i have a neighbor that had monoxide poisioning in her home, she had 1

[sam sarrha]

oxygen therapy and says she doesnt need another.. the gas leak wasnt discovered for over 2 months. she fell once, the sort of fall where you dont know you are going down till you hit the floor ..and severely injured her hip and sholder.

she is still behaving strangely.. irratable and cranky and doesnt feel good.

i am not asking for medical advice because i know she needs more therapy, but do you have any stories like this.

[undeterred]

1. every one I know who has experienced CO poisoning has died

within hours

[sam sarrha]

2. i suffocated and was going thru the Tunnel and a voice said, "No not now"

i then awoke with such a slam it could have only been done by a mega-cosmic bunji yanking me back and slamming me back into samsara.. it was a serious life and death struggle to take that first breath.. seemed like forever but i did and walked my hand up a curtain and forded my finger under a window and got it open a bit,

and here i am

[undeterred]

18. lucky for you

The morning I was starting 3rd grade I heard on the radio that my 9 year old classmate and her father had died of CO poisoning at a relatives home. An older sister came home in the middle of the night and was able to wake the mother and grandmother. Really sad story. I heard it was the air conditioning that malfunctioned but I never really understood how.

[oneighty]

3. Google

Hyperbaric oxygen/carbon monoxide.

I was an HBO tech in a hospital. We treated many CO poisonings in the decompression chamber. We did not lose any patients.

And yes CO kills fast and silent.

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[havocmom]

4. But can't there be long term, lower exposure problems?

Families with headaches/nausea/confusion but not sever enough to make them realize there is a problem? Seems I have read of cases like that, where furnaces were not venting properly but the gas ratio didn't reach the fatal stage.

I am HAPPY to be rid of the furnace around here! I ALWAYS kept a window open a crack in the bedroom... just in case. Figure the critters would wake me in case of problems. Have read about that happening when the CO2 got to bad levels in some homes.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. More likely than not, long term problems would be of a lower

respiratory nature such as asthma. Central nervous system disorders such as confusion, nausea etc can take days or weeks to clear up but they usually clear up...I deal with carbon monoxide poisoning regularly in my job as laborers use gas powered tools without proper ventilation and become ill

[oneighty]

6. Hello

NSMA.

Yes. Also a study was done in NY State at the thruway toll booths where the workers are/were constantly exposed to elevated levels of CO.

I do not know what the results of the study showed. It would be worth a Google search.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. It's a NIOSH study...

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pgms/worknotify/carbonmonox.html#add

[oneighty]

8. Thanks Teena

Interesting.

We had a number of cases where the young victims were visiting each other with the engine running and the heater heating.

The hood is much safer.

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[havocmom]

12. Thanks Teena. Knew there were lots of problems other than quick death

Knew a woman with a cat who became a real pest after the woman felt ill and stayed home from work a couple days. Bad venting on the furnace, she was ill because of the gas. When she was almost in a coma due to the levels, the cat made a real ruckus until she got up and noticed HE kept going to the crack under the door for air then returning to pester her with his urgings. She FINALLY realized the problem and got out, got help.

Gotta worry about people who work around equipment which create lots of fumes. Time at low levels take a toll.

[ashling]

9. A few weeks ago

my wife and I were listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on NPR.
Their "limerick" concerned the use of carbon monoxide to keep meat fresh in the supermarket or something.
It included a line implying that you could smell CO.

My wife and I both have experience in testing for CO and know how dangerous it is.
She called the show aand left a message. We got a call/message a couple of days later that ours would be passed along to the producers, but to my knowledge, nothing was ever said on the air to correct the impression that you can smell CO.

My point is that everyone should be aware of how deadly this is. That it can cause lasting injury to the brain even if it doesn't kill. AND you can'r smell it! You - well, probably not YOU (given your experience)- would be surprised by the number of people who think if you can't smell it then there is no problem.

An employee at a state run psychiatric hospital where I used to work had been having headaches. She thought it might be because she wasaround the corner from the boiler room. When se asked the maintenence dept. to check for CO the guy told her that if the couldn't smell anything then there was no problem!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Actually in homes it can be smelled because of additives

by local gas companies to create a smell...still in small concentrations it can be missed

[petronius]

11. I know that natural gas contains additives that are smell-able,

but isn't CO produced as the gas is burned in the heater or stove? I'm not sure that the odor-having additives are still present after combustion - I think it's much more common for CO to be undetectable without an alarm sensor...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. CO2 is what we exhale

Carbon monoxide is what is poisonous

[ashling]

14. The additives help you smell a gas leak

Which, obviously is not good. But that is for detecting the natural gas itself - not Carbon Monoxide.



Carbon Monoxide is produced from the incomplete combustion of the gas - or any fuel. That includes, for instance, a smoldering log in a fireplace, or a burning cigarette. In one class I was in, a smoker took a drag on his cigaretter and blew into a carbon monoxide detector (not a home detector, an industrial detector such as one from Bacharah, etc) I don't remember the measurement, but it was surprisingly high.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

15. oops...you guys are right

a chemist I am not...but I don't see what the issue would be in terms of noticing since already burned gas such as from an engine, a cigarette or a fireplace DOES have an odor

[ashling]

16. What you are smelling is something else

that may be in the fuel - such as sulpher, etc. But that would depend on the fuel. And there may not be enough of those other components to detect. CO is the product of an incoplete combustion of ANY fuel, whether sulpher or anything else is present.

My wife and I worked in the field of home weatherization (she has done this a lot more than me, having run the Weatherization program for Mississippi, monitored it in Washington state, and for the Department of Energy) A typical situation that we would come across was one in which a water heater, for example, was vented improperly. When the air pressure in the area where the appliance was located was to suddenly lower, a backdraft of CO could occur. This could be totally undetected. CO is an oderless and colorless gas.

The effects can also go unnoticed. I have seen study's linking lower test scores of inner city kids to the presence of carbon monoxide in inner city housing.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. Got it and thanks...that's what I like about DU

all the various professionals we have ...

[oneighty]

17. Tasteless odorless

and colorless. CO replaces the Oxygen in the blood stream and one can die due to lack of oxygen. CO turns lips and other places cherry red just like the 'colored meat'.

Nasty stuff Carbon Monoxide. Home CO detectors are inexpensive and generally reliable.

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