On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 00:19:19 -0500, "Not Me" wrote:

"Neil"

| This is an equilibrium not an irreversable reaction. So yes
| haemoglobin does have a higher affinity for CO than O2. BUT once you
| are in fresh air there is no CO in the air for practical purposes so
| you start to lose CO from your blood immediately.
|
| This leads to the odd situation that if you call a hyperbaric unit and
| tell them the CO level in a victims blood they ask how long to reach
| them and the level. If you are close they will take someone with a
| lower level than if you live further away. Why?because they know that
| in the time taken to make the journey the level will fall by a
| predictable amount.
|
| Treatment with oxygen at the scene helps but the first big step is
| get them into fresh air, I have seen the plots of CO levels , it does
| work.

Not sure where I found it but according to my memory CO is quick to enter
and very slow to off gas from the blood.


and that fits with the 15-18 hour half life of CO in the blood...

ck
--
country doc in louisiana
(no fancy sayings right now)