Misc Had an asthma attack from too much nitrous, should I throw it all away and/or stop?

[Mycophile]

So maybe this should go in the psychedelics section but I figured I'd get more responses here and sooner but I'd like posters who know a lot about nitrous like Transform and Letherman to comment in here as well.


I have what would USUALLY be considered mild asthma that only gets REALLY bad if I smoke too much weed (which is why I vape now) or I am really sick or excercise REALLY hard or some combo.

I am new to nitrous and only did it for the first time a few months ago.

I knew that doing tons of chargers in a row was a bad idea but I didn't listen and now I am worried that I did myself permanent damage and I'm wondering if I should throw out all my chargers or not?

Here's what happened:

Last night I did about 50-60 chargers through balloons with a hand cracker in about a 3 hour period.

Not only that but I was being more stupid by inhaling balloons, then immediately switching to the vaporizer, sometimes without breathing between, then back to the balloons, then back to the vape, etc to increase the high.

I had some of the most intense and AMAZING breakthrough experiences in my entire life and had closed eye visuals which went along with my bodily movements.

It was SO much fun....until it got to the point where the muscles in my back, probably my lung muscles, started hurting from the strain.

Finally I stopped doing the NOS and ate a whole bunch of food and tried to go to sleep.

At that point I started having REALLY bad asthma and couldn't really take a full breath so I used my regular hand held inhaler...but that was a mistake.


See, my hand held inhaler only works if I'm not having REALLY bad asthma otherwise I use my electronic nebulizer which was downstairs and takes about 20 mins to use...and I SHOULD have used that and then MAYBE I would just have felt better.

But instead, because I used my hand held inhaler, the asthma didn't go away for 2 hours and I was afraid to use the nebulizer because in the past when I used too much albuterol/ventolin in a 4 hour period I have gotten a bad racing heart and dizziness.

So I figured I had to wait 4 hours to use the nebulizer and lay in bed for 2 hours struggling to breath.

I was actually crying because I couldn't breath...not emotional tears...just tears from struggling to breath and it was pretty bad.

But I've had situations like this before where I knew that EVENTUALLY the asthma would go away.

When I stood up or sat up the asthma would be about 50% better but when lying down it was MUCH worse and I'm wondering if anyone knows why??e

So.....eventually after 2 hours of struggling to breath my asthma went away almost completely and I could take a full breath and I fell asleep.

The odd thing is that my asthma went away around the time I stopped being high from having vaped some weed, so I am wondering if maybe the mental state I was in from being high was also exaccerbating my feelings that I couldn't breath well?

I looked in the mirror several times while I was having the asthma attack and my lips were never blue...but I don't know if they might have gotten to that point at some time.


So now I still have over 100 chargers and I want to know if people think I should throw them all out or maybe just save like 24 for a little more fun??

Now it has been about 18 hours since I last did NOS and 16 hours since the asthma went away and I was able to sleep.

Today I am not having much trouble breathing, just a TINY bit of discomfort, not enough that I'd have thought I'd had a bad attack hours ago....and my brain is a bit foggy but not bad, I mean, I just taught english online for hours and was fine even though I am sure I killed plenty of brain cells.

But every year I have a 3 week vacation and I tend to binge on substances and I have only 4 days left and so of course I'll WANT to do more nitrous but I don't think it's a good idea....or at least not to do more than just a couple balloons...and I am not sure I can control myself.


Here are my questions:


1) Did I do myself permanent damage, especially damage to my lungs and or brain even though I feel PRETTY MUCH Ok today?

2) If you were me, even with the asthma with having LOVED the experience of the NOS BEFORE the attack....would you just throw all the nitrous in the garbage and never touch it again or do you think it would be safe if I just threw out MOST of it and did a few balloons over the next few days or could that do something REALLY bad to me?


I don't want to have to throw over 100 chargers away...and I LOVE the stuff...had such amazing experiences BEFORE the asthma attack but I can't let that happen again.

