Using Chloroform on myself

Question

I can't sleep, and I'm wondering if I can use Chloroform on myself.

Like, having a brother do it for me, just for a few secs.

What'll be the damage?

Will it be worth it?

Answer 1

Using chloroform will certainly put you to sleep, but there are 2 big problems with that.  1: you would have to keep the chloroform near your airway nearly the entire night; the flip side to this is that someone would also have to wake you up by taking the chloroform away from your face.  

The biggest problem, though, is that chloroform works by displacing oxygen and preventing oxygen from reaching your brain.  This means that over time, less oxygen gets to your brain cells and eventually will die.  While you might have heard of this being used for surgeries over a century ago, it is only useful in the very short term before it causes more problems than it helps.

My best advice would be to see a doctor about not being able to sleep.  There are several things that can be done to help you depending on the cause.  In the meantime there are several questions you can ask yourself about why this may be happening.  Has there been a major change in your life recently (or is there one coming soon)?  Are you taking any new medications?  Are you eating something different that you are not used to?  Overall, try to think of any changes you made, no matter how small, just before this bout of insomnia began.

There are also some over-the-counter medications that can help get your sleep under control.  Unisom and Tylenol PM are good choices, in that order.  If you decide to take Tylenol PM, you need to take care not to take to much because it can be toxic to your liver when taken at a high enough dose.  Good luck and pleasant dreams.