quickly become more severe, and that if you have severe symptoms of ketoacidosis you should seek immediate medical help, because large amounts of ketones can be life-threatening.

Fruity breath with vomiting and heavy breathing in someone with diabetes, especially a child, is an emergency. Go to a hospital.

With diabetes. MedlinePlus states the test is mostly used to check for DKA in people with diabetes, that DKA can affect anyone with diabetes though it is most common with type 1, and that it is less common with type 2. It notes the test may be used when you are sick or pregnant, or if you develop diabetes during pregnancy.

Without diabetes. MedlinePlus states you may have ketones checked if you are at risk of ketoacidosis and have symptoms, and lists conditions that cause the body to use fat for energy instead of glucose: eating disorders and starvation, vomiting or diarrhoea that lasts a long time, and alcohol use disorder.

Prolonged vomiting and diarrhoea are worth noting here, because they are common and they are not usually connected to ketones in people's minds.

This is the limitation that matters most, and it comes straight from MedlinePlus.

A normal or negative result usually means your body is not making too many ketones. A normal test result does not always rule out diabetic ketoacidosis. MedlinePlus explains that your body makes three types of ketones, and that if DKA is in the early stages only one type of ketone will be high, and lab tests often do not measure this type.

So if someone has the symptoms, a negative ketone result is not permission to go home. Clinical judgement outranks the strip.

MedlinePlus states a high or positive result means you have ketones in your blood. It notes it is normal to have some, and that if your levels are very high and you have symptoms you may have ketoacidosis. If you have diabetes you likely have DKA. If you do not have diabetes, it may be ketoacidosis from alcohol use disorder, malnutrition, not eating for very long periods, or other conditions.

Its instruction is plain: ketoacidosis from any cause must be treated, and treatment may include going to the hospital.

Many people search for this test because of a low carbohydrate diet, so here is what MedlinePlus says.

People who eat a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet to lose weight will have blood ketone levels that are higher yet not high enough to be ketoacidosis. This condition is called ketosis. MedlinePlus explains ketosis does not make your blood too acidic because your body is able to use the ketones, so they do not build up. It adds that it is possible to develop ketoacidosis on a keto diet, so talk with your provider about whether the diet is safe for you.

Raised ketones on a keto diet are expected. Raised ketones with vomiting, confusion or breathlessness are not, whatever the diet.