What Is Galaxy Gas? The Dangers of Inhalants and Nitrous Oxide

If you’ve ever needed dental surgery or a wisdom tooth removed, you may have been administered nitrous oxide, or “laughing gas,” a short-acting sedative that can provide a calming effect if you’re prone to feeling anxious or nervous in the dentist’s chair. However, a new brand called Galaxy Gas is leading to the misuse and abuse of nitrous oxide, a practice known as whippets. 

Breathing it in through a mask placed over your nose can make patients feel lightheaded, relaxed, and prone to minor fits of giggling, where laughing gas gets its name. Conscious sedation, as it’s called, has been a staple in dental and orthodontic practices for 180 years and is used in 70% of dentist offices, according to the American Dental Association. 

Apart from medical use, nitrous oxide is also abused recreationally to experience a fleeting high. A brand called Galaxy Gas, with its spacy name and colorful packaging, appeals to a new generation of young people impressionable to experimenting with drug use. 

Seen in numerous social media videos inhaling Galaxy Gas canisters beyond their intended purpose, they raise awareness — and cause for concern — about the dangerous health risks of inhalant abuse. 

What Is Galaxy Gas? 

Galaxy Gas is an Atlanta-based company specializing in manufacturing and selling pressurized whipped cream dispensers and other products as a food and beverage additive. In cooking and culinary/cafe arts, nitrous oxide gas can whip cream much faster than manually whisking it, one reason why that dollop of whipped cream looks so perfect on that slice of pie or atop a Starbucks latte. 

Is Galaxy Gas legal?

Of course — like all legitimate brands, the company’s products are legal and safe when used properly. The brand’s products are not marketed as recreational drugs, but unfortunately, they can be inappropriately used. 

This can raise another question: What does Galaxy Gas do to you when used illicitly?  

Do People Misuse Galaxy Gas?  

Unfortunately, yes. For chefs, baristas, mixologists, or right in your own kitchen, Galaxy Gas’ nitrous oxide canisters are go-to products for “infusing cocktails, making delightful whipped cream, enhancing mashed potatoes and various other culinary applications,” the brand notes on its website. 

And while the company states in its FAQ that it does not condone its products used outside culinary purposes, it hasn’t prevented the recent trend of recreational misuse documented by everyone from video streamers to influencers and musicians, according to an October CBS News report.  

Nitrous Oxide Abuse 

This misuse of Galaxy Gas continues to highlight the historic issue of nitrous oxide abuse. Nitrous oxide abuse is not new — in fact, all the way back at the turn of the 19th century, it became popular as a recreational drug among the British upper class, used at laughing gas parties.  

Today’s recreational nitrous oxide users often release the gas from Galaxy Gas canisters into balloons before inhaling it since the freezing temperature of nitrous oxide can cause burns if inhaled directly from the canister. That’s because canned air — whether it’s a canister of whipped cream or even the compressed air you might use to clean your computer keyboard — is made of high-pressure gas that cools drastically when released.  

Often known as doing “whippets” (getting its name from the small nitrous cartridges found in whipped cream canisters), one common method is by putting the gas from the canister into a balloon and then inhaling it.  

According to the Yale University School of Medicine, a recent study by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that nearly 13 million Americans have misused nitrous oxide sometime during their lifetimes.  

What Are the Dangers of Using Galaxy Gas to Get High?   

What does Galaxy Gas do to you? When nitrous oxide is used medically, it is mixed with 70% oxygen, making the dosage low. Whippets, however, are entirely made of laughing gas. A nitrous oxide high after inhaling Galaxy Gas or Galaxy Gas whippets happens within 10 seconds. Even one hit of nitrous oxide can be dangerous because it deprives the brain of oxygen and increases carbon dioxide. Some immediate Galaxy Gas side effects you’ll feel include: 

• Because it is laughing gas, you’ll feel giddiness accompanied by uncontrollable laughter

• A dizzy, lightheaded, euphoric feeling, like your body is floating and separate from your mind 

• A reduced sense of mental/physical pain, sound, and touch 

• Blurred vision 

• A lack of coordination 

• Confusion 

• Weakness and sedation 

Health Effects of Chronic Nitrous Oxide Use

“People who regularly use nitrous oxide can become dependent on the drug,” notes the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF). “They may feel they need nitrous oxide to go about their normal activities like working, studying, and socializing, or just to get through the day.” When nitrous oxide or Galaxy Gas use becomes chronic or heavy, users can experience a host of long-term neurological, cardiovascular,r and other effects. These can include everything from: 

• Brain, liver or kidney damage 

• Hypoxia (low levels of oxygen in your bodily tissues) 

• Vitamin B12 deficiencies 

• Lowered blood pressure 

• Heart problems 

• Bone marrow damage 

• Incontinence 

• Hearing loss 

Depression and psychosis are also two other common long-term effects of nitrous oxide abuse. Nitrous oxide isn’t physically addictive like drugs that alter dopamine and neurochemical levels; users can develop a psychological nitrous oxide addiction. 

