Acidosis can happen at any age; it can affect babies, children, and adults. Normally, your body has an acid-base balance. Metabolic acidosis can happen if you are:. Metabolic acidosis can be mild and temporary to serious and life-threatening. You may need medical treatment. This condition can affect how your body functions.
Too many acids in the body can also lead to other health problems. Treatment for metabolic acidosis depends on the cause. Some causes are temporary and the acidosis will go away without treatment. This condition can also be a complication of other chronic health problems. Treating the underlying condition may help prevent or treat the metabolic acidosis.
Metabolic acidosis is acidosis due to changes that affect the blood circulation, kidneys, or digestion. This may be caused by:. Conditions like asthma , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD , pneumonia, and sleep apnea can cause another kind of acidosis called respiratory acidosis.
This happens if the lungs are not able to breathe out carbon dioxide properly. Too much carbon dioxide raises blood acid levels. If you have respiratory acidosis, blood gas tests will show high carbon dioxide levels.
Other tests to diagnose this kind of metabolic acidosis include breathing tests to show how well the lungs are working, and a chest X-ray or CT scan to check for lung infection or blockage. Resolving metabolic acidosis caused by untreated or uncontrolled diabetes includes treatment for diabetes.
Watch this video to see a demonstration of the effect altitude has on blood pH. What effect does high altitude have on blood pH, and why? Various compensatory mechanisms exist to maintain blood pH within a narrow range, including buffers, respiration, and renal mechanisms. Although compensatory mechanisms usually work very well, when one of these mechanisms is not working properly like kidney failure or respiratory disease , they have their limits. If the pH and bicarbonate to carbonic acid ratio are changed too drastically, the body may not be able to compensate.
Moreover, extreme changes in pH can denature proteins. Extensive damage to proteins in this way can result in disruption of normal metabolic processes, serious tissue damage, and ultimately death.
Respiratory compensation for metabolic acidosis increases the respiratory rate to drive off CO 2 and readjust the bicarbonate to carbonic acid ratio to the level. This adjustment can occur within minutes. Respiratory compensation for metabolic alkalosis is not as adept as its compensation for acidosis. The normal response of the respiratory system to elevated pH is to increase the amount of CO 2 in the blood by decreasing the respiratory rate to conserve CO 2.
There is a limit to the decrease in respiration, however, that the body can tolerate. Hence, the respiratory route is less efficient at compensating for metabolic alkalosis than for acidosis. Metabolic and renal compensation for respiratory diseases that can create acidosis revolves around the conservation of bicarbonate ions. These processes increase the concentration of bicarbonate in the blood, reestablishing the proper relative concentrations of bicarbonate and carbonic acid.
Lab tests for pH, CO 2 partial pressure pCO 2 ,and HCO 3 — can identify acidosis and alkalosis, indicating whether the imbalance is respiratory or metabolic, and the extent to which compensatory mechanisms are working.
The blood pH value, as shown in Table 2, indicates whether the blood is in acidosis, the normal range, or alkalosis. The pCO 2 and total HCO 3 — values aid in determining whether the condition is metabolic or respiratory, and whether the patient has been able to compensate for the problem. Table 2 lists the conditions and laboratory results that can be used to classify these conditions. Metabolic acid-base imbalances typically result from kidney disease, and the respiratory system usually responds to compensate.
Metabolic acidosis is problematic, as lower-than-normal amounts of bicarbonate are present in the blood. Stupor and coma can develop within moments if breathing stops or is severely impaired, or over hours if breathing is less dramatically impaired. The diagnosis of acidosis generally requires the measurement of blood pH and carbon dioxide in a sample of arterial blood, usually taken from the radial artery in the wrist.
To learn more about the cause of the acidosis, doctors also measure the levels of bicarbonate in the blood. Additional blood tests are then done to help determine the specific cause. Almost always, treatment of acidosis is directed at reversing the cause. Doctors rarely simply give alkaline drugs, such as bicarbonate, to reverse the acidosis. In metabolic acidosis, treatment depends primarily on the cause.
For instance, treatment may be needed to control diabetes with insulin or to remove the toxic substance from the blood in cases of poisoning. In respiratory acidosis, treatment aims at improving the function of the lungs. Drugs that open the airways bronchodilators, such as albuterol may help people who have lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Sedation due to drugs and other substances can sometimes be reversed by antidotes.
People who have severely impaired breathing or lung function, for whatever reason, may need mechanical ventilation Mechanical Ventilation Mechanical ventilation is use of a machine to aid the movement of air into and out of the lungs. Some people with respiratory failure need a mechanical ventilator a machine that helps air get Severe acidosis may also be treated directly when it does not respond to efforts to treat the cause.
In such cases, bicarbonate may be given intravenously. However, bicarbonate provides only temporary relief and may cause harm—for instance, by overloading the body with sodium and water. Merck and Co. From developing new therapies that treat and prevent disease to helping people in need, we are committed to improving health and well-being around the world. Interpret the results. Too much acid and too little base in the blood causes an acidotic pH level, and the result is combined respiratory and metabolic acidosis.
Too little acid and too much base cause alkalosis see Table 2. For compensation to occur, the renal and respiratory systems work together to regain and maintain a normal blood pH level. Other processes assist with compensation for example, the central and sympathetic nervous systems and the chemical buffer system , but the kidneys and lungs are the major organs involved. Initially, partial compensation may occur. This indicates that the body is attempting to correct the imbalance, but the pH level remains abnormal.
Serial ABG measurements are needed to determine if the pH is progressing toward a normal level. When it reaches normal, complete compensation has occurred.
The respiratory system compensates for metabolic acid-base imbalances within minutes, and the renal system compensates for a respiratory acid-base problem, but it may take days. The steps for determining compensation are the same as for identifying combination types of respiratory and metabolic disorders.
Both values will be abnormal, but in the same direction-both elevated or both decreased. Examine all three values together.
With 7. If pH is normal but closer to the acidotic end, and both PaCO 2 and HCO 3 are elevated, the kidneys have compensated for a respiratory problem. If the pH is normal, but closer to the alkalotic end of the normal range, and both PaCO 2 and HCO 3 are elevated, the lungs have compensated for a metabolic problem see Table 3. The pH level is at the lowest end of normal before being considered acidotic. Therefore, the renal system has compensated for a respiratory problem.
The pH level is at the highest end of normal before being considered alkalotic.
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