A 75-year-old woman comes into the clinic and states she has had muscle twitching, nausea, and headache. She tells the nurse that she has been taking sodium bicarbonate five or six times a day for the past 3 weeks. The nurse will assess for which potential problem that may occur with overuse of sodium bicarbonate?

a.Metabolic alkalosis
b.Metabolic acidosis
c.Constipation
d.Excessive gastric mucus

a. Metabolic alkalosis