Feeling Breathless after Nangs

[Yawning Man]

Hello

I was at a doof last weekend and was chuffing down the nangs like it was going out of fashion. A large part of saturday night was spent sitting in the car with the windows up talking shit and generally soaking in a nang haze. Anyway, about two hours and god knows how many nangs later I noticed that when I took a breath it just didn't feel like I was filling my lungs.

And I was having a good go with big deep breaths. Kinda worried me a bit. My partner actually had a similar thing happen to her at a doof last year when she spent a good portion of the night in the car with nangs but didn't notice untill the next morning she couldn't catch her breath. Obviously I stopped the nangs.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? I've tried to google it but can't find much.

Cheers

[coolname]

have you ever looked inside of a creamer that has only been used for nangs? It leaves some filthy looking residue in there. I would guess that that shit is building up inside your lungs aswell. Dont get me wrong i think nangs are pretty awesome but surely they are pretty bad for you aswell. Back when i was a nang fiend i used to take an old t shirt or some sort of material and put it over the nozzle as a filter before i attach the balloon, which seemed to catch alot of that crap so i didnt have to inhale it aswell. Ofcourse some of it would still get through, but its better than nothing. If only someone would invent some type of carbon filter for nang heads

[bullit]

yuk

[AndyAmine.]

Yeah man, definielty.
Used to happen more with cheaper bulbs like Clover brand, with dirtier bulb machines and particularly if the valve was busted and it let too much frozen gas/air/ice through.

When you are nanging you dont notice how badly you are peppering your airways with shards of ice, lubricant oils, metal turnings/flakes and potentialy mould spores and whatever else is growing in the bulb machine.

The worst experince I ever had was when I copped a CO2 bulb in a pack of nangs but because it was in a room with only a dark, red light I didnt see the green colour.
I hit that up and man, it was like the machine sucked the air right out of my lungs rather than filling them up with gas and I choked and coughed for a good few mins thinking I was going to die or something.

I also sliced the hell out of my mouth and throat one time when a big plug of ice was shot out of the nozzel and fragmented on my teeth, it chipped my front teeth and sliced up my gums, tongue and throat.

The funniest one would be whe I loaded up a regular machine with some stupid ammount of nangs, like 4 I think (right on bursting limit), anyway, I was already trippn balls and had been hitting the machine all night, I cracked the seal and BOOM I felt all these shards in my mouth as the nangs kicked in, I was convinced I had shattered my front teeth and started flipping out while totaly munted and dribbling everywhere.. "MMMM, MMM, UURRRGGHH, MMYY TTTEEEEFFFFFFFF, My, MY TEEEETHH!!!....
Everyone started panicing and I was starting to cry... I had a lifesaver or something in my mouth and forgotten about it and the gas had shattered it. BAHAHAHAHAHA

Edited May 10, 2013 by AndyAmine.

[Anodyne]

Probably just irritated your lungs/airways by inhaling a cold dry gas.

Nitrous itself is pretty harmless.

[AndyAmine.]

Good reason to use a balloon.

[niggles]

I think its because nangs are evil

but for a more detailed response, I have seen whipped cream dispensers freeze and peoples hands get stuck to them cos the gas is coming out cold. (after a bunch of chargers used in quick succession) Inhaling something that cold could well be doing damage to your alveoli - the sensitive little oxygen/co2 exchange mechanisms in your lungs that make breathing worthwhile.

Also, as someone has mentioned, there is a concerning amount of machine oil and metal particles that build up inside the dispenser and undoubtedly are going into your once beautiful pink lungs.

Erowid has an interesting article where they tested a commerically available 'nang filter' vs no filter at all - you can find the details here:

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/nitrous/nitrous_article2.shtml

A quick summary:

The primary findings from this experiment were:

Black speck of residue with metallic sliver, magnified 40x.

1. A dark-colored residue is present in the gaseous output from a whipped cream maker used to dispense nitrous oxide, both with and without the use of a NitroKit input filter. That residue is made up of a yellowish or grey oil, a large number of black particles of unknown material ranging in size from dust to 2 mm across, and shiny metallic fragments ranging in size from dust to 3 mm long.
3. Residue from as few as six chargers was visible to the naked eye (but somewhat hard to see) as a yellow or grey stain on the output filter. Magnification was generally necessary to see metal fragments from a small number of chargers. After twelve or more chargers, black flakes and metal fragments became visible to the naked eye in bright light, both inside the WCM and on the output filter.
4. 
   

1. Residue was present in all three brands tested: EZ-Whip, Pure Whip, and iSi. Amounts of residue were similar across all three brands, though the residue from the iSi chargers was grayer in color than the EZ-Whip and Pure Whip brand residue, which was more yellowish-brown.
2. 
   

1. The NitroKit input filter reduced the total amount of residue present in the output gas, but only by a small amount. Two observers estimated that there was approximately 10-20% less residue with the NitroKit filter than without.
2. 
   

1. A single layer of cotton filter on the output nozzle caught around 95% of the residue and three layers caught virtually all residue. Even under magnification, no residue was visible on the fourth layer of the output filter.
2. 
   

