Persistent vomiting is expected to cause which acid-base disturbance?

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Vomiting causes loss of gastric acid, which removes hydrogen ions and chloride from the body. This shifts the balance toward a higher bicarbonate concentration and raises the pH, producing metabolic alkalosis. Volume depletion from repeated vomiting activates renal mechanisms that conserve bicarbonate and chloride loss promotes further bicarbonate retention, a contraction alkalosis. The body compensates imperfectly by hypoventilating to retain CO2, so you’d see a metabolic alkalosis pattern with a compensatory rise in pCO2. Other patterns don’t fit: metabolic acidosis would come from bicarbonate loss elsewhere or acid buildup, which vomiting does not cause; respiratory alkalosis would require hyperventilation, not present here; respiratory acidosis would require impaired ventilation, not due to vomiting.