- Exposure to high levels CO
- Binds strongly to hemoglobin, displacing oxygen
- Winter months w/exposure to heaters in closed spaces/poor ventilation
- Tasteless & odorless so hard to notice w/o CO detector
- Chronic heart and/or lung disease
- Headaches, weakness, N, V, Sob/DOE
- Altered mental status to unconscious
- Worse when in that environment → better outside
- Others w/similar sx who live/work in same place
- Sometimes tachycardia, hypertension, tachypnea
- Normal O2 sat (pulse ox mis-reads carboxyhemoglobin as oxyhemoglobin
- Sometimes altered mental status, severe illness, death
- Measure CO level on abg/vbg
- Can have metabolic acidosis (from lactate) w/high levels CO