Chemical Phobia

I have a chemical phobia and am often worried chemicals could cause brain damage or cancer or something. An example of this is my roommate just sprayed Ozium sanitizer spray which is Triethylene Glycol and Propylene Glycol and some other chemicals (isopropanol) around 30 minutes before I came in the room and I noticed the room smelled really strongly and I had a mild irritation in my throat/eyes. I left the building after a couple minutes because the scent was bothering me. He later told me he was just supposed to spray it for only 1 second few seconds but he walked around spraying it for around 20-30 seconds having not read the directions. I have had some mild nausea after that went away quickly but I had a headache for most of the day. The bottle has warnings on it that seem scary to me. I am panicking that my headache means I have brain damage and that the eye burning could have damaged my eyes. I wasn't in the room when the aerosol was being sprayed which is good but the fact that he accidently used 20-30 times the recommended amount is freaking me out. I have really bad health anxiety so I can't tell if I am worrying about nothing and this is just a normal reaction to a mild irritation by a chemical or if this is super dangerous. How do I know if I am poisoned or just having normal irritation from a chemical?

A single exposure is unlikely to cause ongoing health issues. Triethylene Glycol (PDF) spray can cause eye, skin and respiratory irritation, but is otherwise relatively harmless. Propylene glycol is antifreeze which is also a registered food additive and is an ingredient in some E-cigarette liquids. It may cause similar irritation as the triethylene form. Isopropanol, aka isopropyl alcohol, is a type of alcohol. It is most commonly seen in hand sanitizers. Fire and possibly explosion was probably the main danger to you, however, I wouldn't continue to use Ozium. Just open all the windows to air the room out thoroughly.

Orange Squeeze by California Scents is supposedly as effective without the irritation and other potential dangers of long term use.

Regularly inhaling the smoke from the weed I'm guessing your room mate was trying to disguise is probably a bigger health risk, at least to your mental health.

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Originally Posted by panic_down_under

A single exposure is unlikely to cause ongoing health issues. Triethylene Glycol (PDF) spray can cause eye, skin and respiratory irritation, but is otherwise relatively harmless. Propylene glycol is antifreeze which is also a registered food additive and is an ingredient in some E-cigarette liquids. It may cause similar irritation as the triethylene form. Isopropanol, aka isopropyl alcohol, is a type of alcohol. It is most commonly seen in hand sanitizers. Fire and possibly explosion was probably the main danger to you, however, I wouldn't continue to use Ozium. Just open all the windows to air the room out thoroughly.

Orange Squeeze by California Scents is supposedly as effective without the irritation and other potential dangers of long term use.

Regularly inhaling the smoke from the weed I'm guessing your room mate was trying to disguise is probably a bigger health risk, at least to your mental health.

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Thanks for responding and giving me the info on the individual chemicals. The warning label made it sound really scary and had me freaked out. I thought maybe the headache meant that some brain damage may have occurred. Although from what you have written, it seems that skin, throat, and eye irritation are more of the risks. So is worrying about brain damage completely irrational? It is hard for me to judge due to the nature of my anxiety/phobia.

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Originally Posted by Logarn

Although from what you have written, it seems that skin, throat, and eye irritation are more of the risks.

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Yes, at least from a single exposure. Prolonged daily exposure for a while may begin to harm all three. My understanding is Ozium should be sprayed for only a second or two and then the room vacated for 20-30 minutes.

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So is worrying about brain damage completely irrational?

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A single exposure is very unlikely to have any adverse effect. Headaches are not a guide to damage in this case as the brain doesn't have pain receptors. Getting drunk would kill more brain cells.