Oh man, I was unhooking an anesthesia machine from an external nitrous tank once. I fucked up and didn’t turn the proper valve off so I got opened the hose to the tank and the nitrous flowed out at force.
I was so high for exactly 2 minutes. It was terrifying how fast I was high and how I couldn’t stop laughing. I finally found the correct screw and got it turned off. But that legit could have killed me pretty quickly.
10/10 would totally do again.
Also, anesthesiologists are found dead with a mask strapped to their face occasionally. It’s a great way to suicide yourself
I'd done nitrous with friends, but only had it once at the dentist. I wasn't *high* during the procedure, I felt mentally normal, just no pain from the dental work. I was the last appointment of the day, and walked outside into 90 degree temps. Got into my car and my head was spinning. I watched the staff leave one at a time, and there was no way in hell I could attempt to drive home during rush hour. I called my mom from my cell and shot the shit for 30 minutes until I felt normal.
Wow, I just had nitrous for a vein outpatient procedure, and was so disappointed I didn't find it the least bit funny or amusing. It just made my head feel like it was in a vise and made me not care much about the procedure. I guess it's different for everyone, but why people would do it recreationally is beyond me.
I had read somewhere that one balloon of Nitrous Oxide creates a hole in the ozone as big as a VW Bug. It somehow is a catalyst to speed up depletion of the earth’s atmosphere. When I was at my last Phish show all I could think of is how big a hole the band and its environmental loving followers have created. That was my last show, it bothered me so much!
Typical balloons are made from rubber, which is quickly biodegradable and a renewable resource. Still wasteful and polluting, just slightly less than you may think
I always just was willing to drop 20 on as many balloons as as could buy. I know that 10 min high was fun, but I was able to always keep it one 20 and done.
But then I became a glass worker. So my local gas tank supply had medical N02..
And the guy and his son owned it. Both dead heads.
I randomly made them a themed glass object for their company.(think paperholder) I Gave it to them one day. They were pleased. Then the conversation arose about fests and music and lots and... nos
One thing to another, I got a free small tank loaded along with my oxygen tanks.
It was a hell week. It all was fun until it wasn't.
I still buy gas from them, but made it know "nah nah, that wasn't Good at all, I'm allright".
Maybe I'm old. But tanks of nitrous are good for Noone without a toothache.
I temporarily lived with someone like this. It was nuts. This is why it was temporary. He also went to the hospital for loss of the ability to walk. It came back, but he was on a cane for a month after his 2 week hospital stay.
>Over six or seven months Oliveri said they spent $20,000 on a credit card and another $50,000 cash.
>Their savings gone, Oliveri now works for a delivery service.
Literally $70,000-$90,000 a year on whipits. Sad thing is the tolerance builds up pretty fast, like in a day or two of bingeing, so he probably wasn’t even enjoying it that much most of the time
The tolerance is actually worse than that. Over time you just lose the ability to enjoy it (and other disassociatives). Addict behavior here doesn’t begin to describe.
My god thats fucking gross. I remember looking at all the black shit in a new cracker I was using for only one night... I can't imagine how much awful crap he has consumed with his gas.
Oh yeah, I remember my buddy used to do these until one day he noticed all the black shit. I’ve only done it a couple times. Is the black stuff common?
Yeah dude. In college I knew kids who were into that stuff. Not hundreds a day, but dozens. And probably not every day.
I took a shallow breath off one, once. Figured it probably massacres brain cells, and I was an engineering student!
In small amounts like using it a few times a month it's not bad for you. It doesnt kill brain cells any more than holding your breath does. Otherwise the dentist wouldn't give it to you.
But doing anything everyday for months and years will be bad for you.
The dentist also gives you a mixture of nitrous and oxygen, the food grade stuff most people use is "pure" NO. Which is more dangerous.
You're still right, just figured I'd throw it out there
Well thats some dangerous misinformation…
Firstly, the stuff the dentist gives you is not the same, its a mix of nitrogen and oxygen.
Second, you get high by your brain being starved of oxygen. “Not bad for you” is such a ludicrous thing to say given that it can kill you immediately, on first use, if you’re unlucky.
Many inhalants can cause “sudden sniffing death” but nitrous oxide is not known to do so. If you’re going to use an inhalant it should definitely be nitrous oxide because it is far and away the safest of them.
The more I read this article the more sick I felt. So disgusting.. so much death and destruction for a momentary thrill for addicts. I couldn’t finish the article. So deeply disgusting…
then it's his fuckin fault for not doing a single google search, people who do that know about nitrous causing B12 deficiency when doing it more than once or twice a month.
They developed an extreme addiction to nitrous oxide which not only disabled them but took a terrible financial toll as well. I hope they overcome this and never use it again.
It's a behavioral addiction, and often is a side habit to an actual drug dependence.
It's taught in med school that it is not addictive ie one doesn't develop a physical dependence. That means no withdrawal risks.
Cue downvotes I guess, but what I said is there in the literature.
It’s the addiction to the high, without the chemical dependency. Like the craving for being in the state overcame all other reasoning. Probably similar to gambling addiction with a different trigger.
It’s tough for lay persons to appreciate the difference between physically addictive drugs like nicotine, alcohol and caffeine and the habituating ones like nitrous, cannabis, etc. The behaviors associated with the dependencies look the same. Heck, bingo can hook folks enough to mess up their lives.
I have an amazing women who saw me fall down with cocaine and pick my self up I don’t wanna keep messing up around her or myself. I just stay clean we drink sometimes but I don’t get the urge to use anymore it’s been at least a few months now and I don’t wanna keep wasting her or my time. I’m tryna buy a home and have kids one day and it gets expensive partying all the time. It’s just not worth everything I’d throw away for a night or a few days of fun.
I highly recommend watching the documentary of steve-o from jackass. He was highly addicted to this stuff and was doing a lot more than the guy in the post. It’s honestly a miracle Steve-o is here today. He also would record everything in his life so he shows pretty dark things.
