Posted by chemist on August 28, 2004, at 21:18:33
In reply to Re: Bleach! Fear of household cleaners! » chemist, posted by AMD on August 28, 2004, at 21:00:12
hi a: sorry to hear about the OCD aspect. use of common - and, for that matter, uncommon - products that contain nasty chemicals is not something to fear as long as they are used as intended. there are exceptions. first off, inhaling chlorine will damage your esophagus and lungs. gasoline will do some brain damage, as will other inhalants. some things are marketed without warnings, and they could be fatal. for instance, if you are in the unenviable position of using a paint-stripper that contains methylene chloride, do not do it near an open flame. explosion is not as much a concern as the unwanted and truly dangerous formation of carbonic dichloride, also known as the chemical warfare agent phosgene. all the best, and be well, chemist
> Thanks chemist. Yeah, of course I don't touch, drink, deliberately sniff the stuff -- I just worry about the breathing in of the fumes during regular household use. It sounds irrational, but I haven't yet found a way to cope with the fear. The other thing is, I can't avoid it. For example, if I'm at the gas station and accidentally breathe in some fumes, I'll freak. Nothing I could do to prevent that. The problem seems to be instead some psychosomatic and obsessive symptoms resulting from the worry. Hence anyone else last night would not have thought twice about it. But me, the moment I started thinking "uh oh, you breathed in some fumes," I get that dread in my head until I am worrying about it so much in actually interferes with my mental processes which, of course, I then turn around and blame on the fumes.
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> So, are these types of insults severely damaging to brain? I confuse breathing in some fumes with deliberant inhalent use, but I guess there is a big difference there.
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> a
poster:chemist
thread:383464
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040825/msgs/383484.html