36 lines
2.0 KiB
Plaintext
36 lines
2.0 KiB
Plaintext
newsgroups: alt.drugs.psychedelics
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In article <43pbr4$fui@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, davepsych1@aol.com (DavePsych1) writes:
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> This is what Robert M. Julien, M.D., PhD. (pharmacology) has to say about
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> nitrous oxide inhalation in his 1995 textbook on Psychopharmacology
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> entitled "A Primer of Drug Action":
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>
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> At a 50 percent concentration in oxygen, nitrous oxide induces a state of
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> behavioral disinhibition, analgesia, and euphoria. Since at least 50
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> percent of the inhaled gas mixture must consist of nitrous oxide to
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> achieve these effects, extreme caution must be exercised in order to
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> prevent hypoxia (lack of sufficinet oxygen to the brain). This
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> necessitates administration through an anesthesia machine or similar
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> device. IF THE NITROUS OXIDE WERE MIXED ONLY WITH ROOM AIR, HYPOXIA WOULD
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> RESULT, WHICH WOULD PRODUCE IRREVERSIBLE BRAIN DAMAGE.
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>
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> Now the question is, is he talking about a room full of nitrous oxide,
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> breathing in continuously over time, or is he saying that short, quick
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> bursts can cut off oxygen to the brain long enough to cause neural
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> degeneration/death?
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>
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There's no problem with inhaling up to about a 79%-21% N2O-oxygen mixture, as
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air is only 21% O2 anyhow. Mixtures like that are what you get at the dentist's
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office, and as mentioned above ("anaesthesia machine..."), this is no problem.
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It's obviously worse to blow out all the oxygen in your lungs and replace it
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with N2O, but really, folks, in the worst case, you hold in the N2O (possibly taking
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another hit immediately after exhaling the first and breathing a few times) until
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you pass out, and then your body takes over the breathing for you. This will
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definitely cause irreversible brain damage (printed in scary BIG LETTERS above),
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but not very much, I imagine. Same story with taking a drink or two, or with
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holding your breath too long, for that matter. Now, if you're dumb enough to start
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right in again on the N2O upon awakening, you're asking for more trouble...
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Keith
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