Carbon monoxide monitor can save your life and home

DEAR READER:

Carbon monoxide is a tasteless, colorless, odorless gas. It sounds harmless, but breathing it in can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, which can be fatal. Because you can't see, smell or taste carbon monoxide, it can kill you without warning -- that is, unless you have carbon monoxide monitors to warn you of the danger.

You might be surprised how many sources in your house can release carbon monoxide. These include cars, small gasoline engines (such as lawnmowers), stoves, furnaces, gas ranges, water heaters and clothes dryers. The risk of poisoning is especially high in enclosed spaces with poor ventilation.

When you take in a breath, you pull lots of oxygen into your lungs. The oxygen passes from your lungs into the blood. There, it attaches to a protein inside your red blood cells, called hemoglobin, and takes a ride as your blood circulates throughout your body. That's how oxygen reaches every cell in the body -- and every cell needs oxygen.

Normally, there's virtually no carbon monoxide in the air you breathe. However, if one of the sources I've listed above is releasing carbon monoxide in the air, it also passes from your lungs into the blood and attaches to hemoglobin. In fact, it attaches much more readily and sticks more tightly to hemoglobin than does oxygen. As a result, the blood can't carry oxygen throughout your body. Without enough oxygen, cells suffocate.

If you're exposed to just low levels of carbon monoxide, you may feel tired and achy and have impaired memory and concentration, shortness of breath, dizziness or fatigue. If you breathe in high levels of carbon monoxide and don't get immediate treatment, you could lose consciousness and die. Even if you recover, there's a risk of long-term brain damage.

To reduce your risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, first and foremost install carbon monoxide detectors in your home. Put them in hallways near bedrooms and in garages attached to living areas. You should also:

-- Open the flue when you use a fireplace.

-- Never use charcoal grills or hibachis indoors.

-- Buy appliances that vent to the outside.

-- Have fuel-burning appliances professionally installed.

-- Have your heating system, flues and chimneys professionally inspected before turning on your heater for winter.

-- Never operate gas-powered tools or engines inside.

-- Never leave your car running inside an attached garage.

Several years ago, the carbon monoxide detector in our home sounded an alarm. I was upstairs, and came downstairs to smell gas in the kitchen. It turned out there was a leak in the line to the gas range. So the carbon monoxide detector had alerted us to a fire danger as well. Fortunately, everything worked out well.

(Dr. Komaroff is a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. To send questions, go to AskDoctorK.com, or write: Ask Doctor K, 10 Shattuck St., Second Floor, Boston, MA 02115.)

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