Carbon monoxide connects with red blood cells, robbing your body of the oxygen it has to have to thrive. It mixes with these cells nearly 200 times more easily than oxygen, creating a condition known as carboxyhemoglobin saturation.
Carbon monoxide, in place of oxygen, then gets taken to the important organs by the bloodstream. To put it simply, carbon monoxide starves your body of oxygen. Organs require oxygen; when they don’t have it, they begin to suffocate.
It takes your body a long time to eliminate carbon monoxide; however, it can be drawn in much faster.