Nitrous Oxide cons and pros

17Nov08

If you’re concerned the dangers or negative outcomes of nos inhalation, or you can’t decide whether you want to take it or not, you’ve come to the right place.

Nitrous Pros

•     Nos is ‘the drug drug’. The experience is fundamentally different to everything you’ve ever known. [1] It is a dissociative anesthetic, with the power to disconnect every association you have learnt, potentially giving you an entirely new perspective from which you re-interpret reality with every single trip. Whenever you think you know what to expect from a trip, it will surprise you.
•     Nitrous oxide is a substance that is available over the counter. This means:
✔    You don’t have to deal with dealers to acquire it; no potentially dodgy meetings with shady characters. Buying it is legal.
✔    It’s pure, packaged, and untempered with.
✔    There have been no price mark-ups and dilutions by every dealer above you in the hierarchy, because there isn’t one.
•     Unlike most substances, nitrous lasts a maximum of 5 minutes (clock time, not perceived time) from the last inhalation. If you keep breathing a nitrous/oxygen mix, you can remain in nitrous land for as long as you can afford, but if you ever have a disturbing trip, you can always return to reality quickly.
•     Despite this, nitrous is not a waste of money, thanks to time dilation and the intense variety of experience, if you’re doing it right, a few minutes under (less than a box) can seem like you’ve lived lifetimes.
•     Nitrous enhances the effects of hallucinogens and hallucinogens enhance the effects of nitrous: weed makes it about twice as good, whereas mushies and trips can increase the effects of nitrous exponentially, beyond any imaginable potency.
•     Nitrous is the only drug I know which has a ‘reverse tolerance’– unlike other drugs, the more you have, the less it takes for you to reach the same level. Generally, it takes one box max to reach a nossed state; from there, each box will bring multiple trips. If you supplement with hallucinogens, each bulb can be a different trip.
•     As far as drugs go, this one is relatively safe and risk free. Inhaling nitrous does not kill brain cells like drinking too much will, though you do need to ensure that your brain gets enough air. The deaths attributed to nitrous are only indirectly caused by it, unlike everything else that alters your consciousness, nos alone cannot hurt you. If you want a vacation from reality via substance intake, nos can be your ticket there.
•     Beyond a simple vacation, nos has the potential to teach you a lot, if you’re looking to learn it. If baffled or intrigued, read about psychonauts here.
•     Some people get much joy out of combining nos and sex; it is a well-renowned fetish in certain communities. You’ll have to ask them what’s so sexy about it – the only thing I can think of is that it’s a dissociative anesthetic, causing you to break your regular associations and create new ones + the boxes have cream written on them. Interpreting that as an order and creaming one’s pants is something that could happen on nos.
•     Nos has the potential to be an incredibly social drug, if you can learn to socialize in an entirely different manner to normal interaction, without words.

Nitrous cons

•     Nos is the most temporarily addictive substance ever. When one finishes taking it and is returning to the normal world, securing more nitrous might suddenly become a top/only priority. This will wear out in a few minutes, but if you don’t recognize it and distract yourself from wanting it, can be unpleasant.
•     If you don’t appreciate the fact that it will have to end eventually, you could end up spending a lot of money that you didn’t plan on spending by getting more and more when you run out.
•     Sometimes nos can make you nauseous, though I’ve only ever felt this when combining 8 boxes of it with a pill come-up! Wouldn’t recommend it.
•    If you use a cracker or anything but a proper machine to open the bulb, you risk freezing your mouth/throat/vocal chords from the cold of the gas expanding. Use new machines, not crackers, plus if you want to be absolutely safe from this empty the bulb into the machine, then into a balloon, and breathe from that.
•     If taken without supervision or in an inappropriate environment (see second paragraph of this for a detailed account of what an appropriate environment is, or scroll below for dot points) nos can lead you to injure yourself and others, and can even cause death[2] – though very rarely and indirectly, usually through asphyxiation.
•     Nos tampers with one’s vitamin B12 receptors, clogging them; taking supplements can only counteract this effect to a point, after which it doesn’t matter how much of the vitamin you take, your body won’t be capable of actually processing any of it. Luckily, this only happens if you indulge in  very frequent intake of large amounts (i.e. every day for weeks, over 5 boxes). You can notice any deficiency by a persistent numbing of the extremities (while NOT on nos); if this happens, cease intake, take supplements, and wait – the damage is thus reversible.
•     If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, even thinking about taking nos could be dangerous; read more here.
•     Nos isn’t the most social of drugs, usually – it’s really no party drug. Interacting with anyone not on nos should become increasingly difficult as you dissociate beyond language. If you do choose to take it with others around you’ll enjoy it more if you have headphones on, otherwise your trips will get interrupted.
•     You won’t necessarily be able to remember what happened in any kind of detail. This phases some people; I, however, see no folly in experiencing something I might not fully recall later, due to the richness of experience that I can recall from my trips. Nostalgia…

