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Your body will prompt you to breath when either CO2 levels are too high or O2 levels are too low. In your example the subject is still breathing even if he isn
by gozur88 10y ago
Your body will prompt you to breath when either CO2 levels are too high or O2 levels are too low. In your example the subject is still breathing even if he isn't getting O2.
One problem ER docs see periodically is the CO2 "sensor" can become broken in patients with chronically high blood CO2 levels, i.e. people with certain types of COPD. They only breath when their blood O2 levels are low, and if you give them oxygen they just stop breathing.
- teacup50 10y agoThis is not true; just about any relatively non-toxic inert gas other than CO2 can take the place of oxygen without any significant response. We do have a hypoxic respiratory drive, but it is exceptionally weak, and unconsciousness will occur before any noticable distress is noted. The hypercapnia alarm response we're all familiar with is tied to carbon dioxide levels, not oxygen.