Which clinical findings commonly accompany respiratory alkalosis if a client hospitalized for treatment of a pulmonary embolism develops respiratory alkalosis?

Respiratory alkalosis accompanies over breathing episodes. Such patients usually have lightheadedness. The alkaline blood makes the patient susceptible to paresthesia. The other symptoms often accompany acidosis, not alkalosis.

Sometimes alkalosis is also associated with hallucinations as well as tinnitus, these are all nervous symptoms that are caused due to the relative hyperexcitability of the nervous system because of the alkaline pH.

Correcting the blood pH can reverse most of these effects. Patients with acidosis on the other hand, complain of diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. The acidosis may be due to multiple reasons and creates imbalances that are difficult to correct.