As concern grows over the impact that accidental chemical exposures may have on the long term health of individuals, our young people are deliberately exposing themselves to the effect of neurotoxic chemicals with the intent of feeling high. Over time the result of inhaling these chemicals is often the development of symptoms and behavior that may suggest serious physiological damage. Research is being conducted to examine what the exact nature of the damage might be, especially the impact of inhaled lipophilic chemicals on structures in the brain and other parts of the nervous system. Healthcare professionals responsible for assessing adolescents in all settings need to be aware of the prevalence of inhalant abuse, as well as the chemicals, terminology, and potential symptomatology in order to intervene in the behavior and provide diagnosis and treatment as indicated. Some implications for nursing are included.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/10884602.2012.669422DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

inhalant abuse
8
adolescents inhalant
4
abuse huffing
4
huffing myelin
4
myelin sheath
4
sheath concern
4
concern grows
4
grows impact
4
impact accidental
4
accidental chemical
4

Similar Publications

Ethyl chloride poisoning from inhalational misuse: clinical features and outcomes.

Clin Toxicol (Phila)

January 2025

Family Physician in Private Practice, Singapore.

Introduction: Ethyl chloride misuse remains a prevailing concern due to its accessibility, but detailed descriptions of the features of toxicity are limited to sporadic reports, resulting in knowledge gaps in their clinical features and diagnosis.

Objective: To describe the clinical features, treatment, and outcomes of patients reported in the literature who developed toxicity from inhalational use of ethyl chloride.

Methods: We reviewed relevant literature over the past 50 years and analyzed the characteristics and outcomes of patients with toxicity from the inhalational use of ethyl chloride.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Volatile substance (thinner) addiction can cause serious cardiac events, such as malignant ventricular arrhythmias, acute coronary syndromes, sudden death syndrome, and dilated cardiomyopathy, as reported in many case studies. We aimed to find echocardiographic and electrocardiographic parameters that could foresee these adverse outcomes in clinical settings.

Methods: We enrolled 32 healthy young adult patients with at least 1 year of thinner addiction and no cardiac symptoms.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * A 43-year-old man with a history of diabetes and hypertension showed symptoms of methemoglobinemia, including bluish discoloration of his fingers, after using the inhalant "Rush," leading to low oxygen saturation and elevated methemoglobin levels.
  • * Treatment with methylene blue successfully resolved the patient’s symptoms, but resulted in green urine, highlighting the importance of thorough history taking and awareness of treatment side effects in managing inhalant-related cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Persistent homology reveals robustness loss in inhaled substance abuse rs-fMRI networks.

PLoS One

September 2024

Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.

Analyzing functional brain activity through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is commonly done using tools from graph theory for the analysis of the correlation matrices. A drawback of these methods is that the networks must be restricted to values of the weights of the edges within certain thresholds and there is no consensus about the best choice of such thresholds. Topological data analysis (TDA) is a recently-developed tool in algebraic topology which allows us to analyze networks through combinatorial spaces obtained from them, with the advantage that all the possible thresholds can be considered at once.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Quantitative determination of nitrous oxide in human blood by HS-GC-MS: forensic application of two fatal poisoning cases.

Forensic Sci Int

July 2024

Department of Forensic Toxicology, Academy of Forensic Science, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Shanghai Forensic Science Platform, Key Laboratory of Forensic Sciences, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai 200063, PR China. Electronic address:

Nitrous oxide (NO), also known as laughing gas, has a euphoric effect and is becoming increasingly popular as a recreational inhalant drug. Deaths caused by recreational nitrous oxide abuse are rare, but may still occur. Although some methods for the quantification of NO by GC-MS have been reported, elimination of carbon dioxide interference and the choice of a suitable internal standard remain current limitations to accurate NO quantification.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!