8 Signs & Symptoms Of Metabolic Acidosis

Metabolic acidosis, a prevalent acid-base medical disorder occurs as a result of excess amounts of acid being produced, decreased amounts of acid being excreted or intake or loss of body alkali. If metabolic acidosis is not promptly controlled then it has the potential to become life-menacing, causing even coma and mortality.

Symptoms Of Metabolic Acidosis

Asymptomatic Patients

At first, individuals having mild-ranging metabolic acidosis might not exhibit any symptoms at all.

Vague Symptoms

Due to the nonspecific nature of symptoms diagnosing metabolic acidosis can be tricky except when ABG (arterial blood gas) testing in some patients reveals bothersome results.

Mild ranging metabolic acidosis causes symptoms that might comprise of pains felt in the chest, abnormality in heartbeats, headaches, drowsiness, low energy levels, lost or heightened craving for food, decrease in sharpness of vision, change in mental condition like acute nervousness resulting from hypoxia, muscular weakness and pains in the bone.

Symptoms Of Underlying Conditions

Kidney diseases cause metabolic acidosis that present themselves with signs like excess diluted urine production, reduced urine volume, frequent nighttime urination, pruritis and becoming anorexic.

In non-diagnosed kidney failure there might be dry feeling in eyes, oral and skin areas, sleepiness or graze marks over the skin. Patients with diabetes who are exhibiting signs of metabolic acidosis might even have a fruity or musty breath.

Kussmaul Breathing

Due to metabolic acidosis, the patient breathes rapidly and in a shallow manner. However, as the condition exacerbates then breathing slowly turns deep and strenuous with the person literally struggling for breath. Kussmaul breathing is such a later form of respiratory pattern that is linked to diabetic ketoacidosis, a form of metabolic acidosis.

Hyperventilation

The patient is in a state where he/she breathes quicker or deeper as compared to normally done which causes excess amounts of circulatory carbon dioxide being thrown out.

Change In Look And Feel Of Skin

A patient suffering from metabolic acidosis would have skin that feels cold and sweaty/sticky when touched and appears paler than normal.

Feeling Nauseous And Puking

Mild-ranging metabolic acidosis generally causes an urge to vomit and may/may not be followed by forceful expulsion or vomiting of stomach contents.

Feeling Weary And Weak

A sense of exhaustion and weakness could be signs or symptoms of mild or severe metabolic acidosis. When the condition escalates then weakness that is acute and incapacitating in nature is experienced by the patient.

Symptoms Related To Substance Poisoning

Optical disturbances like extreme sensitivity to light, dimming, partial vision loss or blind spot in otherwise normal optical field or sightlessness might be indicative of an increase in acid load due to inadvertent or deliberate poisoning.

Tinnitus, blurry eyesight or vertigo might arise as a result of being poisoned with salicylate. Ethylene glycol or methyl alcohol poisoning can also cause symptoms like optical changes, headaches or perplexity.

Neurological Complications

Low pH in the patient’s blood leads to a drop in blood pressure and induces confusion. With the patient’s body shutting down several neurologically related complications like lassitude, state of unconsciousness that lasts over six hours or seizure attacks (fits) can occur.

Cardiac Complications

Lowered pH in the blood can also lead to cardiac complications like cardiac arrhythmia (irregular or too slow/hasty heart beat), bradycardia (unusually low or slow heart beats/action) and lowered response to Adrenalin that lead to plummeting blood pressure reading.

A surge in acid production is causal to pulmonary arterioles vasoconstricting in the presence of deficit levels of oxygen and a rise in vascular pressure in the pulmonary capillaries. Low blood pressure might also arise as a result of myocardial suppression.