Carbon monoxide level 10 as non-smoker

[teacup]

Hi, I had my booking in appointment today with the midwife and she did a carbon monoxide test on me. It came out at a level 10! She said I should get our boiler checked, which we will, but we have two monoxide alarms in the house and they haven't detected anything.

Neither my husband or I are smokers. We live by a busy road I guess, and our neighbour smokes outside by our shower window a few times a day, so a little smoke drifts in sometimes. But my husband used to work as a health care assistant, and he said when he used to do the tests, even smokers wouldn't have a reading as high as 10 after a cigarette.

Did anyone else have this? Should I be worried or could the machine be faulty?

 

[Mrs B.]

I'm not going to be much help apart from telling you mine was 2 (non-smoker and no exposure to smoke) and I'm pretty sure the midwife said she was looking for a number 4 or under. I don't know what a smoker's result would be, but I'd be keen to get re-tested with a different machine. I'd also test the hubs... if it's because of your environment then his should be high too. Also it's worth checking the test button on your alarms if you haven't already... and stick one in the boiler room if it isn't already. GL, I hope it's just a faulty machine!

 

[teacup]

Thanks. Yeah we checked the alarms were working. They're going to retest me at my next appointment so if it's still high then I'll get my husband to test too. That's a good idea, thanks. Neither of us drive or smoke. The road is only busy at rush hour, but I suppose the midwife came not long after rush hour this morning. Didn't even cross my mind I would fail that test! Xx

 

[xxxemmaxxx]

Is this is US thing?
I would definitely check the alarms and ask to be tested with another machine!

 

[MindUtopia]

10 is pretty high. It's worth trying again. It's always possible that the machine is faulty or gave a false positive. You can also buy co detectors that give a numerical reading rather than just an alarm. I don't know how sensitive the house alarms are but they are basically designed to tell you if the levels are high enough to kill you, but may not as easily detect a lower level leak. My husband has to monitor the co level in his commercial premises for his business insurance and has a numerical reader like what the midwives use. It's worth getting on if you're worried and monitoring it yourself. We've brought ours home a few times and the house was fine but his old car (which was pretty crappy) was a 13! I don't know that would be high enough to set off the alarm in the house but it definitely isn't healthy for long term exposure (though wouldn't kill you probably).

 

[Mrs B.]

Is this is US thing?
I would definitely check the alarms and ask to be tested with another machine!

Nope, we're both UK. It's a standard test at the booking appointment I think.

 

[xdxxtx]

That's scary! I've never been tested! I'm curious to get it done after seeing this post! I hope it was a fluke!

 

[xxxemmaxxx]

It must be a new thing as didnt have that in my last pregnancy two years ago!
I'll be interested to see what they say now!

 

[MindUtopia]

It's long been done in the U.K. I had it done with my first and that was 5 years ago. But you might not even notice them doing it. They just bring out the monitor and lay it on the table near you while they fill in your notes and then do a quick check of the reading and record it when they get to that section. Unless it's unusually high they probably wouldn't even mention what it was they were doing. I only noticed because I have a health background and I knew what it was and glanced over because I was curious about what the reading was on it. Otherwise I think it's done fairly discreetly unless any concerns need to be flagged up (mostly if you need help to quit smoking or something).