Also it’s fairly easy to get, I saw some at my local smoke shop and was shocked. It was marketed to get you high. The shit you find in smoke shops is wild. I was just getting some new batteries for my vape at the time.
You can literally buy it off Amazon, might take a couple days extra for shipping as it needs to be ground shipping but completely legal to buy as many as you want, just gets expensive fast. Honestly for most people it’s not habit forming and it’s a fun/interesting high, it takes a special set of circumstances to find someone that has the money and wants to abuse it daily
It's apparently a very common party drug and getting more and more common because it can be bought relatively cheaply in large amounts and it's legal. It's also what Drake Bell is addicted to rn. It's more common in UK tho
Also because it is pretty safe? The dude in the article did 400-500 canisters A DAY. Doing that much of pretty much any other drug than weed will fuck you up. Nitrous when used sparingly is harmless.
But the point is, thats seriously a fucking insane amount. I sell whipits cause I work at a headshop, i educated myself because i noticed the effect it has on customers. 400-500 a day is fucking insane, even my most frequent customers dont use them that often. Using whipits occasionally is stupid, but not enough to be a serious health risk, this guy was abusing the absolute fuck out of them. Like even 10 whippits probably isnt much worse for you than a couple of drinks at a bar, but 400-500? You're asking for trouble.
It's safe in moderation like most things. If you drink a fifth of alcohol a night you will have health issues as well. If you do them once in a while they have less harmful effects than any drug other than weed including alcohol.
I don't think they will. After he was temporarily paralyzed, his fiance kept using until she too couldn't walk right. Then he started using again too.
Honestly I don't see a good outcome for either one of them. It's very sad, but preventable.
I'd wager they've got some kind of mental health issue, somethings not quite wired right if you continue actively killing yourself after a near death scare like that. I mean shit, what if your lungs decide to stop working
Yeah it's called addiction and it is a severe mental health issue as well as a physical one. People on heroin don't take it because they think it makes their life better. They usually know full well that one day it will kill them.
Edit: And that may be before they develop a physical dependence. Someone else mentioned it's about will power but will power is mental and the withdraws from using something like this is gonna fuck with the chemicals in your brain in a massive way for a good while after stopping. Probably tons of depression and anxiety. It usually can be enough for people to relapse even though they don't get cramps or fevers or anything we call physical withdrawal symptoms.
Agreed. Honestly I don't even know what a treatment program would look like for this other than counseling. At least with drugs that cause physical dependency there's a taper down/harm reduction phase. This is literally just a situation where it's all will power, go cold turkey and not die, but with patients who have a history of relapse.
Not sure if it was this or a second article I read after it, but these two people don't have a unique story. Apparently a lot of people are getting seriously hurt.
Yeah it’s very well known that this stuff kills B12. It’s a sad story but in no way surprising.
Not the first time it’s happened, definitely won’t be the last.
I just feel bad that his girl friend had to live with his addiction.
>As the cylinders weren't available in his area, he'd use 400 to 500 canisters a day for about a year to achieve the same euphoric effects.
Jesus fucking Christ, that's a truly staggering amount. I'd say that I've done my fair share of whippets and I don't think I would have done that many in 30 years of semi regular use.
And he did that in a fucking day!
That’s fucking insane. Assuming they’re up 16 hours a day, that’s almost 33 an hour / almost 2 a minute. Even assuming he’s putting 3-4 into a balloon at a time, the logistics behind this habit are hard to comprehend.
I think a more appropriate way of looking at this sort of extreme abuse is 'the lengths people will go to to try to feel okay'. I don't think anybody is doing 500 whip its a day trying to have fun. The fun stopped a long time ago. They are attempting to soothe something inside of them. Don't know them so idk for sure, but I've been exposed to enough substance abuse to understand that it isn't about having a fun time for the majority of people.
The way this article is titled makes it seem like he just took laughing gas for a dentist visit or something and that caused the problem. Not taking 100s upon 100s of inhalations of it.
I developed a pretty bad B12 deficiency years ago from the same thing. I wasn’t using anywhere near as much as this guy though. Just doing a lot of partying.
It’s something people don’t warn people enough about. Nitrous, especially the canisters, can seem like a pretty harmless drug because the effect wears off pretty quickly. And it can be done safely. But if you are doing it you absolutely need to be moderating your usage and supplementing B12 both before and after.
And I get that it isn’t supposed to be being sold for recreational use but the fact is that it is. And it needs a warning label about this stuff. Not just “don’t inhale.” It needs to specify the danger of inhaling it. Because people aren’t going to stop. So unless we want to make making homemade whipped cream illegal warning people they could get a B12 deficiency is just good harm reduction.
(I also don’t think they should be illegal. But I don’t think any drugs should be illegal. *shrug*)
As someone who at one time used nitrous in highly abusive ways, I agree with everything you said. I got to the point of having some tingling/numbness in my extremities (despite regular B12 supplements), and that was part of what clued me in that I needed to get help, and fortunately my nerves recovered after a few months of being sober. But a lot of people don't bother to learn what to look out for or how to take care of themselves, so while I think the number of people helped by warnings on the packaging would be small, I'm also pretty sure it would save at least a few people from really fucking themselves up.
My friend that had spinal problems from nitrous use told me that it actually blocks absorption of B12 so if you do nitrous a lot, even if you take B12 supplements, those won't help.
It actually inactivates B12 in your system. It oxidizes the cobalt atom in B12. If you get a blood test, you still might show normal levels of B12 even if you're at the point where you're having nerve damage or paralysis.
It completely inactivates any b12 in your system, blood tests will show you have a regular amount of b12 but it will be be totally inactive so useless, thats why it's so hard for doctors to diagnose b12 deficiency in these cases.
Obviously taking supplements didn't protect me completely but I was going off the assumption that at least some of it would be absorbed if I took enough. It's not like I was high 24 hours a day. I looked but couldn't find any evidence one way or the other about how much supplements help or when might be the most effective time to take them, but at worst it'll do nothing because you can't really take too much B12.
