Inhalant Abuse Addiction & Treatment

Inhalants differ from other drugs because they are just household products with toxic chemicals huffed, inhaled and sniffed to feel "high". Inhalants are often referred to as whippets or laughing gas, but many common household products can be as inhalants. Products such as glue, polish remover, paint, whipped cream in aerosol cans, gasoline, air fresheners, and permanent markers are all used as inhalants. Usually pre-teen and teenaged kids use inhalants when they are first trying drugs or they resort to inhalants when they have no money to buy drugs.

These products are huffed, snorted or sniffed to feel "high". The high felt off inhalants is immediate however not very long lasting. Initially a person will feel intoxicated or loss consciousness because of all the foreign chemicals being unleashed into the body. Side effects of inhalants include headache, abrupt changes in mood, loss of feeling in limbs, loss of hearing, and nausea. Because using inhalants is basically just suffocating the brain with poisonous chemicals, the long-term effects of huffing can be very dangerous. Habitual huffing, or even huffing chemicals that are extremely toxic to the body can result in brain damage, heart failure, problems with respiratory and auditory functioning, and possibly death. These consequences are often times irreversible making inhalants a very dangerous drug.

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