Carbon monoxide poisoning symptoms
from multiple low level exposures
(chronic CO poisoning)

For the past year or so I have been feeling unwell my first symptoms started with extremely terrible stomach cramps so bad that I had to go to the hospital there I was told that it was possible period pains. The cramps continued on and off over the months and with them I started to vomit violently but was told when I went to the hospital that I should not have come in because it looks like I have a stomach bug and other patients could be affected so I carried on my daily chores and routines of life until late last year when I began to feel extremely tired every day I was so tired I would find it hard to get up in the morning but at night I could not get to sleep I put it down to not having a proper routine until my hair started to thin and it was really effecting my daily life I went to my GP who ran many blood test on me he tested me for iron and found that my iron levels were low but said I was not anemic and that test showed I had a low immune system but he was unable to identify why and sent me home with iron tablets. By November and December I started to feel so low I began to feel aggitated at any little thing I had never suffered with depression before but felt really depressed. Last month enough was enough in all that was happening the unexplained illnesses and stuff I had decided to investigate myself as nobody knows me better than me I had noticed that for awhile now my children and I would come home after school and I would put something in the oven but start to drift off into a sleep aswell as my children I started to research and found out about carbon monoxide and its symptoms and after identifying half of the symptoms I had I was unsure who to tell until last week waking up to make breakfast for my kids before they went to school a horrible toxic smell was coming from my cooker I found national grid who came out and told me that my cooker has been leaking gas now I\'m not sure exactly how long but I\'m assuming that it is has been since all my symptoms started but not only that I went to my local council as this is a private property where they housed me they were totally uninterested what I would like to know could this have been caused by my landlord as he replaced the ignition button around a year ago himself. The services in the area are treating me as if I\'m mentally ill my children\'s school also contacted social services as I was very distressed last week my doctor has also put me on anti depressant tablets and sent me for councelling but what I\'m trying to explain to them is that since the cooker has been removed after a lot of persistence from me as the landlord did not understand the severity of the problem even after national grid deemed it immediately unsafe he wanted to fix the cooker. I am feeling a lot better within my self I no longer have the headaches I was falling asleep and waking up with and its like my energy levels have been boosted and i no longer feel the high levels of aniexty I was feeling. But its like they want to cover up the fact that me and my children were being slowly killed by negligence on behalf of my landlord and it feels like all the services are working together to keep it under wraps. I really want to find or start a organisation that can help people in my situation

This is a great website. I also found a community group on facebook called: Carbon Monoxide Survivors:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/197181533712435/
Finally I can relate with other members and I don't fell alone anymore.

Just had chronic exposure for five years, and the acute exposure back in December. Now I am struggling with depression, lack of focus, etc. Has anyone found treatments that are helpful for carbon monoxide poisioning? My physician wants to send me to a neurologist, but I fear they really won't know what to do.....

This is a major public health problem that is not getting attention. Problems related to chronic low level CO exposure include premature births, SIDS, developmental disabilities, autism, dementia, injuries due to brain fog, misdiagnosed mental illness, wasted medical resources treating misdiagnosed illness that are acturally CO poisoning, loss of potential and lack of motivation r/t CO poisoning. This list does not include broken relationships and marriages due to personality changes related to chronic CO exposure. There are possibly crimes r/t the ill effects of chronic CO exposure. Who is protecting workers for chronic CO exposure? Certainly not OSHA. People who are being affected are not going to be their own best advocates due to brain fog, personality changes, and lack of motivation and follow through that is part of the damage from the chronic CO exposure. The UL alarms that read zero until the area has a lethal dose of CO gives most people a false sense of security while they may be slowly killed over months or years in their own homes and work places. Who is going to protect the public? We are going to have to stand up for ourselves. I am becoming more able to do that as I am slowly recovering from chronic exposure I had for the past 6 years after moving into a new home in a new subdivision with a new unvented gas stove. We replaced the stove with an electric one but also found out we needed over $700. in repairs on our new gas furnace. We are lucky to be alive. Who is responsible? Not the builder. Not the inspectors. Not the appliance manufacturers. It is a combination of circumstances that allows the homeowner to be totally responsible under the current laws. I believe the International Code Council needs to get together with the World Health Organization and come up with a solution real soon. We are safe now, but hundreds of thousands of people are not safe.

Yes very bad pain in teeth, along with brain fog and all the other symptoms. 2 years of complaining to Enbridge gas and it was not untill i hired a private contractor was the gas leak found!

