CO from the tank?

[Web Monkey]

I'm no expert, but I think you should get a CO detector for your house. Do you have a gas stove or water heater or anything else with a pilot light?

I'd vote for that.

Buy a CO detector and if it reads OK in the house, carry it with you all day and see if it goes off.

You could easily have CO at home from a clogged chimney for the furnace or even the hot water heater, or a cracked heat exchanger on the furnace, or CO at work from other fuel burning equipment.

Your gas supplier may come out and check it for free if you ask them, *They will around here).

 

[cornfed]

so i'd say less than 100 ppm

I would hope so! The that's twice the permissible exposure limit set by OSHA!

 

[Hoosier]

I'd vote for that.

Buy a CO detector and if it reads OK in the house, carry it with you all day and see if it goes off.

Your gas supplier may come out and check it for free if you ask them, *They will around here).

Good suggestion.. I will do and contact the gas supplier, too.

My place is a typical single guy apartment. All electric and no cooking, even no furnace (less cleaning stuff ).

 

[H2Andy]

I would hope so! The that's twice the permissible exposure limit set by OSHA!

you get a headache in about 3 hours at that level... since he didn't complain about
a headache, i'm guessing the exposure is below that level

 

[h2odragon1]

CO ? or CO2 ? CO is carbon monoxide and is fatal as has been stated. CO2 is a normal byproduct of the body's use of Oxygen, and is called carbon dioxide. Was the test you had a cardiac cath? what was the level? I'm a nurse, and these are things you should clarify with your Doctor, the 'medical advice' you get from this forum may only make you more nervous.
Good luck and good diving.

 

[jim T.]

Definitely pick up a $12 detector at Ace Hardware or similar. If you have a gas heater and it is even 5 yrs. or so old it can leak very minor amounts. If you get one that is battery powered or battery and A.C. powered, it couldn't hurt to carry it around in your car for a day just to see. Our home heater repair guy told us to very definitely get a Carbon Dioxide/monoxide detector and place it between the living room and the bedroom. Even if this isn't the cause of your current condition it can still save your life another time!

 

[Doc Harry]

CO or CO2, good question. Make sure what we're talking about.

Any CO (or CO2) buildup from a dive would be out of your system in a matter of hours, not days.

Labs do make mistakes, we're all human. Repeat the test on a peripheral artery if it's a concern. It's always a good idea to repeat a test if the results are abnormal, unexpected and unexplained.

Labs also get spurious results on occasion, it's the bell curve. Repeat the test.

Home CO testing sounds warranted.

Good luck.

 

[PADI Knight]

Critical care and ER nurse chiming in. The arterial blood gas (ABG) provides the quantative value of partial pressure of oxygen in the blood )PaO2) as well as partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2). It does not provide you with the actual level of CO in the blood. To determine this you need to run a test for carboxyhemoglobin whice we use to determine CO levels.

Now there are several medical problems that can been seen with an increased PaCO2 such as lung disease, heart, kidney etc. Hopefully Hooser you only misunderstood your physician since it would be a major mistake on their part to tell a patient they had a high CO level from an ABG and not treat it.

 

[cerich]

Buy a few of these

http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&did=19&product_id=7926

Put one in car, office, house (bedroom, kitchen, room you hang out the most in) and the room your water heater is in.

You are getting it somewere. Normally the source of the CO gets worse, not better. It would be good to find and fix before it sneaks up and bites you badly.

Best,

Chris

 

[Hoosier]

Thanks all your inputs. Yes, it is CO, not CO2. I just get CO detector and will find the source (The doctor asked me to find and report the source anyway). I have another test on schedule this coming Monday, Pulmonary Exercise Test, so I will talk with the doc then again.