Carbon Monoxide...Poisoning Symptoms

Headaches, Fatigue, Nausea and Other "Flu-like" Symptoms, Loss of Consciousness, Brain Damage, Coma, Death
Symptoms
Sources of CO
Levels of CO
Free CO Info
What to Do IF Your CO Detector Activates
Normally, oxygen inhaled into your lungs combines with the hemoglobin in your blood to form oxyhemoglobin. The oxygen is transported by the hemoglobin to the body's cells. However, when Carbon Monoxide is inhaled, the CO combines with the hemoglobin in your blood (called carboxyhemoglobin or COHb) instead of oxygen, thus depriving your body of the oxygen it needs to survive. The CO displaces the oxygen on your hemoglobin because the COHb bond is over 200 times stronger than oxygen's bond with your hemoglobin. The strong COHb bond also makes it difficult for your body to eliminate CO buildups from your bloodstream. That is also the reason why Carbon Monoxide can poison you slowly over a period of several hours, even in low concentrations.

As the CO level in your blood increases, the amount of oxygen transported to your body's cells decreases. It is this oxygen deprivation that makes Carbon Monoxide so deadly. Sensitive parts of your body like your nervous system, brain, heart, and lungs suffer the most from a lack of oxygen.

Unfortunately, the symptoms of Carbon Monoxide poisoning are easily mistaken for other common illnesses. For that reason, CO poisonings are often misdiagnosed. Symptoms such as headaches, , and fatigue are common to a number of illnesses such as the flu or the common cold. These symptoms can occur with a COHb blood saturation levels of 10-30%. At 30-50% COHb levels, you can experience nausea, severe headaches, dizziness, and increased pulse and respiration. If COHb levels in your blood go over 50% you may suffer from loss of consciousness, the possibility of collapse, convulsions, coma, and finally death.
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