How long is "too long" when it comes to nitrous?

[NotQuiteThere]

Hi all,

So I've wondered this question for a while. I know it takes a few minutes to suffer brain damage from hypoxia, yet I also know it's not terribly healthy to inhale pure nitrous oxide without oxygen mixed in (in large quantities that is, a few whippets at a party is no harm no foul obviously).

In any case, I've tried breathing out all the air in my lungs and just holding that, no air breathed in, and after about 30 seconds I feel very uncomfortable. Yet I can definitely hold nitrous longer than this. And sometimes I (or friends) forget after a first balloon, held for longer than this, to take breaths of air and put another one down the hatch. Is this causing potentially damaging hypoxia? It certainly leads to a headache after a night of binging through several boxes.

The problem I see is this, doing lots in a row, holding it less, less breaths in between = a stronger 'high,' but is this high simply hypoxic effects, or the result of more n2o reaching the brain?

Is there a 'good' amount of air to take in between balloons? I've read that you should breathe, but it seems to me that a few rapid puffs in and out won't do too much good, but a long deep inhale will lessen the effect...

Just wondering cause I've binged on nitrous on many occasions in the past. There have been times when I've felt addiction brewing (slaying boxes a night by myself, that's mostly a long time ago though) and those all resulted in headaches and shitty feelings. I haven't had symptoms of b vitamin deficiency, I try to get enough vitamins, etc, so I'm not worried about those concerns. Purely the hypoxic ones.

Meh, I wish there was an easy way to get Oxygen chargers so I could mix those in with the balloons.

Thanks for any input on this!

 

[Shamanic Sight]

Well, I've read just about a thousand sources on Nitrous, and it's completely safe with an 80/20% Nitrous : oxygen, so as long as you take breaths in between, you should be completely fine. With your case, I'd HIGHLY suggest taking some breaks from it, as holding in, letting out and immediately hitting the nozzle/balloon can be seriously detrimental to your health from lack of oxygen, not to mention the building up of CO2 in your bloodstream. That may be causing the headaches, and lack of oxygen (duh 8) ). Also, I just read that if you do it for too long, it can start to saturate your fatty tissues and that can probably have disastrous effects. It can get trapped in your inner ear causing those headaches you mentioned. All in all, stick with taking a little breath in after you hit the bloon, and binging frequently probably doesn't help, ha. Moderation, moderation.

 

[Ohayou]

A good way to tell if hypoxia is present is by looking for cyanosis in the lips (blue lips), this is the best indicator that you have gone too far and you should breath oxygen quickly (hyperventilate yourself) to recover.

 

[DexterMeth]

I hyperventilate with each hit. Then again, I take in 3-4 bulbs at a time.

 

[allegator]

Atmospheric air is about 20% oxygen and what your brain requires. Obviously you can hold your breath for a little while and that level of oxygen will slowly drop, but once it gets to a certain point you need to breath out, and you actually breath out a fair amount of oxygen (which is why mouth-to-mouth resusitation works). The "need to breath" is not mediated by oxygen levels though, but by carbon dioxide levels (which your body produces and needs to expell). Once it gets to a certain level you feel the urge to breath.

When you breath in pure nitrous you are consuming no oxygen and no carbon dioxide. Therefore your lungs have no oxygen (which is already damaging), and no carbon dioxide (which means you can hold your breath for ages).

and it's completely safe with an 80/20% Nitrous : oxygen

True but if you take a sip of atmospheric air (only 20% oxygen) plus the rest pure nitrous this doesn't work. You would need a pure oxygen supply.

I hyperventilate with each hit. Then again, I take in 3-4 bulbs at a time.

This does nothing to get more oxygen into your lungs, only reduce the carbon dioxide levels which tell you when you need to breath allowing you to hold your breath longer but at a much greater risk as actual oxygen levels are uneffected and will drop at the same rate regardless of hyperventilation.

Anywhoo this belongs in PD where I'm sure they'll have a megathread, instructional guide, etc. Just note that any lasting side effects experienced from consuming nitrous (besides the dissacociative desired ones) will be due to hypoxia. Getting nitrous delivered with proper oxygen in a doctors office doesn't leave you with a headache the next day, and often not any headache inbetween either.

p.s.

The problem I see is this, doing lots in a row, holding it less, less breaths in between = a stronger 'high,' but is this high simply hypoxic effects, or the result of more n2o reaching the brain?

This (light headed giddiness) is due to a lack of carbon dioxide. Not too damaging in itself (unless it causes you to pass out and hit your head or you have prexisting conditions - see the fainting game on wikipedia), but the way you are describing achieving it is also resulting in lower O2 which is bad.

