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Huffing: Is your child at risk of inhalant abuse?

Huffing is potentially lethal. Learn the warning signs of inhalant abuse — and what to do if you find your child huffing.

By Mayo Clinic staff

What's so dangerous about a bottle of spray paint or can of deodorant spray? Plenty.

Huffing these common household products can provide a quick high. As harmless as it may seem to kids, the risks of huffing and other types of inhalant abuse are real — and potentially lethal.

What are inhalants?

Inhalants are ordinary household products, including hair spray, nail polish remover, vegetable oil spray, cleaning fluids and spray paint. Huffing, sniffing or bagging concentrated amounts of these products can produce a quick high, usually lasting only a few minutes.

Would you recognize an inhalant if you saw one? Look for these chemicals:

  • Acetone
  • Amyl nitrite
  • Benzene
  • Butane
  • Butyl nitrite
  • Freon
  • Methylene chloride
  • Propane
  • Toluene
  • Trichloroethylene

What does it mean to huff an inhalant?

Huffing is sometimes used as a generic term for any type of inhalant abuse. Specifically, however, there are various ways to abuse inhalants:

  • Huffing. To huff an inhalant, you soak a rag in an inhalant and press the rag to your mouth.
  • Sniffing. To sniff an inhalant, you sniff or snort fumes from an aerosol container. You may even spray an aerosol product directly into your nose or mouth.
  • Bagging. To bag an inhalant, you inhale fumes from a product sprayed or poured into a plastic or paper bag.

At first, huffing, sniffing or bagging causes a sense of euphoria. Abusing the inhalant repeatedly over several hours can prolong or intensify the high. For many kids, inhalants provide a cheap and accessible alternative to alcohol. And it may happen more often than you think. An estimated 1.1 million adolescents in the United States alone abuse inhalants every year, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

What are the risks of huffing?

The initial euphoria of huffing, sniffing or bagging may be followed by dizziness, slurred speech, and loss of coordination, inhibition and control. Some kids become agitated or irritable. Hallucinations and delusions are possible.

If an inhalant causes the heart to begin working too hard, a rapid, irregular heartbeat (dysrhythmia) may trigger lethal heart failure. This can happen even to first-time inhalers — especially those who abuse butane, propane and chemicals in aerosols.

Chronic huffing, sniffing or bagging can cause weakness, fatigue, and serious liver and kidney damage. Permanent brain damage and hearing loss are possible as well.

Other devastating effects of huffing, sniffing or bagging may include:

  • Asphyxiation, when inhalants displace oxygen within the lungs
  • Suffocation, when inhalants block air from entering the lungs
  • Choking
  • Seizures
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Death
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Dec. 28, 2007

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