Carbon monoxide gas is produced when ordinary fuels burn, for example gasoline, kerosene, wood, propane, and natural gas.
Carbon monoxide gives no hint of its presence; it is colorless and odorless. When you breathe it in, carbon monoxide prevents your blood cells from carrying enough oxygen. The brain and heart suffer quickly, but all body organs are harmed by lack of oxygen. High levels of carbon monoxide can kill quickly, but even low levels can have long-lasting effects.
Permanent brain damage can result. Eliminate this deadly poison from YOUR home! Have every appliance that burns gas, wood, or kerosene inspected. This includes furnaces, ovens and stoves, water heaters, clothes dryers, fireplaces, wood-burning stoves, and space heaters. Be sure they are operating correctly and that flues, chimneys, and vents are clean and in good repair. Don't use gasoline-powered tools and engines indoors. Make sure exhaust fumes from generators cannot enter your home.
Never leave a car running in an attached garage - even if the garage door is open. Clear snow from around vents and pipes such as clothes dryer vents and car exhaust pipes. Do not try to heat your home by turning on a gas oven. Never burn charcoal and never use portable fuel-burning camping equipment inside a home, garage, vehicle, or tent. In severe cases, patients are treated in a hyperbaric chamber. This is a pressurized oxygen chamber.
The combination of oxygen and elevated pressure quickly and thoroughly forces carbon monoxide from the body. Following are the locations of hyperbaric chambers in Iowa. The half-life of carboxyhemoglobin in fresh air is approximately 4 hours. To completely flush the carbon monoxide from the body requires several hours, valuable time when additional damage can occur.
Medical treatment, using oxygen or hyperbaric chambers, can reduce CO damage, speed recovery, and reduce medical problems. After CO exposure how long do the effects last? When people lose consciousness due to carbon monoxide poisoning, they will typically have relapses for several weeks. They will suffer from headache, fatigue, loss of memory, difficulty in thinking clearly, irrational behavior, and irritability. Recover can be slow and frustrating. Some individuals suffer permanent brain and organ damage.
Victims may be highly sensitive to CO for the rest of their lives. Can I be tested for carbon monoxide? If you have recently been exposed, a breath test can determine carbon monoxide levels.
Medical laboratories can measure carboxyhemoglobin levels in the blood. Carboxyhemoglogin levels in the blood drop after the victim is removed from the carbon monoxide source. For this reason, carboxyhemoglobin tests should not be used as the only indicator of the danger of exposure or the possible adverse health effects. Neurological assessment tests, which ask the patient to perform a variety of physical and mental skills, can be used to determine the effects of CO exposure.
Because the effects of carbon monoxide may last for months, lack of elevated carboxyhemoglobin levels in the blood does not insure that carbon monoxide is not the cause of health problems. Consult hyperbaric chamber medical staff who are experienced in carbon monoxide poisoning diagnosis for interpretation of results.
What should I do to protect myself from the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning? First, purchase a carbon monoxide detector s. Second, have all heating appliances checked every year by a qualified heating contractor. A leading source of carbon monoxide poisoning inside homes are malfunctioning furnaces, though other sources are certainly possible.
That means homeowners should take definite steps toward preventing poisoning by their furnaces, including those below. Every home should contain multiple smoke detectors, but way too few homes are equipped with even one carbon monoxide detector. Carbon monoxide detectors are small, nondescript devices that can be situated in a variety of location throughout a house.
Like smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors also pick up the presence of gases that might slip through without notice. Carbon monoxide detectors can be individually set up or linked to one another to create a warning network inside the house.
They do require battery changes on occasion to ensure they are working correctly, and carbon monoxide detectors also possess limited useful lives due to containing sensors that deteriorate over time. Another critical step to take in preventing carbon monoxide poisoning is to obtain regular servicing of your furnace and fireplace. As an example, your furnace service provider will need to regularly check the gas burner settings to ensure the furnace is burning up as much fuel as possible.
Faulty combustion generates a significant amount of carbon monoxide. Chimneys can also prove to be dangerous, as they tend to accumulate byproducts that can produce carbon monoxide as they are heated. A chimney sweep can properly clean out the chimney and fireplace in order to prevent this from occurring. If you have questions about carbon monoxide poisoning or preventing it from harming you or a loved one, be sure to contact Magnolia Plumbing for help.
Their professionals are ready to assist you in any way possible. All rights reserved. Skip to content. How Carbon Monoxide Kills Carbon monoxide consists of one atom of carbon and one element of oxygen bound together to form a chemically simple molecule.
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