nitrous oxide has been used medically in regulated conditions, you wouldn't expect your dental patient to become addicted to n2o. what we are talking about is prolonged (ab)use of nitrous, and prolonged use/abuse of anything will most likely lead to wd's. even if the wd's are psychological, they are still wd's.
my friend used to be a nitrous head and he said mushrooms helped him out during the worst of his withdrawls. that and alcohol.
Misuse of the term. Withdrawal characterizes the effects of abstinence from a substance that causes a change in metabolism where the substance becomes a necessity for normal bodily function. Only opioids and Nicotine produce a metabolic dependancy and withdrawal syndrome.
Drugs like Alcohol, Barbiturates, etc do not create a dependancy and metabolic need, they simply depress front brain activity and function to the point that when use is stopped, the body reacts with a rebound effect in the form of delerium tremens, seizures, anxiety, insomnia, etc. Cocaine, Amphetamines, etc cause a similar problem, only in reverse: excess front brain stimulation, resulting in a rebound effect of lethargy, anhedonia, somnolesence, etc Both are examples of abstinence syndrome.
All substance abusers and people who abuse compulsive activities like sex and gambling have in common a disruption and dysfunction of the reward system in the brain involving the neurotransmitters like Dopamine and Seratonin. When the compulsive activity is stopped, whether compulsive sex, gambling (or in this persons case inhaling N2O), a period of anxiety, depression, craving, restlessness, lethargy, etc develops due to a change from the behavior learned and adapted to by the 'happy chemicals' in the brain.
So, no, there is no Marijuana withdrawal, sex withdrawal, N2O withdrawal, gambling withdrawal.
In terms of treating compulsive activity, Prometa treatment seems to be hopeful (much more so than anti-depressant drugs of various classes).
The reason I harp on this as often as I can is that individuals and society lump people with substance abuse problems together, and treat them the same. Whether you go to rehab for Heroin addiction, alcoholism, compulsive Cocaine or Marijuana use, you are basically given the exact same treatment: Benzodiazepines/anxiolytics, sleeping pills, talk therapy. Same goes for compulsive gamblers and sexaholics for that matter. Sedatives, sleeping pills and talk therapy.
This one size fits all bullshit does not work and does not help anyone but the purveyors of overpriced rehab facilities that charge tens of thousands of dollars for less than a month in a shabby room and $2 worth of old generic pills.
It seems that people with problems with Cocaine, Meth or any other drug want the same status as Heroin/opioid addicts (plenty of such users on this board exhibit this kind of recognition seeking behavior for their problem), which ends up with everyone being treated the same when they have very different conditions that need to be treated differently.
Really, opioid addiction is much easier to treat than compulsive gambling, compulsive Cocaine or Methamphetamine use, alcoholism, etc. Treating a coke abuser like a Heroin addict and putting him in 'detox' and 12 step meetings and giving him plenty of Clonidine and Valium and sending him home cured after 21 days is a copout on the part of the system, even though it gives the user the recognition they want- that they suffer as much as a Heroin addict- whatever consolation prize that is.