Inhalant Addiction

Inhalants are a very unique class of drug, that seems to become rather habitual, and with that comes its own kind of addiction. Over 22.9 million Americans have used inhalants at some time in their lives. It is truly unfortunate that experimenting with such types of drugs is actually common for teenagers and is looked at as a major health concern for high school kids and even younger than that. Supposedly by the time that students reach eight grade 20% of these students have abused inhalants. This is compounded by the fact that because inhalants can be so damaging to the body and these kids aren’t yet fully developed, they are being exposed to serious risk by usage of the drugs. This can be a cause for lots of complications in that person’s health down the line.

Some inhalants that are pretty common to use are gasoline, glue, solvents, paint thinner, paint, cleaning products and certain aerosols. Inhalants are a type of drug that when inhaled causes the chemical vapor to hit the bloodstream and reach the brain where it produces psychoactive effects. These psychoactive effects create the high within minutes, and though the high doesn’t actually last very long it can still be very addictive to the user. It might be abused and used by sniffing a rag with the chemical poured on it or by inhaling it after spraying it inside a bag, as well as sometimes inhaling straight from the chemical container. The high comes pretty quickly and lasts less than an hour long. This creates a sort of habit behavior, such as smoking cigarettes or marijuana, where the user will sniff or inhale periodically every time the high starts to fade away to renew and prolong the euphoric mental effects. The user might even drag this out over a period of several hours depending on the severity of their addiction to the inhalant.

What Happens When Someone Uses Inhalants

The effects from an inhalant high includes:

Excitement
Euphoric feeling
Drowsiness
Inhibition
Slurred speech
Lack of coordination
Confusion
Hallucination
Delusion

The negative effects that come about with inhalants are:

Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Awful chemical breath
Nosebleeds
Bloodshot and/or glazed eyes
Runny nose
Cough

The Dangerous Aspect To Inhalants

Overdose risk is quite high with inhalants because of the repetitive and periodic nature that they commonly make out of using the drug. If an inhalant user overdoses they can end up extremely confused, blacking out, in a coma or having convulsions. It’s a pretty serious issue and dangerous at that. Another risk which can occur with overdose is it can cause an irregular and accelerated heart beat. This is very dangerous and can lead to heart failure or even death. It’s a shame that there have been many deaths from first time users, as the dangers of inhalants can pose a serious threat to the heart. In fact the specific statistic on it is 22% of inhalant abusers that have died on the spot from using had never used an inhalant before.

Using inhalants can cause permanent damage to your health. This is the type of information that especially teenagers should really be informed about because of the gravity of it. Some inhalants actually contain heavy metals which have the capacity to cause permanent damage to the particularly the brain, kidneys, liver and central nervous system. So basically it can wreak havoc on the necessary and vital aspects of your health you need in order to function. With heavy users comes some other general health issues such as breathing difficulty, loss of memory and cognitive deterioration. Sometimes they can also experience seizures, blindness, gastro intestinal problems and heart damage. As you can see, using could put a dent on virtually every aspect of your health. The toxins will build up in your system over an extended period of time and will potentially cause all types of damage that really doesn’t make the succession of short-lived highs worth it in retrospect.

Who Is Addicted To Inhalants?

Ordinarily it has become unfortunately apparent that teenagers are amongst the main age group that is drawn to inhalants, for several reasons. The main reason being that they can normally find or encounter these types of chemicals in the household (such as cleaning products) or easily buy them at a store. So, because it is extremely easy for them to get a hold of, and often times actually costs nothing (if it’s something which is kept at their house), they look at it as the best of both worlds if they’re the type to be prone to drug use. Obviously inhalants give a high which is addictive, and unfortunately teenagers have a higher chance of addiction than someone who would come across that specific substance after eighteen years old. So it’s safe to say that the use of inhalants is common amongst teens and kind of rare amongst adults. Sometimes you might see that a garden-variety drug addict, no matter what age, will end up using inhalants for lack of something better because they’re a junkie who craves any kind of high. Although this isn’t unheard of behavior, it isn’t common at all.

Inhalant Withdrawals

It’s important to know that if you or someone you know is addicted to inhalants there are some unpleasant symptoms which come about when you withdraw from the drug. People ordinarily become dependent psychologically to inhalants, though a lot of times this leads to a physical dependance. An addiction to inhalants can become strong and the person will tend to want to use more often due to cravings. The withdrawal symptoms can vary in severity really depending on how bad the addiction was. The withdrawal symptoms include:

Anxiety
Depression
Feeling dizzy
Irritability
Chills
Excessive sweating
Muscle cramps
Headaches
Shaking
Hallucinations
Agitation
Convulsions
Nausea
Aggressiveness
Tremors

Is An Addiction To Inhalants Easy To Hide?

Hiding an addiction to inhalants isn’t particularly easy. This is good news for the parent who is seeking to spot if their kid has an inhalant addiction. Luckily it really isn’t a tough addiction to pinpoint and if you notice signs of abuse then most likely the person is addicted to inhalants. Also, if you see the withdrawal symptoms being exhibited by this suspected individual then it’s possible they’re trying to get clean from it. It’s very important, if you do spot an addiction in your teenage kid, to inform and educate them on inhalants- on what they do and how they’re capable of destroying someone’s health in a permanent way. Drug education can be a very powerful tool to stop your child from wanting to use anymore.

What To Do About An Inhalant Addiction

It’s important to get help as soon as possible if you or somebody that you know is addicted to inhalants. The cravings for inhalants can really drag on way past the withdrawal symptoms so it’s important to have emotional support in order to keep from further use. Relapsing is common with inhalants. You should seek help immediately in order to get through and over your addiction. Finding the right rehab for you or the person addicted is important. Inhalant addiction isn’t very different than most addictions and really should be treated accordingly.