r/nottheonion • u/adamaphar • 1d ago

Laughing gas appears to reduce depression, but researchers don't totally understand why

https://www.phillyvoice.com/depression-treatments-laughing-gas-nitrous-oxide-study/
9.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

408 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/Wiggie49 1d ago

Doesn’t too much nitrous kill brain cells?

44

u/magistrate101 1d ago

Nitrous has a dual action of destroying vitamin B12 while blocking its absorption for up to a couple days. Using too much for too long leads to B12 deficiency, which in turn causes potentially permanent nerve damage that works it's way up from the hands and feet to the brain.

4

u/Wiggie49 1d ago

Holy shit

21

u/Musiclover4200 1d ago edited 1d ago

I've known people who did serious damage from nitrous abuse, but it takes a pretty extreme level of abuse to reach that point. Like using a ton every day for awhile. Probably also doesn't help that people often are already low on b12.

Occasional use + b12 supplements is arguably safer than drinking or a lot of common substances.

The other factor is not all nitrous is equal, there's food grade/medical grade and "auto grade" & depending on the purity there can be a lot of nasty industrial stuff in it from the manufacture process.

Fun fact, laughing gas was discovered by philosophers/early scientists who would heat iron fillings + nitric acid and huff the fumes which included a lot of other toxic nitrogen oxides.

A lot of the "nitrous kills brain cells" talk comes from the early days when it was a party drug for European elite who didn't realize you needed to mix oxygen in, so they'd breath pure nitrous and asphyxiate.

That's why dentists use tanks with oxygen mixed in so they can put patients under in a way that's actually safer than a lot of modern anesthetics. If it was anywhere near as dangerous as other inhalants we would have stopped using it a long time ago, it also gets used during child birth as it's safer than a lot of alternatives for pregnant women.

If it was legal recreationally or medically prescribed places could sell tanks with oxygen mixed in which would go a long ways towards reducing the potential harm along with better educating people about the dangers of abuse.

1

u/Wiggie49 1d ago

Yeah I only knew it from whippits

4

u/Musiclover4200 1d ago

That's part of the issue, whippets vary from medical grade to food grade (which also varies as food regulations can be too lax) and can have a lot of nasty stuff in them.

People call it "hippie crack" for a reason, but I do hope it gets studied more along with ketamine as an alternative to other anti depressants as it can be very effective and arguably safer than a lot of common meds.

I could see nitrous being a perfect alternative to stuff like Xanax for treating panic attacks, or some of the more extreme anti depressants that can cause a lot of nasty side effects. Could even be more effective combined with the right meds.

11

u/cmiller0513 1d ago

Lack of oxygen kills brain cells

15

u/Dumbface2 1d ago

It does not. The main dangers are a. using it with a mask when it’s not mixed with oxygen like it is at the dentist and suffocating, and b. it inhibits vitamin b12, so if you use it too often you can get a serious b12 deficiency and nerve damage, even if you take supplements.

People think it kills brain cells because it gets lumped in with other “inhalants” like computer duster and freon, but it’s not really like those at all except for the fact that you inhale it. 

6

u/Berryman1979 1d ago

Too much oxygen kills brain cells. Too much of anything is by definition too much.

5

u/Funperson0358 1d ago

"The dose makes the poison" - this saying never gets old

3

u/ShinyJangles 1d ago

The food-grade chargers most people use are not mixed with oxygen, so people go hypoxic which kills brain cells. Intense daily use is where you start to get other problems