Solvent abuse involves inhaling household products such as paint thinners, nail polish removers, and glues to get high. It can cause suffocation, vomiting, and even death. Young people are at the highest risk, and parents should discuss the dangers openly. Solvent abuse can cause serious health problems, including liver, kidney, heart, and brain damage. Toulene, a chemical found in most solvents, causes a short-term high but also increases the risk of suffocation.
Solvent abuse is intentionally inhaling solvents to try and get a feeling of euphoria or “high”. Solvents are products such as paint thinners, nail polish removers, hairsprays, cooking sprays, and glues. The intentional abuse of inhaled solvents was originally called glue sniffing.
Solvent abusers often put solvents in a paper or plastic bag to inhale or smell. When placing a bag over your nose and mouth while abusing solvents, there is a real danger of suffocation. Inhalation of solvents can also cause vomiting; solvent abusers suffocated to death on their own vomit. Some people think that solvent abuse is not a serious drug problem because they are household products, however abusing everyday solvents by smelling them instead of using them as cleaners and glues can cause serious problems and even death.
Solvent abusers can be of any age, but the highest risk group is thought to be 11 to 16 years old. Younger people may first experiment with sniffing solvents to get high with friends before developing a habit of abusing a particular solvent themselves. Household products are often easy and cheap for young people to obtain, so parents need to consider that solvent abuse can be a problem for their child. Signs of solvent abuse include a dazed look in the eye and slurred speech. A red rash around the mouth is one of the most telltale signs of a solvent user.
It is important to discuss the dangers of solvent abuse with children in an open and communicative way. Young teens may not believe the real dangers of smelling everyday household products. They may think a high from these products is relatively safe.
The high from overusing a solvent by sniffing is not safe and is likely to be very short-lived. This often causes solvent abusers to repeat the action many times, so much of the product ends up being inhaled. In addition to death from suffocation and suffocation, solvent abusers have died of heart attacks due to irregular heartbeats. Intentional inhalation of solvents can also cause liver, kidney, heart and brain damage.
Toulene is a chemical found in most solvents. Toulene’s reaction with dopamine in the brain causes a short-term high. Since the body’s oxygen levels drop when smelling solvents, there is a risk of suffocation even without the use of a bag. The risk of death or injury from solvent abuse is particularly high for children.
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