Inhalants
the drug that gets the public fuming
What are Inhalants?
How are Inhalants Administered?
How they are consumed:
· Breathing in smoke from a can
· Applying chemicals from a can right into your mouth
· By spraying a chemical into a bag and then breathing that in
· Breathing in smoke from inhalants using a small piece of fabric
· To take in all the chemicals from a balloon
After the inhalants are in your lungs, they get into the blood that circulates your body. The stream then brings the inhalants through your stomach and into your brain.
How Does a Person Tolerate Inhalants? What are the Symptoms of Overdose on Inhalants?
Using these drugs can cause you to grow a reliance on and acceptance to them. The more a person does so, the more they yearn for a higher amount of drugs so they can get results that the drug gives to them. If you use these drugs for an extended period of time, it can lead to mental reliance on the feelings you get when taking the inhalants. Inhalants are very addictive and affect your daily life style in a major way. Being in a certain area reminds some people of the drug and makes them want it more.
Overdosing on any inhalant is a life risk. Overdose symptoms include: fainting, drastic ignorance to your surroundings, and long term unconsciousness. Overdosing may begin to make your heart beat at a very fast pace as well. This acceleration of your heart could lead to life threatening situations such as death.
What are the Social and Legal Concerns Regarding Inhalants?
Out of all 50 states, 24 of them have forbidden manipulating, owning, or giving out inhalants in any way. A lot of inhalants are used more for recreational purposes and are easier for teens to obtain. Stated by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, inhalants are the #1 used drug in middle schools. Many obtainable and manufactured inhalants are permitted. But, there are still some states that have passed laws that state the problems of teenage use of these inhalants/drugs.
What are the Effects of Inhalants?
Inhalant intoxication can produce many effects including belligerence, apathy, impaired judgement, impaired social skills, nausea, and vomiting. Higher doses can cause confusion, a disturbed state of mind, dizziness, slurred speech.
Nitrous acid cause blood vessels to dilate, increase heart rate, and can produce a sense of excitement. Other effects are flush, dizziness, headache, lack of energy, depressed reflexes, muscle weakness, and stupor. Research shows that paint thinners such as toluene can produce headache euphoria, giddiness, and a lack of coordination.
Solvents slow down activity in the central nervous system. Short term effects of inhalants include memory loss, tremors, and loss of hearing. Long term effects include damage to the liver, blood, and bone marrow. Many of them also cause cancer.
How Long Do the Effects of Inhalants Last?
Depending on the amount of breaths taken, the high produced by inhalants may last between 45 minutes to several hours. After using inhalants, the person may feel drowsy and have a headache for up to several days. The effects of nitrites last no more than a few minutes.
Some long term effects of inhalants may go away when the person stops using them, but others are permanent. Damage to the brain is almost always permanent. Solvents such as toluene have been shown to damage nerve fibers in brain if used long term. This results in a neurological condition similar to multiple sclerosis (MS).
How are Inhalants Used in the Medical Field?
Amyl nitrite has various degrees of interaction with other medications. Some medication use should be monitored as the result of an interaction can be low blood pressure, altered metabolism, and a potentially unhealthy increase in the function of amyl nitrite or the other medication. Other medications require that an alternative equivalent be used if amyl nitrite is taken. The effects of interaction with these drugs are potentially life threatening and should be used only when absolutely necessary. In a couple extreme, some of the previously stated risks are so significant that the use of that drug in combination with amyl nitrite is strongly inadvisable.
See the following link for more information:
What Support Systems Exist for Those Suffering from Addiction?
Adolescent Treatment Center - Visions Teen Adolescent Programs
"It is the philosophy of Visions that the effective treatment of adolescents with substance abuse and behavioral disorders involves a holistic approach that includes attention to the adolescent's emotional growth and development of physical health, psychological health, family relations, social supports, and cultural factors."
Family Intervention for Drug or Alcohol Abuse
"Providing family intervention services for, drug abuse, alcohol addiction, gambling, and eating disorders."
Emotional Healing (The Voice of Love)
"Resources and Meditation techniques for releasing the emotional pains of addiction."
Wilderness Quest Outdoor Youth Treatment Program
"An outdoor youth treatment program helping adolescents and young adults achieve change through intensive wilderness living and facilitated self-discovery."
California-Rehab.net Addiction Treatment, Drug Rehab in California
"Clients receive intensive treatment for addiction and alcoholism including goal-oriented treatment planning, one-on-one counseling, group therapy, educational lectures, relapse prevention groups and specific components designed for individual clients on a case-by-case basis. Clients attend 12-Step meetings in the community and "outside" 12 step meetings brought in-house as well."
...and many more!
Works Cited
By Kaileigh Row and Brenna Herbert