No testing was done with balloons. However, I feel I should note balloons can be dangerous. They often have talcum powder in them. Which you dont want to be inhaling.

The force of blowing up a balloon can be enough to burst the alveoli in your lungs - which is essentially how emphysema occurs - you lose too many alveoli and cant echange enough o2 and co2. (Heavy coughing is enough to burst them also.)

-edit- Also overfilling your lungs or having gas forced into your lungs too hard can have the same effect

I dont have a great reference for this information except my medical books from school, but I did find this site with a quick search - http://www.balloonhq.com/faq/health.html

Heres an example quote -

A group of doctors from Belfast report in the British Medical Journal that blowing up balloons for Yuletide parties can damage your lungs, causing air bubbles to spread under the skin. They cited the case of a 24-year-old man hospitalized with lung problems after blowing up 20 party balloons in an hour.

Although he felt no ill effects at the time, he became sick 48 hours later. The doctors said air bubbles could be felt under the skin on his back and buttocks and there was a "crunching sound" when he breathed.

Stuart Elborn and his medical colleagues found that the air pressure involved in inflating balloons is enough to damage the alveoli, tiny sacs in the lung through which air is absorbed.

The researchers said they cleared up the problem in 10 days using antibiotics, painkillers and fluids.

Nitrous is used in medical procedures, but they dilute the nitrous with oxygen, so whilst you are getting effected by the nitrous you are also breathing a mixture that contains MORE oxygen than normal air. (http://www.rch.org.au/clinicalguide/guideline_index/Nitrous_Oxide_Oxygen_Mix/)

Breathing straight nitrous (and huffing it back and forth in a balloon) is most likely (I cant find anything to back me up in a quick lazy search) enough to damage your lovely pink lungs, and hurt your oxygen hungry brain cells.

I think the best way to reduce the harm of nitrous is: triple filtering with something like cotton as suggested in the erowid article, and also to inhale from a *NON PRESSURIZED* bag - something like what is used on a volcano vaporiser system

(Credits to an anonymous source who wouldnt appreciate being named here, but genius idea!)

Use of a one way valve and a non pressurized bag allows the gas to stop being so cold, particles to settle, and you can puff away taking hits of normal old air between so your brain potentially isnt dying.

So remember! Balloons can be dangerous, and nangs are awful.

I hope this is interesting for you

Edited May 11, 2013 by niggles

[planthelper]

my feeling is, it has to do with, that you breathed in so many times, without ever getting any oxygen.

adding oxygen, to the balloon, would be my answer.

[AndyAmine.]

Good info thanks Niggles.

[bullit]

didnt the doof have better things to offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Distracted]

Don't do mass nos inside a closed space like a car, it's how people die, generally it's from cracking a bottle inside a car rather than bulbs but if you do enough in a short enough period of time... certainly not worth my life for the quick high

It takes nos 60 or so times longer to leave an area than it takes to enter an area, that's a figure i've read somewhere before but can't source it right now.

It's either that or as Anodyne said, you've irritated your lungs/throat.

[etherealdrifter]

didnt the doof have better things to offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bullit]

lol is that u etherealz !!

[Yawning Man]

The doof had many fun things on hand but for that night in particular we had our little gang/world we were happy in. I will definitely look into some of these harm minimisation strategies.

A fellow sabber once told me that I should be getting about 70% nos and 30% air. So I've never inhaled nos on it's own, always breathing in air after inhaling. This one way valve and a non pressurized bag sounds interesting but really fussy. I can't imagine carrying around a vaporizer around at a doof.

I'll look into it anyway. I'm only really using nangs at doofs so i'm taking big breaks in between use. The whip it brand of bulbs are shit for the canister we have. The raised little bit of metal that is the seal has to pierce just right or it shoots gas out all over the joint. And when you a bit wobbly you forget charging it right next to ya face can be bad.

Andy - co2 bulb. Fark. That woulda been scary as, although I couldn't help but laugh at that story with the lifesaver. HAHA.

Edit: I think i'll just start with a bit of t-shirt cloth over the mouth bit.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Yawning Man

[coolname]

I just remembered a sweet nang story that happened to a mate of mine who is a chef. We were all partying one night at his place and decided it was nang time. He had a creamer that had been sitting in his cupboard for a while and was pretty munted at the time so loaded it up and took a big hit straight from the creamer, but didnt check inside of it first and got a mouthful of putrid cream that had been sitting in it for god knows how long and choked then spewed on the floor infront of his girlfriends straight friends who we had only met for the first time that night. They all thought we were the biggest bunch of fuckwits ever and left not long after that but we all thought it was the best thing we had ever seen

[Bigred]

I have had a full grand mal seizure of the fuckers and remember it is food grade not medical grade

which is a big difference. Just go to boc and get a size h cylinder it is a much better grade than they

put in nangs and you can get a regulator for it (also a water vapour trap )

[AndyAmine.]

I thought automotive/industrial grade N2O was mixed with hydrogen sulphide for safety/diversion reasons and that unless you had a licence for food grade gas its was a no go?