There you have it, toss it up, mull it over, do what you will with it, but if you decide to go for it or know anyone who is, ensure that you (and they) know the following.

What is absolutely Nosessary [3]

Yes, there have been deaths attributed to nitrous, no, nitrous doesn’t kill you. Every single one of the deaths “caused” by nitrous has been indirect; a product of improper circumstances; preventable. Follow this simple list and avoid all danger (apart from the danger of not having a good time, for that you really need to read the second paragraph of this too).

✖    Don’t take it in enclosed, unventilated areas, because you could asphyxiate. This means you die due to lack of oxygen. Stay away from cars, unless they’re moving and the windows are open, and even then, stay away from them unless you’re inside one. Asphyxiation accounts for most ‘nitrous deaths’.
✖     Never use a bag to recycle your breath, never put your head into any kind of container, never climb into a garbage bag [4]. If you must reuse your breath, use a balloon, for it will fly away when you’re out of it and leave you breathing normally.
✖    Never have anything in your mouth for you will no doubt choke on it (gum etc.).
✔    Ensure that your body is in a comfortable, balanced position (I.e. SITTING, never standing, and as close to lying down as sitting can get), where you don’t have to even hold up your own head, as close to the floor as possible, leaning back[5].
✔    Baby-proof your surroundings – it sounds silly but you really could hurt yourself on something which you could usually handle well, if you try to handle ithe object in a nossed state. Avoid the hot, the cold, the pointy and the heavy altogether.
✔    Be supervised, but not too supervised; ideally, someone will be loading your nitrous for you because your motor “skills” on nos cannot be trusted to carry out a difficult procedure. Avoid fumbling around, wasting trip time and whanging your head with the machine by delegating everything you need to the loader, taking it in turns. Seeing someone else look at you will pull you out of the dissociated daze and make you self-aware, which can be fun, intense, or make you paranoid; to prevent risking the latter tell the loader, and anyone else, to stay the hell out of your field of view, or close your eyes.
✔    Use a GOOD machine, never a cracker, never an old, leaky machine. New machines are purchasable, but expensive, see this on whether to get one and which one. If you’re still afraid of frostbite while using a new, proper machine you can use a balloon to collect the gas from the machine and breathe from that instead.

Enjoy the ride.
- Sir Nosalot

_____________________________________________________________________________________
1 – Nothing compares to nitrous… except perhaps Ketamine (another dissociative), but only when combined with hallucinogens. By itself K can’t compare.
2 – About 15 deaths a year (in america) are attributed to nitrous, according to http://www.teengrowth.com/index.cfm?action=info_advice&ID_Advice=9333
3 – Nosessary, adj – necessary with nos.
4  – Asphyxiation often occurs as a consequence of using bags to reuse breath, reaching nirvana and losing consciousness there, unable to escape the bag and maybe even unaware that one is trapped and endangered.
5 – Why? If you balance your body precariously on a chair and then your mind goes on vacation, you could find yourself coming back to doing something ridiculous like diving head-first into a filing cabinet.

Filed under: Substance Enthusiasm   |  4 Comments
Tags: Dissociative anaesthetic, hallucinogens, How to take nos, laughing gas, Nitrous, Nos, nos cons, nos pros, nosessary, psychonaut, Substance Enthusiasm, trip, Tripping balls - how to