Extreme, Extreme! The literature of laughing gas. (2014) | Hacker News Reader

Extreme, Extreme! The literature of laughing gas. (2014)

theparisreview.org

The author says nitrous use doesn’t occupy any cultural space but for me I associate it with Aleister Crowley and the many “magick” things that he influenced- it was used before a lot of rituals they did. William James was a big early influence for him. But also he did a lot of other drugs too.

Looking the mechanism of action - that it replaces oxygen in the brain - it’s pretty obvious why long term use can be so damaging to your brain. It might also contribute to how crazy Crowley gets in his later years.

I don't think replacing oxygen in the brain is the main mechanism of action (in medical settings they mix nitrous and oxygen and it's still effective without risking hypoxia). Looking at Wikipedia it says the mechanism of action isn't fully understood but it says the effects "are likely caused mainly via inhibition of NMDA receptor-mediated currents".

I've been under the impression that biggest risk of long term use of nitrous is that it causes b12 deficiency which is really bad for your nervous system. Wikipedia also mentions that NMDA receptor antagonist in general are neurotoxic and studies in mice suggest that nitrous has this neurotoxicity.

It absolutely does, and with the recent uptick in recreational nitrous use we have clear examples of what it does to people. This is just one of the handful of cases of nitrous overuse leading to long term mobility loss

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-67355097

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. That article appears to be about a women who is now in a wheel chair due to nerve damage caused by a b12 deficiency which supports my comment that one of the most concerning risks of nitrous use is b12 deficiency.

I’ve used and enjoyed laughing gas a few times, and while I can strongly relate to the euphoria, I can’t relate at all to any kind of altered thinking. I wouldn’t be safe to drive a car in the 3-5 minutes the effect holds I’m sure, but also no kind of insight or altered thinking, and the effects wear off very quickly. I am in fact very avoidant of substances other than alcohol that’s alter my thoughts, and laughing gas absolutely doesn’t feel that way for me. Perhaps the copious alcohol that’s always preceded such events has confounded it.

Oh, it's absofuckinglutely mind altering. There's just a threshold you haven't crossed yet. Were you huffing the gas out of whipped cream cans, or discharging tiny little whippet cartridges into balloons, or did you have a four-and-a-half foot industrial G cylinder and Hefty Contractor Load & Carry Extra Large Garbage Bags?

There's a point where you "pass in" instead of passing out. Just don't try it standing up. You'll try to brush something off your shoulder, then come to the profound realization that it's the floor.

Here's a classic book all about it, "Laughing Gas: Nitrous Oxide" ("HILK HILK"), which goes into much more detail than the article:

https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780914171522

Look for the hissing U-Haul in the parking lot of a Grateful Dead concert.

There's a reason it's called "Hippie Crack".

Friendly reminder to everyone that too much of the good stuff can and will displace oxygen, and that hypoxia is very a bad thing which can lead to among other things, permanent brain injury.

That's a very good point. Also, those balloons are not edible. Do not chew or swallow.

Good point. Definitely don't put your head in garbage bags or fill the room or not breath enough. Also it's much safer to use a regulator on the tank instead of just rocketing it out at full pressure through a hose. Balloons are relatively safe and self regulating, since you let go of them when you pass out and they zoom hilariously around the room giving everyone another thing to laugh uproariously about, but totally bumming out the dismayed fool who just lost their whole balloon, which at the moment was their most important possession.

That was such an amazing description!

It also causes inactivation of vitamin B12 with long term use. This can cause demyelination and bone marrow suppression.

By the time you notice the peripheral neuropathy, it's probably too late. Note: to get to this point, you would be doing quite a lot at a time.

Be careful with nitrous and take your B12.

https://www.rch.org.au/clinicalguide/guideline_index/Nitrous...

Taking your B12 supplements is not a guarantee: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35253567/

Checking your B12 levels is not a guarantee either, since the mechanism of deactivation still makes the B12 detectable in a blood test. The inactivation can last for a few days.

For frequent users, getting pins and needles in your feet is fairly common, and with prolonged use it can lead to "subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord". The good news is the effects are mostly reversible if you aggressively supplement with B12 and perhaps the B12 cofactors, and stop using nitrous.

If you do a search (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22Nitrous+Oxide%2Fadv...) neuro effects are most common, but but there are also reports of thrombosis, bladder issues, and sexual disfunction.

Some decent papers are https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10447413/ and https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10442242/

I'm not a medical doctor, but the metabolic processes are fascinating, akin to background garbage collection or other maintenance processes in software. And like those, they are subject to bugs or other interruptions.

Fascinating! Balloons from canisters for me, but I’d be interesting to find the threshold

While my only exposure to laughing gas was while being put under for dental work, I can certainly see the appeal. Even that controlled application was pretty fun.

There's another psychoactive gas : Xenon. Apparently it's a truly amazing high. I can only speculate tho because it's also truly expensive. Like $300 a dose.

I imagine it must be something like the Heavy Metal Cat Urine scene in South Park.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZl347vlnig

Just read the (3) Erowid reports logged with xenon. Really interesting.

Zappos founder Tony Hsieh was addicted to nitrous. It sounded real bad! He ended up dying in a house fire while locked in a basement, in a situation that had "bizarre suicide" written all over it.

I've certainly enjoyed a huff or two in my day, but learning someone could become dependent was news to me. And then last year a close friend had to go into residential rehab for nitrous issues. Who knew?

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