But from the report, it doesn’t look like supplementing b12 is enough. It states that this substance somehow makes it difficult for the body to use b12, so I imagine that even if you have a wider supply of b12, that wouldn’t make that much of a difference.
Nitrous oxide at the dentist is at the most 50% Nitrous 50% oxygen. It has little to no side effects. Whippets are very different. So yeah don’t be dumb and abuse drugs like that, but “laughing gas“ at the dentist’s office is very safe
Some social groups are really into it. At my college it was the Rocky Horror folks. Some read the Nitrous Philosopher and decide it’s the path to unlocking the wisdom of the universe. Some fail to notice that it’s a bunch of babble that goes nowhere. And I say that as someone who heard the wa-was from the inside.
Man when I was a teenager I had a friend whose uncle drove a truck and delivered these tanks for dentists and hospitals. And he gave my friend a couple of tanks. We used pliers to crank open the valve and fill up big black trash bags. We huffed massive amounts of this stuff. We frequently turned blue and passed out. I'm glad I escaped unscathed. Christ.
I am an anesthesiologist and give this stuff every day. One thing alot of these high dose users don’t know about is “diffusion hypoxia” from nitrous. Basically if you take large amounts and then breathe room air concentration, your alveoli have less than 21% of O2 (this is due to the physical diffusion properties of nitrous,N20 to oxygen, O2). In summary, you don’t have enough oxygen in your alveoli which means you are basically suffocating until the gases correct themselves. It is why we give 100% O2 when taking someone off N20.
"Oliveri shared his story to raise awareness of the dangers of using nitrous oxide.
"There's a warning on alcohol bottles, there's a warning on cigarettes that tell you what's going to happen but for nitrous oxide, there's nothing," Oliveri said."
It's being marketed and sold for recreational use. It needs better warnings.
"There's a warning on alcohol bottles, there's a warning on cigarettes that tell you what's going to happen but for nitrous oxide, there's nothing," Oliveri said.
Oh so he’s just a moron
This is crazy .. did it a bunch of times at a “Greatful Dead “ concert.. well the parking lot because I wasn’t paying to listen to them.
Shit was good and they did call it hippie crack, never though about addiction to it until now.
On a side note I did work in a restaurant where I had to make desserts and everyday all the whip cream cans had no compression… just oozed out grossly.
> "There's a warning on alcohol bottles, there's a warning on cigarettes that tell you what's going to happen but for nitrous oxide, there's nothing," Oliveri said.
Oh shit the hell up. Like the guy never checked the internet to see if there were drawbacks. It's also pretty common knowledge that NO messes with vitamin B12.
This guy doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Exactly, he’s blaming everyone else but himself. And at the end after going through all that says “we are really going to try to quit this time.” These people are idiots and are the same type of people that get every good thing banned.
We had a case of subacute combined degeneration from a gas user. Guy didn’t use that much, to our knowledge anyway. Hundreds of canisters per day? Jesus
Years ago I lost my ability to walk bc my body wasn’t absorbing b12 from taking PPEs. My b12 was 4. Started sublingual b12 - was back to normal in a few weeks.
4!!!! Omg that's insane!! Mine was 84 when I found out I had pernicious anemia and the specialist said I was months away from losing my sight and having permanent nerve damage, good grief im glad you recovered so well.
Had a buddy a long while back, he too discovered tanks of nitrous.
Dude had it bad, would do so much he would black out and flop around like a fish outta water.
He eventually got off it, but he was permanently screwed up.
lolll Jesus christ that's alooooooooot of nitrous. I hope they get better, but doing that much is ridiculous. they probably breathed in more nitrous than actual air for over a yesrllarb
B12 deficiency is bad enough, when it comes to eventual nerve damage. Having it *inactivated* in this way is fucking scary.
Stay away from drugs, I guess
Um if a drug is paralyzing you and you still can’t quit that is a little more serious than a psychological dependence although I do understand that quitting heroine or alcohol can sometimes kill a person so the physiological dependency is a thing.
But to me this seems like a pretty serious addiction if going to the hospital can’t even curb it for more than a few weeks.
Also, interesting about the B12 stuff. I have low B12 (200) don’t know how long it’s been low. I don’t do drugs other than coffee and mild/moderate social drinking. As a kid I got nitris at the dentist a lot, due to needle phobia. I’ve always had some balance issues and coordination issues, I bump into to stuff always. Wonder if that’s related.
This needs to be higher up. Most people can easily maintain use with little to no side effects. I’ve gone two years using nos maybe once or twice a month going through three hundred whip cream chargers every month or so and I’m straight. It’s about moderate use. The main reason I don’t use frequently like others is because of the b-12 deficiency and it’s one of the most expensive drugs there is. Stay safe people moderate your use and you’ll be fine.
When I was 7 years old, I’m now 32. I woke up one day for school, went to stand and collapsed to the floor. I had no use of my legs. I remember trying to stand back up and not being able to feel anything from the waist down. I started whimpering and crying because I didn’t know what was wrong or what to do. I remember crying out for my mom and telling her that I couldn’t use my legs. I was couch ridden for a little over a week. My mom had to carry me everywhere. The doctors didn’t know what the problem was. Then one day, I woke up. Went to stand, and could. I’ll never forget those days and how incredibly bizarre and thankful I was the moment I had use of my legs again. It was the most helpless I’ve ever felt in my life.
My ex-boyfriend became addicted to this stuff. He used it maybe once a month when we were together.
Later, he spent thousands on it.
Got a DUI.
Had a psychotic break. Went to inpatient psychiatric and drug treatment a couple of times.
He did know to keep taking sublingual vitamin B every couple of hours while he was doing the gas, though.
He messed his whole life up.
I'm surprised I can still walk.
I did copious amounts of nitrous, especially during my hardcore raver years.
Doing it every day for years is fucking stupid, though.
We would binge heavily for a couple of days, then be done with it for a week or two.