The ADF notes that mixing nitrous oxide with other drugs, like alcohol, opioids, or benzodiazepines, can increase the risk of overdosing, as well as having a pre-existing health condition, like epilepsy or heart disease. Loss of consciousness, irregular heartbeat, and seizures are often common signs of a nitrous oxide overdose. 

Teenagers and Inhalants  

Data from a recent National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found that about 9% of 12- 17-year-oldslds in the U.S. experimented with inhalants, with nearly 22% reporting lifetime use of whippets and other nitrous oxides, making them the fourth most common class of inhalants among young people. 

Why do nitrous oxide and galvanic gas appeal to teens? Reasons include their relative affordability and accessibility since Galaxy Gas canisters or similar items are easy to obtain. They may have misconceptions about the crippling effects of nitrous oxide abuse. Social media promotion combined with peer pressure plays a role, where whippets may be hard to resist at parties or festivals during a time when teens look to experiment or try things deemed risky. 

A Psychology Today study notes that while alcohol, tobacco,o, and cannabis use has decreased in teenagers, nitrous oxide experimentation has increased. “The increasing use of ketamine, nitrous oxide, and hallucinogens such as psilocybin may be a way of medicating mental health issues in some teens” due to a lack of mental health care access, says Morehouse University’s Dr. Sarah Vinson, quoted in the study. 

Most Commonly Abused Inhalants 

Nitrous oxide abuse is just one example of an inhalant frequently misused by people of different age groups.  

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health says that volatile solvents (benzene, xylene, acetone, and the like) found in gas, cleaning fluids, paint thinners, hobby glue, correction fluid, and felt-tip markers are some of the most commonly abused inhalants on the market.  

Nitrous oxides, such as those found in Galaxy Gas canisters, as well as aerosols found in cooking sprays or hairspray, are other common inhalants found right in the home, a sign of how accessible the potential risks are to teens and children alike.  

Nitrous Oxide Addiction Treatment   

Galaxy Gas or nitrous oxide addiction is serious. While it may not cause the same type of physical dependency as other substances, its psychological hold can be powerful. But it is beatable with the right substance abuse treatment.  

If you or a loved one has developed a dependency on nitrous oxide or other inhalants, here’s a look at some of the steps to recovery: 

• Admissions: The first call to admissions is often the hardest, but it’s the one that can change everything. This is where you can commit to signing up for a treatment plan. An evaluation will determine the nature and severity of your addiction plus any opportunity for a dual diagnosis of co-occurring conditions, such as a nitrous oxide addiction and a mental health disorder. 

• Detoxification: A 4–8-week medical detox program is the first step in recovery — giving the body time to flush out nitrous oxide from one’s system and allow the body to recover for future stages of treatment. (Detox at Royal Life Centers is fully supervised by medical staff to minimize withdrawal symptoms and maximize comfort.) 

• Therapy: Talk therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a confidential, one-to-one session with a counselor to help you understand the underlying cause of a nitrous oxide addiction, restructure your perspective, and develop healthier coping mechanisms as you plan a future without the drug in your life. Likewise, group therapy brings together like-minded people in recovery to discuss your struggles with addiction and give each other support. 

• Holistic therapies like mindfulness-focused yoga, fitness-oriented activity and adventure therapies, sound healing,g and breathwork don’t just augment traditional therapy; they exist to strengthen the connection between body, min,d and spirit. 

• Long-term aftercare: From treatment start to finish, guests are connected with a case manager, a professional who assists them in identifying and accessing the services they need to achieve recovery. Treatment doesn’t finish at the calendar end of the program, and that’s where aftercare comes in. They can coordinate and arrange continuum of care programs such as sober living and 12-step support groups as well as schedule transportation to meetings, plus put you in touch with community resources as you begin your sober journey. 

 Get Help Today

Galaxy Gas products can be dangerous if used as an inhalant and lead to dependence and addiction, as the misuse of nitrous oxide canisters continues to find a new generation vulnerable to experimenting with drugs and wondering, “What’s Galaxy Gas?”  

Understanding the risks and identifying the signs of addiction — in teens and adults alike — is a critical intervention to seeking help for yourself or a loved one. Help is possible, and drug and alcohol rehab is ultimately a lifeline, a bridge connecting you to addiction on one side and sobriety on the other. 

Honor the power of your voice and begin your journey with Royal Life by contacting us today. You can do this — and life in recovery is better than you can imagine.