Last winter I started becoming very sick. I am a very active 47 year old mother of 4 and am normally healthy added with working out daily. It started with headaches that felt bigger than the room. Everything that I was eating was just laying on my stomach, not digesting. I would take tums for indigestion and laxatives because my body wasn\\\'t functioning normally. Almost like it was shutting down and very difficult to go to the bathroom. I would get very dizzy and a tingling feeling all over and right arm would feel like needles were all over it. I would wake up in a jolt, like i was in some deep sleep and something frightened me on eyes opening. My heart was racing and I felt like i had to keep taking constant deep breaths, almost like I felt like I couldn\\\'t get enough air. I was very tired and wanted to sleep all day. I had a feeling of confusion and felt like i was in a bubble with foggy thinking. My muscles in my legs were very weak and unstable. When i would leave my house and as the day went on, I started feeling a little better so at this point I began to think i was going nuts and it was all in my head. Each day, it would keep returning and i just felt ill all over and like a bad case of the flu. This went on for a few months until I decided to go to the hospital. They did all the regular routine tests, EKG, blood enzymes, complete blood work etc. The EKG test appeared that my heart was in distress, all valves in depression appearing i had a heart attack. when they did my cariac enzyme test, it showed that wasn\\\'t the case. One thing they did not do for some reason, was an oxygen test. If they had, I am positive it would have showed my body was very low on oxygen but they sent me home with a report of typical anxiety and panic attack type deal. I was so frustrated and angry and sad because I knew that my body was shutting down and no one believed me and assumed since I had gone to emergency room that i must be okay if they sent me home. I didn\\\'t know what else to do so as a strong believer in my faith, i began to pray every night for an answer..well i got my answer!! It happened in March 2012, about 2 and a half months after i first became sick. I woke up and walked outside, and if anyone remembers right, it was a very warm day, prob about 75 degrees. I am not sure what possessed me to walk out to my back yard but when i looked up on the side of my house, i noticed a PVC pipe coming out of the side wall of my house, below the room i was sleeping in and the same side of the big kitchen window that was next to that room. Each night i would sleep in that spare bedroom because my husband had been on midnights and this was the room close to the kitchen and easy to wake up and get my son off to school each morning. Anyway, I was sleeping with the door shut and for some reason this particular room stays very warm, and keeps a lot of heat in it...i would open the window each night, with my furnace running, just to get some cooler air cuz i was too warm. The exhause pipe was just below this room so i was actually creating a vacuum and sucking the fumes right into the bedroom. I would also walk to kitchen and do the same thing, open kitchen window and remember doing dishes and feeling so dizzy like the room was going sideways. Again, i was sucking the fumes right into the house. I know now that i was being slowly poisoned each night and re poisoning myself daily. I would open this window each night not knowing i was harming myself. It all made sense and i immediately stopped opening any windows. Within a day or so, I started feeling good. Everything was slowly comign back to myself and I felt so very lucky that I figured it out. Now a year later, I am doing great. I had the man who put my furnace in move the pipe to where it goes out my roof and i still don\\\'t open any windows because i have become paranoid. I was deathly ill for 3 months feeling like i was on a rollercoaster that wouldn\\\'t let me off. I feel so blessed and lucky today that I was able to survive this. If anyone out there ever feels flu like symptoms but not sure if it\\\'s the flu, please go to hospital and get an oxygen test. It could save your life! This is the first time I have shared my story. Hope someone can get some awareness from this.

I have a co detector in my house but every time my furnace runs I get extremely dizzy. I get an upset stomach my mind gets real cloudy,funny thing is my wife doesn't feel it . I worked as a car mechanic for thirty years and have been exposed several times to carbomonoxide. I am wondering if I have a low level build up . I certainly have the symptoms. I wonder why my co quester in the house doesn't pick it up.

I\'ve worked in a very very busy parking lot for the past three years. for the most part i thought i was just unhealthy but its been getting worse and worse as time goes on. i get almost all of these symptoms from time to time. today i noticed that I\'ve been acting different towards others that are close to me and that i haven\'t been able to sleep much lately if at all. aside from getting a different job is there some way to help prevent CO exposure or at least decrease the exposure. with the problems getting worse should i seek medical attention?

