Ketosis myths I have encountered
I have been in ketosis for the last 10 months or so. I practice ketogenic diet to control blood sugar levels: to prevent retinal degeneration. This seems to work great and the retina have been healing slowly.
The finnish healthcare does not know ketosis, at all
The finnish health institutions have not been helpful on this journey. I have had the misfortune to be met with the strangest ideas and myths on ketosis.
The funniest myth must have been at a HUSlab-laboratory, where I visited after first months on ketogenic diet, to measure the "longterm bloodsugar" Hb1Ac. The nurse who drew the blood samples warned me that ketosis could lead to brain damage! I should have kept the mention of ketosis to myself.
My brain is crazy! But its always been crazy, and ketogenic diet hasn't damaged my vast (pseudo)intellect. Intellect. Intellect. Ineltect. Itenelt.
Ketosis is NOT ketoacidosis
Ok, semiotic jokes aside, the next typical myth nurses seem to be familiar with is confusing ketogenic diet with ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis is a metabolic state that occurs when blood insulin levels are too low to disarm blood glucagon. Please repeat that 3 times: insulin is required to counter glucagon.
To illustrate difference between ketosis and ketoacidosis, I also stole this screencap from Chris Vrooman at roadtoketo.com, that quantifies the difference well:
Now I have to teach the treating medical doctor the basics
Ok, my medical doctor is still talking about "cholesterol", when in fact what the laboratory measured was lipoproteins. I am appalled.
Can these people even spell lipoprotein? We cannot measure blood cholesterol levels in a typical lab, so why tell patients that is what they are doing? Makes me feel that despite being fortunate enough to live a time when a lab can measure blood lipoproteins, we are at a misfortunate time to be treated with this pseudo-treatment-lingo: a pseudo-language.
LIPOPROTEIN
Doc, can you even write that? Please please please try harder to be something more than a pharmaceutical industry sales rep, that repeats sentences from a treatment guidebook. My brain isn't that good that I could be a medical doctor AND run my business as a programmer and an artist, doc. I already have to keep up with dozens of tech standards and 6 computer languages just to pay the rent!Needless to say, I am not happy with my part as the-taxpayer-that-has-to-function-as-healthcare-educator
Now here I am, dealt the part of trying to break YOUR myths and the myths that whole medical societies and diabetes associations dissaminate(d), from last 5 decades. I thought I pay taxes so that YOU people treat me. Now all I get is prescriptions for chemicals that do NOTHING for my health, and the vile myths that the Sugar Research Foundation bought from Harvard researchers in the turn of 1950's and 1960's.
Sorry doc, apologies nurses, I know it is not your fault the healthcare and medical institution were taken for a ride by the Money Man. But one should be aware of these historical continuum.
Copyright 2020 Casimir Pohjanraito