And please guys...I am a hypochondriac so don't get me MORE worried than I should be about this because if you suggest I MIGHT have done myself permanent damage I'm going to assume I'm going to die or something or that my lungs and brain will never be the same again...etc LOL.....so be honest...but at the same time...don't OVER exaggerate any damage I did to myself and try to calmly tell me what happened and whether or not you think I should throw the nitrous out.

Thanks

 

[Mycophile]

Also, I know I will want to vape some weed over the next 4 days before my vacation is over but would that be a REALLY bad idea for my lungs?

Usually I tolerate the vaporizer pretty well and I have access to my nebulizer like I said.

I'm thinking that vaping weed isn't white so bad, but that the NOS was what seriously caused the asthma.

 

[Ignot]

I would stop. You have a risk of dying instantly from nitrous; If I remember correctly it cuts off circulation to the brain
"Occasionally, certain anesthetic agents become misused drugs. Nitrous oxide is an example. A gas of low anesthetic potency, it is incapable of inducing deep levels of anesthesia if an adequate oxygen concentration is maintained. Nitrous oxide induces a state of behavioral disinhibition, analgesia, and euphoria. One of the problems occasionally encountered when nitrous oxide is used for recreational purposes is that, unless the compound is administered with at least 20 percent oxygen, hypoxia (decreased oxygen content of the blood) can be induced. But in order to achieve high enough concentrations of nitrous oxide to get a good behavioral effect, concentrations of 50 percent or greater must be inhaled. If such concentrations are mixed with room air, inhaled oxygen concentrations drop to low levels and the hypoxia may result in irreversible brain damage."

 

[Mycophile]

^^^^^

Shit, maybe I will just throw it all away now.

I didn't think there was a risk of "dying instantly"??

I mean, I figured you'd just pass out and your lungs would open again?

Also, if I had "irreversible brain damage" right now would I know it??

I mean, I feel mentally "foggy" today as you'd expect, but I was still able to teach online english classes and can put together good sentences.

Do you think if I stop now I'll be ok?

 

[sekio]

so you were high and had a panic attack induced by nitrous. overdoing it with weed can cause panic attacks and it looks like you had one.

you're not permanently damaged. stop worrying. maybe you shouldn't be going so hard if you are so prone to anxiety. this is like the third urgent, panicked, page long medical question thread inquiring about permanent damage from this or that that i have seen from you.

i think you already know the answer as to whether or not you should pitch the rest

 

[Mycophile]

^^^^^

Not a "panic attack" but an asthma attack that also occurred while I was high so yeah, it was probably a panic attack that resulted from an asthma attack.

My lungs were hurting from the strain from inhaling so much nitrous while doing it.

If you just call it a "panic attack" I'd be thinking why not just do more nitrous and just not be high while doing it?

I'm glad I'm not permanently damaged.

However, this is an HR site, and I'm not quite sure when there's a good reason for concern even though you slam me for writing worried posts.

At what point exactly would I have a GOOD reason for worrying that you wouldn't consider "crying wolf"??

I guess I have to be doing heroin or meth for any concern to be warranted?

Anyways...thanks for responding, I'll see what others have to say but yeah...I guess I should toss it.

Too bad it's so much fun and I'd rather not.

If all it was was a "panic attack" with ZERO cause for concern of physical damage then I wouldn't stop using it however so I have to know what the REAL risks are.

 

[Mycophile]

I had some of the most incredible visuals last night off of just nitrous and weed, so I'd rather not toss the shit, but if the poster above "Ignot" is correct that "instant death" can come from nitrous use I will.

Then again, any drug that can do that would probably be considered a "good cause for concern"...

I am the sort of person who often cannot distinguish between a good reason to worry and a silly reason and if it turns out that I just had a panic attack that wasn't related to any REAL physical concerns....then I'd just keep using nitrous just like I've had panic attacks from weed but never stopped using that.