 

[sleepy]

if your lips r blue, you've pushed envelope too far already, imo.... i havent done boxes of nitrious on my wn in decades, but even then, didnt get headaches- this is nt a good symptom- a signal from your body that itsmhurting, which it doesnt sound like u intend - b careful-

 

[NotQuiteThere]

Thanks for the insight, yeah I've looked on megathreads and haven't found too many good answers other than "take a breath or two" or such nebulous statements. Some of my friends just go to town on balloon after balloon in the hopes of "fishing out" which seems to me to just be your brain's reaction to too little oxygen.

I wish there was a way to get 8gram oxygen chargers so I could just mix them in balloons lol 4 nitrous 1 oxygen and then be done with it, but I'm pretty sure they don't do that for flammability reasons.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Atmospheric air is about 20% oxygen and what your brain requires. Obviously you can hold your breath for a little while and that level of oxygen will slowly drop, but once it gets to a certain point you need to breath out, and you actually breath out a fair amount of oxygen (which is why mouth-to-mouth resusitation works). The "need to breath" is not mediated by oxygen levels though, but by carbon dioxide levels (which your body produces and needs to expell). Once it gets to a certain level you feel the urge to breath.

When you breath in pure nitrous you are consuming no oxygen and no carbon dioxide. Therefore your lungs have no oxygen (which is already damaging), and no carbon dioxide (which means you can hold your breath for ages).


True but if you take a sip of atmospheric air (only 20% oxygen) plus the rest pure nitrous this doesn't work. You would need a pure oxygen supply.


This does nothing to get more oxygen into your lungs, only reduce the carbon dioxide levels which tell you when you need to breath allowing you to hold your breath longer but at a much greater risk as actual oxygen levels are uneffected and will drop at the same rate regardless of hyperventilation.

Anywhoo this belongs in PD where I'm sure they'll have a megathread, instructional guide, etc. Just note that any lasting side effects experienced from consuming nitrous (besides the dissacociative desired ones) will be due to hypoxia. Getting nitrous delivered with proper oxygen in a doctors office doesn't leave you with a headache the next day, and often not any headache inbetween either.

p.s.

This (light headed giddiness) is due to a lack of carbon dioxide. Not too damaging in itself (unless it causes you to pass out and hit your head or you have prexisting conditions - see the fainting game on wikipedia), but the way you are describing achieving it is also resulting in lower O2 which is bad.

Excellent post! All of this is exactly what I was going to say. It is very important to remember that the urge to breathe has nothing to do with how much oxygen you are getting and everything to do with how much carbon dioxide is in your lungs. You can definitely get hypoxia without even having the urge to breathe. I would say it is not worth damaging your brain just in order to achieve a slightly better high. Take breaks and take a proper deep breath of air in between hits. There are scientific reasons to do so.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Thanks for the insight, yeah I've looked on megathreads and haven't found too many good answers other than "take a breath or two" or such nebulous statements. Some of my friends just go to town on balloon after balloon in the hopes of "fishing out" which seems to me to just be your brain's reaction to too little oxygen.

I wish there was a way to get 8gram oxygen chargers so I could just mix them in balloons lol 4 nitrous 1 oxygen and then be done with it, but I'm pretty sure they don't do that for flammability reasons.

You can buy small portable oxygen canisters online.

http://www.healiohealth.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=joemonmpo

http://www.opuruk.co.uk/

EDIT: lol, their website says "our O-Stick keeps the party going"! ;-)

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

This is better suited for Psychedelic Drugs, I'll move it over there.

OD --> PD

 

[NotQuiteThere]

This is better suited for Psychedelic Drugs, I'll move it over there.

OD --> PD

Thanks, wasn't sure where it belonged, my bad!

Swimmingdancer, YOU ARE THE MAN (or woman ) - been looking for a product like that! I love the nitrous high but I've become really worried that my binging has done some hypoxic damage. That's perfect

 

[sleepy]

my problem w/nitrous isnt the LOVELY feeling, but that its too fleeting.....maybe thats yoour ultimate problem? i had a roommate in college who got a hold of a dentist's tank of the stuff. sheand some friends were in there all night andshewas HURTING for days afterwards. this was a girl who smoked meth daily, but didnt even do that after thr nytrous " party/binge" ...... maybe its time to move on to a longer acting drug..... tho .... i dont know! non of its safe. MODERATION- i think - is always the key. be careful....

 

[NotQuiteThere]

Excellent post! All of this is exactly what I was going to say. It is very important to remember that the urge to breathe has nothing to do with how much oxygen you are getting and everything to do with how much carbon dioxide is in your lungs. You can definitely get hypoxia without even having the urge to breathe. I would say it is not worth damaging your brain just in order to achieve a slightly better high. Take breaks and take a proper deep breath of air in between hits. There are scientific reasons to do so.

