People who die of CO poisoning

Discussion in 'Random Thoughts' started by Grandeur, Nov 21, 2020.

  1. wilsjane

    wilsjane Nutty Professor HipForums Supporter

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    So true and few people are prepared for incidents that occur once in a lifetime.
    At first, the burn injuries to the victims lungs made the authorities suspect a type of mustard gas. Burns to one guys arms and legs, but not to his clothing ruled out fire, but simply added to the mystery. Then following reading a report of the incident where a carbon dioxide fire suppression system that triggered in error causing similar lung damage and killing the workers in the UK was studied, it all fell into place. It was later discovered that as well as the deadly mist, the rate of ascent of the carbon dioxide laden cold water from the pressure at the bottom of the lake could produce chunks of dry ice the size of golf balls. This was also confirmed by strange burn like patches that were noticed on the vegetation
    For so many factors to come together at once was a complete freak and I suspect that the PH of the lake also played a part.

    I was surprised to read your post about incidents in your part of the world, but they make sense, since as oxygen in the room is consumed, during combustion, the ratio of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide slowly increases. It is a catch 22 situation.

    Do you remember the case of the 2 children who died from carbon monoxide at the villa in Corfu.?
    In my opinion the verdict was wrong, but I was ordered to keep quiet. This was for diplomatic reasons. It was still an accident with no foul play was suspected.
     
    phil1965 likes this.
  2. hotwater

    hotwater Senior Member Lifetime Supporter

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    No I’m not familiar with that case.

    The most tragic case in recent memory was the Maryland family of 8 who died from CO poisoning back in 2015. It occurred after the local power company removed the electric meter from their home,
    forcing them to rely on a portable generator.
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2020
  3. phil1965

    phil1965 Senior Member

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    OH FFS, here we go again, carbon monoxide is one of the very few gasses that the blood prefers rather than oxygen, it combines with the haemoglobin in the blood to form carboxyhaemoglobin, which effectively blocks the uptake of oxygen by the blood. One of the first symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning is a headache followed by drowsiness then falling asleep, then coma and finally death. The skin in victims of CO poisoning is characteristically a cherry pink colour and the blood is a more vivid red, also petechiae, which are tiny red spots become visible in the whites of the eyes.
    A lot of people will tell you that you cannot taste or smell carbon monoxide, but you can, if you go into an environment that is contaminated with CO if you breath in through your mouth you can actually taste it on your tongue, it has a sort of acidic taste, not very nice at all and if you have any sense you get the hell out of the place.
    I remember some years ago, I knew an elderley couple and they'd moved to a smaller house, despite their age they were quite active, they moved into the new place and when I saw them a couple of months later I was shocked at how they had deteriorated, they were behaving like people a lot older than they were. The old man seemed to doze all day and his wife had suffered from 'migraine' headaches almost constantly since they'd moved in.
    I had been in the house for about 5 minutes and began to taste the CO, then I noticed a small light brown stain above the gas fire which also had a back boiler for the central heating. I immediately put in a call to the landlord, a local housing association, and had a heating engineer sent out, on stripping the fire he discovered the flue pipe was cracked allowing the gasses back into the lounge. It all started to get nasty then as the boiler had allegedly been serviced and inspected before this couple moved in, the old couple looked at putting a claim in against the company and consulted a solicitor, the housing association (landlord) thought they had no chance. Their solicitor contacted me and asked if I would appear in court as an expert witness, I was a bit reluctant as I do not have any qualifications in either heating or gas work. However the solicitor said that I could be called as an expert witness as it was me that identified the problem and called in the heating engineer and that in court made me an expert, so I agreed. On hearing this the housing association decided to go for a private settlement and the old couple received several thousand pounds.
    They did eventually recover but it made me think, what if I hadn't visited them, they would no doubt of been killed eventually.
    Everyone these days should have a CO detector in the same way as everyone has a smoke alarm, if you suspect that yourself or someone else is being poisoned by carbon monoxide, turn off the gas, open all the windows, leave the property and call an ambulance, it will only take minutes for a paramedic to diagnose CO poisoning and take you to hospital, a course of oxygen therapy is usually used to treat the problem.
     
  4. wilsjane

    wilsjane Nutty Professor HipForums Supporter

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    That is a good sign, since CO is produced during incomplete combustion. A yellow tip on the flame is another indication.
    Did you read my molecular explanation, #5.The lungs do prefer oxygen, but complete CO purging takes around 21 days in fresh air. Hospitals use 70% oxygen, but it takes a lot of care, since that level of O2 can host pathogenic bacteria and lead to pneumonia.
     
  5. wilsjane

    wilsjane Nutty Professor HipForums Supporter

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    That is not true unless it is suspected. The life support machines in ambulances show CO as O2. A full diagnosis requires the far more accurate systems at the hospital that do not use pulse oximetry. (Finger probe)
     
  6. phil1965

    phil1965 Senior Member

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    yes, the lungs do, but the blood doesn't, and that's where you get the problems, it's a bugger of a condition, still no doubt Grandy has had his attention fix for now and he'll move on to another possible method of killing himself in a few days. lol
     
  7. Grandeur

    Grandeur Members

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    When I keep my breathe, the pain is too much. How can you kill yourself if you cannot stand the pain during the process? Tell me?

    Everyday, I force myself on holding breathe to stand the pain way more but each time, I cannot stand the pain. The problem is, I cannot even hold my breathe till I can pass out. And this is sadly making me release that I won't be able to commit suicide.

    Try holding your breathe and see how the pain is. I could not make it longer than 2 and 15 seconds because it is too much pain.

    Before you reply, hold your breathe and force your limits. Then answer!!!

    Let's discuss how bad the pain is.
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2020
  8. phil1965

    phil1965 Senior Member

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    If you were killing yourself with Carbon Monoxide you wouldn't be holding your breath, you'd breath normally until you passed out and then it would all be over.
     
    Grandeur likes this.

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