Carbon Monoxide poisoning ?

[Colin Wilson]

Bit of an odd query this...

I work in the utility industry, and have been getting ongoing daily queries from a member of the public (lets say its a "he") as to ill- effects they say they're getting after being in their house for an hour or so around certain times.

They have "issues" with a neighbour who is a gas fitter / plumber due to some previous unspecified incident, but think *he* is causing whatever is making him feel ill (headachey, nausea, tingly pain in his legs). He says he can no longer stay in the house overnight (or for more than a couple of hours) because of the way it makes him feel.

It would probably be fair to describe their logic and reasoning to be "erratic" which would appear to tie in with the HSE website's symptom list, although i'm not sure if they'd been in the house prior to speaking to me :-}

Mention was made of the sound of running water prior to feeling ill, which lead me to think it might be central heating related - aka fume spillage from either his or his neighbours' installation.

It strikes me as being an "environmental" effect rather than his talk of some sort of electrical / electronic disturbance...

Does anyone have first-hand experience of the symptoms of CO - what did you "get" ?

FWIW i've already suggested it could be CO and *dangerous* - so he took himself off to WHSmiths to buy a CO detector (don't ask - I printed off the *WOOLWORTHS* webpage with a detector on it so he knew what he was looking for - and where - as you can tell he's a little puddled...)

I also suggested calling the BG emergency number, which I believe he is keeping in mind.

Any thoughts ?

[Gel]

BG aren't always good at detecting CO; see story, top right hand corner on

Useful CO info there; didnt realise Smiths sold CO detectors; assume was one of those useless CO spots that change colour?

Why not "hire" electr> Bit of an odd query this...

[Colin Wilson]

They don't, hence I printed off a page from WOOLWORTHS website...

We've got one that was "given" to the mother-in-law after she paid vast amounts of money to BG to install a room-sealed flued fan boiler system (wtf would she need one for given what they were fitting ?)

We managed to accidentally trigger it one day as the front door was open for about a minute while I went about defrosting the car (the back end of the car was facing the door) - it was nice to see it actually work "in anger" :-p

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

Symptoms of CO poisoning can be very vague: headache, lethargy, poor concentration etc.

A few years ago, I pointed out a rather obvious reporting error to a Consultant Radiologist. His excuse was that there'd been a CO leak into his office at the time.

I didn't know whether to believe him! (It certainly seemed like the best excuse I'd ever heard...)

Carboxyhaemoglobin is fairly stable, but labs that test for it are few & far between. A kken GP ought to be able to arrange such a test, but would probably be deterred by the amount of phoning needed. Seeing the GP in the first instance might be a good idea. Communicating with the gatekeepers at A&E might be challenging but could be rewarding if the chap's suspicions are proved right.

[Owain]

I suggest that "he" goes to see his doctor as an urgent appointment and specifically mentions his concerns about CO poisoning to the Doc.

Owain

[Colin Wilson]

Going by my experiences over the last few days, I have little doubt i'll see "him" again tomorrow :-}

[Jeff Mowatt]

Not peronally, but this was something that happened to my sister and her husband in the house that I now live in, due to a faulty gas fire.

The symptoms were extreme drowsiness only. Fortunately she managed to wake him (with some dificulty) before they both checked out. CO I believe, is regarded as a silent killer because you don't normally get warning signs.

Have you considered electomagnetic sources? I'm no medical expert but I understand being too close to something emitting stray radiation, like a leaky microwave or being too close to a wireless hotspot could have adverse affects.

Jeff

Col> Does anyone have first-hand experience of the symptoms of CO - what did > you "get" ? >

[dingbat]

It's a lot like being pissed, but you go pink too.

I confirmed it (on my own one evening in a friend's house) by picking the Calibrated Standard Test Cat off the faulty boiler and dropping it. When she landed on her head, I knew it wasn't just me. Apparently I pulled the fuse out of the boiler, left the front and back doors wide open "for ventilation", then went to bed.

[Colin Wilson]

I knew about the pink bits :-)

LOL

[Guy King]

The message from "Jeff Mowatt" contains these words:

Have you got any /reliable/ referrences for that? There's a lot of bollocks talked about EM radiation, but hardly any of it stands up to scrutiny.

It is possible to affect the brain with magnetic fields, but you need really really high fields. Google for "transcranial magnetic stimulation"

Other effects are largely unproven. The few studies that have shown any effect have not been repeatable.

[Andy Hall]

Wireless hot spot?

ROTFLMAO..

[Andrew Gabriel]

My parents had an open flued boiler many years ago which stopped burning properly. The first sign was that all the house plants started losing all their leaves. The humans never noticed any symptoms themselves. It could have been an excess of CO2 or SO2 which hit the plants, rather than CO.

[The Medway Handyman]

And I thought that was just my age!

[tony sayer]

In article , Jeff Mowatt writes

And don't forget alien spacecraft.....

[Jeff Mowatt]

[Christian McArdle]

I suspect that his erratic logic is more likely due to his mental illness and paranoia. Once the CO is ruled out by an electronic test, I'd push him in the direction of his doctor to see if he needs to head for the local funny farm.

Christian.

[manatbandq]

Do you use a mobile? If you are worried try reading up on the inverse square law and see which you think is worse, 2m form the 11b transmitter or a few mm from your mobile.

MBQ

[Guy King]

The message from "Jeff Mowatt" contains these words:

I've read it, and can't see anything in there that should worry you. It mentions that exposure can be above the level of [mobile phone] base station exposure. It doesn't go on to list any proven health risks from this.

[Guy King]

The message from "Christian McArdle" contains these words:

Lithium as a cure for CO poisoning!

[Andy Hall]

Is this like the guy who goes to the doctor and confides that "he has a friend with a discharge" ?