----- 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.