“Can a person develop Co2 narcosis and become unconscious without obvious signs of distress?”
I want to know can a person develop Co2 narcosis and become unconscious without obvious signs of distress? Can they drift off into what appears like sleep and become unresponsive?
4 Answers
Yes.
Your body has two receptors that drive breathing. Receptors that tell you there's not enough oxygen and receptors that tell you there's too much carbon dioxide.
In people with chronic lung disease, the receptor for carbon dioxide gets reset to where it doesn't alert the breathing centers when the carbon dioxide starts to climb. So, people with chronic lung disease depend only on the oxygen receptors.
If you put someone with chronic lung disease on significantly more oxygen than they're used to, their oxygen receptors think everything is just great and the carbon dioxide receptor is not working at all. The brain is thus not alerted and while the oxygen remains good, carbon dioxide continues to climb.
Eventually, the carbon dioxide will climb so high that it causes the blood to become acidic, and this will make you go unconscious and become unresponsive.
If someone with chronic lung disease develops increasing shortness of breath, it's best to take them to the emergency room. We don't recommend turning up the oxygen to higher than normal.
Your body has two receptors that drive breathing. Receptors that tell you there's not enough oxygen and receptors that tell you there's too much carbon dioxide.
In people with chronic lung disease, the receptor for carbon dioxide gets reset to where it doesn't alert the breathing centers when the carbon dioxide starts to climb. So, people with chronic lung disease depend only on the oxygen receptors.
If you put someone with chronic lung disease on significantly more oxygen than they're used to, their oxygen receptors think everything is just great and the carbon dioxide receptor is not working at all. The brain is thus not alerted and while the oxygen remains good, carbon dioxide continues to climb.
Eventually, the carbon dioxide will climb so high that it causes the blood to become acidic, and this will make you go unconscious and become unresponsive.
If someone with chronic lung disease develops increasing shortness of breath, it's best to take them to the emergency room. We don't recommend turning up the oxygen to higher than normal.
Yes. Someone can develop CO2 narcosis and not realize anything is wrong. They may just think they are tired. Eventually they will became altered and become less and less conscious.
Yes, if it's chronic and gradual.
Yes, if it's chronic and gradual.