I have had all the same ,sick, headackes ect. for about 3 months now. I tell everyone and no one believes me and i need help please. Im 19 male and was slowly posioned for about 2 years at my home with a small leek in the heater. We had it looked at a few months ago and they fixed it. Since then , my hair has gotten thinner so i cut it, hemmeridge in my eye from headackes and stress. sluggish, memory loss. PLEASE someone tell me what to take to feel better or what to do. NO ONE BELIEVES ME , THEY SAY GET OVER IT , YOUR FINE. IM NOT FINE.

i have been feeling terrible nausea headache\'s also stomach cramp\'s also my kid\'s have been the same and this has went on for week\'s then tonight i smelt gas again cnnalled emergengcy gas ppl turn\'s out it was nxt door should i claim as it is not right

I recently learned of Chronic CO poisoning in the home Ive been renting for the past 2 1/2 years. The levels were so high, they seeped through the walls of this duplex into the neighbors home where the CO set off THEIR detector! My levels were at a lethal dose and I was told by numerous firemen I would not have woken the next day. This ongoing CO issue has answered ALL of my health related questions, which gives me much closure for I thought I was truly going nuts and was at my wits end! Ironically and thankfully, I deal in the wellness movement and have been more than proactive with health for the last 15 years taking tons of antioxidants and other holistic remedies to keep me healthy. Sadly, I was chronically ill living in this home. Last winter was the worst: I had bunion surgery late October. Looking back, my feet or bunions had never bothered me before moving in this home. With bunion surgery a person is basically under 'house arrest'. During my so called 6-8 week recovery, I felt sicker despite my holistic health remedies. I came down with walking pneumonia during the holidays. I was determined to get healthy and started a strict diet and exercise regime once I felt like my healthier self again. Please know during all this time I felt 'out of sorts': mentally and physically. My body continued to ache and I thought it was previous spinal/disc issues. My eyesight was going and I thought it was age related. My moods and ability to concentrate/focus continued to be affecting my life/career and I blamed it on hormones and age (50).
Late February, despite working out and eating a paleo diet since thanksgiving, I felt nauseous and physically drained. I continued to push myself thinking it was all mental, although I did listen to my 'gut' and began thinking I had a stomach virus of sorts. My right side began to hurt but not intensely and I had no fever so I ruled out appendicitis. The pain increased to the point I called my doctor and was told to go to the hospital. Within 2 hours and a cat scan, I learned my appendix needed to be removed STAT!
When I woke, I learned it had ruptured earlier and I was lucky to be alive.
So here is my question: Could chronic CO poisoning, which kills cells in the body and effects major organs also effect the appendix?? No doctor nor hospital staff person could comprehend how I could drive to the hospital and admit myself OR lived through the prior days without complaining or feeling horrible pain. They agreed it was my overall good health/supplementation/diet. I believe I kept severe Chronic CO poisoning at bay by my healthy lifestyle. I also would like to know if anyone has had whistling in their ears as a result of the CO??? As I type I continue to have this whistling noise in my ears. Is it tinnitus? And will it go away over time? Can someone help me?

I really don't know where to start really. I remeber a few years ago my daughter started getting severe headaches which the doctors had diagnosed as migranes.. My OTHER DAUGHTER STARTED COMPLAING THE PAST 4-5 MO. OF HEADACHES,and nausea. Last week she was takin to the ER for fainting at work, dizzy, weak not being able to understand things - confused. they claimed it was her ears. they took all kinds of blood tests but never test her blood for CO poisoning. I never put things together until just tonight. The past 3 nights my husband and son have been going to camp and yes drinking a few beers with their friend thats staying there for deer season. usually the 3 of them can go through a 30 pack in one night with a simple drunk. but, these three nights my son and husband were totally out of it,, confused, dizzy, ill, saying things they usually would never say. my son has had stomach pains for 3-4 days and my husband had been limited to 3 beers tonight and he came home toatally screwed up, incoherent, unable to be in control of motor skills and out of the blue breaking down and crying, i asked him why he was crying n he didnt know, I did see this as something wrong especially when I realized when I had gone to a friends that I have been unnessarly moody and depressed and burst out crying for no reason. which is totally not like me. I have not been at the camp for more than 2-3 minutes in the camper but all of us have been in this house and I swear i have smelled the exahuast from our propane hot water tank numberous times and we also have a wood furnace. I have place almost every symptom with all of us. Heres the real kicker. My youngest son has had headaches and body pains for about 4 days. have not been to the camp niether has my one daughter. We have been seeing numberous symptoms through out the year and it just so happenes it is just bout when we had to take apart the hot water heater to clean the burning unit because of black suet not letting the fuel burn correctly. My husband and son are sleeping right now but are still not feeling well. and it just so happens since our friend was staying at the campper tonight i had a freind go check tings out there and they found a propane leak in the oven. So my conclusion is... my son and husband were double dosing themselves. and we the rest were getting the house CO problems. I have some windows and exahaust fans going tonight and propane shut off. I hope we will be ok. im afraid to go to sleep n not feeling so good with upset stomache and all. so i am going to keep my eye on everyone.