That said growing up a friends brother was into drag racing and had big tanks of N2O that he used to top off his small canisters for the car, that had no deterrents added and we would tape a toilet roll to the mouth of a garbage bag and fill them up. It was great.

This was baci in the early 90's so it was a while ago now but I guess if they do mix it with sulphur it depends on where you get it from.

Edited May 15, 2013 by AndyAmine.

[Bigred]

You can get food grade n20 as the sulphur dioxide as racing grade can cause problems when running av gas through your car .

But the only reason you can only get medical grade( with out a script rx) is if your a scuba diver to help prepare you for nitrogen narcosis .

The stuff they use for diving training contains a mix of o2 and n20 ( cant remember of hand think its 80% nitrous 20% oxygen ).

This was ten years ago so dont know how you would go about it . But B.O.C still does food grade for dairy farmers to help foam milk

and purge the lines in the milking production .,

[AndyAmine.]

Cool, good info BR.

[incognito]

Meh, just soft as fuk ;) ;)

[PositiveHAL]

have read on the interwebs somewhere about rigging a filter that takes care of the sulfur, could be worth looking into.

also dont forget the Vitamin B12 supplements kids

[incognito]

B12 is covered by beer u can't lose with nangs.

And seriously? More to offer than nangs? I seriously don't think u can have a better time with a bunch of friends being all stoopid and messy.

I think trippers can take their trippin' to seriously. I mean if ur gonna do it for introspection, spiritual reasons then why not do it at home by yourself?

I'm over being frowned upon by so called psychodorks for laughing histerically having the most bonzerest of times at party's.

Nitrous oxide IS where it's at. Make no mistake.

Jam ur dimitri up ur cakehole if I want a real insight I can work with ill consult finewhip.

[etherealdrifter]

B12 is covered by beer u can't lose with nangs.

And seriously? More to offer than nangs? I seriously don't think u can have a better time with a bunch of friends being all stoopid and messy.

I think trippers can take their trippin' to seriously. I mean if ur gonna do it for introspection, spiritual reasons then why not do it at home by yourself?

I'm over being frowned upon by so called psychodorks for laughing histerically having the most bonzerest of times at party's.

Nitrous oxide IS where it's at. Make no mistake.

Jam ur dimitri up ur cakehole if I want a real insight I can work with ill consult finewhip.

lol.

That image of you(you won't remember it will you mang) sitting with us under the tent at ega falling backwards FLOP onto the ground..but still holding onto that combo apparatus - will forever stay etched into my etchasketch third eye.

awesome source of b12 reference by the way*hugs ingog mwaaaaahhhhhhh, ya big galoot

[AndyAmine.]

I found that much more workable states are achieved with a tank than with bulbs because they dont last long enough before having to crack another one and it breaks the journey. (and it really feels like a journey to me, like every minute spent in there is getting me closer to something that is extremely important. makes for an addictive trip.

With the tank and a mask you can keep going deeper and deeper until you finally break through and reach the other side, reach the 'knowledge' or 'the answer' or whatever. problem is bringing it back with you and remembering it, hahaha... and as you know its like a dream where the more you focus on it the faster it evaporates from your memory. so frustrating.

Last tank experience was my longest and deepest, it went for about 45mins and was at the dentists office!

At first it was really mild and they obviously had a lot of O2 running through. My anxiety was really high due to a past bad experience and to be honest, getting dental work done while only 1/2 nanging is quite uncomfortable and unpleasant so I kept asking them crank that stuff up again and again because I wanted to be OUT.

I guess the Dr finally gave in and after the last twist of the knob I could feel it freezing and drying the back of my nose and this constant, sickly sweet yet bitter condensation started dripping down the back of my throat.

I was finally pushed over the otherside and was there, working with it for a good while, one of my life goals achieved!
Then WHAMMMM I was pulled out of it by the feeling of the tooth being wrenched from my mouth, then I drifted back over, I was woken by the nurses voice saying

'Is he ok Dr?"

"Yes, he'll be fine once it wears off"

Followed by the crunching sound of the stitches going through my gum tissue and the taste of salty blood in my mouth.

As I came to a little bit I realised that a part of the visuals I was seeing were being created by my eyes rolling back and forward, not just a little but right back into my head. haha. no wonder the nurse was concerned.

As we were finishing up the Dr said "You looked like you enjoied that" haha, he had a look in his eye, the look of a gas fiend. ;)

To be honest though, the whole thing kind of ruined N2O for me a bit, now I have memories of alien dental surgery everytime I hit the gas, so havent done it in ages,

Must say I havent tested myself for a while now though, hmmm.

I found that bulbs became a bit dangerous for me because they kept on re-enforcing the idea that if I held on a little longer or sucked just a little more that I would get that break through, with that method I kept finding myself coxed to hold on until I passed out and realised that the break through was I chasing with bulbs was going to be the death experience.

Edited May 15, 2013 by AndyAmine.

[incognito]

Interesting post Andy , especially the last paragraph. Ill post later and expand when I have a keyboard. Nitrous is where IT'S at!