OHIO — TikTok videos have sparked the use of whipped cream chargers containing nitrous oxide or laughing gas by teens to get a quick high. It’s not the first time the chargers have caught the attention of teens.
While “Galaxy Gas” or laughing gas is used as a culinary product to whip cream, it’s also used in the medical field.
“It will be blended with oxygen. So when people are trying to use this recreationally, they're not going to be blending it with oxygen," Dr. Shan Yin, medical director for the Drug and Poison Information Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, said. “Oftentimes, you might have a device where you are supposed to put cream in it, and it goes and whips it. They essentially don't do that and just inhale the gas.”
While it may seem harmless, there are dangers in doing so. Yin said unconsciousness and even asphyxiation can occur because not enough oxygen is getting into the body, which can result in death. Aside from that, it can impact someone’s spinal cord.
“It causes a problem with vitamin B12 metabolism, and that can cause basically degeneration of the spinal cord. It can cause paraplegia, and that can be irreversible,” he said.
Yin explained that it may not be so easy to tell that someone is using nitrous oxide, but parents should look out for a shift in school performance and their child’s personality, along with canisters in their room.
“It could be that they will start having these nervous system problems. A neuropathy is the medical term for it. Certainly just keeping a good eye on their teens having frank conversations with them about the dangers of this stuff,” he said.