There was natural gas leaks coming from the street, the gas workers pop out of the hole and said this thing has been there for years, cause my improperly fitted couplings, calcifying the ground for hundred of yard, killing all vegetation and it had no smell.

For many years after the my leak was discovered, I complained to the city and Congress woman to have the faulty pipes fitted. It was stress. I finally moved. The stress coupled with the long sickness and miscarriage was all to much, my son had been diagnosed with asthma but fainting is not a symptom I found out. I did not know we don't have asthma in our family, the symptom for natural gas are similar to carbon monoxide except the "spaghetti arms" or "rag doll" babies and children see ghost, I saw one once too, so I believed my son.

It is unfortunate, many think they have a flu but in reality is it natural gas coming from aged infrastucture.

I drove a second-hand Vs Commadore wagon for a year or so, using it to travel to work and to pick up my daughter from her daycare... Anyways, my Daughter got a bit of a cough a few months back, which was a bit chesty, she had it for ages then I noticed I started to get it too... The coughing continued, came also with bad moods and lack of comfortable sleep, my daughter and I also started getting bad eczema, and I started to wonder what it was. When doing maintenance on the car I found that the exhaust manifold pipe had cracked and exhaust must have been going through the ventilation system of the car... I'm sure I should have noticed the smell of the fumes, I hope that the guy I bought it from had no idea that it was cracked, and I hope that I got it fixed before any negative physical long-term effects occur with myself and my daughter...
Hopefully its fixed the problem...

within 11 months of working as a lube tech my son started twiching, not sleeping, headaches, ect,... Then a view month's later another young man on same job started having the same problems. How many more of you are out there?

I have had all of these symptoms too. Has anyone had burning of the lips, tongue, inside of mouth, across the shoulders ,or top of thighs? Please reply .








Has anyone had problems with burning of the mouth, tongue, lips, tops of thighs, and bacc of the shoulders?
I have had all the other symptions also.

I drove a 1985 Toyota for 12 years. I was ill for most of those years. Did not equate illness with my car. Next car I bought was an Oldsmobile. Most of my symptoms went away,again never occurred to me there might be a car connection. I was given a Toyota as a loaner while my olds was in the shop. All my symptoms returned the second day while driving the Toyota. Is anyone else familiar with this problem? I was interested in the Prius but terrified of becoming ill. I also like the SUV. I wonder what caused my symptoms. Has the problem been rectified?

2 months after working as a lube tech I started twitching, as the months went by it got worst. Now a friend of mine working on same job is starting to twitch too. anyone else out there?

Due to chronic long term co exposures, me and my son continually get numb hands and disorientation, while I also get studdering and tripping on (can't say what I want/mean) words. Petroleum products, gas, oil, or other are dangerous when concentrating indoors.

As a gas company rep once explained to me, while there's often no leak to the extent they look for with the tool the gas company has created to measure/show the level they consider problematic, the gasses (pilots) are ever present (and combusting and concentrating indoors) combining with other chemicals/gasses and becoming yet something else or something more- also undetected, unregulated, and dangerous as it's not being picked up or tested for. by these meters supposedly for our protection.

Thanks anyway Board of Health and Fire Dept., someday the technology may ever catch up with our on board God given body technology which is far more advanced and superior at setting off internal regulator alarms to alert us to these toxins, to remove ourselves from these environments as quickly as possible, or suffer the consequences.

6 months ago I developed nerve like pain along my lower jaw along with some gum inflammation.
Thinking I had an infection below the gum line, I went to see my dentist. She said my teeth and gums were in good shape and gave me a regular cleaning. A month later, the pain was worse and my gumline was beginning to recede. The periodontist didn't have an explanation as my xrays looked good. more syptoms have followed: anxiety, mild depression, heart palpitations, insomnia and fatigue. went to see many other specialist but none have been able to identify any diseases.

I heard about CO poisoning at low levels and I feel certain that I have been exposed and now suffering the symptoms. I am going to get a portable CO detector for my car and home.

since oxygen therapy is an effective way of treating CO poisoning, I am going to try a product called Opaline detox kit which delivers oxygen through a capsule and bath soak.

I pray that we all find and answer and speedy health recovery so that we can enjoy life again... God bless.

I suspect my daughter's family has been and continues to be exposed to low level monoxide. they all have some or all of the symptoms, especially her. Her levels have been at 13 more than once in the last year and 1/2. Her husbands have been "elevated". The kids have not been checked. The doctor says it is because she smokes, but she had always smoked and her husband smokes off and on.
They say the house has been tested, but I know there is not a detector in the basement, but the water heater is there and it is gas.
There are several levels to the house, a gas heater that they do not use in the family room and a gas range, as well as two gas ovens.
What would be a do-able once over to help build my case? I think she would do certain things just to shut me up!