 

[Mycophile]

I don't know, now I'm just thinking "ok, I went too hard on the nitrous, if I do fewer balloons I'd be fine, and maybe the freaking out was more due to the weed than the nitrous"?

If that's all it was, I'm not even sure there's a reason to toss all that nitrous when it's so much fun.

I had heard about causing actual oxygen deprivation from abusing nitrous, something Transform the mod mentioned.

I'd like to hear his opinion on it because if I was ACTUALLY HYPOXIC...which is what I want to know...then that would tell me whether or not I need to toss this shit.

I'll wait for guys like Transform and Letherman to respond before I go ahead and toss all of it if it's possible I could still use it safely.

 

[BlueIV]

I have no knowledge about the high aspect/doing that much nitrous.
If you are going to do it though, and you know it triggers your asthma at least take your inhaler beforehand. Prophylactic doses are commonly used for more than just exercise triggers.

You CAN die from an asthma attack, if it was that bad I would be more concerned about that than the side effects from using the inhaler and nebulizer.

Laying down makes it more difficult to breathe, gravity is working against you to fill your chest and your airway is probably more closed off then if you're sitting. Generally, the best position for someone with breathing issues is a semi-reclined position.

 

[Mycophile]

I have no knowledge about the high aspect/doing that much nitrous.
If you are going to do it though, and you know it triggers your asthma at least take your inhaler beforehand. Prophylactic doses are commonly used for more than just exercise triggers.

You CAN die from an asthma attack, if it was that bad I would be more concerned about that than the side effects from using the inhaler and nebulizer.

Laying down makes it more difficult to breathe, gravity is working against you to fill your chest and your airway is probably more closed off then if you're sitting. Generally, the best position for someone with breathing issues is a semi-reclined position.

Thanks for the actual real response relating to dangers so I don't feel like I'm just crazy and regret posting this at all.

I guess I should have used my real nebulizer before doing it and yes, I was going to go ahead and use the nebulizer despite side effects when I realized that the asthma was going away.

I'm still undecided as to whether or not this is a drug I should completely swear off and throw all of it away when I was enjoying it so much.

I'll throw SOME of it out tonight, and hold back judgement before I decide if I should toss the rest until I hear more opinions from those who actually take me seriously.

There's always a messed up part of me that wants to "try again" and see if I was just freaking out for no reason when something like this happens, and it doesn't help when people have me believing there was no cause for concern cause it was all just a panic attack.

Do you think that I shouldn't vape the last little bit of my weed over the next few days because of the asthma attack or do you think that would be safe?

I don't usually get really bad asthma from vaping, so I'd think I'd be ok with that IMO.

 

[sekio]

temporary periods of hypoxia are not permanently damaging unless you stop breathing for probably more than 3-5 minutes, the body has quite a large oxygen reserve bound to hemoglobin in the blood and if you are laying down and not exerting yourself you are not going to use too much of it on muscular movement

for the same reasons having an athsma attack/panic attack hybrid where you still retain some capacity to breathe is not going to be lethal or damaging except for protracted periods of time.

if you're doing anything at all but hitting balloon after balloon with no breathing in between them then... well even after a while you'll be looking off into space, drooling, and too fucked up to crack another... so don't worry about it. most cases of death/permanent damage are from people inhaling nitrous through e.g. masks connected to a tank.

and remember that even the thickest vape will still have some oxygen left in the "carrier gas"...

I guess I have to be doing heroin or meth for any concern to be warranted?

what do you want to hear? obviously that you're at a humongous risk of dying instantly the next time you do nitrous. jeez.

