respiratory alkalosis

Respiratory alkalosis is blood turning too alkaline because the lungs are clearing carbon dioxide faster than the body makes it. If respiratory acidosis is exhaust building up, this is the opposite: the exhaust is being vented too vigorously, so the acid-forming carbon dioxide falls and pH rises.

The cause is always hyperventilation relative to need. Common triggers include anxiety, pain, fever, the early phase of an asthma attack or pneumonia, a clot in the lung, sepsis, certain drugs such as salicylates, and high altitude. In each case the respiratory center is driving breathing harder than the carbon dioxide load requires.

Symptoms come from the low carbon dioxide rather than from any lack of oxygen: light-headedness, tingling around the mouth and in the fingers, and sometimes muscle spasm. Acute cases resolve quickly once breathing settles or the trigger is treated; in sustained cases the kidneys lower bicarbonate over a day or two to bring pH back toward normal.