Date:         Mon, 16 Nov 1998 02:09:06 -0500
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <inua@QUICKLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <inua@QUICKLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: CO vs CO2 One's poisonous, the other's not.
Comments: To: Vanagon <Vanagon@VANAGON.COM>

-- [ From: John Rodgers * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --

Regards the CO vs the CO2 vs the O2......!!!

The CO IS poisonous!

And the problem with it is that the hemoglobin in the red blood cells has a
greater affinity for the CO than for the O2 that you need. If there is a
molecule of CO and a molecule of O2 present, the hemoglobin will bond with
the CO every time and leave the O2 molecule sitting there. Pretty soon all
of your red blood cells are occupied by CO instead of Oxygen. Not only that,
if I recall correctly, the bond is permanent, thus blocking those cells from
ever working again. Your body has to replace them. So you suffer cellular
suffocation and become quite dead if the process is allowed to continue.

CO2 doesn't harm directly as CO does, but will displace all the oxygen in a
confined space to the point you can suffocate.

O2 is what we need, but an over abundance of O2 can trigger some feelings of
suffocation, as in hyperventilation. This uncontrolled rapid breathing,
heart pounding, scarey event can be brought under control by breathing into
a paper bag. Why? Well, the respiratory center in the brain uses the
presence of CO2 to regulate itself. If you are over oxygenated and under
carbonated??...lack sufficient CO2, it sort of goes berserk. The trick is to
breath in and out of a paper bag until you have created enough CO2 in the
bag that as you breath it back in the respiratory center picks it up and
brings things back under control.

So much for Physiology 101.

John Rodgers
'88 GL Driver in Alabama