Inhalant addiction treatment that actually works

Inhalants are various intoxicating substances that have psychoactive (mind-altering) properties when inhaled – either directly via spraying or indirectly using  paraphernalia, such as a rag or can containing the chemical.

Some inhalants are restricted drugs that have legitimate medical uses, while others include common household substances with intoxicating ingredients that can be abused for a temporary high. Many of these substances are extremely toxic and can lead to serious health problems or death.

Inhalant abuse is sometimes referred to as a forgotten drug epidemic. Millions of Americans abuse these substances at some point in their lives but reporting of this abuse is often overshadowed by other drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, and prescription opioids.

Additionally, many people don’t think of these products as drugs because they’re not intended for getting high, even though many use them for that purpose.

Signs of inhalant abuse can include:

• Odors of chemicals on the breath or clothing
• Stains from on hands, fingers, nose and mouth, or clothes
• Hiding paraphernalia like used rags, bags, or empty cans
• Significant changes in appetite, weight loss
• Downturn in school/work performance
• Poor hygiene and grooming
• Incoherent or slurred speech
• Drowsiness or fatigue
• Rash, ulcers or other irritation around the nose and mouth

Other symptoms may include:

• Confusion
• Inability to concentrate
• Depression
• Irritability and mood swings
• Hostility
• Paranoia

As a result of their high lipid solubility, inhalants are able to enter the bloodstream through the lungs and then easily cross the blood-brain barrier. Once there, most inhalants affect the brain in similar ways to tranquilizers or sedatives, as well as alcohol, targeting the central nervous system and slowing down brain activity.

Due to the similar way they work, the short-term effects of inhalants are similar to those of alcohol or sedatives and include:

• Slurred or distorted speech
• Lack of coordination/ability to control movement
• Euphoria
• Feeling dizzy or light-headed

In larger doses, users may also experience distorted perceptions of time and space, hallucinations, delusions, and emotional disturbances.

As the initial short-term effects begin to wear off, many inhalant users experience side effects such as:

• Headaches
• Lingering drowsiness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Loss of coordination and slurred speech
• Wheezing
• Emotional changes, such as aggression, depression, or irritability
• Muscle weakness
• Stupor

The long-term effects of inhalant abuse can be severe, and may include:

• Brain damage
• Heart problems (including fluid buildup, heart rhythm changes, or arrythmia)
• Vision and hearing loss
• Liver and kidney damage
• Bone marrow deterioration
• Oxygen deficiency and inability of tissues to absorb and use oxygen
• Nerve damage, which can cause prolonged loss of coordination and limb spasms

Those who begin abusing inhalant drugs at a young age are much more likely to drop out of school, and many children and teenagers who abuse inhalants are also at a higher risk of becoming addicted to other drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and opioids later in life.

While addiction to inhalant drugs is less common than with other substances of abuse, it is possible for a person to develop an addiction. That’s because like most addictive substances, over time these chemicals change the way your brain works.

Due to these changes, inhalant users will eventually start experiencing symptoms of physical and mental dependence, including uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms when they’re not using them anymore.

Again, because inhalants affect the brain in ways similar to alcohol or sedatives, the symptoms of withdrawal are also very similar. Due to chronic use, the brain and central nervous system become accustomed to constantly being depressed.

This often leads to an overproduction of certain neurotransmitters and an oversensitivity of certain pathways that are tied to the excitatory system. As a result, discontinuing use often leads to uncomfortable symptoms of an over-excited nervous system.

These symptoms may include:

• Rapid pulse
• Panic, anxiety, and mood swings
• Sweating
• Insomnia
• Shaking or tremors
• Nausea or vomiting
• Physical and emotional agitation
• Hallucinations
• Grand mal seizures
• Side effects of inhalants

It should go without saying that the biggest danger of inhaling these kinds of toxic chemicals, solvents, and gases is death, even for the first time. People who use inhalants are a risk for heart failure or suffocation because inhalants are easily absorbed by the lungs (faster than oxygen) and can end up displacing oxygen.

Use typically involves breathing in fumes or gas through the nose or mouth, which is referred to as sniffing, snorting, bagging, or huffing – the different names typically correspond to different methods, substances, and equipment used to inhale.

Typical names and methods include:

• Huffing, which involves spraying a substance directly into the nose or soaking a piece of cloth which is then held up to the face.
• Sniffing or snorting, in which fumes are inhaled directly from the container
• Bagging, in which the liquid is sprayed or poured into a bag, then the fumes are inhaled
• Spraying, typically of aerosols like canned air duster, involves spraying the substance directly into the nose or mouth
• Inhaling, where a substance is used to fill a balloon, then inhaled out of the balloon

The euphoric “high” from inhalants typically only lasts 15-30 minutes but can even be as short as 2-3 minutes. Because this high is usually very brief, it leads users to try and make it last by inhaling the substance again and again over several hours.

Volatile solvents – Paint thinners or removers, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline, lighter fluid, correction fluids (White-Out), felt-tip marker fluid, glue/rubber cement.

Aerosols – Spray paint, hair or deodorant sprays, aerosol computer cleaning products (air duster), cooking oil sprays.

Gases – Nitrous oxide – this can be medical grade, but more often it’s accessed via whip cream gas chargers, or “whip-its/whippets”, butane/propane lighters, ether, chloroform, refrigerant canisters (i.e., Freon).

Nitrites – Amyl nitrite (isoamyl nitrite, isopentyl nitrite), isopropyl nitrite, butyl/isobutyl nitrite, cyclohexyl nitrite. Nitrites are sometimes used to treat certain heart conditions, but only with a prescription. Most recreation users buy them from stores where they’re marketed as things like video head cleaner, room odorizer, leather cleaner, or liquid aroma.

It is possible to overdose on inhalants, which can lead to:

• Sudden sniffing death, a condition where the heart beats quickly and irregularly and then suddenly stops (cardiac arrest).
• Asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen in the lungs and brain.
• Suffocation from lack of oxygen when inhaling fumes from a plastic bag.
• Convulsions or seizures due to abnormal electrical discharges in the brain.
• Coma as a result of the brain shutting down all but the most vital functions.
• Choking on vomit after becoming intoxicated.
• Injuries and accidents, including driving while intoxicated, falls, etc.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) conducted by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in 2018, about 9% of the U.S. population has used, abused, or become addicted to inhalants at some point in their lives – that’s about 29 million people.

Because many of these substances are legal household items, the most at-risk group for inhalant abuse and addiction is adolescents under the age of 18, with younger kids and teens actually more likely to abuse them than older teens and young adults.