About the “how does it work”: it’s at an idiot (me)-level of physiological pathways-- I’m at the level of general awareness of neurotransmitters and, in the case of pot, particular receptors exist.
Also, since I just learned about shoe polish and the solvent, is that the high-inducer in (liquid) formaldehyde? I have read that huffing gasoline is a common habit. May there be any similarities?
Finally, although I know the definition can be difficult, is formaldehyde (or gasoline, since I brought it up) addictive?
NB: I have discounted the components of human brain as constituents progenitors of the psychotropic effect. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
And this thread might be one of the few born zombie.
As someone who has worked around formaldehyde/formalin for 25 years or so, I can attest that the major effect of inhaling it is to want to get to fresh air ASAP, which is why there’s much effort to provide adequate ventilation and negative pressure cabinets for lab workers.
It’s a nasty chemical stench without psychedelic overtones, though maybe in high enough concentrations to immediately impair brain function it could appear to the semi-conscious as though they’re getting “high”.
That’s one part of my general question/general assumption–does getting “high” happen from a kind of rapid loss of oxygen?
In high-school I did Whippets one or twice, and it ice froze my brain to temporary blackout, which was the neat experience, neat and unpleasant enough for me not to do it again. So, add to the formaldehyde and gasoline.
While working for the NHS, I had a driver who regularly collected path lab specimens from a hospital 20 miles away. They were packed in a plastic bucket with metal clips on the lid and we were not given any special handling instructions.
One day he braked sharply and the bucket fell over and began to leak. A couple of minutes later he pulled over and bailed out. They sent the guys in hazmat suits round to clean it up and we insisted on better methods of packaging in future. Formaldehyde is nasty stuff.
When I was 5 years old, my older brother had done a Science Fair project that showed the growth cycle of chickens. He had gone down to a chicken hatchery and bought a batch of eggs that had been laid on the same day, and then every few days would break one open and put it into a jar with formaldehyde.
Later, I was given permission to take a few of the jars to school for Show and Tell. Shortly after I had gotten into the car, I reached into the bag to get one of the jars. The lid popped off and my face was only inches away from it. I got a drop or two in my eyes and we had to stop and wash off my face. Not exactly easy to do in Taiwan on the outskirts of Taipei in the 1960s, let me tell you!
The car reeked!
To this day, fifty years later, I can close my eyes and conjure up the horrible smell and it makes me gag. I cannot comprehend purposely inhaling that stuff!
I had always thought that the lab specimens we used for dissecting in high school were stored in jars of formaldehyde. While I remember the smell being unpleasant it wasn’t as wretched as some of you make it out to be.
I guess I wasn’t working with pure formaldehyde.
From link: The fixative fluid commonly, but incorrectly referred to as “formaldehyde,” is actually formalin—typically a 37% aqueous solution of formaldehyde in water. Notably, such an aqueous solution would polymerize, but for the addition of 10–15% methyl alcohol.
I have no idea how anyone can stand getting enough of the fumes into their air passages to get high. I was a clumsy idiot back in college once and picked up a formalin-pickled jellyfish specimen jar by the top. Damn thing just dropped out from under the lid and splashed all over me. I am NEVER going to forget the sensation in my nose and throat, especially with the 5-minute walk back to my dorm to throw away those clothes, shower and change with it CLINGING to them. (Intermingled with the elderly biology instructor priest’s withering scorn for me being such an idiot.)
It was my impression that a lot more than formaldehyde is involved, which I confirmed by a brief Google search, which I regret. The ingredients in one such product:
The formulation combines:
• SILITECH, the lubricating, diffusing and penetrating advantages of Silicone
• The addition of “Frigid Stop” to prevent the causes of tissue gas
• A water conditioner to neutralize calcium ions and soften hard water
• A drainage enhancer
Resulting in a body that:
• Retains moisture and color for a very natural appearance
• Is free of tissue burn and “pruning”
Note: 36 Plus is not recommended for a prep room attached to a septic system, for which we recommend lanolin-based Tissue Guard 32.
I did not view the accompanying video, which no doubt is instructive.
It doesn’t. And you’re not the idiot. People who dip their joints in it and smoke them are. Formaldehyde in small doses like that is no biggie. I’ve worked with it for decades, had my fingers, unbeknownst to me at the time of course, soaking in the stuff. Other than getting pruney and a bit numb --effects that reverse in short order – meh. And believe me I’ve breathed enough of the fumes to give it ample opportunity to kill me and/or get me high. It’s never done neither.
The misconception that formaldehyde gets you high might be the result of PCP being nicknamed “embalming fluid”. I work as an embalmer, and even at a 35% solution it’s nasty stuff. Maybe if you huffed it you would cough hard enough to make yourself lightheaded, but that’s about it.
That observatio that "formaldehyde is slang for PCP, and that the slang is being interpreted by moron kids as the actual referent, and abused mistakenly, is fascinating. I’m following up some inhalant abuse sources; and in passing through a printed PSA on marijuana abuse I saw a reference to dipping in formaldehyde. Whether the PSA writer or reader put quote marks around that, as PCP or the real thing, I have no idea.
I’ve read, now, that people will inhale compressed O2 from keyboard cleaners and the like–so the our/my question of the neurological (toxic) effects of the abused “drug” versus the subjective effect of plain old O2 suppression (possible, and Keith Carradine explorable) or maybe (I don’t understand the keyboard cleaner thing yet) O2 saturation.
Archives of Environmental Health: An International Journal
Volume 49, Issue 1, 1994
Three patients were evaluated for effects of formaldehyde on central nervous system function. Three patients had used formalin, formaldehyde with or without phenol, to fix whole animals for 14–30 y, and a fourth patient was covered several times by formaldehyde and phenol rainout from manufacturing spills. All were disabled, and two had developed seizures. They had elevated mood state scores (82 to 162) and elevated symptom frequency scores (111 to 138), compared with referent subjects. There was excessive fatigue, somnolence, headache, difficulty remembering, irritability, and instability of mood. Compared with referents, choice reaction time was prolonged in four of four (4/4) subjects, blink latency was delayed in 2/2, balance was abnormal in 3/4, and visual fields were constricted in 2/3. Cognitive functions, measured by Culture Fair, block design, and digit symbol tests, were impaired in all. Delayed verbal recall and visual reproduction were impaired in 3/4. Perceptual motor speed on slotted pegboard and trail making A and B tests was reduced in 4/4. Errors on fingertip number writing were abnormal in all. Long-term memory was decreased in only one. Extensive use of formaldehyde at work or repeated airborne exposure to formaldehyde and phenol appears to have impaired central nervous system function.