Carbon monoxide connects with red blood cells, robbing oxygen from your body it has to have to survive. It combines with these cells more than 200 times more easily than oxygen, resulting in a condition known as carboxyhemoglobin saturation.
Carbon monoxide, on lieu of oxygen, then gets taken to the important organs via the bloodstream. Simply put, carbon monoxide deprives your body of oxygen. Organs require oxygen; without it, they begin to suffocate.
It takes your body a long time to get rid of carbon monoxide; however, it can be taken in much more quickly.