Personal analysis:

The metabolic handling of formaldehyde requires extra energy and resources like OXYGEN – hence, one of the very common and immediate symptoms of (especially continuous) formaldehyde exposure is fatigue/sleepiness/lack of energy along with OXYGEN DEPRIVATION – a literal sense like one is lacking oxygen or some vitality in the air. The actual concentration of oxygen in the air may not be lacking, but the USE of oxygen by the organism gets diverted from powering normal functions into metabolizing a continuous stream of formaldehyde in order to prevent internal damage. This is one of the reasons why drinking ozonated water can make such a big difference – as it delivers extra oxygen into the body that can be liberally used for metabolic processes.

For example, metabolizing formaldehyde (CH₂O) into formic acid (CH₂O₂) requires at least one additional oxygen atom; metabolizing formic acid (CH₂O₂) into carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water (H₂O) requires yet another additional oxygen atom. So it’s basically at LEAST one molecule of oxygen (O₂) that is required to metabolize one molecule of formaldehyde into carbon dioxide and water, but this does not take into account the extra oxygen and other resources that many be needed to power enzymes and other metabolic processes for this kind of metabolic process to occur to begin with. It requires a lot of extra oxygen to metabolize a lot of extra formaldehyde. Hence, breathing in formaldehyde with oxygen will cause oxygen deprivation as it is diverted into metabolizing formaldehyde.

It is quite logical on part of body’s intelligence to basically suspend or “hibernate” normal function by putting the body into sleep in order to divert the necessary oxygen to use for metabolizing formaldehyde. As the brain consumes a large portion (20%) of body’s oxygen, mental activity will probably be the first in line for being suspended, just on this fact alone – the increasing demand for oxygen to combat formaldehyde intoxication.

However, both of these phenomena – like fatigue and a sense of oxygen deprivation – can be brought about by the very fact that formaldehyde in itself inhibits metabolic processes and energy generation and so can inhibit the very process of using oxygen to begin with which will lead to a sense of oxygen deprivation. Though this does not seem to explain why delivering extra oxygen in the form of ozone in water results in such a remarkable and immediate betterment. [At least in my experience.] It could be that it is the REACTIVITY of ozone in itself that does something to break up the bonds, to break up polymerized compounds, while at the same time providing the oxygen atoms for new compounds to form in the process.

So it may not be the extra oxygen by itself, but the REACTIVITY PLUS EXTRA OXYGEN that is at play when it comes to consumption of ozone in the water. It would indeed be interesting to compare oxygen therapy against ozonated water in terms of relieving symptoms of formaldehyde intoxication such as bloating and a sense of crushing inhibition.

Perhaps a chemical formula cited in this post meant to describe how ozone may react with formaldehyde in the air can provide an insight as to what may happen inside the body:

CH₂O + 2O₃ ⟶ CO₂ + H₂O + 2O

It would be interesting to see what would happen in ozonating formalin (a solution of formaldehyde dissolved in water).

Also, it is possible that breathing in formaldehyde may interfere with oxygen absorption by the lungs to begin with. Ultimately, all three factors could be in play: inhibition of oxygen absorption by the lungs, inhibition of the use of oxygen due to inhibition of metabolic processes, and diversion of oxygen by body’s intelligence toward metabolizing formaldehyde.

A useful video on how Oxygen travels through the body:
Oxygen’s surprisingly complex journey through your body – Enda Butler

EXTENDED SUMMARY INSIGHT
[added in early July 2019]

It is “summary” because I try to bring together a number of insights that I have developed over time to develop a more complete picture.

Continues from:

As it [formaldehyde] is very similar to water, it readily mixes with it interacting with other compounds in the water.

My experience of prolonged formaldehyde intoxication can be very much described as if the fluids in the body are progressively turning into LIQUID GLUE, or “dense waters,” with increasing loss of access to different body areas including the brain.

Formaldehyde Gas is itself like GLUE – you just need to be able to think and imagine in terms of a substance and its properties, instead of thinking in terms of a “visual experience” with glue in a tube that you can see.

The glue that you can see is a glue substance that is already very dense. But a substance with glue-like properties does not have to be so dense to the point where you can clearly see it as a tangible, easily perceivable form of “solid” in your space. Just imagine a glue substance that is a gas that is spread through the air and the effect is not concentrated in a small and limited area of reality, but is “spread out” through space and you are in that space dwelling in “glue gas.”

