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----- Original Message -----
From: "Marilyn Harris" <[log in to unmask]>
> Hi Kathryn;
>
> But does your *blood* have a low pH though?
Hi, Marilyn. My blood now has a normal pH, but I went through my annual
physical lab reports a while ago (I have kept them for many, many years) and
saw that for several years prior to the my cancer diagnosis my CO2 levels
were slightly abnormal. They are now normal.
While I don't begin to have a thorough understanding of pH - blood or
otherwise - I feel that now having normal CO2 levels is helpful in balancing
my body. If you have any light to shed on the situation, please advise.
Kath
BBC - h2g2 - Regulation of Blood pH
Mar 1, 2006 ... If the pH of your blood
Exerpt:
As you probably know, humans inhale and use oxygen, and then exhale the
carbon dioxide (CO2) produced. However, the amount of CO2 expelled from your
system depends on how quickly you breathe. Breathing quickly will allow more
CO2 to pass from the bloodstream into the air and will therefore lower the
level of CO2 in the blood. What is shown in the diagram above is that the
HCO3- buffer reactions are both reversible2, and so normally the buffer
would only work to a certain extent, with CO2 soon changing back to HCO3- +
H+. However, if the CO2 is removed through breathing, it can't react and
turn back into HCO3- + H+. This means that H+ is removed from the blood by
reacting with the buffer, but can't be remade because the CO2 required to do
so has left the body. Even better, you can control exactly how much of it
can't be remade by altering how much CO2 you exhale - ie, by altering how
quickly you breathe.
The short version of the above is that you can raise your blood pH by
hyperventilating3. Conversely, you can lower your blood pH by
hypoventilating4. A fall below normal pH caused by hypoventilation is known
as a respiratory acidosis, while a rise in pH due to hyperventilation is
known as a respiratory alkalosis.
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