Do you feel dizzy or have numbness in your limbs when you breathe rapidly? This could be Respiratory Alkalosis!

Have you ever felt like you were breathing faster, dizzy, or numb when you were really scared or really angry? Sometimes you feel numb around your mouth. You may also feel like your chest is constricted. While many people think this is normal, the medical condition behind this is what we are talking about today is called 'Respiratory Alkalosis'. Even if this name sounds like a big deal, don't be afraid. Let's talk about this simply and clearly.

What is Respiratory Alkalosis? Let's understand it simply.

Simply put, Respiratory Alkalosis is when the amount of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in your blood decreases, causing a change in the acid-base balance of your blood.

Think about it, when we breathe, we take in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, right? This is a normal process in our body. But when we breathe too fast, that is, when we hyperventilate , our body releases more carbon dioxide than it needs.

Carbon dioxide is a gas that adds a certain acidity to our blood. Now, what happens when we release too much of it from our bodies? The acidity of the blood decreases and the alkaline level increases. It's like removing the lime from a glass of water that has a little lime in it, and the sourness disappears.

The acid-base level in our blood is measured by a value called pH . The pH of a healthy person's blood should be between 7.35 and 7.45 . In Respiratory Alkalosis, this pH value increases above 7.45 due to a decrease in carbon dioxide.

What are the most common symptoms of Respiratory Alkalosis?

When carbon dioxide levels drop and the pH of the blood changes, it affects our nervous system and muscles. That's why we start to feel various symptoms. These symptoms can come on suddenly, especially if you breathe rapidly for a long time.

You can learn more about these characteristics from the table below.

What could be causing this situation?

We now know that respiratory alkalosis is caused by breathing too fast (hyperventilation). So, anything that causes us to breathe too fast can be a cause. These causes can range from simple psychological causes to serious medical conditions.

Psychological Causes

This is the most common reason.

• Anxiety or Panic Attacks: When you are very scared or anxious, your breathing rate automatically increases. Imagine that you are very scared about an exam. Or when you feel like you are stuck in a crowded place. Then your breathing can automatically increase and these symptoms can occur.
• Severe pain: Severe pain in the body can also cause rapid breathing.
• Extreme anger or stress: Excessive mental stress is also a cause of this.

Physical Causes and Medical Conditions

• Fever: When body temperature increases, the body's metabolism speeds up, which can also increase the rate of breathing.
• Pregnancy: During pregnancy, hormonal changes and the pressure on the diaphragm caused by the growing baby naturally cause breathing to become a little faster.
• Severe infections (Sepsis): In severe infections that affect the whole body, such as sepsis.
• Liver Failure: Impaired liver function.
• Hyperthyroidism: Acceleration of body processes due to overactivity of the thyroid gland.
• Head Injury: Damage to the breathing control center in the brain.
• Nicotine Use: Ingestion of nicotine through smoking, vaping, etc.

Respiratory Conditions

Sometimes, when the body doesn't get enough oxygen (a condition called hypoxia ), the body tries to compensate by breathing faster. However, this can result in excess carbon dioxide being released, leading to respiratory alkalosis.

• Pneumonia
• Pulmonary Embolism
• ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome)

Other reasons

• Overdosing on medications such as aspirin: Some medications, when taken in excess, can stimulate the respiratory center in the brain.
• Mechanical Ventilation: This condition can occur in a patient connected to a ventilator in a hospital's intensive care unit if the settings on the machine are not set correctly.

How do you find this, Doctor?

When you go to see a doctor with these symptoms, he will first ask you questions, learn about your symptoms and when they occur. Then he will examine you.

The main test to accurately confirm this condition is the Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) test .

In addition, the doctor may order further tests to find the cause.

• Pulse Oximetry: Measuring the oxygen level in the blood with a small clip-like device that attaches to the finger.
• Chest X-ray or CT scan: To see if there is a problem with the lungs.
• Other blood tests: Tests such as a complete blood count (CBC) or a basic metabolic panel (BMP) that checks the body's mineral levels.
• Pulmonary Function Tests: Check for any weakness in your breathing process.

What are the treatments for this?

The most important thing to understand here is that Respiratory Alkalosis is a symptom rather than a disease. This means that when treating it, doctors focus most of their attention not on the dizziness or numbness, but on the underlying cause.

• If the cause is an infection , antibiotics are given.
• If the cause is a blood clot in the lungs , blood thinners will be given to dissolve the clot.
• If the cause is anxiety , there are ways to manage it, and perhaps medication can be prescribed.

If you often find yourself hyperventilating due to anxiety, there's a simple thing you can do. That's to try to control your breathing. Try to breathe calmly, slowly, and deeply.

Do I need to see a doctor? Do I need to go to the Emergency Department (ETU)?

This is a very important question, because sometimes these symptoms can be a sign of a serious medical condition. Therefore, it is essential to know when to see a general practitioner and when to go to the hospital immediately.