Cholorform?

Question

What happens to a person when the get smuthered with chloroform like in them crime movies?
Why does a person pass out because of it?

Answer 1

Yes, they pass out and do not feel pain which is why it was used in hospitals to perform operations. It is an anaesthetic like ether and knocks you out temporarily. Whilst one is under in its influence one may utter incomprehensible sentences, as the brain is disorientated, and one has false perceptions. When you come round you normally have no recollection of what happened to you in between.

Answer 2

As might be expected from its use as an anesthetic, inhaling chloroform vapors depresses the central nervous system. Breathing about 900 parts of chloroform per million parts air (900 parts per million) for a short time can cause dizziness, fatigue, and headache. Chronic chloroform exposure may cause damage to the liver (where chloroform is metabolized to phosgene) and to the kidneys, and some people develop sores when the skin is immersed in chloroform. Approximately 10% of the population has an allergic reaction to chloroform that produces a fever of around 40°C (104°F) upon exposure.

Animal studies have shown that miscarriages occur in rats and mice that have breathed air containing 30 to 300 ppm chloroform during pregnancy and also in rats that have ingested chloroform during pregnancy. Offspring of rats and mice that breathed chloroform during pregnancy have a higher incidence of birth defects, and abnormal sperm have been found in male mice that have breathed air containing 400 ppm chloroform for a few days. The effect of chloroform on reproduction in humans is unknown.

Chloroform once appeared in toothpastes, cough syrups, ointments, and other pharmaceuticals, but it has been banned in consumer products in the United States since 1976.

Answer 3

As other respondents have already pointed out, it used to be used as an anaesthetic ... until much safer alternatives were found. It works by depressing the central nervous system.

Breathing about 900 parts of chloroform per million parts air (900 parts per million) for a short time can cause dizziness, fatigue, and headache. Chronic chloroform exposure may cause damage to the liver (where chloroform is metabolized to phosgene) and to the kidneys, and some people develop sores when the skin is immersed in chloroform. Approximately 10% of the population has an allergic reaction to chloroform that produces a fever of around 40°C (104°F) upon exposure.

Actually, when I worked in a laboratory I used to volunteer to replenish the solvent stocks (chloroform being one of many solvents) as I loved the smell of it. You can bet it wasn't doing me any good as I used to prolong the time that I used to be in the solvent stores, purely so's I could experience it for longer.

Answer 4

Hi it is a sleeping medicine my daughter was on a chloroform based medicine when she made herself so ill that she was off school for a month because she would not sleep so my doctor used this to get her to go to sleep when she was better and in a sleep pattern again the doctor took her of it

Answer 5

I believe it was used as a painkiller in the 1800's, and they used to give it to babies when they were crying. it probarbly is just a drug that makes you pass out. thats what it does, like morphene makes you high, like alcohol makes you disorentated.