What is “glue?” Glue is a substances that stops, that fixes, that slows and inhibits. It has a FIXATIVE property. It stops change and fixes structures through a fixed bonding between surfaces of a given structure and itself as a substance. So everything becomes “fixed” – “frozen” in a static, unchanging form and structure.

Life is MOTION and CHANGE – when there is no motion, there is no Life. We can further say that Life exists in the form of DIRECTED motion and change. When the motions and changes of various compounds and structures are not organized and directed, a complex ORGANISM cannot emerge or continue to create itself.

Organism is a form of ORGANIZED AND DIRECTED CHANGE. When organized (or controlled) and directed change is no longer possible, an organism – as a form of Life – seizes to be. It becomes a static OBJECT – a thing that cannot change. That’s how formaldehyde kills microorganisms and “fixes” organic tissues – IT STOPS CHANGE FROM HAPPENING – IT STOPS THINGS FROM CHANGING. Therefore, in a formaldehyde polluted place, one can even experience PRESSURE as if something is putting out a RESISTANCE TO CHANGE, a resistance to an effort for MOTION, a resistance to maintaining PRESENCE and BEING in itself.

As it mixes with water – the effect of glue is now in a LIQUID FORM of increasing density – as SATURATION of formaldehyde though the waters of the body begins to increase. There is progressive INHIBITION OF CHANGE AND MOTION.

Motion depends on the ABILITY TO PRODUCE ENERGY. One of the effects of formaldehyde is progressive inhibition of ENERGY PRODUCTION within the cells of the body. Energy is used to power ACTIVE CHANGES in the body. Inhibition of energy is like the inhibition of fire and glow within the body – the glow of energy, the glow of life that powers the organism. It gives a possibility for motion and change within the organism and in the interaction of the organism with things in the environment.

The basic change in a cell is DIVISION. Division is a precursor to the creation of SEPARATE OBJECTS. There would be no differences, if there was no separation. One separates from the other, and there is a difference.

Formaldehyde inhibits and debilitates consciousness of cells heavily effected, just as it does with human consciousness as a whole. Once the consciousness of a cell is inhibited and debilitated – it can no longer “see” (be aware of) and INTER-ACT with its environment. It folds down on itself, so as a human folds down on oneself with progressive inhibition of consciousness and the increasing reduction of one’s ENERGY POTENTIAL, or the ABILITY TO PRODUCE.

SEPARATION is one of the most basic EXPRESSIONS of energy – a moving away from the center in different directions.

Cells begin to separate as a form of basic energy expression – in order to keep on with manifestation of LIFE CREATION, but at its most basic level as separation and multiplication. Multiplication is a continual reproduction of the action of moving away in different directions from the center – a kind of repeat of a “controlled explosion” that actually produces new structures.

A cancer cell is a sick and debilitated cell that is on the way to die. And in response to this advancing inhibition into death, it pushes back in order to maintain life in the form of repetition of basic cycles of LIFE AND ENERGY CREATION – reproducing separation, and hence multiplication, in order to overcome the INHIBITION OF THE IMPULSE OF LIFE itself.

It may be that tumor growth is a manifestation of this effort, of cells out of control in lack of orderly structure and awareness of the surrounding environment. They push their way into life THROUGH THE INHIBITION. They “see” the INHIBITION – they no longer see or connect to the bigger structure of the organism. They have lost INTER-ACTION, the CONNECTION and CO-OPERATION. It now operates on its own against the PERCEIVED FACTOR OF INHIBITION.

CONNECTION and COMMUNICATION of cells must be restored. The waters must be CLEAR – because through clear water is how cells CONNECT and SHARE RESOURCES. They have to be able to share CHEMICALS and SIGNALS between each other – the flow of other molecules and motions through electron clouds (i.e. energy).

The source of ENERGY INHIBITION must then be identified and removed.

Formaldehyde INHIBITS CELLULAR ENERGY PRODUCTION. The motion of chemicals is accomplished with the use of ENERGY – the PUSH THROUGH THE WATERS. If water becomes POLLUTED WITH MATERIAL OF INCREASING “DENSITY,” the PUSH OF SUBSTANCES and the SENDING OF SIGNALS becomes more difficult. There is an increasing HALTING RESISTANCE. Formaldehyde does not want to move, and it inhibits MOTION OF OTHER THINGS THROUGH THE WATER.