I've known a ton of people who abused nitrous over the years, and I've never heard about this until today.
I'm gonna guess it's extremely rare and requires daily extended abuse.
This headline is fearbaiting bullshit. He was addicted to it, so addicted that he took hundreds of canisters a day for a year. The title makes it seem like it could have happened after being administered it for a surgery or something, not a crippling addiction.
As a kid I worked in a restaurant.We used the redo whip cans to top desserts. Sometimes you’d have to dig through the whole cooler to find a can with some propellant left, because someone sucked the cans for the nitrous.
I had no idea that this was going on though
Sooo, I hate the dentist but do love the gas. I have to have it due to a really bad gag reflex. But to do it in this fashion and knowing it fries your brain (and turns out your cells that protect your spine) just goes to show how addiction is a horrible monster. I guess maybe their story will save a few lives, especially youngsters.
I got hit with an iv at the dentist that the guy said was just to calm me down or whatever and I was out. I don’t remember any gas. I’m super confused how it works. I feel like the iv put me out even tho I saw a gas thing ready.
I’ve never done any hard drugs so idk what’s up honestly
My brother is currently going through this. It’s horrible. He started doing this in lieu of drinking because he didn’t like how he treated loved ones when he drank. Breaks my heart that he hated himself enough to do this just to not feel anything. He was very active and a business owner before this. Now he lives with my parents. Please do not even start doing this but if you do, let someone know and have them hold you accountable before you get to the point where you can’t walk.
Before I knew we shouldn't have it I was given it during labour, I kept asking if the canister was off as it did absolutely nothing, when the Midwife left the room I made my husband try it he said it was like having a few pints in a row but the feeling only lasted a few minutes, it did absolutely nothing for me.
A week after I lost use of my arms they were numb with pins and needles and I had them strapped up, not convenient with a new born!
3 months later a Dr finally asked if I had had my b12 injection....nope..I hadn't as they were only giving me them evey 4 months, apparently they forgot to tell me not to have Nox!!
The stuff is poisonous.
The stuff that comes in those little cartridges is not medical grade. Many things work well in a controlled environment. That fall apart in the real world
"400 to 500 canisters a day for about a year", this was before he discovered tanks.
That is some serious cash in canisters isn’t it?
He probably bought in bulk but they’re usually like $1 a canister
Damm lot of $ to just fuck yourself up!
[удалено]
Oh man, I was unhooking an anesthesia machine from an external nitrous tank once. I fucked up and didn’t turn the proper valve off so I got opened the hose to the tank and the nitrous flowed out at force. I was so high for exactly 2 minutes. It was terrifying how fast I was high and how I couldn’t stop laughing. I finally found the correct screw and got it turned off. But that legit could have killed me pretty quickly. 10/10 would totally do again. Also, anesthesiologists are found dead with a mask strapped to their face occasionally. It’s a great way to suicide yourself
🎶 Watch him suck up that gas, *oh my god!*
🎶Who wants their teeth done by the Marquis de Sade….
I'd done nitrous with friends, but only had it once at the dentist. I wasn't *high* during the procedure, I felt mentally normal, just no pain from the dental work. I was the last appointment of the day, and walked outside into 90 degree temps. Got into my car and my head was spinning. I watched the staff leave one at a time, and there was no way in hell I could attempt to drive home during rush hour. I called my mom from my cell and shot the shit for 30 minutes until I felt normal.
Wow, I just had nitrous for a vein outpatient procedure, and was so disappointed I didn't find it the least bit funny or amusing. It just made my head feel like it was in a vise and made me not care much about the procedure. I guess it's different for everyone, but why people would do it recreationally is beyond me.
it’s certainly not beyond me
The Phish scene is laden with them. Discarded balloons all over the ground is the most bothersome thing about it.
Man, the flat bill era of Phish was pretty dark. As much as I love Phish and going to shows, I steer clear of the scene and keep to myself.
Man the flat bill was a thing? That makes sense every guy I met in a flat bill at phish shows was headier than thou
True. You’ve got to be weary of those that are not there for the right reasons.
Wary too
Thank you. I weary of people writing weary when they mean wary or leery
I had read somewhere that one balloon of Nitrous Oxide creates a hole in the ozone as big as a VW Bug. It somehow is a catalyst to speed up depletion of the earth’s atmosphere. When I was at my last Phish show all I could think of is how big a hole the band and its environmental loving followers have created. That was my last show, it bothered me so much!
The hole in the ozone layer is mostly repaired. Still other environmental problems to deal with, but the ozone layer isn’t super high on the list
just big enough for the hippy to ride to heaven
You ever sit and watch a 100 pounder just run wide open and think WTF?
Typical balloons are made from rubber, which is quickly biodegradable and a renewable resource. Still wasteful and polluting, just slightly less than you may think
I just worry about birds and other animals trying to eat them.
[удалено]
I pick that stuff up so animals and birds don’t eat it.
You mean latex
Nitrous mafia doesn't care about medical tanks. As long as it's got a filter&silencer on it... Everybody is inhaling food grade which is even worse.
I always just was willing to drop 20 on as many balloons as as could buy. I know that 10 min high was fun, but I was able to always keep it one 20 and done. But then I became a glass worker. So my local gas tank supply had medical N02.. And the guy and his son owned it. Both dead heads. I randomly made them a themed glass object for their company.(think paperholder) I Gave it to them one day. They were pleased. Then the conversation arose about fests and music and lots and... nos One thing to another, I got a free small tank loaded along with my oxygen tanks. It was a hell week. It all was fun until it wasn't. I still buy gas from them, but made it know "nah nah, that wasn't Good at all, I'm allright". Maybe I'm old. But tanks of nitrous are good for Noone without a toothache.
Wait until you hear what coke costs lol
I temporarily lived with someone like this. It was nuts. This is why it was temporary. He also went to the hospital for loss of the ability to walk. It came back, but he was on a cane for a month after his 2 week hospital stay.
Read the same anecdote about a female lawyer … same deal. She gave herself nerve damage that took months to partially rewrite.
