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The acidity levels of your body affect your kidneys, and arterial blood gas analysis is one of the critical tests taken when you’re sick. The purpose of the test is to check the acid-base balance which when disturbed causes kidney disorders. The change in acid-base status results in abnormal arterial pH values. A rise in acidity levels results in acidosis, while alkalosis refers to a situation where your blood is too alkaline.
Acid-base disturbances can result from disease or damage to the kidneys, lungs, or brain, which are vital organs for acid-base homeostasis. This post delves further into acid-based kidney disorders to help you make the right medical choices, including nutritional counseling.
Understanding Acid-Based Kidney Disorders
The pH is a scale of 0-14 of acidity and alkalinity: a pH level of over 7 is alkaline, with substances falling below 7 being acidic. Blood has a pH of 7.35-7.45, which is considered slightly alkaline.
When the acid-base balance fluctuates, this affects your vital organs. Other debilitating effects of such imbalance include: irregular heart muscle contractions, electrolyte disturbances, and reduced oxygen delivery to tissues.
Categories of Acid-Based Kidney Disorders
Acid-base disorders fall under metabolic or respiratory disorders.
Respiratory Acidosis
If your lungs can’t remove excess carbon dioxide from your body, there’s a risk of the blood and other body fluids becoming too acidic. Symptoms of respiratory acidosis include:
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- Confusion
Respiratory acidosis can result from obesity, chest deformities or injuries, chronic lung and airway diseases, or overuse of sedatives.
Metabolic Acidosis
This is an increase in blood acidity caused by increased acid production, acid ingestion, and decreased renal acid excretion. It’s one of the major symptoms of kidney disease and is characterized by fatigue, problems breathing, and confusion. Metabolic acidosis can be cause by:
lactic acidosis (lactic acid builds up)
diabetic acidosis, or diabetic ketoacidosis (buildup of ketone bodies)
hyperchloremic acidosis (buildup of sodium bicarbonate)
Respiratory Alkalosis
This is an acid-base disorder correlated with very low levels of carbon dioxide. This can occur due to lack of oxygen, lung or liver disease, fever, or salicylate poisoning.
Metabolic Alkalosis
Metabolic alkalosis is when your blood has too much bicarbonate. This mostly occurs after prolonged vomiting, or from loss of too much potassium after taking some diuretic medicine.
Diagnosis and Treatments
Diagnostic tests depend on the type of acid-base imbalance affecting you. Tests can range from physical examination, a metabolic panel, urinalysis, serum electrolytes, urine pH, and arterial blood gases (blood gas analysis).
Kidneys play a critical role in acid-base balance by excreting hydrogen ions through urine. Kidneys also reabsorb bicarbonate from the urine. Treatment of chronic kidney disease and other kidney problems can thus deal with acid-base disorders.
Treatment also depends on the diagnosis, with the primary goal being to correct the chemical imbalance. The underlying cause of acidosis or alkalosis has to be treated. Other solutions include nutrition counseling, bicarbonate for treatment of acute metabolic acidosis, renal replacement therapy (RRT), and dialysis.
Whatever your symptoms, please see a kidney doctor to properly diagnose your symptoms and give you proper treatment protocol.