Do you think that I shouldn't vape the last little bit of my weed over the next few days because of the asthma attack or do you think that would be safe?

if you do go really slow and be aware that once you've had one massive freakout on cannabis/cannabinoids it gets easier to have another one. especially if you don't have anything to do

as far as i can tell vaporised marijuana is pretty safe lung wise although thc is still an expectorant (makes you cough).

like i said, this is a hallmark thc overdose case. even you admit you were hitting the vape a lot. it really isn't an unusual sequence of events of someone doing hard on THC (too much vape, too little tolerance, "dabs", etc are the usual suspects, other drugs generally not helping) --> "hey this is wonderful" --> sudden anxiety --> hard to breathe --> panic --> makes it harder to breathe --> panic more --> etc.

usually people can overcome the anxiety response with simple recognition that it can happen and mental discipline.

 

[Mycophile]

temporary periods of hypoxia are not permanently damaging unless you stop breathing for probably more than 3-5 minutes, the body has quite a large oxygen reserve bound to hemoglobin in the blood and if you are laying down and not exerting yourself you are not going to use too much of it on muscular movement

Thank you for telling me this because it calms me down.

And no, I don't want to be told "nitrous will kill me" lol, actually I want to hear the OPPOSITE...that I don't need to NEVER touch it again so long as I am a lot more careful.

That's one reason I like you is that since I'm an anxious guy I don't take well to people who make me worry MORE and you usually shut that shit down...but on the other hand, sometimes I don't know if you take me seriously but I guess you are here so thanks.

I don't believe I ever "stopped" breathing except when I had nitrous in my lungs and I took breaths most of the time, but I've heard a lot of talk about nitrous being dangerous because "your body doesn't register that you are not breathing Oxygen" etc and I'm not quite sure.

So...in your opinion, do you think I should toss all this stuff and swear it off forever even though I Greatly enjoy it....or do you think with a little more caution I could be safe doing some balloons some times?

And when I felt the muscles in my upper back straining as I inhaled the nitrous, do you think those were, in fact, the muscles surrounding my lungs being strained...and if so...is that cause for concern?

I've done nitrous before and this is the first time this happened, but another poster told me that when he regularly used lots of nitrous like this that eventually he was hypoxic for 3 months.

However...he mentioned having been at high altitude for 2 of them...so I question this...but at the same time, he didn't have asthma like me.

And absolutely I think you are right that the asthma attack and panic attack came together because "surprise" that when I was no longer high I started breathing well.

However, I don't think that means I WASN'T having asthma...and often times a panic attack feels like asthma and asthma feels like a panic attack...so it's really very hard to figure out how much of one or the other it sometimes is.

With JUST THC or JUST nitrous it would not have happened IMO.

 

[BlueIV]

Do you think that I shouldn't vape the last little bit of my weed over the next few days because of the asthma attack or do you think that would be safe?

I don't usually get really bad asthma from vaping, so I'd think I'd be ok with that IMO.

I wouldn't, but I don't really use drugs for enjoyment and have never used weed, so my opinion is probably quite different than yours. I can tell you if that payoff is worth the risk, as it's subjective. If you decide to do it, take a puff from your inhaler first.

I had really severe asthma as a kid where I had to use the nebulizer multiple times a day. I haven't used the thing in over 10 years, if I ever got to that point again, I would be upping both of my inhalers so taking that extra puff is probably something you should be doing anyway.

It's quite possible you had an anxiety attack, but anxiety alone can trigger an asthma attack. The asthma attack is of course going to make the anxiety worse, so it's easy to get stuck in a pretty horrible cycle.

 

[Mycophile]

Well this comment makes me think that even with asthma I'd PROBABLY be safe to use some balloons, but that I should just not do nearly so many, and also the whole "switching back and forth to the vaporizer" may be something I'd want to avoid...

"if you're doing anything at all but hitting balloon after balloon with no breathing in between them then... well even after a while you'll be looking off into space, drooling, and too fucked up to crack another... so don't worry about it. most cases of death/permanent damage are from people inhaling nitrous through e.g. masks connected to a tank."