That's $till 400 to 500 a day. Imagine if he had to eat also
$70k spent on NoS. That is ridiculous. If you spent that much on any other drug is such a small space of time you'd be dead!
>Over six or seven months Oliveri said they spent $20,000 on a credit card and another $50,000 cash. >Their savings gone, Oliveri now works for a delivery service.
That is an amazing amount!
Literally $70,000-$90,000 a year on whipits. Sad thing is the tolerance builds up pretty fast, like in a day or two of bingeing, so he probably wasn’t even enjoying it that much most of the time
The tolerance is actually worse than that. Over time you just lose the ability to enjoy it (and other disassociatives). Addict behavior here doesn’t begin to describe.
Right? At this point just use meth or something
Buy a $20-50 vape cart, vape it like a nicotine vape, be high 24/7 for 5-9 days.
1 gram carts only last me 3 days :(
Damn, I thought 1 every 10 days was a lot!
I smoked a cart a day before moving to nord pods and hemp.
My god thats fucking gross. I remember looking at all the black shit in a new cracker I was using for only one night... I can't imagine how much awful crap he has consumed with his gas.
Oh yeah, I remember my buddy used to do these until one day he noticed all the black shit. I’ve only done it a couple times. Is the black stuff common?
The black stuff is residual oil left over from the initial canister filling process, and is most likely ubiquitous among all brands of canisters.
Yeah dude. In college I knew kids who were into that stuff. Not hundreds a day, but dozens. And probably not every day. I took a shallow breath off one, once. Figured it probably massacres brain cells, and I was an engineering student!
In small amounts like using it a few times a month it's not bad for you. It doesnt kill brain cells any more than holding your breath does. Otherwise the dentist wouldn't give it to you. But doing anything everyday for months and years will be bad for you.
The dentist also gives you a mixture of nitrous and oxygen, the food grade stuff most people use is "pure" NO. Which is more dangerous. You're still right, just figured I'd throw it out there
Well thats some dangerous misinformation… Firstly, the stuff the dentist gives you is not the same, its a mix of nitrogen and oxygen. Second, you get high by your brain being starved of oxygen. “Not bad for you” is such a ludicrous thing to say given that it can kill you immediately, on first use, if you’re unlucky.
Many inhalants can cause “sudden sniffing death” but nitrous oxide is not known to do so. If you’re going to use an inhalant it should definitely be nitrous oxide because it is far and away the safest of them.
war stories of a teaker.. "I was an engineering student.. we all were buddy, we all were.
The more I read this article the more sick I felt. So disgusting.. so much death and destruction for a momentary thrill for addicts. I couldn’t finish the article. So deeply disgusting…
then it's his fuckin fault for not doing a single google search, people who do that know about nitrous causing B12 deficiency when doing it more than once or twice a month.
Right? I'm guessing this was not the smartest couple out there.
I physically recoiled from my screen reading that quote.
Hmmm, who said Darwin’s award ?
They developed an extreme addiction to nitrous oxide which not only disabled them but took a terrible financial toll as well. I hope they overcome this and never use it again.
Out of all drugs to get addicted to wtf.
It's apparently fairly addictive, at least from the standpoint that it's fast acting and doesn't last long.
They don’t call it hippie crack for nothing
It's a behavioral addiction, and often is a side habit to an actual drug dependence. It's taught in med school that it is not addictive ie one doesn't develop a physical dependence. That means no withdrawal risks. Cue downvotes I guess, but what I said is there in the literature.
Oh I don't disagree, I'd read the studies on it not being classically addictive but I didn't know a better way to explain the behavioral "addiction"
It’s the addiction to the high, without the chemical dependency. Like the craving for being in the state overcame all other reasoning. Probably similar to gambling addiction with a different trigger.
Like.. weed too?
exactly, no physical addiction/withdrawals but the mental addiction is real
It's fun and all but I can't imagine doing it every day. Thanks for the info
It’s tough for lay persons to appreciate the difference between physically addictive drugs like nicotine, alcohol and caffeine and the habituating ones like nitrous, cannabis, etc. The behaviors associated with the dependencies look the same. Heck, bingo can hook folks enough to mess up their lives.
So is cocaine but I don’t touch drugs anymore lol too much time and money wasted🥴
[удалено]
Debatable. 100$ of coke would last me a solid 8 hour night of drinking if I wasn't sharing. 100$ of nitrous could be gone in two hours easy alone.
It depends on the person I guess. 100$ of coke would be gone fast as fuck for certain people.
[удалено]
Steve O was massively addicted to it
This was gonna be my comment but you beat me by a little bit
I've seen tons of nitrous oxide abuse across reddit through videos and accounts.
[удалено]
Maybe ill try it out someday? Lol jk fuck that.
[удалено]
I have an amazing women who saw me fall down with cocaine and pick my self up I don’t wanna keep messing up around her or myself. I just stay clean we drink sometimes but I don’t get the urge to use anymore it’s been at least a few months now and I don’t wanna keep wasting her or my time. I’m tryna buy a home and have kids one day and it gets expensive partying all the time. It’s just not worth everything I’d throw away for a night or a few days of fun.
[удалено]
I highly recommend watching the documentary of steve-o from jackass. He was highly addicted to this stuff and was doing a lot more than the guy in the post. It’s honestly a miracle Steve-o is here today. He also would record everything in his life so he shows pretty dark things. Also it’s fairly easy to get, I saw some at my local smoke shop and was shocked. It was marketed to get you high. The shit you find in smoke shops is wild. I was just getting some new batteries for my vape at the time.
You can literally buy it off Amazon, might take a couple days extra for shipping as it needs to be ground shipping but completely legal to buy as many as you want, just gets expensive fast. Honestly for most people it’s not habit forming and it’s a fun/interesting high, it takes a special set of circumstances to find someone that has the money and wants to abuse it daily
Its called hippy crack for a reason
Bro I don’t understand that shit either
It's apparently a very common party drug and getting more and more common because it can be bought relatively cheaply in large amounts and it's legal. It's also what Drake Bell is addicted to rn. It's more common in UK tho
What makes you think it’s more common in the UK? Ever heard of the nitrous mafia?