My husband was hospitalized for a week back in Sept. or Oct. 2011. After numerous blood tests doctors never did figure out what was wrong with him. After reading this web site I am positive this is what is wrong with my husband. He had muscle aches to the point of not being able to walk, a slight fever, and unexplained rashes (hives plus two others). They called in the dermatologist and the infectious disease doctor. He was tested for Lupus and was recommended to see a RA specialist. He never did follow up with the Arthritis doctor. He is now sick again. He is a UPS driver and rides with the doors open, as all the drivers do b/c there is no a/c in the trucks. What an eye opener!

As a result of a malfunctioning furnace, I was exposed to low levels for 90 days. Durring that time I had a resting heart rate over 100 bpm. I was often nauseous and some times vomited. My doctors could not figure out where my symptoms were coming from. The pilot light in my furnace went out and the gas company discovered debris from a squirrels nest in the furnace.
Following this acident most doctors refused to treat me as there is very little data on low level exposure. It took a lot of searching to find a doctor who was not fearful of litigation who would treat me. It appears as a result of the CO poisioning, I have aquired some endocryn problems such as Hypothroidism and Addisons. I still have unexplained muscle pains and have become clausterphobic. It has been three years since my accident and I am begining to recover. Very hopeful that I will be restored to full health.

I drove semi for almost 40 years, i was exposed to carbonoxide poisoning form truck stops, now that i am not driving i am having problems all the time. Everytime i go to the Dr. my levels are always up to about 30,i have been hospitalized twice in one week for the same thing. At first i thought it was in the house but now know it comes from cars driving by when i am in my vehicle. The fire department cleared my car from even having any problems with co. When ever i go and have anything done at a service garage i have the same problems over again, the only way to get my levels down i have to go to the hospital and get oxigen put on for a couple of hours. I recommend everyone to have a blood test done to have your levels check. the first time i had the problems i was rush to the Hospital by ambulance, if it would have been an hour later i would have been dead.

I work in a gasoline equipment repair shop and i would like to know how long should it take to exhaust the room free from carbon monoxide.

been in the coffee biz many yrs. 10 yrs in 2 different roasting plants. it is a joke in the industry that coffee roasters are grumpy. hmmm. continual irrational behaviour, memory loss, tiredness, flu like syptoms. schizo/depressed mental states, people passing out, stomach issues, headaches, sinus issues, list is endless. all symptos displayed by just about everyone. when coffee is ground in large batches high co is expelled. over 300 PPM within a few feet of the grinder. the is a serious issue in the coffee industry, sadly i think everyone is so affected by it that their ability to understand the situ is impaired by their poisoning. so next time you have a cup o joe, just think of those poor people who are sick from this. sadly who is going to rock the huge world of coffee, the second most traded comodity on the planet.

I have chemical poisoning from being over exposed to gas called ozone..in which I\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m sure everyone knows about the ozone layer which protects from the uv rays in the upper atmosphere and also enters lower atmospher on a lightning storm ...when nOw ozone levels on earth on going up more and more everyday from all the pollution to our environment ...ozone is increasing on earth because of us....do we want to where gas mask ...we climb a mountain on the last 100yrs when is it ginna stop when we can\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t breath our own air...or drink r own water... If you have an air purifier check what make... Don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t use ozone save ur self.., start paying attention everyone

My sister lived in low dose exposed one year two months her bird died in april last year she thought she had sinus headaches or sometimes migrain tired or flu dec.last year city did red flag her apt. by jan she had past for at least twenty min in her shower the doc said not in blood so cant be from co poisen she still is sick blood sugar hit 400 no one thinks it is still but she still feels weird

I have an unusual problem: My wife and I are at loggerheads with our apartment manager, having first annoyed him by complaining when two neighbors in the adjoining building made a habit of running their dryers for periods of up to 12 hours a day and filling our home with fumes to which we seem to be sensitive. He responded with a three-day notice based on provably false claims of a lease violation on our part. We refuted it with a notice of our own, and also demanded that he repair some problems of long standing.

The manager is now determined to punish us. We've overheard him telling neighbors that we're "crazy," and his daughter has taken to idling an old, grossly polluting minivan directly in front of our apartment for periods ranging from six to thirteen minutes, completely filling our apartment with exhaust and producing multiple CO poisoning symptoms. In addition, another neighbor in the complex, living behind us, has modified the exhaust on her SUV to make it run more loudly, and also idles for periods of four to thirteen minutes every morning, with effects similar to those from the minivan.

