Carbon monoxide connects with red blood cells, robbing oxygen from your body it needs to live. It blends with these cells nearly 200 times more smoothly than oxygen, creating a condition known as carboxyhemoglobin saturation.
Carbon monoxide, instead of oxygen, then gets brought to the important organs through the bloodstream. To put it simply, carbon monoxide starves your body of oxygen. Organs require oxygen; when they lack it, they begin to suffocate.
It takes your body a long time to eliminate carbon monoxide; however, it can be absorbed much faster.