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 and colorless gas used in medical procedures 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 in dental settings and other medical and dental settings, when administered properly, can make guests 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, and its legitimate culinary 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 across numerous social media platforms in videos inhaling Galaxy Gas canisters beyond their intended purpose, this dangerous trend raises awareness — and cause for concern — about the serious health risks of inhalant abuse.

Unfortunately, yes. For chefs, baristas, mixologists, or right in your own kitchen, Galaxy Gas’ nitrous oxide canisters are nitrous oxide sold for food industries and home culinary applications, used 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 nitrous oxide products and other nitrous oxide products being promoted beyond their intended purpose; some users can purchase online or find them in smoke shops, which adds to access, as documented by everyone from video streamers to influencers and musicians, according to a CBS News report.

This nitrous oxide misuse tied to Galaxy Gas continues to highlight the historic issue of inhalant abuse and a broader pattern of substance use. 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 inhaling nitrous oxide gas for euphoric effects is a common form of recreational inhalation and 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, showing that misusing nitrous oxide has affected millions of Americans.

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 causes oxygen deprivation in the brain and increases carbon dioxide. The dangers of Galaxy Gas include sudden sniffing death syndrome, cardiac arrest, and sudden death in severe cases. 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

These associated risks can lead to severe health consequences and even death.

“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, repeated use can lead to a host of long-term effects by damaging the nervous system and central nervous system. These can include everything from:

• Brain, liver or kidney damage, including brain damage from oxygen deprivation and, in severe cases, permanent brain damage

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

• Vitamin B12 deficiencies, which can contribute to nerve damage and possible spinal cord injury

• 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, and chronic misuse can lead to serious health problems and other lasting health consequences. 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. Other adverse events can include overdose-related emergencies. Loss of consciousness, irregular heartbeat, and seizures are often common signs of a nitrous oxide overdose.

Data from a recent National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found that about 9% of 12- to 17-year-olds 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, with risks that can extend into young adults as well.

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 trends on social media platforms combined with peer pressure play a role, and flavored nitrous oxide canisters with colorful branding can make the product more appealing, 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. For some teens and young adults, substance use may be tied to coping with emotional pain. “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.

Is galaxy gas addictive? When misused, it can become psychologically habit-forming, and abusing galaxy gas or inhaling nitrous oxide can call for the right substance abuse treatment. 

If you or a loved one has developed a dependency on nitrous oxide or other inhalants, treatment matters because misuse can lead to serious health risks and lasting health problems. 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, including substance use patterns and coping with emotional pain, 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.