In short, I think the apartment manager is suborning harassment in a form that may also constitute battery, using vehicle exhaust as a weapon. The trouble is, this is just about impossible to prove, although we do have extensive documentation and photographic evidence of the idling behavior itself.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to handle this? It's rapidly undermining our health.

I have an unusual problem: My wife and I are at loggerheads with our apartment manager, having first annoyed him by complaining when two neighbors in the adjoining building made a habit of running their dryers for periods of up to 12 hours a day and filling our home with fumes to which we seem to be sensitive. He responded with a three-day notice based on provably false claims of a lease violation on our part. We refuted it with a notice of our own, and also demanded that he repair some problems of long standing.

The manager is now determined to punish us. We've overheard him telling neighbors that we're "crazy," and his daughter has taken to idling an old, grossly polluting minivan directly in front of our apartment for periods ranging from six to thirteen minutes, completely filling our apartment with exhaust and producing multiple CO poisoning symptoms. In addition, another neighbor in the complex, living behind us, has modified the exhaust on her SUV to make it run more loudly, and also idles for periods of four to thirteen minutes every morning, with effects similar to those from the minivan.

In short, I think the apartment manager is suborning harassment in a form that may also constitute battery, using vehicle exhaust as a weapon. The trouble is, this is just about impossible to prove, although we do have extensive documentation and photographic evidence of the idling behavior itself.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to handle this? It's rapidly undermining our health.

Very helpful summary. My former office was situated above an underground parking garage. I experienced low level auto exhaust exposure for approximately 8 months. At first I was not aware I was being exposed; then I was assured that the level was too low to matter. Then I began experiencing some of the symptoms you list. Inspection revealed holes communicating between my office and the garage below, as well as measurable VOC's in my office. My CO detector never went off. Since the landlord just denied the problem, refused to plug the holes or do anything, and would not release me from my lease, I simply moved my office to the conference room of a hotel across the street.
Finally, the landlord (Marc Realty) sought to refinance the building and required an affidavit from each tenant that the premises were in excellent condition.
So they finally let me out of my lease.

I suspect a close friend of mine is experiencing the effects of long term chronic exposure to CO. She has virtually all the symptoms listed on this website and more. I am interested in whether anyone has ever reported dental pain as a symptom of either short term or long term exposure to CO. She has begun to develop skin rashes.

This month, I became very ill and had severe pain in my head, neck, jaw, frontal neck bone, chest, arms, and hands. My feet also stopped being able to stay warm even with the heater on. My family was having cold type symtoms and even our dog had developed ragged and raspy breathing. After being in the hospital for a day and a half and eventually coming home feeling quite well considering how badly I felt with the severe pain and vomitting, I was home for 24 hours and began to experience the same symtoms all over again and realized that something in this house was making me ill and I suspected everyone else. I told my husband that I was shutting down the heater and at first we suspected toxic mold. But my husband tore into the area that we suspected and found no mold issues in the walls or shower area. So, I now suspect as my doctors have leaned towards that it may be CO exposure on a low level that has been longterm. We had a brand new central heat and air system replaced 8 years ago by a professional who knows my husband, but we both now know that it is indeed something in our home that is causing the problem as all have cleared up, including our dog's breathing. We still have major fatigue problems. But there is no longer any air coming through our ventilation system and we are roughing it with a cold house until we find out. We bought a CO detector, but I am too afraid to turn the heater back on to test it and would prefer that PG&E come out to test it and pay them to enter our attic and test for that. I was too ill and the pain caused me to cry out loudyly for many many hours when it reached the point of making me unable to walk or even sit upright at all. My mood has also been majorly affected, but I assumed that was only due to my bipolar, ect. illness. But I had also been experiencing memory loss and unable to frequently recall names of close friends, phone numbers, even my own medical record number, ect. That was unusual for me and for quite some time..years...I have been unable to focus or concentrate on reading, ect., focus my eyesight and losing my balance and with dizziness and profuse sweating that worsened with even slight exertion. I have felt ill for quite some time, but I have several medical problems and immune issues that I blamed those on and now suspect that possibly exposure longterm to CO was actually making my illnesses worse or being blamed on those illnesses instead of properly blaming my symptoms on either CO exposure or something else in the house. But by seeing the symtoms of longterm CO exposure, which I have had all of, and seeing my family clear up after shutting down our heater, I do suspect CO exposure on a low level that gradually increased so severely in my system that caused the severe illness and other issues. I sleep directly under a vent while the rest of my family in the house uses a C-PAP machine, air purifiers, and fans. They were still ill, but not to the extent I got. But my dog who does sleep with me was having bad issues that I assumed that he was simply ill and going to die. I am glad to have read this and what others have experienced because I now have more of a focus on what the problem is and will immediately call to have the heater tested. Our water heater is in the garage, so we do not think that is it and it is not connected in any way to the ventilation system in our home. Thanks and I hope that anyone else experiencing these types of symptoms will not question themselves too much and will have their home tested immediately. I know that it can kill and make you suffer severely now.

