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- Title
An unusual cause of metabolic alkalosis: hiding in plain sight.
- Authors
Cervantes, Carmen Elena; Menez, Steven; Jaar, Bernard G.; Hanouneh, Mohamad
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>Sodium bicarbonate, in the form of baking soda, is widely used as a home remedy, and as an additive for personal and household cleaning products. Its toxicity has previously been reported following oral ingestion in the setting of dyspepsia. However, its use as a non-ingested agent, like a toothpaste additive, has not been reported as a potential cause of toxicity.<bold>Case Presentation: </bold>We are reporting a case of an 80-year-old woman who presented with chronic metabolic alkalosis and hypokalemia secondary to exogenous alkali exposure from baking soda as a toothpaste additive, which might have represented an underreported ingestion of the substance.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Considering that one teaspoon of baking soda provides approximately 59 m-equivalents (mEq) of bicarbonate, specific questioning on its general use should be pursued in similar cases of chloride resistant metabolic alkalosis.
- Subjects
SODIUM bicarbonate; CLEANING compounds; TRADITIONAL medicine; VISION; ADDITIVES; HYPOKALEMIA
- Publication
BMC Nephrology, 2020, Vol 21, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1471-2369
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1186/s12882-020-01967-7