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Most of our Intravenous Infusions are crafted by adding ingredients to a ready-made bottle of Ringer’s Lactate Intravenous Solution.
Also known as Sodium Lactate Solution and Hartmann’s Solution, Ringer’s Lactate is a mixture of 4 types of electrolyte salts; Calcium Chloride 2h20, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, and Sodium Lactate, in pure water. It is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, which are the safest and most effective medicines required in health care.
Ringer’s saline solution was invented in the early 1880s by Sydney Ringer, a British physician and physiologist. Ringer was studying the beating of an isolated frog heart outside of the body. He was able to identify the substances in blood that would allow the isolated heart to beat normally. In the 1930s, the original solution was further modified by American pediatrician Alexis Hartmann for the purpose of treating acidosis. Hartmann added lactate, which mitigates changes in pH by acting as a buffer for acid. Thus the solution became known as “Ringer’s lactate solution” or “Hartmann’s solution”.
What each ingredient does for the body…
Potassium is an electrolyte that when lost is difficult for the body to absorb through digestion, but is readily absorbed through IV infusion. It also decreases the risk of stroke, lowers blood pressure, protects against loss of muscle mass, preserves bone mineral density, and reduces the formation of kidney stones.
Lactate metabolizes in muscles development. The lactate is also metabolized into bicarbonate by the liver, which can help correct metabolic acidosis, often due to dehydration, and help the liver to cleanse of toxins. Lactate helps prevent muscle acidosis, and lactate itself is an effective energy source.
Calcium is extremely important, especially in later age to maintain strong teeth and bones. The heart, muscles, and nerves also require calcium for proper function. Calcium, along with vitamin D, are said to protect against cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Sodium Chloride (salt) is vital to all human functions, and a necessary addition to the infusion, in regulation of the pH to equal that of human blood. Sodium is an electrolyte that regulates the amount of water in the body.
Ringer’s Lactate is primarily used for replacing fluids and electrolytes in those who experience low blood volume or low blood pressure – usually due to trauma, severe dehydration, or severe parasite infection. It’s a very good medium for transfusing nutrients and drugs, pH balanced for human blood. Human blood has a base pH of 7.36, making it naturally slightly alkaline, hence a little salty.
It restores fluid and electrolyte balances, produces diuresis, and acts as alkalizing agent (reduces acidity). More than anything else, Ringer’s Lactate is used to compensation of dehydration, for heat exhaustion, in cases of blood loss before actual blood can be transfused, sports and industrial trauma, and importantly for the administration of medications and vitamins.
