The past 24 hours I’ve felt really lethargic, and when I woke up today I felt light-headed, tired, and I have a headache. After I eat I may make a trip to Wal-Mart and see if they sell the detectors there.
If you have CO poisoning your face will be noticably red. You should probably have a CO detector anyway. Waking up in the morning is always a good way to start the day.
I purchased a CO detector and the alarm has not gone off so hopefully everything is good, though it did say it would take 15 minutes at a certain PPM before it would detect anything. Better safe than sorry though. I still feel kind of odd though.
Seriously. If you suspect CO, at least open a few windows to let in fresh air. As a child I witnessed my dad and uncle pass out from CO poisoning after working on a car in a poorly ventilated garage.
It wasn’t pretty.
Well-a few questions to start: do you have any appliances which burn NG, LP, wood, coal, or oil? If so, which were in use last night? Are there any other appliances which you were using during the night, such as a whole house fan, or maybe a large capacity range hood or bathroom fan which was left on?
They do, and my gosh I’m glad. We had a close call earlier this year.
The only source I could think of would have been a gas water heater, but like I said I got the detector and it never went off so I think I’m good. Plus I feel completely fine today.
No it won’t. The cherry-red skin is an extremely late sign of CO poisoning. (Late as in the late Dentarthurdent).
From emedicine
St. Urho
Paramedic
IANAD, but that also sounds like dehydration. It’s been beastly hot around here, anyway.
OTOH, I knew someone who was suffering with lethargy and suspected CO poisoning. They had the house tested by professionals and everything. Turned out she had leukemia. 
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I can only speak from experience. I’ve seen it. A little fresh air and he was fine the next day. But there was no doubt this kid was suffering from CO poisoning.
Chemically, CO forms a tight bond with the iron in the hemoglobin. The resulting complex is red. This is why the meat industry injects your meat with CO. It keeps the meat nice and red. I think its quite clever actually.
I’ve gotten a little dizzy after being careless with the CO tank I have at work. In my experience it takes quite a lot of CO to be fatal.
Flu? :dubious:
OK-a gas water heater can fail to properly draft if there’s an appliance pulling negative pressure in the dwelling, such as a whole house fan. Absent that, check the heater venting-see if the chimney has obstructions if it’s natural vent.
I don’t think so as it only lasted one day and I feel fine now, I think it was one of those cases of sleeping so much that you feel unwell.
Did you feel better after you left the house and went to Wal-Mart? I’ve heard that’s one of the warning signs…when you only feel bad while in your house, and get better at work or school.
Completely true. When I catch a dose at work all I have to do is walk away from the hood for a while and it goes away. Your body is actually well equipped to deal with CO poisoning if you get to fresh air. The problem is when your sleeping and you don’t get to fresh air.
Don’t go by the red face. When that happens, death is near.
If in doubt, open all the windows in your place and get yourself to the ER yesterday. Arterial blood gas testing is easy, and you’ll know quickly.
Not to keep you from doing safe, responsible things like getting a detector, but could it be something more mundane… anemia, the flu, or the dreaded kissing disease?
Are you sure that it was just CO, and not, say, working in a hot environment? It seems really, really unlikely that someone was cherry red solely from CO and was fin with “a little fresh air.”