Mr. and Mrs. Walking suspect their daughter is abusing inhalants. Explain the major signs of possible inhalant abuse they need to be watching for. Also include the dangers and acute effects they need to be aware of

Question

Be sure to include some of the common products they need to be watching for.
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Some of the common products that have been subject to abuse includes glues, paint thinners, lighter fluid, and stain removers. In addition, many aerosol products are inhalable: hair sprays, deodorants, vegetable lubricants for cooking, and spray paints. Unfortunately,
new products are continually being introduced for genuinely practical uses, with little awareness of (or little regard for) the consequences should someone inhale their ingredients on a recreational basis.

Commercial glues, solvents, and aerosol sprays are prime candidates for drug abuse for a number of reasons. First, because they are inhaled into the lungs, the feeling of intoxication occurs more rapidly than with orally administered alcohol. "It's a quicker drunk," in the words of one solvent abuser. The feeling is often described as a "floating euphoria," similar to the effect of alcohol but with a shorter course of intoxication. The high is over in an hour or so, and the hangover is considered less unpleasant than that following alcohol consumption. Second, the typical packaging of inhalant products makes them Basic to carry around and conceal from others.

Finally, most inhalants are easily available in hardware stores, pharmacies, and supermarkets, where they can be bought cheaply or stolen. Among some inhalant abusers, shoplifting these products from open shelves becomes a routine practice. Inhalants are even more
widely available than alcohol in poor households; liquor may be in short supply but gasoline, paints, and aerosol products are usually to be found around the house or garage.38 All these factors contribute to the considerable potential for inhalant abuse.

The central nervous system is inhibited after they are inhaled. Brain waves, measured objectively through an electroencephalograph (EEG), slow down. Subjectively, the
individual feels intoxicated within minutes after inhalation. The most immediate effects include giddiness, euphoria, dizziness, and slurred speech, lasting from fifteen to forty-five minutes. This state is followed by one to two hours of drowsiness and sometimes a loss of consciousness.
Along with these effects are occasional experiences of double vision, ringing in the ears, and
hallucinations.

Inhalant abuse often involves concentrations of glue and solvent products that are fifty to a hundred times greater than the maximum allowable concentration of exposure in industry. The health of the inhalant abuser, therefore, is obviously at risk

The dangers of inhalant abuse lie not only in the toxic effects of the inhaled compound on body organs but also in the behavioral effects of the intoxication itself. Inhalant-produced euphoria includes feelings of recklessness and omnipotence. There have been instances of
young inhalant abusers leaping off roof tops in an effort to fly, running into traffic, lying on railroad tracks, or incurring severe lacerations when pushing their hand through a glass window that has been perceived as open. The hallucinations that are sometimes experienced carry
their own personal risks. Walls may appear to be closing in, or the sky may seem to be falling.

Ordinary objects may be perceived to be changing their shape, size, or color.
Any one of these delusions can lead to impulsive and potentially destructive behavior.40
There are also significant hazards related to the ways in which inhalants are administered. Solvents are sometimes inhaled from a handkerchief or from the container in which they were originally acquired ("huffing"), but glues and similar vaporous compounds are often squeezed into a plastic bag and inhaled while the bag is held tightly over the nose and mouth ("bagging"). Potentially, a loss of consciousness can result in hypoxia and asphyxiation.

Choking can occur if there is vomiting while the inhaler is unconscious. Another danger lies in the inhalation of Freon, a refrigerant gas so cold that the larynx and throat can be frozen upon contact. The toxic effects of inhalant drugs themselves depend on the specific compound, but the picture is complicated by the fact that most products subject to inhalant abuse contain a variety of compounds, and, in some cases, the list of ingredients on the product label is incomplete. Therefore, we often do not know whether the medical symptoms resulted from a particular chemical or from its interaction with others. Nonetheless, there are specific chemicals that have known health risks. The most serious concern involves sudden-death cases, brought on by cardiac dysrhythmia, that have been reported following the inhalation of propane and butane, which are commonly used as propellants for many commercial products.

Besides butane and propane, other inhalant ingredients that present specific hazards are acetone, benezene, hexane, toluene, and gasoline.