Before seeing a newly assigned female client with respiratory alkalosis, the nurse quickly reviews the client’s medical history. Which condition is a predisposing factor for respiratory alkalosis?
a. Myasthenia gravis
b. Type 1 diabetes mellitus
c. Extreme anxiety
d. Narcotic overdose
Answer C.
Extreme anxiety may lead to respiratory alkalosis by causing hyperventilation, which results in excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) loss. Other conditions that may set the stage for respiratory alkalosis include fever, heart failure, and injury to the brain’s respiratory center, overventilation with a mechanical ventilator, pulmonary embolism, and early salicylate intoxication. Type 1 diabetes mellitus may lead to diabetic ketoacidosis; the deep, rapid respirations occurring in this disorder (Kussmaul’s respirations) don’t cause excessive CO2 loss. Myasthenia gravis and narcotic overdose suppress the respiratory drive, causing CO2 retention, not CO2 loss; this may lead to respiratory acidosis, not alkalosis.
a. Myasthenia gravis
b. Type 1 diabetes mellitus
c. Extreme anxiety
d. Narcotic overdose
Answer C.
Extreme anxiety may lead to respiratory alkalosis by causing hyperventilation, which results in excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) loss. Other conditions that may set the stage for respiratory alkalosis include fever, heart failure, and injury to the brain’s respiratory center, overventilation with a mechanical ventilator, pulmonary embolism, and early salicylate intoxication. Type 1 diabetes mellitus may lead to diabetic ketoacidosis; the deep, rapid respirations occurring in this disorder (Kussmaul’s respirations) don’t cause excessive CO2 loss. Myasthenia gravis and narcotic overdose suppress the respiratory drive, causing CO2 retention, not CO2 loss; this may lead to respiratory acidosis, not alkalosis.
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Respiratory