Have heaters and gas-burning appliances regularly inspected to make sure they are safe to use. Your local poison control center can be reached directly by calling the national toll-free Poison Help hotline from anywhere in the United States. They will give you further instructions. This is a free and confidential service. All local poison control centers in the United States use this national number.
You should call if you have any questions about poisoning or poison prevention. You can call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The health care provider will measure and monitor the person's vital signs, including temperature, pulse, breathing rate, and blood pressure. The person may receive:. Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause death. For those who survive, recovery is slow. How well a person does depends on the amount and length of exposure to the carbon monoxide.
Permanent brain damage may occur. If the person still has impaired mental ability after 2 weeks, the chance of a complete recovery is worse. Impaired mental ability can reappear after a person has been symptom-free for 1 to 2 weeks. Toxicology and therapeutic drug monitoring. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap Christiani DC.
How much is dangerous? High concentrations of carbon monoxide kill in less than five minutes. At low concentrations it will require a longer period of time to affect the body. Exceeding the EPA concentration of 9 ppm for more than 8 hours is suspected to produce adverse health affects in persons at risk.
The U. Occupational Health and Safety limit for healthy workers is 50 ppm. Carbon monoxide detectors, which are designed to protect against high concentration of carbon monoxide are required to sound an alarm when concentrations are greater than ppm. Continued exposure to carbon monoxide can cause permanent brain, nerve, or heart damage. Some people require years to recover while others might never fully recover. What factors determine the danger level? For instance, a concentration of ppm will cause headaches in 1 to 2 hours.
In 3 to 5 hours the same concentration can lead to unconsciousness and death. Physical exertion, with an accompanying increase in respiration rate, shortens the time to critical levels by 2 or 3 fold. Since 50 ppm is the Occupation Health and Safety limit, is it safe for all people? Respiratory capacity decreases and the risk of heart attack increases at levels well below 50 ppm.
The EPA level of 9 ppm appears to be a reasonable limit in homes. When should CO poisoning be suspected? Some clues for a family include:.
Your symptoms may be less severe when you're away from the source of the carbon monoxide. This can happen within 2 hours if there's a lot of carbon monoxide in the air. Long-term exposure to low levels of carbon monoxide can also lead to neurological symptoms, such as: difficulty thinking or concentrating frequent emotional changes — for example, becoming easily irritated, depressed, or making impulsive or irrational decisions Breathing in high levels of carbon monoxide gas can cause more severe symptoms.
These may include: impaired mental state and personality changes intoxication the feeling that you or the environment around you is spinning vertigo loss of physical co-ordination caused by underlying damage to the brain and nervous system ataxia breathlessness and a heart rate of more than beats per minute tachycardia chest pain caused by angina or a heart attack an uncontrollable burst of electrical activity in the brain that causes muscle spasms seizures loss of consciousness — in cases where there are very high levels of carbon monoxide, death may occur within minutes What causes carbon monoxide to leak?
Carbon monoxide is produced when fuels such as gas, oil, coal and wood do not burn fully. Burning charcoal, running cars and the smoke from cigarettes also produce carbon monoxide gas. Gas, oil, coal and wood are sources of fuel used in many household appliances, including: boilers gas fires central heating systems water heaters cookers open fires Incorrectly installed, poorly maintained or poorly ventilated household appliances, such as cookers, heaters and central heating boilers, are the most common causes of accidental exposure to carbon monoxide.
Other possible causes of carbon monoxide poisoning include: blocked flues and chimneys — this can stop carbon monoxide escaping, allowing it to reach dangerous levels burning fuel in an enclosed or unventilated space — for example, running a car engine, petrol-powered generator or barbecue inside a garage, or a faulty boiler in an enclosed kitchen faulty or blocked car exhausts — a leak or blockage in the exhaust pipe, such as after heavy snowfall, could lead to a build-up of carbon monoxide paint fumes — some cleaning fluids and paint removers contain methylene chloride dichloromethane ; this substance is broken down by the body into carbon monoxide smoking shisha pipes indoors — shisha pipes burn charcoal and tobacco, which can lead to a build-up of carbon monoxide in enclosed or unventilated rooms Treating carbon monoxide poisoning Seek medical advice from your GP if you think you have been exposed to low levels of carbon monoxide.
Your house will also need to be checked for safety before anyone returns. Standard oxygen therapy Standard oxygen therapy in hospital will be needed if you have been exposed to a high level of carbon monoxide, or you have symptoms that suggest exposure.
Breathing in concentrated oxygen enables your body to quickly replace carboxyhaemoglobin. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy Hyperbaric oxygen therapy HBOT floods the body with pure oxygen, helping it overcome the oxygen shortage caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. Standard oxygen therapy is usually the recommended treatment option. Recovery The length of time it takes to recover from carbon monoxide poisoning will depend on how much carbon monoxide you have been exposed to and how long you have been exposed to it.
Complications of carbon monoxide poisoning Prolonged significant exposure to carbon monoxide can cause serious complications, including brain damage and heart problems.
In very severe cases, it can result in death. Brain damage Prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide can cause memory problems and difficulty concentrating. Heart disease Coronary heart disease is another serious condition that can develop as a result of long-term carbon monoxide exposure. Harm to unborn babies Long-term exposure to carbon monoxide gas can also damage an unborn baby. Babies exposed to carbon monoxide during pregnancy are at risk of: a low birth weight perinatal death stillbirth and death that occurs within the first 4 weeks of birth behavioural problems Preventing carbon monoxide poisoning It's important to be aware of the dangers and identify any appliances in your house that could potentially leak carbon monoxide.
Usually they cause no problems. Trouble comes when:. Early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include:. As carbon monoxide builds up in your blood , symptoms get worse and may include:. If you have symptoms that you think could be caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, leave the area right away, and call or go to the emergency room.
If you keep breathing the fumes, you may pass out and die. Carbon monoxide poisoning can occur suddenly or over a long period of time. Breathing low levels of carbon monoxide over a long period can cause severe heart problems and brain damage. See a doctor if:. It can be hard to know if you have carbon monoxide poisoning. The same symptoms can be caused by flu or other problems. In the winter months, doctors may suspect carbon monoxide poisoning in people who complain of severe headache, nausea, or dizziness.
This is especially true if other household members or co-workers have the same symptoms. Even pets in the home may get sick. If your doctor suspects carbon monoxide poisoning, he or she can order a blood test that measures the amount of carbon monoxide in your blood. You may have other blood tests to check your overall health and to look for problems caused by carbon monoxide. The best treatment is oxygen therapy. Breathing pure oxygen can bring the oxygen level in the blood back to normal.
There are two kinds of oxygen therapy:. With quick treatment, most people recover within a few days. But long-term problems can show up later. Be sure to tell your doctor about any changes in vision, coordination, or behaviour that occur in the weeks after treatment. Many people die every year from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. There are some easy steps you can take to reduce your risk.
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