Re: Sleep issues/Phenol

[Guest guest]

Thank you Jerri, for such good news. How wonderful for your family.

Since I recently found out that the nosedrops I took as a child and the ones as a teenager had mercury in them, I went and looked up phenol, since I didn't know what it was. For anyone who's interested, here's what Wikipedia says (and how could this stuff be used? Don't doctors know what's in what they prescribe or recommend?

Phenol, also known under an older name of carbolic acid, is a colourless crystalline solid with a typical sweet tarry odor. Its chemical formula is C6H5OH and its structure is that of a hydroxyl group (-OH) bonded to a phenyl ring; it is thus an aromatic compound.

[edit] Phenols

Main article: phenols

The word phenol is also used to refer to any compound which contains a six-membered aromatic ring, bonded directly to a hydroxyl group (-OH). In effect, phenols are a class of organic compounds of which the phenol discussed in this article is the simplest member.

[edit] Properties

Phenol has a limited solubility in water (8.3 g/100 ml). It is slightly acidic: the phenol molecule has weak tendencies to lose the H+ ion from the hydroxyl group, resulting in the highly water-soluble phenoxide anion C6H5O−. Compared to aliphatic alcohols, phenol shows much higher acidity,it even reacts with NaOH to lose H+ which aliphatic alcohols do not. This is due to orbital overlap between the oxygen's lone pairs and the aromatic system, which delocalizes the negative charge throughout the ring and stabilizes the anion. This effect is attenuated, however, due to oxygen's relatively high electronegativity. [1]

[edit] Production

Phenol can be made from the partial oxidation of benzene or benzoic acid, by the cumene process, or by the Raschig process. It can also be found as a product of coal oxidation.

[edit] Uses

Phenol has antiseptic properties, and was used by Sir ph Lister in his pioneering technique of antiseptic surgery, though the skin irritation caused by continual exposure to phenol eventually led to the substitution of aseptic (germ-free) techniques in surgery. It is one of the main components of the commercial antiseptic TCP (trichlorophenol).

Phenol has anesthetic properties, and is the active ingredient in some oral anesthetics such as Chloraseptic spray.

It is also used in the production of drugs (it is the starting material in the industrial production of aspirin), weedkiller, and synthetic resins (Bakelite, one of the first synthetic resins to be manufactured, is a polymer of phenol with formaldehyde). Exposure of the skin to concentrated phenol solutions causes chemical burns which may be severe; in laboratories where it is used, it is usually recommended that polyethylene glycol solution is kept available for washing off splashes. Washing with large amounts of plain water (most labs have a safety shower or eye-wash) and removal of contaminated clothing are required, and immediate ER treatment for large splashes; particularly if the phenol is mixed with chloroform (a commonly used mixture in molecular biology for DNA purification). Notwithstanding the effects of concentrated solutions, it is also used in cosmetic surgery as an exfoliant, to remove layers of dead skin. It is also used in phenolization, a surgical procedure used to treat an ingrown nail, in which it is applied to the toe to prevent regrowth of nails.

Injections of phenol have occasionally been used as a means of rapid execution.

Phenol was also used as a means of extermination by the Nazis during the Second World War. Phenol injections were given to thousands of people in concentration camps, especially at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Injections were administered either by medical doctors or by their assistants; such injections were originally given intravenously, more commonly in the arm, but injection directly into the heart, so as to induce nearly instant death, was later preferred. [2]

Phenols are extremely harmful to cats.

In a message dated 11/16/2006 3:15:54 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, jerrip2001@... writes:

I was reading the post about children not sleeping at night. I want to share 's story as it may help someone. is 10 and has slept the last 2 school years part of most days in school. He was on Adderall and then Strattera. He also has allergies. had surgery at age 3.5 for tubes and adnodes removed. At this time he began to take daliy nose spray. One was Saline Nose spray and the rest were prescribed. In his 3rd grade year we started him on allergy shots we thought to help the allergies. After 2 years grandma decided that she was going to find what was causing him not to sleep at night but to sleep all day or for long periods of time 15 hours, 14 hours, etc. She dropped all his meds one by one. They were all gone in 3 weeks. Well he was still sleeping. He was still taking the allergy shots. We he came home I took him to the doctor that 1st week to ask what the preservative was in the shots. I later found out it was phenol. THe nose spray also contained phenol. Since stopping the shots and removing all products with phenols form our household I have a happy, sleeping at night child who does not sleep in school anymore. I would recommend anyone with problems sleeping to also consider the environment. The allergy doctor still swears it was not anything he was giving my son but who cares as I fired him. My son is now med free and has been for 4 months. People that knew him before stopping the shots and the meds tell me what a different child he is now. Some even thought we had put him on meds not taken him off of them.Just my two cents worth. I like the child I have now so much better than the one that went to Grandma's in May. We no longer have meltdowns, problems with anger, aggitation, irritablity, etc. My son goes to bed on his own at 9 pm every night. He even smiles something he never did before. You can joke and kid with him now and he laughs. Before he would only answer with a gruff yes or no.I found the answer to my son's problem in the book "IS THIS YOUR CHILD". That is where I read about the phenols. My son was having a chemical reaction to his environment.I mentioned this to my peditrician and it was news to her. So maybe it does not happen that much. TO think I was doing this to my child by giving him the meds prescribed since he was 3.5 years old. He has come so far in the last 4 month who knows what his future will be. never slept good even as a baby. I can remember nights that he was still going at 1 am. I thought I had the energizer bunny for a child, he just kept on going until he would crash.His school had open house Tuesday night. I got to talk to teachers and other people who have know him since Kindergarden. They all had good things to say on his improvement. The art teacher has been shocked by his turn around. This is her 4th year with him. He actualy came home and told me he liked what they were doing in art. This is not the same kid. He hated to touch crayons and oil pastels were never touched. No problem with them this school year. She even stated that she had heard I had taken him off meds. SHe could not believe he is the same child she had before. He is actually working in her class now instead of just sitting there as before.He still has some issues with social things but he will listen when you try to correct him. They have even gotten him motivated to do his work this year. School is not a major issue anymore. I have not had one call from the school office this year. I do however get some happy emails from different people who know .Sorry this was so long but before June I never thought about it maybe being his environemnt or his meds. Phenols are in everything from cleaning supplies to COKE. In the mention above book they have a chart of products that contain phneols and some symptoms of a chemical sensitive child.Jerri

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