About
Community
Bad Ideas
Drugs
Booze - The Legal Drug
Legal Issues of Drug Use
Marijuana
Miscellaneous Drug Information
Nitrous
OTC Drugs and Household Items
Psychedelics
Rare and Exotic Drugs
Speedy Drugs
Ego
Erotica
Fringe
Society
Technology
register | bbs | search | rss | faq | about
meet up | add to del.icio.us | digg it

How Can Nitrous be Dangerous?

by Jerry Stratton


NOTICE: TO ALL CONCERNED Certain text files and messages contained on this site deal with activities and devices which would be in violation of various Federal, State, and local laws if actually carried out or constructed. The webmasters of this site do not advocate the breaking of any law. Our text files and message bases are for informational purposes only. We recommend that you contact your local law enforcement officials before undertaking any project based upon any information obtained from this or any other web site. We do not guarantee that any of the information contained on this system is correct, workable, or factual. We are not responsible for, nor do we assume any liability for, damages resulting from the use of any information on this site.

Yes, nitrous does 'kill brain cells' although that's a pretty general statement. Both life and alcohol also kill brain cells. If you're truly interested in the medical aspects of recreational drugs, written for laymen, get the following two books, both, as far as I know, still in print (unlike the wonderful _Licit & Illicit Drugs_, which I tend to buy whenever I see it, just so I can give it to friends :*)

FROM CHOCOLATE TO MORPHINE: Andrew Weil & Winifred Rosen. Make sure you get the 1993 edition. It's the one with the horrible sub-title "Everything You Need To Know About Mind-Altering Drugs". The sub-title's wrong, but it's still a good reference.

A PRIMER OF DRUG ACTION: Robert M. Julien. I believe it's in the fifth edition right now, but I don't know.

Here's the kind of stuff you can expect to find in these books:

Robert M. Julien:

"Occasionally, certain anesthetic agents become misused drugs. Nitrous oxide is an example. A gas of low anesthetic potency, it is incapable of inducing deep levels of anesthesia if an adequate oxygen concentration is maintained. Nitrous oxide induces a state of behavioral disinhibition, analgesia, and euphoria. One of the problems occasionally encountered when nitrous oxide is used for recreational purposes is that, unless the compound is administered with at least 20 percent oxygen, hypoxia (decreased oxygen content of the blood) can be induced.

But in order to achieve high enough concentrations of nitrous oxide to get a good behavioral effect, concentrations of 50 percent or greater must be inhaled. If such concentrations are mixed with room air, inhaled oxygen concentartions drop to low levels and the hypoxia may result in irreversible brain damage."

(In other words, don't use it in your vw bus :*)

Weil & Rosen:

"Physicians and dentists have long considered nitrous oxide to be a safe pharmacological agent. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that excessive or prolonged use of it can damage the bone marrow and nervous system by interfering with the action of vitamin B-12. Moreover its use in nonmedical settings presents several hazards that users should keep in mind. Breathing it directly from pressurized tanks is dangerous for two reasons. First, gas flowing from such tanks is very cold -- cold enough to cuase frostbite of noses, lips and (most serious) vocal cords.

Being anesthetized, a user may be unaware of such injuries until too late. Second, because nitrous oxide does not support life, it should be mixed with oxygen if it is to be breathed for more than a few minutes. At private parties, oxygen tanks are rarely supplied, and people have died of asphyxiation by breathing straight nitrous oxide through face masks. One way to avoid these dangers is to fill balloons from tanks and breathe from the balloons.

'Further, nitrous oxide rapidly leads to complete loss of motor control, and anyone who breathes it while standing will soon reel about and fall down. Therefore, it is unwise to try the gas unless one is in a comfortable sitting or lying position. Serious injuries have resulted from people inhaling laughing gas while standing in front of open windows, when driving cars (like your dad, HST), or when operating machinery. Others have been badly hurt by accidentally pulling heavy tanks of nitrous oxide over onto themselves (it's mine! all mine! you can't have any!) while intoxicated.

'People who breathe nitrous oxide for more than a few minutes at a time may experience nausea, especially if they have just eaten. They may also feel hung over for some time after. Addiction to nitrous oxide is a real possibility. Addicts may suffer serious mood and personality changes in addition to the bone marrow and nervous system damage already mentioned."

Plus, it's lots of fun. (My opinion, again.)

Jerry Stratton [email protected] (Finger/Reply for PGP Public Key)

 
To the best of our knowledge, the text on this page may be freely reproduced and distributed.
If you have any questions about this, please check out our Copyright Policy.

 

totse.com certificate signatures
 
 
About | Advertise | Bad Ideas | Community | Contact Us | Copyright Policy | Drugs | Ego | Erotica
FAQ | Fringe | Link to totse.com | Search | Society | Submissions | Technology
Hot Topics
2c-I Vendors
hangover helper
Cocaine Cutting
ingesting coke corally
DMT... why is it illegal?
HBWR wtf
Alternative to shtrooms?
Coke and Paranoia
 
Sponsored Links
 
Ads presented by the
AdBrite Ad Network

 

TSHIRT HELL T-SHIRTS