WE DON’T BREATHE BECAUSE OUR LUNGS NEED AIR……. WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT?!
NOW THIS ONE REALLY THREW ME FOR A LOOP!
This statement goes way back to BIO-100. I literally remember my instructor making this comment and thinking, man is she nuts or what?! But WOW, she’s right! Bits and pieces of information over the past three semesters have led to an actual understanding of this statement. So why do we breathe? In Bio-100 we learned (ad-nauseam) about cellular respiration and how the body’s requirements for oxygen actually stem from the mitochondria of the cells needing oxygen in order to break down glucose and other nutrients in order to produce ATP. BUT WAIT, .. THERE’S MORE. This whole process then puts off carbon dioxide as a by-product. Problem is; when carbon dioxide mixes with water it releases hydrogen ions and this in turn makes the blood more acidic. ALMOST THERE!!!! So that acidity is what stimulates the chemoreceptors in the body to say WOAH, TOO MUCH carbon dioxide…BLOW IT OUT! And we do, therefore changing the difference in the atmospheric pressure and the interpulmonary pressure which then causes us to inhale…oxygen, sweet oxygen!~
Nurse's Note: COPD patients will typically have an oxygen saturation rate below what is considered an aceptable rate. The normal mechanism for breathing is when the medulla senses an increase in carbon dioxide and stimulates breathing to increase the rate and depth of respirations. Yet in COPD patients the stimulus to breathe is the decreasing arterial oxygen levels sensed by the peripheral chemoreceptors in the carotid sinus and aortic arch. Therefore, if you give a COPD patient too much oxygen you could essentially oversaturate their body with oxygen and make them lose their drive to breathe.
Nurse's Note: COPD patients will typically have an oxygen saturation rate below what is considered an aceptable rate. The normal mechanism for breathing is when the medulla senses an increase in carbon dioxide and stimulates breathing to increase the rate and depth of respirations. Yet in COPD patients the stimulus to breathe is the decreasing arterial oxygen levels sensed by the peripheral chemoreceptors in the carotid sinus and aortic arch. Therefore, if you give a COPD patient too much oxygen you could essentially oversaturate their body with oxygen and make them lose their drive to breathe.
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