Inhalant Abuse Prevention

what's the best way to teach prevention?

question — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:26:14 GMT

I'm new in the field of substance abuse prevention. I work with adolescents and I worry about putting ideas of use into kids' heads. In teaching about the dangers of inhalant use, is there anything specific that I should avoid? For example, I was thinking about showing an episode of intervention, which tells the story of four teens who were addicted to inhalants (and two of whom died). While I think this movie would be great for getting them to pay attention (because I think they can really relate to the teens in the stories), the movie also talks about specific products used for inhaling. I don't want to give my clients the idea of how to get a cheap, "legal" high. Is there risk of this?

please listen

xiola4 — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:06:12 GMT

My 34 year old sister died on Feb.20, 2010.She over dosed on dust-off.Any cleaner would have done though.
She left behind four young daughters.She was an intelligent college graduate.So don't mistake this, anybody can become addicted.
A few months before she died she could barely spell.She couldn't remember stories.She was totally addicted.
Also, she abused for several years before she died of this crap. Do not mistake the fact that it is possible as in her case to use for an extended period of time.

HELP

1lildimple — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:20:56 GMT

Hello Everyone! I've been on here a few times well many times just browsing to see if I'm the only one that loves to inhale rubbing alcohol, and I'm not! I inhale rubbing alcohol and spray paint together, I soak a wash clothe in rubbing alcohol and then spray it with spray paint, put it in a zip lock bag, let out all the air and close it and let it sit for a while and then I huff it.......It's like I can't stop, I been doing it for years I'm 31ys old, but I want to stop so bad. I want help so bad and has searched on-line for professional help with huffing, but can't find it. The only help out there I see so far is for other drug addictions and alcohol.....so my question is....If anyone knows if there is a professional place that can help with huffing please let me know I want to stop so bad!!!!!!!!...HELP!!!!...what do I do!....

Accidental Computer Duster Inhale

another0 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:58:15 GMT

I was using computer duster a few hours ago and got too close to it. Most of it went into my eyes but I did inhale a bit. I didn't get high or anything but after reading all of the stuff on this board do you think I should goto the ER? I was exposed to the chemical for maybe a second. I have been feeling a few aches and pains, but maybe I'm just freaking out.

whats next?

LoveChild — Thur, 11 Mar 2010 00:24:36 GMT

i started out with fingernail polish then i moved onto nail polish remover. then came gasoline and then rubbing alcohol. now its Windex and hand sanitizer when i see it. i go in a circle and slowly add more stuff in. today i have already done it at least 6 times. every time i go to the bathroom its Windex and fingernail polish remover. then when i am on the computer its hand sanitizer. and when i visit the garage its gasoline. sometimes i go for a walk and when a car drives by and it releases good smelling exhaust or whatever it is, i stop and smell until i am certain that it is gone. everytime my mom takes me out and she has to gas up, iim hanging out the wind hoping for a whiff of gasoline. and its more than that. i'm always thinking about it.

i want to stop. i have anemia and i need oxygen. i have been getting lots of heart flutters and stuff lately. im scared but its so hard to stop.

help please. what steps should i take?

Researching cognitive impairment

altedteacher — Thur, 11 Mar 2010 00:01:00 GMT

Does anyone know if inhalant abuse can cause mental impairment in adolescence? The educational definition of mental impairment or cognitive disability is having an IQ lower than 70, limitations in adaptive behavior, and manifesting before the age of 18.

Basically I was wondering if anyone knows if any studies have been completed in which the IQ of the subjects was known prior to inhalant abuse and then the IQ showed a significant decline leading to a mentally impaired placement.

Very curious about how toxic encephalopathy due to inhalant abuse can lead to cognitive disabilities.

If anyone has any information please let me know.
Thanks!

