Teen Drug Rehab - Inhalant Abuse
"Getting high" among teens often starts with absorbing vapors from commonly obtainable products found around the home or easily available at various stores. They are for the most part unregulated as abuseable substances because they have primary uses for other purposes. These products are relatively inexpensive, and their being seen in the teenager's space does not tend to arouse suspicion.
They tend to be used as substitutes for the more sophisticated street drugs and alcohol because obtaining them does not involve the risks associated with dealing with street dealers and in the case of alcohol, store owners who are required to ask for identification.
National surveys establish that approximately twenty three million Americans have used inhalants at least once during their lifetimes. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Monitoring the Future study has established that sixteen percent of eighth graders have abused inhalants.
It is noted that even a single intense inhalation session can produce heart rhythm disruption and cardiac arrest. Additionally, oxygen levels can be depressed to the extent that suffocation and death might result. Liver, kidney, and brain damage can follow long term intensive usage.
Studies cited by NIDA indicate that approximately three percent of American children have experimented with inhalants by the fourth grade and that the use of inhalants by youngsters reaches its peak between grades seven and nine. Also noted by NIDA is the fact that inhalants are abused more frequently by younger than older children.
Starting in the 1960s, the inhaling (" huffing") of such substances as glue vapors, gasoline, shoe polish and paint thinner fumes as well as the propellants used in aerosol sprays has supplied an inexpensive "high" for some youngsters. This practice seems more common in less affluent areas but has been noted to occur to a lesser extent in some middle class communities. Interestingly, even more sophisticated parents who are informed about teens' vulnerability to abusable substances are often ignorant about the use and abuse of substances found around the household.
The effects include extreme lightheadedness, loss of muscular control, silliness, and extreme headache and with prolonged use, severe ngbrological damage. Some teens have arrived in emergency rooms complaining of hearing loss. Internal and external respiratory tissue damage may result from the inhalation of these substances.
Use by teens can be detected by the presence of the substances' odors on clothing, runny nose, nausea, headache and the loss of muscular coordination.
Use of inhalants can be confirmed by the use of blood tests.
Treatment must emphasize the complete abstinence from these substances following supervised withdrawal and counseling. To further consolidate and protect recovery there should be randomly scheduled blood tests for a substantial time period.
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