Parents Beware the Inhaled Dangers Within Your Home

Parents beware. There are things right now in your home that can kill your children. These items look like ordinary household items. But to some teenagers these items are ways to get a high.

Have you heard of the term huffing? It is where people will use common household products such as inhalants, glues, nail polish, furniture polish, degreasing agents, paints and thinners, cooking sprays, deodorants, air fresheners and many other items to become high. Typically a person will directly snort fumes from these types of containers into their mouths or noses. But sometimes they will use other forms such as dousing the substances with rags or placing them into bags and then covering the items over their heads.

What happens to a person when they are huffing? The substances which are usually solvents with ingredients such as toluene, acetone or trichloroethane are quickly absorbed into the lungs and into the blood stream. They will then dissolve the fats that surround the brain and nerve cells. This disrupts the electrical signals in a way that is similar to becoming drunk quickly. This so called high lasts for about 30 to 60 seconds. But it is usually repeated, again and again. Each time it is repeated damage can begin to occur to the brain and to the nerve cells. With repeated use, coordination can become impaired, memory can become impaired, hearing loss can occur and yes even death can occur.

Teenagers are the ones who commonly practice huffing. Why? It is easy for them to find the products. No identification is required. The products are cheap to find, when they are not readily found in their own homes. Parents do not always look for such things as an air freshener in their kids room when searching for drugs.

Why does anyone practice huffing? Peer pressure is the number one reason. A teenager sees their friends do it. At first glance, the friend huffs on an arsenal can. The friend begins talking funny and acting funny. The friend gets a laugh from the crowd. A few minutes later the friend is okay. Now the teen thinks to himself or herself that this is cool and doesn't look harmful. But it is.