What are the signs and symptoms of metabolic acidosis?

Answer 1

To answer the question "what are the signs and symptoms of metabolic acidosis?", you need to understand first what metabolic acidosis is.

Your body needs to stay in a tight range of homeostasis for many bodily metrics including blood ph level. Your body normally should fall in the ph range of 7.35-7.45. If you are below a ph level of 7.35 you are in a state of acidosis. If you are above the level of 7.45 you are alkalotic.

Ph refers to the level of hydrogen ions in the blood. If you have too many hydrogen ions, then you have a lower ph. If you have a low ph or high number of hydrogen ions, you body will need to get rid of the ions somehow. Your body can do this through respiration. If you have too many hydrogen ions, you can stop the conversion of CO2 + H2O to HCO3 + H ions by decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the body. You can do this by hyperventilating which will get rid of CO2 will ultimately decrease the conversion of HCO3 + Hydrogen ions, and raise the ph back to the normal range.

Your kidney can also lower the ph of the body by reabsorbing HCO3 into the bloodstream and secreting H ions into the urine. That is why your urine is more acidic than the blood. If you are regulating your body's ph other than through respiration such as through the kidney, this would be "metabolic".

Understanding that principle, if you have metabolic acidosis, you likely have a problem with your acid-base homeostasis, with too many hydrogen ions, that is resulting from a problem outside of respiration.

Your kidney's for example might have trouble getting rid of H ions because there was not enough HCO3 in the blood to transfer the H ions to the urine. A low bicarbonate level could produce this result. A low bicarbonate level may result from absorption problems with your gastrointestinal tract. This would result in (1) the sign of metabolic acidosis of diarrhea. It would also result in (2) the sign or symptom of metabolic acidosis of dehydration resulting from the diarrhea, (3) the sign of metabolic acidosis of poor skin turgor resulting from loss of water in the body.

The kidneys may not be able to exchange HCO3 for H ions in the urine because the patient in renal failure which would produce the (4) sign of pericardial rub from the toxin backup from the failed kidney.

Because the body is building up acid in the body, the body would also produce signs that are common to both metabolic and respiratory acidosis such as (5) sign of confusion and (6) sign of headache due to buildup of acid in the brain.

Answer 2

Signs and symptoms of metabolic acidosis can vary from patient to patient. A couple examples of what you might see would be;

1. confusion
2. headache
3. lack of appetite
4. increased heart rate
5. lethargy
6. Tachypnea

Because metabolic acidosis comes from the bodies inability to eliminate enough acid. Patients that are at high risk for metabolic acidosis might include someone with uncontrolled diabetes. If your body lacks the correct amount of insulin, ketones will build up in your body and can make your body more acidic- hence leading to metabolic acidosis.

Answer 3

1. Uncontrolled, deep breathing
2. tachycardia
3. Nausea and vomiting
4. Weakness or confusion
5. lethargic

Answer 4

As the pH goes down, so does my patient (except for potassium K+)