Author: Gary Jackson
Whippits Drug: Side Effects of Nitrous Oxide
Doctors use nitrous oxide as an anesthetic for pain relief. It’s common in dentist offices and other medical settings. You may hear people call it “laughing gas.” It’s safe to use for medical reasons.
Is a licensed and practicing pharmacist and medical writer who specializes in different substances, the effects of substance abuse, and substance use disorder. While whippets may not be consumed in the same way as other drugs, nor do they come in a form that most people would class as a ‘drug’, they are still considered a substance or drug when abused. Because nitrous oxide is a gas, it’s delivered via a mask directly to the lungs.
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In most cases, inhalants are commonly found household products that have potential to be misused due to their ability to produce mind-altering side effects when inhaled. Inhalants are incredibly toxic, causing damage to both the brain and nervous system. Nitrous oxide is safe when it is used in a controlled medically setting. The doses used in a dentist’s office are several times smaller than anything that can cause complications. However, when people abuse whip-it balloons or dust-off for recreational use, there is a risk of overdose. A safe dose has not been established, and there is no antidote for N2O poisoning.
- There is also a medical drug intervention which users may consider for safer and effective weaning off the substance.
- You put yourself more at risk if you put a bag or mask over your head as you inhale a whippet.
- According to medical professionals from Bangladesh, the use of a whippits drug may cause pneumothorax, a collapsed lung condition.
- Inhaling too much can cause a toxic reaction that may lead to seizures, coma, and death.
These are small metal canisters of the gas that are intended to be used as aerosol chargers for whipped cream dispensers. However, they are frequently misused because of the quick euphoric effects they produce when inhaled deeply from a whip-it balloon. Nitrous oxide is a colorless, non-flammable, sweet-tasting gas that is non-toxic at low concentrations. It occurs naturally and can be manufactured in the laboratory as well.
Talk to your kids about whippets
In cases of extreme B12 deficiency, people can be hospitalized for long periods of time and even permanently lose muscle function. In rare cases, people have died from asphyxiation (suffocation) after inhaling very high amounts of nitrous oxide. Whippets, on the other hand, don’t have an effect on dopamine or serotonin. Instead, a whippet high is the result of decreased oxygen and increased carbon dioxide in your body.
Nitrous oxide is commonly used for sedation to help people relax during medical procedures. It’s often used as a remedy for anxiety at the dentist’s office during a cleaning or a dental filling. But inhaling nitrous oxide outside of a medical facility is a much different circumstance.
Are whippets safe to do?
Tolerance will eventually lead to physical dependence if left unchecked, and addiction is often not far behind. Young people are at particular risk of developing a whippet addiction as nitrous oxide cartridges for ice cream machines etc. are relatively easy to get hold of. Whippet abuse is not only hazardous to health but the long-term effects of dependence and addiction can be devastating to a person’s life.
Even a few minutes of continued exposure can prove toxic. According to a report published in the BC Medical Journal, using cartridges of Whippets per day may compromise the health of the user as this can lead to whippits overdose. “Because obtaining whippets is easier compared to obtaining other illegal drugs, they are frequently used by teens and young people,” Forcier said. This is partly due to the drug’s wide availability; besides being used in products as common as whipped cream, you’ll often find them being sold in smoke and sex shops. Whippets fall under the drug category called ‘inhalants’ which are primarily made up of household solvents and aerosols that are breathed into the lungs to provide a euphoric high. As the nitrous oxide in whippets can cause hallucinations and other effects when abused, as well as adverse side effects, they are classed as a substance of abuse.