Energy is motion. CARBON ATOMS IN THE WATER act as “stabilizers – they RESTRICT MOTION. Restriction in motion leads to RESTRICTION IN ENERGY.

Ozone increases RE-ACTIVITY. It introduces GREATER CHANGE into the ENERGY STRUCTURE of the organism. Energy is a visible manifestation of change – energy is created with change.

Formaldehyde makes water more and more difficult to change as it itself resists motion and therefore resists change. To change, to energize, to create motion in something – is the way to overcome inhibition.

Introducing Ozone introduces greater REACTIVITY, greater CHANGEABILITY. Changeability of substance. Water has greater changeability than formaldehyde. Formaldehyde resists change and FORMS INTO POLYMERS with greater concentration – hence, INCREASED SATURATION of formaldehyde leads to the problems that it does. The AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT of the organism becomes more dense and resistant to change. It becomes more “static.” The increasing densities inhibit COMMUNICATION and CONNECTION of CELLS through the WATER with EACH OTHER.

The key to energy production by cells is OXYGEN. Oxygen can serve as a conduit of change in the organism. It is a “carrier” of energy, as it is a carrier of change. Many chemical reactions are made possible and can be sped up with oxygen. Oxygen is used to for making changes in the organism. And Ozone delivers an extra punch – as three oxygen atoms in unison bring greater reactivity and so greater potential for change. Ozone falls, or expands, apart quickly to form more stable oxygen molecules – this “moving apart” is a form of change. It introduces an “extra kick” of CHANGE that can be used to break down formaldehyde polymerization.

But change can also be sped up by BREATHING OXYGEN in a chamber with the appropriate concentration of oxygen – the concentration can be regulated in order to restore a person’s CONTROL OF ONE’S METABOLISM – the REGULATION OF ONE’S OXYGEN and the EXTENT OF CHANGES in the body.

In order to increase change, one breaths “in and through oxygen” – learning to BE IN oxygen, to USE oxygen and BE oxygen. It’s better for this of course to be IN oxygen gas, not simply inhale oxygen gas through an inhaler.

Being IN oxygen gas and breathing THROUGH oxygen will pervade one’s entire body with oxygen much more effectively. In such a way, formaldehyde liquid “solidification” can be undone through GENERATING GREATER MOTION with oxygen – motion of energy through the body, through the tissues.

So yes, indeed, one can recover from formaldehyde quite effectively by spending extended amount of time in locations with EXTRA OXYGEN – such as in wooded areas of large expanse of trees or near large bodies of water – like the oceans.

Technically, any carbon based gases – such as from car exhaust – can slow down change. They are not oxygen. They are heavier to process and impress a burden onto the organism. STANDING CARBON POLLUTION in places like Los Angeles eventually inhibits life, and by extension – consciousness – from happening.

It inhibits CONNECTION and COMMUNICATION between people, just as the similar type of pollution can inhibit connection and communication between cells in the organism. No clear water – no communication among cells. No clear air – no sharing and exchanging of energy between people. ENERGIZING AIR – is a clear air full of oxygen – air that can be used to produce greater amount of energy, and hence consciousness.

CLEAR AIR –> clear energy exchange –> greater potential for energy flow and exchange. With pollution, people themselves becomes “heavier” and more “burdened.” Their ENERGY CAPACITY is reduced. Their ability for creating a SHARED CONSCIOUSNESS and a SHARED STRUCTURE of living is reduced. Hence, the sense of perpetual “isolation” from connecting with others. But obviously, a factor of a SHARED CULTURE is also at play. The formation of culture is inhibited with polluting substances that inhibit energy production and, hence, the function of consciousness itself.

INHIBITION OF ENERGY PRODUCTION causes cells to react and behave in abnormal ways, just as it does for humans. With MORE OXYGEN, cells – and humans – can produce MORE ENERGY. And ozonated water delivers extra reactive oxygen straight into the waters of the body.

Oxygen by and in itself is obviously not enough – as something must USE the oxygen to CREATE ACTIVITY. The USE OF OXYGEN to create more activity and change throughout the body could be seen as the basis of recovery from formaldehyde intoxication.