What do you do now?

smarks3 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:39:15 GMT

Unfortunately right now it's all a joke to her she doesn't care if huffing can kill you.
I just found the duster can in her purse yesterday morning before she took off to School. When she got home we had a talk about it. I am so thankful for this message board as I believe it taught me the right way to approach her. It was good to read the post from kids who have had trouble telling their parents.
Not sure the extent of my daughters use of inhalants because right now she is only admitting to trying it just one time after watching a TV show. She said it was about a boy who was addicted to it and died. I asked her why she would want to do it after watching how it can kill someone. She just shrugged her shoulders. I think she is lying to me and has done it many more times but how can I know for sure? I made a point to tell her she will not be in trouble and I am not mad. I just want to be sure she doesn't do it anymore and if she can't stop I want to get her help. I can't help her until she is ready to admit she has a problem right? In the mean time I am going to get her into counseling. She seems fearless and it scares me; It's like she just doesn't care what happens to her.

gum wrapper/inhalant found

smarks3 — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:36:51 GMT

I just found out my 14 year old daughter is huffing with a computer cleaner and who knows what else. Not sure where to even start and I don't know the extent yet. My guess is it's been going on for quite sometime.
I thought I had read somewhere that gum wrappers are also used as inhalant, but I can't find it now. Has anyone ever heard of this?
She goes through gum like crazy! Several packs a day. I thought from what i read that maybe there is a chemical on the wrapper.
Thanks for your help

Reseraching specific information on "Canned Air/Dust Off"

writerDC — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:32:28 GMT

Hey everyone,
I'm currently working on research for a PSA regarding huffing "Dust-off" like substances, especially concerning the effects of the chemicals inside the can on a human body. I've found a lot of information on the effects of huffing glue/paint/etc, but it seems like the actual "effects" other than death aren't that well documented. I've found a lot of information that seems to group all huffing together, but does anyone have any specific information on this particular method of huffing?

If at all possible, I'm looking for links to reputable medical sites/scientific journals, but any information would be greatly appreciated. I'm specifically looking for information regarding hallucinations and Dust-Off/"Compressed Air".

Thanks for your help!

Best,
Lee

Some links I've found so far:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1005903-overview
http://www.inhalant.org/media/duster.pdf

Please help me save him

hislove — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:17:02 GMT

My best friend who also happens to be my ex is addicted to air duster and he is dying.

Chris is his name and there does not seem to be anyone else in this entire world that cares whether or not he lives or dies. I recently moved and live in VA. I had to leave him in FL while I left for better opportunities for my daughter and I. About a month ago I learned that he has been huffing for a couple months and has become addicted. All he had in FL was his father and brother who both didn't take this seriously and brushed him off. He is 26 yrs old and would call me crying like a baby while he sat in front of CVS hitting a can. He was pleading for help but being a thousand miles away I could not do anything for him. The phone would fall and I would stay on the line for what felt like an eternity praying that he just passed out and didn't die. I begged his father and brother to go find him and save him but they couldn't be bothered. So I did the only thing I could think of.. I got him a train ticket up to VA so that I could do whatever I needed to do to get him clean.

It was a long 26 hours for him on the train and I had to keep reminding him that if he got off the train to find a place to get a can the train would not be there when he got back and he would be lost for sure. Thankfully he made it to me. We spend a few days in a hotel room talking and he poured his soul out to me. He explained why he did it and how much he wanted to stop but the urge was very powerful for him and so hard not to give in. I was confident that if I just stayed with him as much as I could that he would beat it... That is not what happen.. Unfortunately I could not find him a detox since he lost any and all identification he had for himself and since he is not at VA resident he can't get into a state funded program. He has no money, no insurance and no hope left. Over the last 3 weeks he has been through so much and I am watching and in so many ways going through this with him helpless to do anything. I cannot bring him home to stay with me because I will not expose my 8yr old daughter to this awful addiction. He is now bouncing from homeless shelter to ER to homeless shelter and doing it all with a can of duster in his hand. He is up to about 15 cans a day. The ER docs shake my hand for sticking it out this far for him but tell me that there is nothing to be done. The police cannot do anything because there is nothing illegal about it. I just refuse to believe that I have to walk away now and let him die. He is a human being who is only 26 yrs old and deserves to live just as much as the next person. All he needs is a chance. How can I give up on him? I could almost understand walking away if he didn't want to get clean but he DOES. He just needs the chance and a detox or rehab.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions or anything I am all ears. If not just send good thoughts this way we could use some hope in this hopeless situation.

