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SMYRNA, Del. (CBS) — Carbon monoxide can quickly make people disoriented. Fortunately for this Delaware student, she was able to put her watch to work.
“It was extremely scary,” Natalie Nasatka said.
Nasatka is starting the new year grateful to be alive.
“I ended up losing consciousness,” she said.
She’s describing a bout of carbon monoxide poisoning that happened in her Smyrna, Delaware apartment.
“I was feeling extremely exhausted,” Nasatka said. “My vision was getting blurry.”
Before she passed out, Nasatka reached for her Apple Watch. She hit the SOS button, putting out an emergency call to 911.
“When I heard the firefighters yell out ‘fire department’ and they yanked me out of bed, I just started crying and saying ‘I want to live. I want to live,'” she said.
Carbon monoxide is a gas that has no color, odor or taste.
The silent killer claims more than 400 people a year and sends 50,000 Americans to the emergency room.
“It is a lack of oxygen that affects the body. There are certain things become irreversible, the heart can be damaged. Once the brain has been without oxygen for too long, there can be irreversible symptoms,” Dr. Lynn Farrugia, an emergency department physician, said.
The early warning signs include dizziness, confusion and vomiting.
“I’ve been riding waves of emotions,” Nasatka said.
Nasatka, who’s a student, said she was lucky that help arrived quickly and she was revived in an ambulance with oxygen.
“The carbon monoxide was confirmed because the fire department monitor read 80 parts per million in the apartment, which is extremely high,” she said.
She thinks the gas leak came from a faulty heater, which is one of the leading causes for carbon monoxide poisoning in the winter.
Plus, there was no detector in the apartment, something she admits she should have had for herself and her pet, who survived because firefighters opened a window.
“I saw my cat and I just picked her up and said ‘Our job here on Earth isn’t done yet,'” she said.
Experts say all homes should have carbon monoxide detectors, they’re actually required by law in some states.
The CDC has more information on how to buy and install carbon monoxide detectors.
