lactate levels

[joedimagio]

could anybody,in laymans term,try and explain to me,lactate levels combined with COPD?

[Coccobo]

Hello joedimagio , so far as I know has it something to do with exercise where the lactate levels are been measured.It would be some how a benefit, but here is a link for a article I found. Hope it will explain a bit

thorax.bmj.com/content/55/7...

have a good night and take care.

Coccobo

[joedimagio in reply to Coccobo]

i'll try to read that,i get the jist of it though,thanks Coccobo

[postscript]

Hi J

My understanding is that when we have normal levels of oxygen in our blood then it is used to turn blood sugar into carbon dioxide an water (respiration in our cells).

If our oxygen levels are reduced, either because we are using it up quickly when exercising or when our breathing is poor, as in COPD, then instead of sugar being turned into carbon dioxide and water it becomes lactate (or lactic acid) ... called anaerobic respiration.

So high levels of lactate would I think be connected with low blood oxygen .... athletes have to develop lactate tolerance when competing, I think high levels for long periods can be dangerous, undiagnosed diabetics can also have high lactate levels as low insulin levels stops oxygen being used in cells.

Hope this makes some sense

beth

[stilltruckin]

postscript has summed it up pretty well, but while researching the subject I came across the following, which I thought interesting . . .

etrode.com/index.cfm?fuseac...

[Quote] Perhaps the single most important benefit of exercise training in COPD is its effect on dyspnea. Shortness of breath plagues almost all pulmonary patients, and the fear of dyspnea often inhibits exertion and severely compromises the ability to perform such day-to-day activities as shopping or housecleaning.

There is ample evidence that an exercise program can delay the appearance of dyspnea to higher levels of exertion. In one study, 20 patients were randomly assigned to either a control group or a group following a schedule of light, biweekly exercise. The exercise group showed declines in dyspnea at a given treadmill workload. In another study, patients whose protocol included upper- and lower-body exercise to tolerance achieved significant reductions in dyspnea with incremental exercise.

While some of these improvements may reflect physiologic changes such as a higher anaerobic threshold, a significant proportion are no doubt psychological. Dyspnea is a subjective experience, and exercise appears to effect a kind of desensitization. With appropriate counseling, patients learn to tolerate breathlessness and fear it less, and thus become capable of greater activity. No other intervention--medication and supplemental oxygen included--is able to produce this desensitization. [/Quote]

[Offcut]

A lactic acid test is a blood test that measures the level of lactic acid made in the body. Most of it is made by muscle tissue and red blood cells. When the oxygen level in the body is normal, carbohydrate breaks down into water and carbon dioxide. When the oxygen level is low, carbohydrate breaks down for energy and makes lactic acid.

Lactic acid levels get higher when strenuous exercise or other conditions-such as heart failure, a severe infection (sepsis), or shock-lower the flow of blood and oxygen throughout the body. Lactic acid levels can also get higher when the liver is severely damaged or diseased, because the liver normally breaks down lactic acid.

Very high levels of lactic acid cause a serious, sometimes life-threatening condition called lactic acidosis. Lactic acidosis can also occur in a person who takes metformin (Glucophage) to control diabetes when heart or kidney failure or a severe infection is also present.

A lactic acid test is generally done on a blood sample taken from a vein in the arm but it may also be done on a sample of blood taken from an artery (arterial blood gas).

[joedimagio]

thanks