In the fire service, we enjoy using abbreviations and acronyms for things. Some fire service personnel tend to go a bit overboard when talking, by using too much alphabet soup.. I'm not providing this information to encourage you to use more abbreviations in your everyday life.
alkalosis (alkÉlÅÂ´sis), n a disturbance of acid-base balance and water balance, characterized by an excess of alkali or a deficiency of acids. alkalosis, compensated, n a condition in which the blood bicarbonate is usually higher than normal but compensatory mechanisms have kept the pH level within normal range.
Acidosis is a process causing increased acidity in the blood and other body tissues (i.e. an increased hydrogen ion concentration). If not further qualified, it usually refers to acidity of the blood plasma. The term acidemia describes the state of low blood pH, while acidosis is used to describe the processes leading to these states. Nevertheless, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The distinction may be relevant where a patient has factors causing both acidosis and alkalosis, wherein the relative severity of both determines whether the result is a high, low, or normal pH.