Carbon monoxide connects to red blood cells, robbing oxygen from your body it requires to survive. It combines with these cells over 200 times more smoothly than oxygen, creating a condition known as carboxyhemoglobin saturation.
Carbon monoxide, instead of oxygen, then gets brought to the vital organs through the bloodstream. In short, carbon monoxide deprives your body of oxygen. Organs have to have oxygen; when they don’t have it, they begin to suffocate.
It takes your body a long time to get rid of carbon monoxide; however, it can be absorbed much more quickly.