Well, we've lived in our house for over 5 years and based on what I'm researching, it looks like we've been getting sick every "heating season" due to CO poisoning. The symptoms apparently get worse over time, which is why, after 5 years, my wife is really sick this year. She has been sick for the past 1-2 months with a chronic headache, flu-like symptoms, and most recently vomitting. My kids have also been sick on and off, but we thought it was the normal sick season. My tinnittus has been really bad lately and although I haven't been "foggy", have been really "off" with my behavior/personality.

Tonight I researched this stuff cuz my wife has been sick too much and we can't explain it. It's odd to get the same stomach flu type virus 2 times in less than a month. And although we've been passing another flu-type virus around (I assume the flu since we had fevers.), I imagine that our systems are weakened by the CO.

OK...so I checked our CO detector randomly over the past few years and it always said 150-180 ppm. I thought it odd, but checked the back and it says, "Calibrated to 200 ppm for 90 mins, Audible alarm at 100ppm for 35mins". I never really new what that meant so I figured, "well, it's not going off with the alarm so it's probably in the normal range."
NOW I FIND OUT THAT ANYTHING ABOVE 35ppm IS DANGEROUS!!! This has been going on for years!!! We have 3 young children and God only knows what effect this has had on our lives, health, relationships, motivation, productivity, moods, etc.
Since it's midnight, I will be checking the detectors until morning and then calling the Non-emergency fire dept. phone line for them to come check the CO levels in the house.
Looks like we may be getting into further debt to replace the furnace and water heater if needed. Those and the clothes dryer are the only 3 things that burn gas to run so it's gotta be one of them. My guess is the furnace which is probably 10+ years old.
Good luck to everyone. I hope we clear the haze and rise to better overall health and wellbeing by fixing this.

Add chest pain to the list of symptoms for chronic low level exposure.

That's what I suffered for a whole year due to a gas wall heater!

I just retired after a career at the Canadian Coast Guard.

I was exposed to low levels many times over the years and have so so so many carbon monoxide related "sad" days.

Mum was in her 70\'s, but I was shocked about how badly affected her long term memory had suddenly become over a period of 6 months. Important events from years ago had totally disappeared. If it had been dementia, I would have expected her short term memory to be mainly affected, but the long term to have been relatively OK. I discussed it with the GP who agreed that her pattern was unusual. My mother refused to go to the doctor because she thought this was all part of the \'normal aging process\'.
A few weeks later my father for some reason got the gas fires and cooker checked by the Gas Board. Both the fire and the grill (on the cooker) in the kitchenette were condemned, all due to CO. They were all replaced.
Gradually over a period of months I observed that my mother\'s memory for recent current events was slightly improving. She seemed brighter and more confident. However the long term memory of those specific important events remained lost.
I think it took about eighteen months before I felt the gradual improvement had levelled off. She never returned to her previous \'healthy\' level of short and long term memories.

I was renting a garage apartment when I was in my early 20's. I noticed while I was living there that a. there was the faint smell of gas coming from the kitchen...and b. Whenever I was at my house I felt sort of groggy and spaced-out, and when I came home, I felt like passing out, and that I had a hard time waking up..As a result, I spent a lot of time away from my apartment. Eventually I "wised up" to the fact that I might have an issue, and I contacted the gas company. It turned out I had a somewhat "major" leak in the space where a heater in the bathroom had once been, and also, there was monoxde coming from the oven.
I have had mild autistic traits since I was a child, but I wonder if a lot of my neuro and memory issues were exacerbated by my bout of exposure. I am medicated for ADD and anxiety, but the meds don't do a whole lot of good...

I am currently renting a new apartment with gas heating. I am in the midst of experiencing a "monoxide scare" as my smoke alarm keeps going off when it shouldn't and also, I have been having headaches, mood problems, heavy-chestedness and so-on...in addition to trouble getting out of bed in the morning...The mood problems have been such that I have been feeling somewhat "crazy".
It is kind of depressing.

