Pharmacology Consult: This Pretty Balloon Might Kill You: The Rise of Inhalant Abuse and Resources for Practice
PATRICIA ANNE O’MALLEY PhD, RN, CNS

$3.95 		Clinical Nurse Specialist: The Journal for Advanced Nursing Practice
August 2012 
Volume 26  Number 4
Pages 200 - 202
 
  PDF Version Available!

ABSTRACT
"How could it hurt? It's a balloon! No balloon ever killed anybody[horizontal ellipsis]."Overheard discussion on rounds between a 17-year-old and a nurseThe balloon appears harmless, a symbol of celebration and good times. Remember the joker at that party-deeply inhaling helium from a balloon and speaking like Donald Duck? Funny, yes. Hilarious, yes. Deadly? More than you know.Intentional inhalation of helium is on the rise again. Gina, the helium-huffing giraffe, is not helping either. Freely available on YouTube and other Web sites, Gina shows how "fun" it is to inhale helium. Gina is not the first tempter. Other helium-huffing advertisements from major vendors have come and gone after complaints since the 1990s.1So what makes helium deadly? Helium is a nontoxic, very light, and inert gas. These lovely properties enable helium to move quickly and displace oxygen. Thus, it does not take many breaths of helium to become unconscious or die because of oxygen deprivation.2 Inhaling from a tank is particularly lethal because of risks for lung rupture and immediate death.Deaths from huffing helium are currently not collected by the Federal Government. Florida does collect statistics and report that in 2010, 20% of the 38 deaths from use of inhalants involved helium.3 Although the numbers of helium fatalities are small, data may represent the tip of an iceberg for the United States and the globe.Inhalant abuse appears to be rising again, especially among adolescents. Evidence suggests that 8th and 10th graders perceive low risks with once or twice inhalant use. This decline in perceived risk since 2008 is worrisome considering the availability of a multitude of other agents besides helium for use.4Although helium displaces oxygen, creating oxygen deprivation, other inhalants as described in Table 1 produce volatile vapors that enter central circulation via the pulmonary vascular bed. Highly lipid soluble, most easily cross through lung membranes and the blood-brain barrier.

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