14 DAY TRIAL // A recent medical case report tells the tale of a man who ended up needing urgent medical attention after inhaling as many as three cans of air duster. That's right, this guy huffed the compressed air folks usually use to clean their keyboards, printers or other office equipment.
No, he didn't do it because he had a speck of dust lodged in his throat and was desperate to get rid of it. He did it because he wanted to get high. Apparently, the compounds that are added to the compressed air in such cans, together with the air itself, can toy with the brain and alter one's mood.
The compressed air did way more than just get him high
Dr. Amanda Winston with the Hurley Medical Center in the city of Flint in Michigan, US, says that it took the 40-year-old man about four hours to inhale the three cans of compressed air he hoped would help him get high. Having huffed the air duster, the man paid a visit to a local grocery store.
It is understood that, while in the store's restroom, the patient started feeling ill. He complained about experiencing shortness of breath and a tingling sensation in his mouth, and eventually collapsed. Fellow shoppers rushed to his rescue, and soon enough, the man was admitted to hospital.
Here, doctors found that he had frostbite injuries on his airways. Besides, Dr. Amanda Winston says that, at the time he was brought to the Hurley Medical Center, the man's lips, his tongue and his throat were badly swollen. It was because of this that the patient was having serious trouble breathing.
The man was put on a ventilator and was administered steroids and antihistamines to reduce the inflammation in his airways. To make sure that his wounds would not get infected, doctors also prescribed him antibiotics. About five days later, the 40-year-old man managed to breathe on his own again.
Specialists say that it was the compressed air that he inhaled hoping to get high that damaged the man's airways to such an extent. Specifically, they believe that the frostbite wounds he suffered were due to a compound, i.e. 1,1-difluoroethane, that is found in cans of air duster and that is used as a refrigerant.
The man admitted to huffing air duster for years
When doctors got around to questioning him about his drug use routine, the man told them that he had been inhaling compressed air for the sole purpose of getting high for about three or four years before the unfortunate incident that put him in the hospital.
Besides, he admitted to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Despite suffering from depression and having suicidal thoughts, the man insisted that he did not inhale the three cans of air duster in an attempt to end his own life. As mentioned, he merely wanted to get high.
What's worrying is that, by the looks of it, plenty of guys and gals in the US now turn to compressed air to get high. Even more disturbing, most of them are teenagers. According to Dr. Amanda Winston, the reason they choose to get high in this manner is that they cannot afford recreational drugs.