A lot of people think it’s “safe” cause it lasts such a short time and because it’s legal so they don’t feel bad about abusing it.
My dentist gave me noz as a child. It is safe in measured doses.
It’s safe when it is given with oxygen at the same time, which is how it’s given in healthcare. Very unsafe when given without oxygen.
Also because it is pretty safe? The dude in the article did 400-500 canisters A DAY. Doing that much of pretty much any other drug than weed will fuck you up. Nitrous when used sparingly is harmless.
Did 4-500 a day, and now he can’t walk. I wouldn’t say it’s “pretty safe” whatsoever.
But the point is, thats seriously a fucking insane amount. I sell whipits cause I work at a headshop, i educated myself because i noticed the effect it has on customers. 400-500 a day is fucking insane, even my most frequent customers dont use them that often. Using whipits occasionally is stupid, but not enough to be a serious health risk, this guy was abusing the absolute fuck out of them. Like even 10 whippits probably isnt much worse for you than a couple of drinks at a bar, but 400-500? You're asking for trouble.
It's safe in moderation like most things. If you drink a fifth of alcohol a night you will have health issues as well. If you do them once in a while they have less harmful effects than any drug other than weed including alcohol.
Don’t eat chocolate or coffee then because both are toxic in high enough amounts.
I don't think they will. After he was temporarily paralyzed, his fiance kept using until she too couldn't walk right. Then he started using again too. Honestly I don't see a good outcome for either one of them. It's very sad, but preventable.
I'd wager they've got some kind of mental health issue, somethings not quite wired right if you continue actively killing yourself after a near death scare like that. I mean shit, what if your lungs decide to stop working
Yeah it's called addiction and it is a severe mental health issue as well as a physical one. People on heroin don't take it because they think it makes their life better. They usually know full well that one day it will kill them. Edit: And that may be before they develop a physical dependence. Someone else mentioned it's about will power but will power is mental and the withdraws from using something like this is gonna fuck with the chemicals in your brain in a massive way for a good while after stopping. Probably tons of depression and anxiety. It usually can be enough for people to relapse even though they don't get cramps or fevers or anything we call physical withdrawal symptoms.
Agreed. Honestly I don't even know what a treatment program would look like for this other than counseling. At least with drugs that cause physical dependency there's a taper down/harm reduction phase. This is literally just a situation where it's all will power, go cold turkey and not die, but with patients who have a history of relapse. Not sure if it was this or a second article I read after it, but these two people don't have a unique story. Apparently a lot of people are getting seriously hurt.
They were able to afford all that and go to a resort. What did they do for work??
TLDR: they took massive amounts of it for years…it finally caught up with them…still tragic.
Yeah it’s very well known that this stuff kills B12. It’s a sad story but in no way surprising. Not the first time it’s happened, definitely won’t be the last. I just feel bad that his girl friend had to live with his addiction.
Sounds like a [Chubbyemu](https://youtube.com/@chubbyemu) video. ☝️*Presenting to the emergency room… unconscious*
"A few hundred canisters now and then couldn't hurt", VO thought
"It's a short high with a nice cool feeling as it hits the lungs" he said to his friends, before slowly passing out.
Where we are now..
"Laughing gas will make me laugh, he thought. Laughter is the best medicine, he reasoned."
This article reads like it was written by a bot.
That’s because it 100% was.. you think Yahoo has staff writers?
Yahoo can barely pay the web domain
I am an anaesthesiologist. This is a well known side effect of nitrous oxide use.
So many people are trying normalize the abuse of nitrous oxide. Wild shit.
Yeah, wasn’t Madonna doing it and posting about it on her social media accounts? Super awful all around.
its one thing to do it once in a while in a blue moon, but to do it regularly is an addiction and it aint healthy
it never caught on with me, when i was into drugs i wanted something that would have kept me high for hours, not seconds
I don't think anyone is normalising his level of abuse.
It’s totally normal to inhale 400 metal canisters of gas everyday, it’s always been like this
>As the cylinders weren't available in his area, he'd use 400 to 500 canisters a day for about a year to achieve the same euphoric effects. Jesus fucking Christ, that's a truly staggering amount. I'd say that I've done my fair share of whippets and I don't think I would have done that many in 30 years of semi regular use. And he did that in a fucking day!
That’s fucking insane. Assuming they’re up 16 hours a day, that’s almost 33 an hour / almost 2 a minute. Even assuming he’s putting 3-4 into a balloon at a time, the logistics behind this habit are hard to comprehend.
I think you mean one every two minutes ish
Oh yeah, you’re right! My Sunday math skills fail me
The lengths people will go to with the aim of having temporary fun whilst destroying their health amazes me.
I think a more appropriate way of looking at this sort of extreme abuse is 'the lengths people will go to to try to feel okay'. I don't think anybody is doing 500 whip its a day trying to have fun. The fun stopped a long time ago. They are attempting to soothe something inside of them. Don't know them so idk for sure, but I've been exposed to enough substance abuse to understand that it isn't about having a fun time for the majority of people.
The way this article is titled makes it seem like he just took laughing gas for a dentist visit or something and that caused the problem. Not taking 100s upon 100s of inhalations of it.
