Alkaline Ph Body Balance

[Sunshine1]

Does anyone know about alkaline PH body balance?

Thanks,
Aimee

[Meadow]

Hmmm . . . Not sure what you are getting at. The body can change pH through respiration. Stop breathing, and carbon dioxide builds up causing an acidosis. The reverse is true, so that if a person hyperventilates, it induces whats called a respiratory alkalosis by driving off too much carbon dioxide. Now, there can be other reasons for the body to swing one way or another, such as vomiting and diarrhea which can alter certain electrolyte balances, but respiration is the most rapid reason.

Is this what you mean?

[Sunshine1]

Dear Meadow,


I like your name! Thanks for answering my post!

Part of your post did help me as in stop breathing build up acidosis or maybe stop exercising and build up acidosis also?

I was diagnosed with cancer 7 months ago and went through radiation and chemo. The doctors are pleased with everything so far but I just did a cat scan and the results showed a shadow that the chemo doctor said was either residual tumor or scar tissue but it was good that the tumor shrunk. Many people don't even get that, right? So, I've been reading about how cancer needs two things two survive in the body enviroment low oxygen and acidic PH according to a certain doctor that won awards for research. I had anemia for years( no doctor was really that concerned, so I wasn't either) and I'm wondering if that had anything to do with moving the cancer along but I'm not anemic now. I bought one of those test strips for alkaline PH balance and it was 5.5 but now it's 7.5.

I figured it wouldn't hurt my cause if I tried to have a body that was alkaline vs acidic and I would like to hear more of your thoughts about this if you have the time.

You're a Vet! that's awesome. The horse that I learned to ride on was always terrified of the vet and I never understood why because he was very solid and spook proof with all the kids that were his charges and responsibility. I remember once, I was grooming him and he gave me a little nip just with his gums.He either wanted to groom me because he also like to play with my hair or he was trying to tell me to hurry up. Later, my own horse a little goofy half arabian pony that was always willing to try anything with encouragement would become a stubborn, fussy suddenly thinking type of creature from the animal kingdom and would refuse to open his mouth for the vet and this was a pony that would give people "kisses" on the cheek with his tongue. I always felt guilty about using honey for encouragement to get his mouth open for the vet until it was discovered that he had wolf teeth and that's how he was able grab the bit and try to take off when the mood struck him. I learned to grab one side of the reins with all my weight to through his antics off balance but other times I just hung on and nothing more wild than flying with an arabian through the woods. I ventured a little bit but I thought you might like some horse stories to make you feel at home. thanks ---Aimee

[Meadow]

Aimee,

I hope that I can be of some help. That was an interesting fact that you mentioned, that cancer grows more in a low oxygen and more acidic environment. Thus, the pH you reported was definitely going in the right direction. A note on anemia: One would have to have a pretty low red cell count (really anemic) to be "clinically significant," as the blood has a tremendous oxygen carrying capacity. Carbon dioxide, on the other hand, is contained within the plasma and the red cells are not involved it its removal.

What I am going to briefly talk about is mammalian physiology which covers both animals and humans. We are really not all that different, except for a few details. The body works very hard to stay in balance. There are powerful buffers and control systems that work in an attempt to keep it there. As I mentioned, not breathing enough causes an acidosis. Breathing too much, when not needed, causes alkalosis. When muscles exert themselves, they produce lactic acid, which causes an increase in carbon dioxide, which needs to be blown off by the lungs and it makes you want to breath more. But before you run with this fact (pun intended) and worry about the acidosis, remember that it is short lived, and the benefits of exercise are that for the most part you get an increase in perfusion to the body with more oxygen and the efficiency by which your body is working is increased ALL the time, not just when you are working out. See what you can find on the Kreb's Cycle. It explains the circle of activity that takes place in the body. It also shows the "electron transport system" which is a final energy attachment at the cellular level that needs to be working well. All the oxygen in the world will not help you if the electron transport system is not efficient. (Its only been over 20 years since I had this stuff, but I believe I recall that much of this takes place in the mitochondria within the cell, and a person can increase their mitochondrial numbers with exercise.)

So, clear as mud, no? The Krebs cycle is the most important one to know.

Thanks for talking about horses. Emma likes horses as well. The one horse that I owned for 23 years had a registered name of "Meadow Masterpiece". His nickname was Majestic. We were friends and I drug him around the country with me, to school, to the beaches of Florida, he was great. And he was my friend. I joke, but its true, that I had him longer than I ever had a human relationship. The way it looks for me now, that fact will probably hold. The nice thing was he never let me down and he never hurt me. Once when we were going up a steep hill, I fell off to the front. He worked SO HARD not to step on me. (That's the romantic point of view. Another view would be just he just didn't want to get his feet all messy! Yuk.) Anyway, I learned so much from him, and those lessons will be with me forever.

I hope you cancer is being resolved. It sure can be a tough foe.

Kathleen

[Meadow]

I found this site that, even if one doesn't understand it completely, has a GREAT animation of the cycle. ( http://www.johnkyrk.com/krebs.swf ) Its fun to watch the molecules attach and arrange themselves over and over again. And to think, we had to memorize this whole thing numerous times in school!! Auuuggghh!

[Sunshine1]

Dear Kathleen,

Thankyou so much for the information, very interesting and that explains why someone feels so good the day after exercise also.

Yep, horses don't like stepping on people and will make every effort not to. They really are nobel creatures.

aimee

[Sunshine1]

Yes....alone on a private Island with only wild horses. Only deal with humans with I have to.

[Glenn]

I just had a class on cell biology, where they pointed out most cells are around pH 7.2, which is slightly alkaline (basic). That seems to be the happy place for most biological processes.
One prof who's into evolutionary biology said our internal chemistry is like the ocean 350 million years ago, when we evolved out of it (and took some of it with us!).

[Maura]

I've been getting a little purposeful exercise like a brisk uphill walk weather permitting (I live in the greater Seattle area where we're drowning right now), and I do a few dozen crunches to tease my mid-section into compliance, but I've heard that Rooibos African red leaf tea is great for removing the free radicals from the cells which are supposedly partially responsible for the onset of cancerous cells. This may just be a lot of poof and twaffle generated by the health food marketeers, but I drink a cup daily just for drill and seem to feel a bit better. Who knows, I may just be experiencing a psychosomatic effect though. I'd be interested in any input on this......Maura

[Priestess]

I've been getting a little purposeful exercise like a brisk uphill walk weather permitting (I live in the greater Seattle area where we're drowning right now), and I do a few dozen crunches to tease my mid-section into compliance, but I've heard that Rooibos African red leaf tea is great for removing the free radicals from the cells which are supposedly partially responsible for the onset of cancerous cells. This may just be a lot of poof and twaffle generated by the health food marketeers, but I drink a cup daily just for drill and seem to feel a bit better. Who knows, I may just be experiencing a psychosomatic effect though. I'd be interested in any input on this......Maura

Hi Maura,
I'm not sure about the free radicals, but rooibos does seem to have a good histamine-blocking effect. It helps keep me from having an allergic reaction to myself, at least temporarily.

[Maura]

I bought a 2# bag from CoffeeAM.com, It came with a tea ball, it was OK, but since then I found some in the local grocery store that's lightly spiced and just plain delicious and it doesn't have any caffine to keep me awake at night. 2:30 PM is tea time each day, I am suddenly feeling sooooo British!