Carbon Monoxide and You:)

Hold ya breath’

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Cold cold months, mean everyone’s ignition is on 10 minutes earlier, defrosting those frozen windshields and warming up to stop the never-ending cold from reaching deep into the chest.

Whilst it’s often not enough gas to send you to sleep forever, the gradual build up on your health is undeniable when in constant exposure.

I remember playing that games as a kid where you held your breath for the entire length of the drive past a cemetery, nearly blacking out in Melbournes huge death real estate area was a highlight, but in context of CO, prevention is your best bet.

• CO, carbon monoxide, formed by the singular carbon and oxygen molecules, has a net charge of -1.

The nature of its relative charge, makes it very strong in its binding to Haemoglobin, which normally binds oxygen as O2 (two oxygen molecules bound together as found in normal air). 300 times more strongly than oxygen actually.

What this means is that, it will literally bump the oxygen away from the red blood cells, binding so tightly, that at the other end of the river, where the cells of the body require oxygen to metabolise and make energy, like muscle action or brain activity, will not receive the oxygen, literally starving your body of oxygen. At the cellular level it also binds to important enzymes blocking the process of energy production with oxygen.

The half-life of carbon monoxide at room air temperature is 3-4 hours. 100% oxygen reduces the half-life to 30-90 minutes; hyperbaric oxygenat 2.5 atm (atmosphere units) with 100% oxygenreduces it to 15-23 minutes.

Obviously if you are up the slopes in winter, the oxygen content at altitude is less than at sea level and it will take longer for your body to clear the CO. I guess you can make up for that a little as the high altitude makes your body produce more red blood cells, but every bit counts when your aiming to shred the mountain.

Since ambient air contains 21 percent of oxygen by volume, exposure of a person to air containing as little as 0.1 percent of CO will result, at equilibrium, in 50 percent of the hemoglobin in the blood being converted to carboxyhemoglobin. That’s a LOT!!!!!!! CRAZY!

This makes CO, lethal. It is colourless, odourless, and you’d never know you were inhaling it, just gradually fall asleep and die. with the brain and the heart the most oxygen demanding tissues in the body this makes them especially susceptible to exposure to CO.

Common symptoms of its inhalation stem from this lack of oxygen and ability function eg - headache, nausea, fatigue/exhaustion, dizzziness and confusion. People do not turn blue, like with low oxygen however, but stay with pink/pale skin and red lips.

So move your truck, don’t let things idle in confined  spaces, and understand that little bit of exhaust inhalation could be with you for most of the day

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