It takes more than 24 hours to get rid of carbon monoxide from your body.
I used to have a detector which was like a 'breathalizer' which could detect your blood CO level by exhaling into it.
I measured my level, 0ppm (in expired gas). Then, I went into the garage, and inhaled some car exhaust fumes right at the muffler. Just ONE breath.
Then, my CO level jumped to 24ppm, and after 24 hours I think it was still 2 or 3ppm.
I was on a boat once with a very dirty engine (blue exhaust). The CO detector went into alarm mode, as the CO in the air was more than 1000ppm. The CO in the air was so high, for so long, that the detector broke. It said in the manual that extreme concentrations of CO would 'break' the sensor, and it did.
I tried not to inhale the blue fumes. But, there was no escape. When we got into the water, I had the worst dive session of my life. My apneas would feel extremely strange----hypoxia without hypercapnia. Hypoxic contractions after 0'55" in static, without any CO2 buildup!
Eric Fattah
BC, Canada
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