| The blood pH is supposed to remain "practically constant" according to our best text books. The physician who starts to check his patients, however, cannot occur. Instead of the normal figure of pH 7.3 to 7.5 he finds it varying from 7.2 to 7.8 (1). The measurement of pH is attended with difficulty because the blood loses carbon dioxide (CO2) and thereby rises the pH rapidly after it has been withdrawn. In two minutes a rise of .2 may occur (1). pH meters are available where the electrodes are built into a syringe so the pH may be read directly before the blood is exposed to air. (National Technical Laboratories, Pasadena, California). The importance of clinical pH testing was illustrated by the following report of a pharmacist. He had been supplying for a number of months a capsule formula of aspirin, caffeine, phenacetin and ammonium chloride to an arthritic patent where the remedy had been successful in controlling arthritic pains. The capsule dispensed was a standard formulas of a pharmaceutical house, with a specific catalog number. The patient returned two days after receiving a renewed supply of capsules, complaining that they were ineffective, and different from the previously used kind. On checking the records, it was found that the original formulas had been revised, and the supposedly unnecessary ammonium chloride had been omitted. On supplying capsules of ammonium chloride alone, the patient reported the usual successful results. What was the biochemistry behind this: Simply that a high pH tends to throw calcium out of solution in the body fluids, and bursitis, arthritis, neuritis, lumbago, sciatica, and a host of other painful syndromes develop as a consequence. Cheilosis (lips redden, fissures at the angles) may occur and herpes simplex, and other virus types of diseases become active. The low calcium bicarbonate in the body fluids seems responsible, Vitamin F and Vitamin D as well as the Vitamin C complex are also factors, their deficiency aggravates the situation. Allergies become acute, the calcium deficiency aspect of allergic sensitivity is well known. Normal rates of wound healing are greatly reduced, ulcers then too become static.* Ammonium chloride is a natural constituent of gastric juice, calcium chloride is the form of calcium found in arrowroot starch, so both of these materials are physiological therapeutic agents, factors common to body biochemistry and not new and foreign substances to the physiological economy (as are synthetics and antibiotics).* Merck's Index. Fourth Edition, says that Ammonium Chloride is useful in the treatment of bronchial affections, hepatic congestion, pelvic cellulitis, muscular rheumatism, gout, sciatica, chronic glandular enlargement, hemicrania, senile gangrene, dysmenorrhea, leucorrhea.* Calcium Chloride is listed as useful in the treatment of hemorrhage, hemorrhagic endometritis, menorrhagia, erytherma nodosum, tetanus, spasmophillia, blackwater fever, hay fever, asthma, hemophilia, albuminuria, nephritis, typhoid, coryza, tuberculosis, osteomalacia, scrofula, rachitis, arthritis, spasm of glottis, infant convulsions, urticaria, pruritis, among others.* All of these effects are no doubt in the main simply accomplished by correcting the unbalanced state of the buffers and mineral salts in the tissue fluids. It will be noted that Vitamin C complex is a desirable synergist in most of the conditions listed. Gout is mentioned as one situation where ammonium chloride may help. Recently it has been discovered that the juice of cherries contains some active agent effective in gout, 4 to 6 ounces of the juice (preferably unsweetened, but may be canned or cooked form) promoting relief with in a few days with consistent improvement. This is the first time that the possibility of gout being a deficiency disease has been suspected. We can say that the ingestion of sodium compounds particularly sodium phosphate - is definitely aggravative. Gout patients should see that their diet contains a preponderance of potassium. Sodium promotes the precipitation of gouty concretions of sodium urate in the tissues.* A very important aspect of alkalosis is the fact the habitual use of milk of magnesia promotes the condition. It also tends to cause epistaxis (nosebleed - can be secondary to nasal and sinus issues; scarlet fever or typhoid; arteriosclerosis; hypertension and anemias), very specifically. You will be surprised how many of the patients who ask for a remedy for nosebleed are using milk of magnesia as a laxative.* Citrus fruits being of a highly alkaline ash, with a high content of organic acid (citric), need special attention. The first and immediate effect of ingestion of a few ounces of grapefruit or lemon juice is to lower (acidity) the blood pH. The patient with alkalosis feels temporarily better. Later in the day, after the citric acid has been destroyed by oxidation as a fuel (it is classed as carbohydrate) the aggravation of the alkaline state become apparent. The temporary effect of the citric acid is to cause calcium to be picked up - no doubt from some bone reserves - and after the pH change this calcium is deposited elsewhere - in physiologically undesirable spots. The treatment for bursitis obviously becomes simple. No longer can we recommend X ray treatment with equanimity. Let the physiological treatment be the preferred method.