health presentation

Inhalants have a long history and were used by spiritual leaders in the 19th century. They are commonly used by teens, with household items like glue and spray paint being inhaled. Inhalant use is most prevalent in early teens, but can occur in younger children as well. Some states have implemented measures to prevent minors from accessing these substances. Short-term effects of inhalant use include feeling high, slurred speech, lack of coordination, dizziness, and hallucinations. Long-term effects can cause damage to organs and hinder brain development. Inhalants are highly addictive with severe withdrawal symptoms. Street inhalants release dopamine for a short duration, while medical professionals use inhalants for pain relief during dental procedures. Hello and welcome back to our podcast, Second Chances. Today we've been talking about inhalants and I'd like to welcome our next guest. Today we have Chris Jones here. Chris is a local rehabilitation specialist. He works primarily with teens who are trying to kick the habit. Welcome to Second Chances, Chris. Yeah, thanks for having me here. Okay, Chris. So, inhalants, huh? I always heard this as huffing, but I didn't really understand much about it. Can you tell us a little bit about the history of inhalants? Yeah, inhalants have a weird history. They were commonly used in the 19th century, but they were mostly used by spiritual leaders to alter consciousness of their people. Oh, so the 19th century. So, inhalants aren't a new drug. They're actually relatively old. Can you talk to me a little bit about how people use inhalants and what types of substances do they use? Yeah, people are using common household items such as glue, shoe polish, cleaning fluids, spray paint, and even whipped cream. Most of these substances are breathed in through your nose or your mouth. Like some people spray it in a bag, some people pour it in a bottle, and some people soak it in a cloth and smell it. Okay, so now we know how to use inhalants, but can you tell me a little bit more about who is using inhalants? Is it more prevalent in men or women? Is there a certain age group where kids start to use this drug or they're more exposed to it? Yeah, so they're mostly used in early teen years, like 14, 15-year-olds. It rarely happens in younger ages like 5 to 6 years old, but there is cases of younger kids using inhalants. But most people stop using inhalants by 17 to 19 years old. But the drug is most prevalent on the streets, and they don't call it inhalants. They call it things like Air Blast, Bullet Bolt, Hippie Crack, Bang, Climax, Huffing, Whippets, and even Whiteout. So these drugs are pretty easily accessible. They're household items. Any sorts of protections? I mean, they're not illegal, correct? Yeah, so currently 46 states have designed preventions to stop minors from getting their hands on the substances. That's great. What does that look like? Yeah, so they just lock it behind cabinets that you need to show an ID to purchase it. All right, so now we know a little bit about this drug and we know who's using it. Let's talk about some of the side effects of using this drug on your body. Do you want to talk about some of the short-term effects or the long-term effects? Why don't we start with the immediate effects, mentally, physically? What does this drug do to your body when you take it? Yeah, so after inhaling, any sort of inhalant, the biggest effect of it is it makes you feel high. But there's a lot of other things that can go with it, like slurred and distorted speech, lack of coordination. It can make you dizzy and hallucinate. It can even cause bad injuries, such as irregular and rapid heart rhythms that aren't good for you. It can cause anaphylaxia, suffocation, convulsions, like seizures, comas, choking, and in rare cases, fatal injury. That's a lot of side effects. Is there any long-term effects of using inhalants? Yeah, the long-term effects are even worse than the short-term effects. The long-term effects of inhalants is it just slowly kills you pretty much. It causes damage to your heart, your kidney, your brain, like your bone marrow and almost every organ in your body. And it also just kills all the cells in your brain and stops all development. That is a lot of side effects from a substance. Is this drug addictive? How do people get off of this drug? Is there withdrawal? Is it easy? Yeah, this drug has really nasty withdrawals, and it is so addictive physically and mentally. Yeah, some of the most common withdrawal symptoms are nausea, excess sweating, like muscle cramps, headaches, chills, agitation, shaking, hallucinations, and in extreme cases, convulsions. And the relapse rate really isn't that good. It's like 40% to 60%. Inhalants sound pretty terrible, but they've been used for such a long time. Has there been any positive benefits that they've noted from long-term use or from using these substances? Yeah, so the only benefit for street inhalants is that it releases dopamine that makes you feel good, but it only lasts for a few minutes. So addicts try to make the high last longer by repeating the same process over and over and over. But there is such a thing as a good inhalant. Medical professions such as dentists, they use it when they pull teeth so you don't feel any pain. Okay, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you for all the information, and thanks for joining us, Chris. Yeah, thanks for having me here.