ELI5 Does death from carbon monoxide intoxification hurt and why?

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ELI5 Does death from carbon monoxide intoxification hurt and why?

In: Biology

You go to sleep and don’t wake up. The body doesn’t react to the buildup like it does with CO2. Same with inert gases. The body doesn’t realize it is suffocating and you just drift off.

No, (f I remember rightly from biology) Carbon monoxide replaces oxygen as the gas absorbed into the red blood cells. Due to a lack of oxygen, your brain would fall asleep and your body would eventually shut down.

It’s even more dangerous as your body **prefers** carbon monoxide and will refuse to take in oxygen even after brief exposure to the alternative. Definitely not something to play with and hopefully this was just an innocent question. Stay safe!

I had carbon monoxide poisoning. Some of the first symptoms were a splitting headache and extreme nausea

Thank you all for the clarification! And yes, it was just an innocent question. I was just curious about this ever since i learnt about this from biology lessons. 🙂