How to Treat Someone for Carbon Monoxide

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless gas which is given off as a byproduct of combustion. It replaces oxygen in your blood thus the consequences can be more than fatal. Carbon monoxide poisoning can result to brain injury and in worst cases, death. It cannot be seen, felt, and smelled but it is an extremely fatal substance. Carbon monoxide is the primary cause of accidental poisoning death in the Unite States. Every year, about two thousand people die of Carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is derived from equipment, tools or devices that burn petroleum products, wood, gas and other fuels. These devices include furnaces, charcoal grills, cooking ranges, fireplaces, portable generators, fuel-burning space heaters, wood-burning stoves, car and truck engines, water heaters.

The fume of carbon monoxide is fatal to any person. Those who are prone to the harmful effects of carbon monoxide include unborn babies, infants, older adults, people who smoke, and people who have respiratory problems, anemia or chronic heart disease.
Removing the carbon monoxide from the hemoglobin in your blood and bringing back to normal the oxygen level in your blood are the main goals of treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning.

First aid treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning is of course getting out of the place where the carbon monoxide leak is taking place. Longer stay in the area means that you’re allowing the poisonous gas to conquer your system which spells trouble for your life. Getting out of your home, the building, and the car is the best and immediate action to take if you think that a poisoning or leakage of carbon monoxide is taking place.

The patient who is taken to the hospital is immediately assessed and treated. If the victim is not that severely poisoned 100 percent oxygen therapy is done. This treatment involves the use of a tight fitting mask to allow the patient to take in more oxygen. If the victim is seriously harmed by carbon poisoning, breathing equipment is used as in this case the patient can hardly breathe on his or her own. A hyperbaric oxygen therapy is done in worst cases. Such a treatment makes use of a hyperbaric chamber or full-body chamber that puts pressure on the patient for a faster elimination of carbon monoxide in the body.

The treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning depends on some crucial factors. The quantity of the poisonous gas is established through laboratory tests. The people who can be worse affected by carbon monoxide poisoning are newborn infants, little children, and older people as they have considerably weaker system to resist the effect of the poisonous gas. The key in treating the health condition is lowering the carbon dioxide level in the blood as soon as possible and doing oxygen therapy.
With proper treatment, a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning can fully recover and go back to his or her normal life. On the other hand if the patient is not immediately given therapy he or she may suffer brain damage or damage of other key organs of the body.