Inhalants

Inhalants are becoming a more and more popular for middle school-aged kids. They are easy to find (considering that a lot of them are household items), and anyone can buy them.

What do inhalants do to your body, exactly? They slow down the body's thinking process and reactions. Chemicals in inhalants can pass through the lungs into the bloodstream, reaching the brain within a few seconds! Although the "high" effects last only a few seconds, afterward you can feel depressed or irritable. You can also get double vision, bad coordination, weakness, severe headaches, nausea or vomiting, numbness and irregular heartbeat... or worse.

Inhalants can kill. They can cause suffocation and heart problems from mixing them. You also have horrible coordination while you're under the influence, so you can injure yourself terribly by driving or even just trying to walk around. Inhalants can harm in other ways, too. For example, brain cells die from lack of oxygen to the brain... your liver and kidneys may shut down after long contact with the chemicals... and your bone marrow can be damaged, which means you will not be able to produce enough red cells -- and that leads to all kinds of nasty problems.

Inhalants also can get in the way of your schoolwork. Many people are turned off by the use of this stuff. And using is a sure-fire way to ruin your athletic performance!! So, unless you want to risk the chance of harming your eye-sight, losing your appetite, and possibly ending up in a hospital bed, then do us all a favor and stay away from these things!

A few types of inhalants are: