John Doe has the \"Stomach Flu\" that is going around his office and has been vo

Question

John Doe has the "Stomach Flu" that is going around his office and has been vomiting constantly for the past 24 hours. He has been unable to keep down fluids, food and has also lost his acidic digestive juices that is secreted by the stomach which are normally reabsorbed back into the blood.

1. How can the homeostatic maintenance of John's internal environment be disrupted by this condition and what homeostatic factors are shifted from normal as a result of his constant vomitting.

2. What organ systems resist the changes

Explanation / Answer

1).Prolonged and excessive vomiting will deplete the body water and may alter the electrolyte status. Gastric vomiting leads to the loss of acid (protons) and chlorine directly. It mat result in hypochloremic metabolic alkalosis and hypokalemia. A less frequent occurrence results from a vomiting of intestinal contents, including bile acids and HCO3- which can lead to metabolic acidosis. 2).The patient is said to be in negative fluid balance if the fluid loss is more than the fluid gain. When the body is becoming fluid deficient organ systems like, both antidiuretic and aldosterone hormones act to retain fluid by kidneys and decrease the output in the form of urine. When body is becoming fluid-deficient, it will be sensed by osmoreceptors in the organum vasculosum of lamina terminalis and subfornical organ. These areas project to the supraoptic nucleus and paraventricular nucleus, which contain neurons that secrete the antidiuretic hormone, vasopressin, from their nerve endings in the posterior pituitary. This increases the secretion of antidiuretic hormone and retains water from the kidneys and urine output reduced. Aldosterone retains body water through activation of renin-angiotensin system. Antiemetics can be used to treat vomiting.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse J
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.