Primo Carnera (1906–1967), nicknamed the Ambling Alp, was an Italian professional boxer and wrestler who reigned as the boxing World Heavyweight Champion from 29 June 1933 to 14 June 1934. Maurice Tillet (1903–1954), Russian-born French professional wrestler, is better known by his ring name, the French Angel. Richard Kiel (1939–2014), actor, "Jaws" from two James Bond movies and Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore
Pío Pico, the last Mexican Governor of California (1801–1894), manifested acromegaly without gigantism between at least 1847 and 1858. Some time after 1858, signs of the growth hormone-producing tumor disappeared along with all the secondary effects the tumor had caused in him. He looked normal in his 90s. His remarkable recovery is likely an example of spontaneous selective pituitary tumor apoplexy. Earl Nightingale (March 12, 1921 – March 25, 1989) was an American radio speaker and author, dealing mostly with the subjects of human character development, motivation, and meaningful existence. He was the voice during the early 1950s of Sky King, the hero of a radio adventure series, and was a WGN radio program host from 1950 to 1956. Nightingale was the author of The Strangest Secret, which economist Terry Savage has termed "…one of the great motivational books of all time." Nightingale’s daughter, Pamela, mentioned her father had acromegaly during a podcast about her father that aired in June 2022.
Acid consumption from poisoning such as methanol ingestion, elevated levels of iron in the blood, and chronically decreased production of bicarbonate may also produce metabolic acidosis. Metabolic acidosis is compensated for in the lungs, as increased exhalation of carbon dioxide promptly shifts the buffering equation to reduce metabolic acid. This is a result of stimulation to chemoreceptors, which increases alveolar ventilation, leading to respiratory compensation, otherwise known as Kussmaul breathing (a specific type of hyperventilation). Should this situation persist, the patient is at risk of exhaustion leading to respiratory failure. Mutations to the V-ATPase a4 or B1 isoforms result in distal renal tubular acidosis, a condition that leads to metabolic acidosis, in some cases with sensorineural deafness. Arterial blood gases will indicate low pH, low blood HCO3, and normal or low PaCO2. In addition to arterial blood gas, an anion gap can also differentiate between possible causes. The Henderson-Hasselbalch equation is useful for calculating blood pH, because blood is a buffer solution. In the clinical setting, this equation is usually used to calculate HCO3 from measurements of pH and PaCO2 in arterial blood gases. The amount of metabolic acid accumulating can also be quantitated by using buffer base deviation, a derivative estimate of the metabolic as opposed to the respiratory component. In hypovolemic shock for example, approximately 50% of the metabolic acid accumulation is lactic acid, which disappears as blood flow and oxygen debt are corrected. Treatment
Treatment of uncompensated metabolic acidosis is focused upon correcting the underlying problem.