Chloride is the ionic form of the halogen chlorine. While chlorine gas is a known poison, chloride is an important essential element in the body and is found most abundantly in the body as salt. There can be some imbalances with chloride in the body and this is a condition called hypochloremia when it is too low or hyperchloremia if the content is too high. By itself, this does not mean much but when used in a test called the anion gap test it gives one a picture of the pH level in the body and the resulting diseases that could affect a person. Chloride testing can be done in serum or blood or chloride urine can also be tested. Chloride in urine is in fact a better measure for checking whether there is some kind of renal problem especially the production of bicarbonate in the body in the urine anion gap test.
In the normal human body, the pH levels are maintained by the levels of bicarbonate. This is created in the kidneys of the body from the carbon dioxide created from cellular activity. Almost 75% of the body’s carbon dioxide is converted into bicarbonate in the kidneys. When bicarbonate levels drop this creates a highly acidic environment in the body called acidosis. There are many types of acidosis but the one that is of great importance is metabolic acidosis. This comprises lactic acidosis and ketoacidosis – the former being a test for hypoxia or ischemia and the latter a test for diabetics. When a urine anion test is conducted, it is a test for whether the urine is being appropriately acidified by the kidneys. A positive gap indicates renal acidosis while a negative gap indicates diarrhea in the body.
The normal urine chloride level reading should be somewhere in the region of 95 to 105 milliequivalents per liter of urine created. When the chloride concentration in the urine is too high, it could be a problem especially for diabetics to control blood sugar levels – a typical problem that occurs. When the levels are too low, it is probably a sign of metabolic alkalosis where the exact opposite of acidosis occurs. Wild swings in the pH levels of the body have a major impact on certain systems of the body like the Central Nervous System. It is a major reason for neuropathy whether central or even peripheral, and is something that can cause nerve damage.