What are the health effects of carbon monoxide poisoning?
Carbon monoxide symptoms mimic the flu. Mild exposure produces slight headache, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. Medium exposure produces a throbbing headache, drowsiness, confusion, and a fast heart rate. Extreme exposure produces convulsions, unconsciousness, heart and lung failure, brain damage, and possible death. Because symptoms mimic so many illnesses, carbon monoxide poisoning often is misdiagnosed. Discuss the symptoms with all the family members. Why is carbon monoxide so dangerous? When CO is inhaled into the lungs, it bonds with hemoglobin, displacing oxygen, and forming carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) in the bloodstream. The attraction of CO and hemoglobin is approximately 250 times greater than the attraction between oxygen and hemoglobin. This makes even small amounts of carbon monoxide dangerous. How much is dangerous? At very high concentrations, carbon monoxide kills in less than five minutes. At low concentrations, carbon monoxide may take years to affect the body. The U.S. O
