Discussion 2
Question # 41941 | Biology | 4 years ago |
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$5 |
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Acid-Base Balance Compensations Course Objective: “Describe possible compensations for respiratory acidosis, respiratory alkalosis, metabolic acidosis, and metabolic alkalosis.” A laboratory printout of your patient’s arterial blood gases indicates that your patient has an increased PCO2, decreased pH, and normal bicarbonate ion concentration. The Questions for you to answer and discuss are: Is your patient in acidosis or alkalosis? Explain Is the pH disturbance respiratory or metabolic in nature? Explain your reasoning. How long do you think your patient has had this pH disturbance? Explain The patient is in acidosis because a lowering pH means the blood is more acidic. “acidosis is characterized by a pH of 7.35 or lower. Alkalosis is characterized by a pH level of 7.45 or higher.” [1] They also have increased pCO2 but normal bicarbonate ion concentration which means the pH disturbance is respiratory by nature. “Respiratory acidosis develops when there is too much carbon dioxide (an acid) in the body. This type of acidosis is usually caused when the body is unable to remove enough carbon dioxide through breathing.” [2] So because the bicarbonate ion concentration is normal it is not metabolic. The patient could have recently developed respiratory acidosis because it can be causes by poor lung function and breathing. “A person with chronic respiratory acidosis rarely experiences symptoms, as many systems in the body can compensate for these changes in acid/base balance. However, acute respiratory acidosis might occur, which causes symptoms involving the brain, including confusion, stupor, drowsiness, and muscle jerks.” [3] The release of carbon dioxide is constantly happening so if it’s not functioning properly something it won’t take long to go into acidosis.
