Thursday, October 12, 2006

Are you feeling sleepy/lethargic lately?

I kept feeling sleepy last week...just couldn't figure out why...so decided to blame the haze...haha...actually I thought it must be psychological lah :P

Then someone mentioned she felt the same way too...hmm...then I really started to wonder whether it's the haze...

Last Sat I was referred to the website by the National Environment Agency on the latest PSI readings...
There's this 24-hr PSI at 4pm for each day...where they report the SO2 (sulphur dioxide), PM10, ozone and CO (carbon monoxide) level...

I noticed the CO level was abt 30-40 on Fri and Sat when the air was very hazy...and that is still within the good range of 1-50...
However on Sunday when the haze was gone...the CO level was in the single digit range!!!
Which means there's something like 5x more CO in the air than normal during hazy days...maybe that's the reason for the sleepiness...after all, sleepiness is one of the early symptoms of CO poisoning :P

So that's my theory...haha...
Saying that...increased my dose of Cordymax seem to help elevate these symptoms...maybe from the increased VO max :D


Some facts abt Carbon Monoxide

What is carbon monoxide (CO)?


Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and toxic gas produced as a by-product of combustion ...well, not surprising there's additional CO in the air with the haze...plenty of incomplete combustion gg on in our neighbouring country :P

What are the medical effects of CO?

Carbon monoxide inhibits the blood's ability to carry oxygen to body tissues including vital organs such as the heart and brain. When CO is inhaled, it combines with the oxygen carrying hemoglobin of the blood to form carboxyhemoglobin (COHb). Once combined with the hemoglobin, that hemoglobin is no longer available for transporting oxygen
...well, lack of oxygen in the brain can sure make ppl sleepy :P

How quickly the carboxyhemoglobin builds up is a factor of the concentration of the gas being inhaled (measured in parts per million or PPM) and the duration of the exposure. Compounding the effects of the exposure is the long half-life of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood. Half-life is a measure of how quickly levels return to normal. The half-life of carboxyhemoglobin is approximately 5 hours. This means that for a given exposure level, it will take about 5 hours for the level of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood to drop to half its current level after the exposure is terminated.

What are some symptoms of acute low level CO poisoning?

The earliest symptoms, especially from low level exposures, are often non-specific and readily confused with other illnesses, typically flu-like viral syndromes, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and migraine or other headaches
...anyone experience any of such symptoms recently?

The effects of carbon monoxide in parts per million are listed below:

35 ppm (0.0035%) Headache and dizziness within six to eight hours of constant exposure
100 ppm (0.01%) Slight headache in two to three hours
200 ppm (0.02%) Slight headache within two to three hours
400 ppm (0.04%) Frontal headache within one to two hours
800 ppm (0.08%) Dizziness, nausea, and convulsions within 45 minutes. Insensible within two hours.
1,600 ppm (0.16%) Headache, dizziness, and nausea within 20 minutes. Death in less than two hours.
3,200 ppm (0.32%) Headache, dizziness and nausea in five to ten minutes. Death within 30 minutes.
6,400 ppm (0.64%) Headache and dizziness in one to two minutes. Death in less than 20 minutes.
12,800 ppm (1.28%) Death in less than three minutes.

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