* Guanidine, a fatigue and tissue poison, and end product of the breakdown of creatine (combated by Vitamin E complex which stops the loss of creatine from the tissues), is the most potent organic alkaline substance know. It specifically precipitates calcium (recall our comment that it is diffusion from tired heart muscle into coronary vessels is the cause of precipitation therein of calcium), is normally reconverted into creatine by the influence of the parathyroid hormones, and with the assistance of the thyroid (2). Blood guanidine levels rise eight fold after parathyroidectomy (3).* We can see where the guanidine effect as a fatigue poison is contributory to the arthritis, sciatica, etc., the patient often tell us how fatigue aggravates his state of misfortune. Local inflammation also can release guanidine, its presence insure a spastic state of blood vessels, contributing to gangrene, of necessity.* There seems no doubt that the effect of oxygen metabolizing vitamins - the Vitamin C and Vitamin E complexes - is vital in combating these morbid reactions by preventing the degradation of tissue elements into guanidine. Where Vitamin E deficiency has caused the tissue demand for oxygen to rise up to 250%, of normal (4), the augmented release of end products certainly includes guanidine, and we see here how the find of Dr. Shute of London, Ontario, that Vitamin E reduces capillary hemorrhage may be rationalized.* A vicious cycle is set up, the more oxygen demand the less supplied by reason of the constrictive effect of guanidine on blood vessels. Degeneration, rupture of capillaries is inevitable. As Vitamin E promotes more oxygen supply, that is why it also is good in gangrene (especially the diabetic type) and in "capillary fragility". (The true antifragility vitamin is Vitamin P, which provides a special calcium to promote collagen formation.)* Vitamin F opposes the toxic effect of guanidine by providing more of the diffusible calcium (from the colloidal blood reserves) that is precipitated out of the body fluids by guanidine, thereby ameliorating the spastic, nervous and irritative (allergic) reactions.* The thyroid hormone physiologically promotes the resorption and dissolution of protein structures that have reached the end of their physiological cycle (the theory of the dynamic state of living tissue, replaced and rebuilt at specific time intervals). That is why in children, thyroid deficiency is the cause of delayed development. In the adult, a hyperactive thyroid may again cause toxicosis by promoting more tissue poisons than the eliminative system can tolerate. In old people, this may be a critical situation, thyroid sometimes becoming a violent poison. ONLY because the normal synergists are not available to maintain the desirable complete cycle of activity. We can see that Vitamin F is vital to the prevention of this toxicosis. It tells why the thyroid puts its secretion into the blood after ingestion of Vitamin F to the extent of a doubling of the iodine content of the blood (5). The normal activity of the gland had been blocked by reason of Vitamin F deficiency. In this blocking, we have apparently the explanation for prostate hypertrophy. Once the thyroid is permitted to secrete, its hormone makes quick work of the fibrous tissue collected in the prostate. This also explains why we consider the Vitamin F complex, and Vitamin F2 the most friendly vitamins for the older person. The Vitamin F2 is a more highly developed compound of the basic F (a sensitized fatty acid), in which this fatty acid is combined into a phospholipid molecule that appears to have a specific function of catalyzing protective (Insulating) layers in nerve tissue and cell nuclear structure. Thereby protecting the basic controls of metabolic activity. Loss of appetite and wasting disease suggests the possible need for this vitamin. Appetite restoration is immediate where the deficiency exists (In adults and children alike.)*. There seems to be as much clinical acidosis as alkalosis (1). The effects of acidosis may be aggravated by a diabetic state where organic acids cannot be oxidized normally, instead must be combined with reserve alkaline salts and excreted (5).* Where sodium bicarbonate is administered to relieve diabetic acidosis, the urine should be watched and dosage stopped when a neutral is reached, according to this authority. Normally, blood glutamine provides ammonia for this purpose. Beet root and leaf are best vegetable sources of glutamine, is very high if grown on high ammonia content soils. (Plant cells form glutamine to dispose of excess ammonia).* When abnormal blood pH is found, it must be considered only as a sign that something is wrong. The symptoms may be entirely different with the same abnormal pH figure in different patients, in view of the fact that there is an infinite number of combination of chemical situations that could alter pH - as many as there are different acids and alkalies. Just as a plump patient may be bloated with gas, water logged, fat, or hyper muscular. It is a preliminary classification, not a final.* The pH of the blood is a resultant of the forces acting upon it. The regulation of the blood CO2 (carbon dioxide) by respiration control center of the brain is a major factor. The parathyroid by eliminating the alkaline guanidine, and the kidney, eliminating mineral salt (both acid & alkaline as may be required) no doubt exercises a supplementary control.* The clinical value of vinegar is more or less well known as an alternative of merit. Creatine is methylguanidine acetic acid, and is often craved by the patient, very logically it would seem.* Cider vinegar being the preferred form, no doubt the malic acid of the apple is a factor, calcium malate being a catalyzer of polyphenol detoxification (6).* |
Clinical Acidosis And Alkalosis 