I feel I have been a victim of low level CO Poisoning. This has included the symptoms of long durations of acute diarrhea. All of the before mentioned symptoms are included at some point of time throughout the cold season months. When I was brought to the ER for the first time, they treated me as a drug overdose victim of my own doing!

Since then, I've developed chronic IBS. The symptoms of low level constant CO poisoning has always persisted. Low on income because of lost work and stuck in this place. Any help to change this situation?????

Please contact w/ any info @ mcguirejms@yahoo.com

I ONLY WISH I NEW SOMEONE THAT WOULD HAVE TESTED THE SCHOOL BUS I WAS DRIVING BEFOR I WAS DAMAGED. I CANT TELL YOU HOW CRAZY IT CAN EFFECT A PERSONS INTIRER LIFE. I WANTED TO END MY LIFE SO MANY TIMES, I CANNOT FUNCTION THE SAME AS I DID BEFORE. I DONT HAVE MY LIFE ANYMORE. I CAN NOT DO HALF THE THINGS I COULD IN A DAY BEFORE I WAS POISONED. FINDING WORDS TO TELL YOU MY STORY, TO LATE TO LONG. DAMAGE IS DONE TO LATE FINDING THE PROBLEM WITH THE SCHOOL BUS.

I\'m not sure how long I was affected by CO but over the past few months it is if I have awoken from a haze. I have come to realize my behaviour was off, easily becoming agitated, reactive and odd. I cringe at the mistakes I have made over the past year and wish I had realized it was my old truck that was causing it. I had no idea.

The more I drove, the worse my behaviour was and the more people didn\'t want me around. I started school about an hour drive from home which is when things started to go downhill gradually until I could barely walk, was short on breath and had trouble with focus. A drive to a doctor which got worse the closer I got to the office to a point where my hands tingled, my legs were ice-cold, I was short-breathed and I became delirious. Falling on the walls of the office barely able to stand, I mentioned to this new doctor that I, \"was in bad shape\". He immediately called emergency and I was taken to hospital. They thought I was having a heart attack. On oxygen for the full day I slowly got better. Tests showed phosphorus & oxygen was very low, and my system was stressed. The doctors had no idea what had caused the system problems.

Upon driving home I got a bit sick again and attempted to figure it out. \"Why did I get more ill the closer I got to the doctor\'s office?\" I bought a battery CO monitor and had it in the truck for a short drive and the numbers were 266-283ppm. I had found my answer and a hole in the door hing to the engine compartment leaked the co directly into the cab of the truck.

I have lost my schooling, job, friends, etc as a result of this and, although I figured out what was causing it, the damage is done. Short-term memory problems became apparent while going to school and in reading correspondence for the past year - I was definitely not myself. My kidney\'s are still struggling along and my immune system is shot. The depression, frustration, anguish, anxiety and regret circle around me as the picture gradually became clear as I recover. Or have I? I had no idea that this was happening and it has cost me dearly. Any hint of exhaust fumes makes me ill and I\'m hesitant to drive anything. I seem to have a daily headache that follows me everywhere. I wish I had checked the exhaust system properly.

my ex bought me a car an older toyota. every time i drive it i smell exhaust fumes inside the car. Now I'm having health issues and I'm wondering if there is a connection

whilst bing poisoned by car exhaust 3 years ago unknown one of symptoms was bright red face like i had high bp and excessive sweating this led to exzema on my face in the same butterfly distribution pattern as lupus all stages of exzema tried antibiotics cremes ointments skin went like leather led to my already hermit co induced habit worsening took 3years after co in car diagnosed now any allergin triggers it

i smelled fumes and ifelt difficulty breathing sat near to window where outside male running car engine for prolonged period my daughter who had just been to hospital for eye problems lives here and is subjected to this daily and worryingly told me she has the feeling someone is watching her at night i have just read this is a symtom since this exposure i have had pain and twitching left eye pain in left lung and feeling paniky and at first a taste of metal in my mouth my daughter has been seeming spaced and confused both of us already fatigue not first time exposed so at first thought flu then mental health then after yrs a gas engineer found a y shaped cut behind gas fire letting in fumes so after having to give up job thencollege course getting divorced a real cause found i returned to work

Over last winter and this winter I have been exposed to low levels of CO poisoining because if my masonry stove without knowing it. I discovered this last month. I have most of these symptoms including constant headache, nausea, problems focusing, mood swings, irritability, shallow breathing, anxiety attacks, intolerance of loud noise, lack of concentration, difficulties in expressing myself, cold hands, skin lesions

I learned that I was poisoned over several years. I had most of the symptoms listed here but also had weird skins rashes.

Is that related to CO? Has anyone else got them?