Thanks, Jaime

Pine Sol -- Severe Problem Huffing

gaelicheart3 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:36:03 GMT

My Pine Sol huffing addiction has gotten so bad that I am heating it up in the microwave to a boiling point then just sit down at my table with it. I am using straight Pine Sol, not diluting it with water. I know there has to be some long term effects but I go home from work and that's what I look forward to. I think is has to do with Anemia. I had gastric surgery last year and when I got out of the hospital I didn't have the addiction but it came back strong and hard.

Does anyone know anything about the long term side effects of doing this?

Any help I can get is deeply appreciated.

my exboyfriend died from huffing

shannoninqc — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:09:22 GMT

i found out thursday that my exboyfriend died from huffing and i'm still up because i can't sleep. i just want to hear my bestfriend's voice again. i don't have a memory without him in it and i'm so sad. huffing stole him.

My Boy Friend's Son is Huffing Hair Spay Cans

AnnaZed — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:45:10 GMT

My boy friend and I do not live together, but I spend at least every weekend there or more, all holidays, days off etc. He finally got his son (19 years old) to come and live with him from another state. His son is a gentle, kind, lonely boy. He draws (or he used to) and wants to go to art school. He has been here since September of last year.

At first he seemed very pleased by his new life, riding his new bike, being social with my nephews. That lasted about 2 months then he became withdrawn and sullen, monosyllabic and spending hours and hours playing World of Warcraft. I thought it was the damn computer game turning him into a sulking creepy kid. He also began reeking of all sorts of hygeine products like deodorant, hair spray, room freshener ~ sort of chemical smells over-layed with fragrances. I thought this was pretty odd, but just thought he was insecure and laying on the deodorant too much.

His dad bought him a car, and it took him four times to even pass the drivers test after taking an expensive drivers education course. He didn't graduate from High School. Frankly, that should have told me something right there. What was going on in his mother's house before he came here? Still, we got him signed up for Community College that started today. All of this time he's been alone in his Dad's apartment doing next to nothing. He doesn't even close a cereal box after he opens it or pick his clothes up off of the floor, but I thought that was just teenager stuff combined with poor parenting from his mother. I never yell at him or anything (really never once, he and I are always polite to each other), and usually if I ask him to do something like take out the recycling he will do it. He just seemed terribly shy and withdrawn.

I kept smelling this awful strange chemical smell but did not understand what it was. I associated huffing with homeless kids in Brazil sniffing glue. I noticed that his clothes had a distinct (and frankly vile) chemical odor (I do all of the laundry for these two usually) particularly under the arms. His sweat has become this strange dark yellow color that stains everything and smells very strange ~ again like chemicals. Still no bells went off in my head because even though I know all about illegal drugs and alcohol abuse I was not fully briefed on this thing, huffing. My daughter, now twenty-five years old, never had this problem or my nephews either (though one of them is a pot-head, so we are not some family of saints or oblivious rubes, I assure you).

Then yesterday I walked in on my boy friend's son with the can up to his mouth. I just didn't react, I walked back out of the room. He just bolted from the house and was gone for a few hours. I told his father, "He's huffing the hairspray." As soon as I said it out loud it was like I had known it all along. I even put the word to it right away. Though I had never used that word in a sentence before I had heard it and instantly knew that that was what that was.

By the way, that's not my hairspray, it's the boy's. He spends hours in the bathroom messing with his hair, now I know why, I guess.

I am so frightened and worried about this. I called my boy friend today and he said that he didn't even talk to him about it last night after I left. He said that he thought he would talk to him on Tuesday (what!!!). He said that tonight he was just going to his AA meeting. That's right, leaving the child alone again for another evening. That is one of the things that I really don't like about AA, but that's another conversation. I made him promise to talk to him tonight, but I frankly don't think that will get far.

