Question

Peter while in the waiting room expecting the birth of twins, became very anxious. One of the attending nurses realized that he had developed respiratory alkalosis. The nurse instructs him to take some slow deep breaths. Explain why would this be effective.

Answer 1

If Peter starts to take slow deep breaths he will recover his normal acid-base balance and the respiratory alkalosis that he is presenting will end.

Step-by-step explanation:

Peter is under a stress condition, so he probably began to hyperventilate, what it means that he is breathing more times per minute that it needed as a response to the increase of metabolic demands in situations like anxiety. In normal conditions, when we take a breath, we inhale oxygen and eliminate co2. We need a regulation of this process which is called acid-base balance. This balance is thanks to bicarbonate (hco3 and co2) both need to be in similar levels to realize their correct function. When peter starts to hyperventilate, he eliminates more of the co2 of his body than necessary. Co2 is an acid an Hco3 is a base, so he is eliminating more of the acid component and his body is staying whit more bases.Thats the explanation of alkalosis respiratory. If he starts to breath slowly he will inhales the oxygen necessary and will not eliminate more quantity of Co2 , just the physiologic and it will recover his acid-base balance.