If this is true then the "instant death from nitrous" comment another poster made is false unless maybe you are using a mask which I'm not. I'm just another drug user albeit a low-level one so OF COURSE I want a reason to believe I'll be ok to keep doing what I'm doing...but I don't want another attack like that either.

Pretty hard to decide if you need to cut yourself off when you are going from moments of ABSOLUTE HEAVEN one minute to not being able to breathe the next and you aren't even sure how much of the breathing issues are in your mind.

Also...I'm ending my "binge" on substances in 4 days...so as long as I don't kill myself or do permanent damage in that time...I guess I should be good??

I'm gonna have to be truly convinced by hard evidence to toss the chargers...even with the asthma attack I had....if I think that SOMEHOW I can avoid letting it happen again...

 

[Mycophile]

I wouldn't, but I don't really use drugs for enjoyment and have never used weed, so my opinion is probably quite different than yours. I can tell you if that payoff is worth the risk, as it's subjective. If you decide to do it, take a puff from your inhaler first.

I had really severe asthma as a kid where I had to use the nebulizer multiple times a day. I haven't used the thing in over 10 years, if I ever got to that point again, I would be upping both of my inhalers so taking that extra puff is probably something you should be doing anyway.

It's quite possible you had an anxiety attack, but anxiety alone can trigger an asthma attack. The asthma attack is of course going to make the anxiety worse, so it's easy to get stuck in a pretty horrible cycle.

I'm not going to be concerned about finishing off about 2 grams of weed or less in a high grade vaporizer that is pretty easy on the lungs in comparison to smoking.

I also had bad asthma as a kid that is now MUCH better, but the attack I had last night reminded me of being a 5 year old not being able to breathe so it fucking SUCKED.

If I had used my nebulizer right before vaping and/or using NOS it could possibly have prevented it...and then 4 hours later I could have used it again.

I'll be fine with the vaped weed...I'm just wondering if tossing all the nitrous and not doing any more in the next few days is necessary.

Part of me remembers the asthma attack, the other part the INCREDIBLE visuals I got....

 

[Mycophile]

One more quick question for anyone who knows:

Is doing Nitrous more dangerous for asthmatics than non-asthmatics?

I'd assume it could be, but I don't know for sure.

I have to admit that I see why they call it "hippie crack"...cause I REALLY would like to use more if there's any way I can avoid another asthma/panic attack and I'd assume IN MODERATION maybe I could...

 

[Kittycat5]

Im curious why your rescue inhaler doesnt work as well as the nebulizer. Is your technique good?

 

[Mycophile]

Im curious why your rescue inhaler doesnt work as well as the nebulizer. Is your technique good?

I think anyone who has an asthma attack knows the nebulizer is more effective.

I mean, you are inhaling ventolin (or albuterol?) for about 20 mins straight vs just a few quick puffs of a rescue inhaler.

Yeah, my technique is fine, it's only in VERY rare situations where I have severe asthma that the rescue inhaler doesn't quite do the trick like the nebulizer does.

I guess I'm just gonna sleep on this one in terms of whether or not I should toss the chargers which I don't want to, or whether or not it's ok for me to do some more in the coming days before my vacation is over.

I'll see what other people have to say because I'd really like to use some more in the next couple days and would like to assume that it's possible to do so safely because I have done so before...

Basically, my vacation is over in 3 days and so I'll only be binging on weed, booze and possibly nitrous for that long so if what happened to me WASN'T life threatening and I can use moderate amounts of NOS for 3 more days without dying...well...I'd like to continue...but I just don't know if that's really stupid or how much of the asthma/panic attack was mental considering it stopped once I was no longer high, and how much was physical...

 

[Lightning-Nl]

Personally, I'd stop using Nitrous Oxide regularly due not due to lack of Oxygen - but rather entirely due to it's possibility to cause Psychosis, muscle degradation, etc.

 

[pinpoint]

You're definitely going to die, kiddo, sorry.

RIP bro