Inhalants

Inhalants are chemicals that cause a person to feel high after inhaling or breathing them in. They are found in these common household products and many others:

• Aerosol sprays
• Correction fluid
• Felt tip markers
• Gasoline
• Glues and adhesives
• Hair spray
• Kerosene
• Lighter fluid
• Mineral spirits
• Nail preparation
• Paint
• Paint thinners
• Refrigerants
• Turpentine

By 8th grade, nearly 1 in 5 young people have used an inhalant to get high, risking brain damage and death. Young people can get high on more than a thousand useful and completely legal products.

People may use inhalants because:

• Inhalants are cheap and easy to get
• They feel pressure from their peers
• They get a temporary high

People use inhalants by:

• Huffing

Breathing in fumes from a cloth soaked in a chemical

• Sniffing

Breathing in fumes from an open container or filling a closet or car with vapors

• Bagging

Placing the substance in a plastic bag and holding it over the mouth and nose

• Spraying

Putting a substance directly into the mouth

The most common signs of inhalant abuse are:

• Anxiety, excitability, irritability
• Chemical-soaked rags, socks or bags
• Disappearance of household products
• Drunk, dazed or dizzy appearance
• Red areas or sores around the mouth
• Red eyes and/or runny nose
• Unusual chemical breath odor

Most young people believe that they can’t die from inhalants. This is not true. A user can suffer from “sudden sniffing death,” which occurs when inhalants disrupt heart rhythms and lead to cardiac arrest.
Death can also result from suffocation or a fatal injury caused by a car accident when driving while high.

Inhalant use can also cause:

• Coma
• Danger to unborn children when used by pregnant women
• Death, even with a one-time use. Mixing inhalants with other drugs and alcohol increases the chances of coma or death.
• Impaired vision, slurred speech, short-term memory loss
• Loss of motor skills and coordination
• Permanent damage to the nervous system, lungs, kidneys and other organs. Brain scans have shown “holes” in the brains of chronic users of inhalants, resulting in permanent brain damage.
• Poor judgment, poor grades, poor appetite
• Physical and psychological addiction

Talk to your children about the dangers of inhalant abuse. Start educating them about inhalants at a young age.

Inhalant abuse often begins in elementary school. Consult a school counselor, physician or drug-counseling center if you suspect inhalant abuse.

If you suspect inhalant abuse, call The University of Kansas Hospital Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.