A person needs to be IN THE SPIRIT OF ACTION in order to use oxygen more effectively. That ACTION can be in the form of PHYSICAL ACTION; or in the form of COMMUNICATION, or some INTERACTION with other humans and the general environment. It could also be in the form of THINKING, such as the activity that I have been doing here – with the use of this website and other mediums of thought formation, development and communication.

LITHIUM

At the height of my formaldehyde intoxication when I was feeling slow, “numb” and increasingly “absent” – as if a part of my identity was somehow not there, I had a thought in the back of my mind that this is what it must be like for people on antidepressants. And then I specifically thought of LITHIUM. I have never taken antidepressants, or lithium for that matter, but somehow I understood the condition. I took note of these thoughts at the time, but I did not specifically look up any information about lithium.

While continuing with my thought process summarized above, I wondered why it is that Oxygen in water results in greater energy while Carbon in water (as a part of water-like formaldehyde molecule) results in stagnation and inhibition, as compared to water without it.

Oxygen is almost right next to Carbon on the Periodic Table – to the left after Nitrogen – meaning that it has MORE ELECTRONS in its outer shell – 6 as opposed to 4 for Carbon. And as the total number of possible electrons for this shell is 8, Oxygen has more electrons to give than to accept, whereas Carbon is 50/50 – 4 to give, 4 to accept. Probably not an absolute rule for all elements, but I thought that more electrons in the outer shell must mean that there is greater energy potential, while more space for accepting electrons would mean a more inhibitive function – in terms of energy movement through the element.

I looked all the way to the left for an element that has the least available electrons – 1 – and the most available spaces – 7 – for accepting them, and I saw LITHIUM. I look up lithium as a drug, and what do I see – ADVERSE EFFECTS OF LITHIUM [as listed in Wikipedia entry] very closely describe what I experienced with formaldehyde intoxication.

– Dry mouth
– Decreased memory
– Muscle weakness
– Myoclonus — muscle twitching.
– Weight gain
– Extrapyramidal side effects [These symptoms include dystonia (continuous spasms and muscle contractions), akathisia (motor restlessness), parkinsonism (characteristic symptoms such as rigidity), bradykinesia (slowness of movement), tremor, and tardive dyskinesia (irregular, jerky movements).]
– Even some “Hair loss/hair thinning” and “Polyuria — increased urination.”
– I also experienced this sense of swelling in the front of my neck beneath the throat, but I’m not sure if it was related to thyroid gland specifically as noted for lithium.
– Toward the end of my progressive intoxication experience, I also started getting a sense of nausea, especially in the morning, and at times a sense of spinning or some kind of motion when there was none – a symptom identified as “Vertigo.”

Though I did not have digestion related problems that I could relate to formaldehyde intoxication specifically. The only symptom I noticed in this area is the loss of appetite which coincides with the experience of metabolic stagnation.

And sure enough, blurred vision is also a possible side effect for lithium, just as with formaldehyde. See pages on lithium: drugs.com / webmd.com / mayoclinic.org.

There are other notable symptomatic similarities like: “bloated feeling or pressure in the stomach,” “Occasional Numbness, Prickling, Or Tingling Of Fingers And Toes,” “Abnormally Low Blood Pressure” or “High Pressure Within The Skull.”

Basically, the similarity between one and the other is quite striking to say the least.

Lithium is used as an “antidepressant” and it is also used as a “mood stabilizer” to treat bypolar disorder – meaning that in some abstract sense, it is probably used to INHIBIT (NEUROLOGICAL) CHANGE making the person feel “even” and probably “numb.”

“Emotional numbness or a dull feeling” is described as one of the side effects of lithium on this web page. And people do complain about such side effects if you look through forums (example).

Musician Evanesence also made a song Lithium: Evanescence – Lithium (Official Music Video). A notable comment beneath the video: “I have been on lithium for almost five years, dealing with bipolar disorder, and I can say, that the whole first year of the medication felt exactly like this song. You feel nothing, the numbness is almost more painful than the depression that’s being treated.“

That’s the field of “mental health” for you.

Why so many people seem to struggle with a loss in ability to regulate their own biochemistry? – that’s the question that needs to be asked.

The knowledge about neurological and physiological effects from continuous or periodic exposure to a widespread chemical like formaldehyde could provide many people with some answers in relationship to the seemingly endless struggle with trying to maintain control over their own biochemistry – and hence their thoughts, emotions, mood and the overall energy level.