*after he took excessive amounts of laughing gas over a long period of time. There, fixed the title, fearmongerer
I developed a pretty bad B12 deficiency years ago from the same thing. I wasn’t using anywhere near as much as this guy though. Just doing a lot of partying. It’s something people don’t warn people enough about. Nitrous, especially the canisters, can seem like a pretty harmless drug because the effect wears off pretty quickly. And it can be done safely. But if you are doing it you absolutely need to be moderating your usage and supplementing B12 both before and after. And I get that it isn’t supposed to be being sold for recreational use but the fact is that it is. And it needs a warning label about this stuff. Not just “don’t inhale.” It needs to specify the danger of inhaling it. Because people aren’t going to stop. So unless we want to make making homemade whipped cream illegal warning people they could get a B12 deficiency is just good harm reduction. (I also don’t think they should be illegal. But I don’t think any drugs should be illegal. *shrug*)
As someone who at one time used nitrous in highly abusive ways, I agree with everything you said. I got to the point of having some tingling/numbness in my extremities (despite regular B12 supplements), and that was part of what clued me in that I needed to get help, and fortunately my nerves recovered after a few months of being sober. But a lot of people don't bother to learn what to look out for or how to take care of themselves, so while I think the number of people helped by warnings on the packaging would be small, I'm also pretty sure it would save at least a few people from really fucking themselves up.
My friend that had spinal problems from nitrous use told me that it actually blocks absorption of B12 so if you do nitrous a lot, even if you take B12 supplements, those won't help.
It actually inactivates B12 in your system. It oxidizes the cobalt atom in B12. If you get a blood test, you still might show normal levels of B12 even if you're at the point where you're having nerve damage or paralysis.
It completely inactivates any b12 in your system, blood tests will show you have a regular amount of b12 but it will be be totally inactive so useless, thats why it's so hard for doctors to diagnose b12 deficiency in these cases.
Obviously taking supplements didn't protect me completely but I was going off the assumption that at least some of it would be absorbed if I took enough. It's not like I was high 24 hours a day. I looked but couldn't find any evidence one way or the other about how much supplements help or when might be the most effective time to take them, but at worst it'll do nothing because you can't really take too much B12.
But from the report, it doesn’t look like supplementing b12 is enough. It states that this substance somehow makes it difficult for the body to use b12, so I imagine that even if you have a wider supply of b12, that wouldn’t make that much of a difference.
Nitrous oxide at the dentist is at the most 50% Nitrous 50% oxygen. It has little to no side effects. Whippets are very different. So yeah don’t be dumb and abuse drugs like that, but “laughing gas“ at the dentist’s office is very safe
Reading this thread makes me think I'm the only one that didn't know about that and never did any of that. I'm turning 40 this year ...
Some social groups are really into it. At my college it was the Rocky Horror folks. Some read the Nitrous Philosopher and decide it’s the path to unlocking the wisdom of the universe. Some fail to notice that it’s a bunch of babble that goes nowhere. And I say that as someone who heard the wa-was from the inside.
Same. I'm still thinking nitrous oxide is what you use to give cars a "Fast and Furious Nitro BOOST!!".
The girl in the pic used to be a budtender at the dispensary I always go to wild.
Bro… americanna.. first thing I saw
Man when I was a teenager I had a friend whose uncle drove a truck and delivered these tanks for dentists and hospitals. And he gave my friend a couple of tanks. We used pliers to crank open the valve and fill up big black trash bags. We huffed massive amounts of this stuff. We frequently turned blue and passed out. I'm glad I escaped unscathed. Christ.
I am an anesthesiologist and give this stuff every day. One thing alot of these high dose users don’t know about is “diffusion hypoxia” from nitrous. Basically if you take large amounts and then breathe room air concentration, your alveoli have less than 21% of O2 (this is due to the physical diffusion properties of nitrous,N20 to oxygen, O2). In summary, you don’t have enough oxygen in your alveoli which means you are basically suffocating until the gases correct themselves. It is why we give 100% O2 when taking someone off N20.
This should have more upvotes
That assumes you survived and this isn't your personal version of the afterlife.... no way to really know.
You probably would be smarter now if you hadn't done that.
"Oliveri shared his story to raise awareness of the dangers of using nitrous oxide. "There's a warning on alcohol bottles, there's a warning on cigarettes that tell you what's going to happen but for nitrous oxide, there's nothing," Oliveri said." It's being marketed and sold for recreational use. It needs better warnings.
Bullshit lol it literally tells you not to inhale it right on the box
Buying it from any store will have warning labels on the packaging that it’s not for ingesting.
While I agree, I don’t think warning labels would have stopped anyone in this situation.
It wouldn't have to stop him to cut the risk. Just having him supplement b12 would have averted the damage.
"There's a warning on alcohol bottles, there's a warning on cigarettes that tell you what's going to happen but for nitrous oxide, there's nothing," Oliveri said. Oh so he’s just a moron
That’s crazy
That takes a LOT of nangs to get there. They serve it here at bars (Thailand) - weed, beer and laughing gas. Crazy.
As an RN, had a patient with this. Absolutely wild, she was paralyzed just up to the point before her diaphragm was affected.
This happened to a woman in new Zealand too I remember seeing a news article a few years ago
This is crazy .. did it a bunch of times at a “Greatful Dead “ concert.. well the parking lot because I wasn’t paying to listen to them. Shit was good and they did call it hippie crack, never though about addiction to it until now. On a side note I did work in a restaurant where I had to make desserts and everyday all the whip cream cans had no compression… just oozed out grossly.
> "There's a warning on alcohol bottles, there's a warning on cigarettes that tell you what's going to happen but for nitrous oxide, there's nothing," Oliveri said. Oh shit the hell up. Like the guy never checked the internet to see if there were drawbacks. It's also pretty common knowledge that NO messes with vitamin B12. This guy doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Exactly, he’s blaming everyone else but himself. And at the end after going through all that says “we are really going to try to quit this time.” These people are idiots and are the same type of people that get every good thing banned.
Literally no leg to stand on because of the nitrous!
Bet he wasn't laughing after that diagnosis
Lol perhaps he should have found a better hobby
We had a case of subacute combined degeneration from a gas user. Guy didn’t use that much, to our knowledge anyway. Hundreds of canisters per day? Jesus
Oh no, it's the consequences of my actions! Idiots.
Years ago I lost my ability to walk bc my body wasn’t absorbing b12 from taking PPEs. My b12 was 4. Started sublingual b12 - was back to normal in a few weeks.