I think this has been going on for a long, long time. My boy friend left that state more than seven years ago and his ex-wife remarried. The second husband is said to "hate" this boy who lived in the basement all of those years. He would come here for holidays, when he would be shy and very quiet. I think that he has been huffing these chemicals for years and that when he first got here he tried (poor thing), really tried, to stop, but could not do that holed up in that apartment all by himself with no help. I think he needs to go to an inpatient facility.

I am deeply and profoundly concerned about this child. Frankly, my experience of him is that he's not very intelligent. Sorry, that's just the truth. That's not the end of the world. He is very sweet (or seemed to be for a little while) and has some talents. Now however, I wonder now if it's the stuff that he's been taking ~ if he can stop and get better ~ if he is maybe not so unintelligent after all. Besides, he could die from just one of these huffing episodes. I am concerned that he has damaged his brain. What will happen to him?

What realy helps us?

liz — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 04:38:36 GMT

about me-
im a girl, age 13, and im in 7th grade. i get As and Bs in school, and praticapate in the robotics team and oddesy of the mind team. <--- STRESS. i only do it becouse my mom makes me. im an artist. i make sculptures of snakes and jiant spiders to hang on my walls. i paint like you wouldnt believe and i love it. i always try to outsmart the system. i dont care what anybody thinks of me. i dont have many friends but i dont want many becouse i realy dont like people. i have short blue hair, wear black (mosty band T-shirts), leather jaket, either combat boots or converses. i carved a tatoo into my ankel of a star. i would deffanatly smoke pot if i had more $$$. i drink when i can get my hands on anything. my parents think they have me under control.

About that other thing-
im am without a dought an inhalent adict. i have been using them for 1 1/2 - 2 years (i dont know when i started but i know its been way over a year) i will usualy huff or bag anything i can get my hands on 3-10 diffrent sessions a day, but i have cut down ALOT -to about 2 sessions a day- in my efforts to quit. the longest i have ever gone clean is when i only did it once thoughout the intire summer, but once school started again so did my habbit. i kept it a secret a long time, but then i discovered how serious it is and i told one friend. i only told her i had done it before, not that i was addicted to it. in december i snuck away from my friends to get high (i did it all the time) only this time they desided to follow me. they couldnt figure out what i was doing, but three days later i told them. they dont understand at all. i cant just stop. ive been trying that for 13 months.

i usualy bag fingernail polish remover, but i will use anything. exept paint. i will not huff paint becouse making art is the only thing that provides me with an excape that dosnt involve getting high. i can only use things that my parents wont be sospisious of me using.

i want to stop, but telling an adult is not an option and i cant do it by myself. my parents have told me over and over about how mutch trubble i will be in if they find out i huff. how am i sopoced to confess when i know all the consaquninses are bad? i cant exactaly ride my bike to a meeting, call my docter, or get meddisen to help my depression or angsiety when im trying to quit. i tryed weaning off of it gradualy but all it seems to be doing is toying with my mind. its like dieing of thirst, but you can only have a teaspoon of water, even though more is setting right infront of you. my frinds dont get it. they dont understand. i just need to talk to sombody whos been down this street before.

i know its bad for me. i know it kills. and guess what? that knowlage dosnt make it easyer.

How can I get my gf to stop using air duster to get high

Redman19 — Thur, 18 Feb 2010 16:57:17 GMT

I found out my girlfriend was doing that airduster one night and I just lost it but she promised to never do it again....a few days later she went to a party and was on it again I begged her not to and to quit but she kept tellin me she didnt care I almost left her but I just can't bring myself to do it she appologized the next day an promised again shed stop so I forgave her but last night she did it at home and passed out in the kitchen where luckily her dad was there to help but I dnt kno what to do she doesn't think she has a problem and doesn't want help I dnt think I can stay in a relationship like this I just don't want anything happening to her if anyone I don't kno what to do please help