Could this be potentially responsible for the "reverse tolerance" I've heard some discussion about? i.e. when you binge on nitrous in an evening it keeps hitting you harder because you have less and less carbon dioxide being exchanged? I sincerely hope not as that would suggest that the increased high from doing more nitrous is simply the result of increasing levels of oxygen deprivation.

People talk about "fishing out" from nitrous. I sense that this is in fact not actually an effect of the nitrous but rather an effect where one momentarily loses consciousness due to oxygen deprivation. Am I on the right path here or am I getting into tinfoil hat territory?

 

[NotQuiteThere]

my problem w/nitrous isnt the LOVELY feeling, but that its too fleeting.....maybe thats yoour ultimate problem? i had a roommate in college who got a hold of a dentist's tank of the stuff. sheand some friends were in there all night andshewas HURTING for days afterwards. this was a girl who smoked meth daily, but didnt even do that after thr nytrous " party/binge" ...... maybe its time to move on to a longer acting drug..... tho .... i dont know! non of its safe. MODERATION- i think - is always the key. be careful....

Yea, I know, the duration is the killer. It's probably the most expensive drug in existence if you buy it in chargers and binge on it because of the duration. Thankfully, my use (lately at least) is sporadic. Once every few months I'll either order some boxes myself, or meet up with some friends, and then for a few days we'll just go to TOWN box after box after box boom boom boom style.

Though moderation isn't really my strong point. I've got problems with other drugs and I'm starting to think I need treatment, but that's another story.

 

[sleepy]

lol! moderation probably doesn't come easy for any of us here..... but it's something to shoot for. treatment isn't the end of the world either. good luck.

 

[allegator]

Could this be potentially responsible for the "reverse tolerance" I've heard some discussion about? i.e. when you binge on nitrous in an evening it keeps hitting you harder because you have less and less carbon dioxide being exchanged? I sincerely hope not as that would suggest that the increased high from doing more nitrous is simply the result of increasing levels of oxygen deprivation.

It could be a combination. Lack of CO2 (via hyperventilation or other means) also makes your dizzy and disoriented.

 

[NotQuiteThere]

Just realized this never really answered the fundamental question, how long should one hold the hit of nitrous? 30 seconds? 1 minute? 1.5 minutes? I can breathe out and not breathe air in for 1 minute extremely uncomfortably (and with breaths in and out).

 

[Necr0sis]

I personally stop for a bit after I start to get the ringing in my ears, no way I'm fucking with that, guy I hang around says he fucked up the hearing in his right ear badly, but then again he is the guy u see passing out after every other balloon haha

 

[sleepy]

i would not suggest every depriving your brain of oxygen, especially when you KNOW you already are, to a certain extent, the ear ringing, happens w/many drugs: IV coke, smoked crack... etc... it's a bad sign. again, the problem w/nitrous is that the duration is far far too short. how can you enjoy 15 seconds? so of course you want to hit it again, and again, and again.... then pay after...... i don't have solution.... nothing is quite like that specific feeling. i HAVE had it professionally administered at the dentist's.... no headache, no hang-over, they just kept telling me "keep your mouth open" -- it costs WAY too much to do it that way, and having a root canal at the same time take A BIT of the fun out of it, but honestly, as a dope fiend, not much..... as it's easy to ignore the drilling and digging while inhaling a professional mix of nitrous and oxygen. but that's the issue: lack of oxygen. and you can't do it on your own, i mean, include the oxygen, as it's too dangerous, for many reasons...... best of luck to you. i'm GLAD you are only binging sporadically. i guess it's an expensive drug to binge on, though, fuck, i've spent more than i like to think about on others.....be careful. stay in touch.

 

[NotQuiteThere]

sleepy you are my hero haha, getting a root canal for the nitrous is dedication man :]

yeah, when I first started doing nitrous I naively thought "N2O there's oxygen in it!" so I would hold it until it was physically impossible. i.e. stupidly long. definitely done some damage but thankfully, being young, neural plasticity and all that means I can come back from it. Now, until I can get ahold of some of those oxygen things, I only hold it for 30-45 seconds max, which is the length I've determined to be uncomfortable when not taking a breath.

one thing I notice is weird, at a certain point if I reallllllly hold it, the ringing (and not like tinnitus ringing, like the low rhythmic ringing nitrous causes) will start to oscillate lower and lower and lower and lower as though I'm descending a 'staircase' or something. I'm fairly sure this is a sign of oxygen deprivation. Dammit. It was kinda fun to experience it from nitrous before but now that I'm almost positive that's me starting to lose consciousness and kicking in on a low level to start breathing, I can't enjoy it anymore. Oh well, guess there are other drugs out there.