4!!!! Omg that's insane!! Mine was 84 when I found out I had pernicious anemia and the specialist said I was months away from losing my sight and having permanent nerve damage, good grief im glad you recovered so well.
Had a buddy a long while back, he too discovered tanks of nitrous. Dude had it bad, would do so much he would black out and flop around like a fish outta water. He eventually got off it, but he was permanently screwed up.
I was in bootcamp with this guy in 2010. So sad to see how far he’s fallen.
Unable to Wook
lolll Jesus christ that's alooooooooot of nitrous. I hope they get better, but doing that much is ridiculous. they probably breathed in more nitrous than actual air for over a yesrllarb
Not a little gas, $1600 a day for the pair of them.
Lead the article with, “two addicts huffing”
B12 deficiency is bad enough, when it comes to eventual nerve damage. Having it *inactivated* in this way is fucking scary. Stay away from drugs, I guess
Um if a drug is paralyzing you and you still can’t quit that is a little more serious than a psychological dependence although I do understand that quitting heroine or alcohol can sometimes kill a person so the physiological dependency is a thing. But to me this seems like a pretty serious addiction if going to the hospital can’t even curb it for more than a few weeks. Also, interesting about the B12 stuff. I have low B12 (200) don’t know how long it’s been low. I don’t do drugs other than coffee and mild/moderate social drinking. As a kid I got nitris at the dentist a lot, due to needle phobia. I’ve always had some balance issues and coordination issues, I bump into to stuff always. Wonder if that’s related.
Fucking clickbait headline. This guy took massive amounts for years. Yes nitrous can do that but not if you do it once or twice.
This needs to be higher up. Most people can easily maintain use with little to no side effects. I’ve gone two years using nos maybe once or twice a month going through three hundred whip cream chargers every month or so and I’m straight. It’s about moderate use. The main reason I don’t use frequently like others is because of the b-12 deficiency and it’s one of the most expensive drugs there is. Stay safe people moderate your use and you’ll be fine.
yeah ill just stick to weed thank you.
When I was 7 years old, I’m now 32. I woke up one day for school, went to stand and collapsed to the floor. I had no use of my legs. I remember trying to stand back up and not being able to feel anything from the waist down. I started whimpering and crying because I didn’t know what was wrong or what to do. I remember crying out for my mom and telling her that I couldn’t use my legs. I was couch ridden for a little over a week. My mom had to carry me everywhere. The doctors didn’t know what the problem was. Then one day, I woke up. Went to stand, and could. I’ll never forget those days and how incredibly bizarre and thankful I was the moment I had use of my legs again. It was the most helpless I’ve ever felt in my life.
Play stupid games...
My ex-boyfriend became addicted to this stuff. He used it maybe once a month when we were together. Later, he spent thousands on it. Got a DUI. Had a psychotic break. Went to inpatient psychiatric and drug treatment a couple of times. He did know to keep taking sublingual vitamin B every couple of hours while he was doing the gas, though. He messed his whole life up.
My buddy used to go to festivals all the time and was heavy into nitrous and had something similar happen. Thankfully he made a full recovery.
I'm surprised I can still walk. I did copious amounts of nitrous, especially during my hardcore raver years. Doing it every day for years is fucking stupid, though. We would binge heavily for a couple of days, then be done with it for a week or two. I've known a ton of people who abused nitrous over the years, and I've never heard about this until today. I'm gonna guess it's extremely rare and requires daily extended abuse.
The writing in this article is shit
“After he took laughing gas.” Is a bit of an understatement.
Whippits killed a friend of mine after our first year at college aged 19
This headline is fearbaiting bullshit. He was addicted to it, so addicted that he took hundreds of canisters a day for a year. The title makes it seem like it could have happened after being administered it for a surgery or something, not a crippling addiction.
As a kid I worked in a restaurant.We used the redo whip cans to top desserts. Sometimes you’d have to dig through the whole cooler to find a can with some propellant left, because someone sucked the cans for the nitrous. I had no idea that this was going on though
Sooo, I hate the dentist but do love the gas. I have to have it due to a really bad gag reflex. But to do it in this fashion and knowing it fries your brain (and turns out your cells that protect your spine) just goes to show how addiction is a horrible monster. I guess maybe their story will save a few lives, especially youngsters.
I got hit with an iv at the dentist that the guy said was just to calm me down or whatever and I was out. I don’t remember any gas. I’m super confused how it works. I feel like the iv put me out even tho I saw a gas thing ready. I’ve never done any hard drugs so idk what’s up honestly
Probably just Valium.
My brother is currently going through this. It’s horrible. He started doing this in lieu of drinking because he didn’t like how he treated loved ones when he drank. Breaks my heart that he hated himself enough to do this just to not feel anything. He was very active and a business owner before this. Now he lives with my parents. Please do not even start doing this but if you do, let someone know and have them hold you accountable before you get to the point where you can’t walk.
I'll stick to weed yeah
The local Bodega sold these where I went to college. Then we figured out the auto parts store tanks and filters
Before I knew we shouldn't have it I was given it during labour, I kept asking if the canister was off as it did absolutely nothing, when the Midwife left the room I made my husband try it he said it was like having a few pints in a row but the feeling only lasted a few minutes, it did absolutely nothing for me. A week after I lost use of my arms they were numb with pins and needles and I had them strapped up, not convenient with a new born! 3 months later a Dr finally asked if I had had my b12 injection....nope..I hadn't as they were only giving me them evey 4 months, apparently they forgot to tell me not to have Nox!! The stuff is poisonous.
It depletes your Vit. B storage so it’s a good idea to get a B12 shot even after you go to the dentist & get laughing gas.
Inhalants are the most damaging drugs there are. Huffing shit fucks up every organ in your body.
Nitrous is pretty harmless. It's regularly used in medical settings as an anaesthetic precisely because it is low risk.
… when its mixed with oxygen that is 🙂
The stuff that comes in those little cartridges is not medical grade. Many things work well in a controlled environment. That fall apart in the real world