Acidosis

Something has shifted inside you. The milieu in which your cells live has become more acidic than it should be. Your blood, your tissue fluid, the invisible ocean in which all your cells bathe — they should all be in a finely calibrated equilibrium. Half a point on the pH scale decides whether your enzymes work, whether your nerves conduct signals, whether your heart keeps its rhythm. And precisely this equilibrium has tipped.

Medicine calls this acidosis — over-acidification. It can come from the breathing, from the kidneys, from a derailed metabolism, from diabetes, from oxygen deprivation in the tissue. It can be acute, even life-threatening, or it can smoulder as a quiet background hum for years, making you tired, heavy and worn out. As different as the causes may seem — they share a common image: something inside you has become too sharp. Too biting. Too bitter.