Why nitrous might be the most damaging drug you use.

TL;DR Nitrous is safe but doing lots in a row causes oxygen deficiency which your body cannot detect and this causes serious destruction of brain cells.

Nitrous is a great drug, very safe in moderation and used widely (with oxygen) in a medical setting.

When you inhale pure nitrous though, there is a significant risk of oxygen deprivation, here's why:

Oxygen is very difficult to detect, so instead the body monitors air quality by measuring carbon dioxide which rapidly lowers pH in solution and is therefore very easy to detect. This has been great for mankind because for thousands of years the only time we would encounter dangerous oxygen levels was when we'd been holding our breath and that meant that CO2 levels went up.

In the last 300 years we've discovered how to purify gases which our bodies can't detect. When we inhale a lungful, the CO2 in our blood diffuses out and is exhaled, and the gas diffuses into our blood to replace it because the lungs can't tell it's not oxygen. This means that the body thinks the air quality is great because CO2 is being removed at a normal rate, but there is no oxygen coming in and the brain has no idea.

Lack of oxygen to the brain rapidly becomes dangerous as it begins to trigger self destruction of cells. Once or twice this is not noticeable on the outside, but over time this can cause serious nerve damage and noticeable cognitive decline.

To avoid this there are two things you can do:

• Don't do multiple balloons in a row or double balloons. Giving into the cravings does not give your body time to recover oxygen before you purge all the CO2 which has been produced with a fresh balloon.
• Take a couple of fast, deep breaths before doing a balloon. This will raise O2 levels slightly above normal.

Extra tips:

• Never, ever use nitrous in a way which would prevent you getting oxygen if you passed out. This includes sticking your head into a bin bag, strapping the supply into a mask, etc etc.
• Be careful when filling the balloons. Crackers can get very cold and cause serious freezer burns and old balloons can tear easily.
• Regular nitrous use depletes B12 which can lead to serious irreparable nerve damage. You can easily buy it online but make sure the supplement contains at least 0.5mg (500ug / 500mcg) - some contain just 1% of this amount!
• There are substances that protect from hypoxic neural damage like piracetam and vipocetine.^1