Drug info - Butane/Propane effects

[Jatelka]

^^^ that would be a useful addition lucian.

There is little on inhalant use here, and it will add to the knowledge base

[salviablue]

Excellent suggestion Jatelka!

Lucian, if you could find that article, that would be brilliant. I am not looking for just reports of experiences, but there is such a deficit of information on butane that at this point anything will help in its understanding.

I think that even though personal accounts cannot be trusted* (totally anyway) as true/ correctly* remembered/relayed/portrayed or for factual* understanding of a substance`s physical self nor its interactions with in the human body, I think at the very least it may spark wider interest in this subject and prompt more (none/)entities to relay information they may have or have found on the subject.

Coelho, do you think you may be able to adds swiy`s experiences (as detailed as possible, naturally) to the experiences forum. That would really be most helpful.


*I do not wish to doubt or downplay the importance of anybodies posts, but when trying to find fact amongst "fiction", credibility of the information quickly dissipates. I would still like to hear such "fiction" but think it may be more appropriately posted in the experiences forum.
Although conjecture/theories with solid as references as possible is/are certainly most welcome also, and the "fiction" can definitely inspire such conjecture/theory.

[coelho]

Originally Posted by salviablue

Coelho, do you think you may be able to adds swiy`s experiences (as detailed as possible, naturally) to the experiences forum. That would really be most helpful.

Do swiy think its actually advisable to do this? Swim thinks if he describe detailedly his experiences, at (very) least one person will want to try it "just to know how it feels"... (cause, after all, swim only tried it because he did read lots of people's "trippy" experiences on it). But if swiy think its OK, then swim will try to describe it as well as he can.

[salviablue]

So long as the report is factual, opinions are stated as opinions - not fact.

You include as much detail as is possible (including weight, build, setting, method of ingestion etc..) and where memory fades, state the fact, if you find swim thinking "did it happen like this or like that" or "it must have happened this way...., not because thats how swim remembers it - because swim can't - but it would make sense that way" its probably best to leave that bit out and state swim can't remember it.

If you are worried someone will try it after reading swim report, put that point across. Just make sure facts are stated as facts and opinions stated as opinions.

Remember, this is a knowledge site as well as a harm reduction site, the two go very well hand in hand. If the report is factual and there is a warning of the type "this substance is largely untested medically and thus its dangers are unknown. There are many reports in the media of deaths associated with inhaling this gas, it most certainly is not recommended." ect.etc.etc... then you will have provided the df community with swiy`s experience to benefit all. The reports of these experiences will help in discussing and postulating ways of further finding the actual facts regarding this substance.

I thank you for your effort in advance.




And remember swimmers, the intake of any substance not required to sustain life can be dangerous or even fatal. Knowledge is the key to longevity, common sense and utfse is the key to knowledge (amongst other things)!

Please, if a mod (Jatelka) disagrees with my advice, remove this post but I think (hope) I understand the spirit of the forum and this fits with it.

[lucian]

Okay, here is the article. It came from Eternity Magazine, a publication that disapeared a long time ago that focused on the 'rave' scene. There used to be a section entitled Sound Advice whereby someone working for the Youth Awareness Programme would give condescending and often incorrect advice about substance use, sexual disease, homlessness, the environment etc etc. So that's the context.

The magazine was from 1996 and I hadn't read it since then, reading it now it's not as detailed as I remember but does at least give one account. I have transcribed it as it was in the magazine except I have added paragraphs so you can read it better - it was just one long paragraph in the magazine (a theme running through the entire magazine which ultimately probably contributed to the reasons people stopped buying it).

At seventeen I was first introduced to a habit that almost caused me to take my own life. I experienced trips that diffused reality, trouble separating the real from the unreal, in all states of mind. So frightening that I would sit on the floor, screaming for someone to drag me out of them. Even now, (the habit long since kicked) I have vivid nightmares that are hard to distinguish from real life. Even after I wake up. By now you must be wondering what my habit was, coke, acid, mushrooms perhaps? For three months of my life, I had a butane gas habit. This is an insight on what it’s like be fucked on gas.

One weekend my mates and I were at the coast, we’d driven to a remote bay. We were skint so we bought some bottles of cheap wine and some gas. After seeing one of the lads go scatty on it before, I was dubious, but after half a bottle of wine my fears subsided. I had a blast. The first thing I noticed was a warm glow that spread over me, particularly in my groin and armpit areas. I won’t try to hide the fact that it felt good. After a few more goes I began to notice a strange noise in my ears, it was the blood rushing around, we nicknamed it ‘The Wow-Wows’. So far it felt good, so I can understand how people who have only gone this far will not understand my concern.

As the night went on, the Wow-Wows faded, we all became much more serious and even obsessive, trying to get a better buzz. Another can was bought in an attempt to get higher. I began taking really long tokes of gas, someone said, ‘don’t stare mate, you’ll slip into one...’ Me being me, I stared, I slipped into my first trip. Everything went dark, the only light was from the car headlights. Someone began zooming backwards and forwards in the lights, another was totally still as if he had been paused, the third, he was rocking backwards and forwards repeating ‘it’s a mystery tour’ over and over again. Meanwhile, I was walking about, time appeared to stand still, I was free to explore. I clicked out of it, confusion set in. One of mates had driven the car away whilst I had been tripping. Was I losing my mind? It was this semi-conscious trip which fuelled my habit for the next three months.

For a while it was just having a laugh with my mates but I began to feel as if they were getting in between me and my can. I wanted it all to myself and they were stopping me. The gas had replaced my mates, it had me, a crazy way of looking at it I know, but this was the only way I saw it. It began to get a strong grip and before I knew it, I had lost control. I desperately tried to keep a lid on it telling myself that everything was going to be O.K. It was then I found the dark side of my new found companion...my mind.

By now I was doing it every day. To stop myself getting caught, I would sit in a toilet cubicle at work, staring into space. As I look back I realise everyone must have known, but I didn’t give a shit. The trip was so intense, I’d sit talking to someone, they’d have no face, just featureless flat skin, emotionless. I’d glance away and when I returned they had vanished. So frightening. It was unreal. I knew that they weren’t there but it was real, to me anyway. First I saw the birds...they looked so beautiful flying around. The moment this became my thought, they began to fly closer, unbearably flapping their wings, so close I couldn’t breathe. Some people see a black horizontal line coming down in front of them and believe that if it passes their nose, they’re dead. This is actually their eyelids closing, a message trying to stop them from blacking out.

Anyway, these sort of trips didn’t stop me. I thought that if I could just get past this point, I would be O.K. I’d have another toke. It worked by showing me things, first a little, then when I’d had another blast, I’d see a little more. The thing is, when you black out, the can is still hissing away in your mouth, my mate died like this... by suffocating. But it didn’t stop me, I was hooked. The trips became more and more vivid. I began to talk to aliens, in their language. As I came down they would say ‘have another go!’ A funnel of water in the bath appeared in mid air. I was now on about five or six cans a day. I made excuses of why it was O.K. to do it, all in one long blast. I’d disappear for hours only to think I’d been a few minutes. The more I did, the more intense the trip would be.

Since I was a kid, I’d had this one nightmare, I could never remember what it was. It was on gas when it finally came to life. I wished it never had. Out of nowhere HE came. All black like a shadow, except for a completely white face. His mouth and eyes were just black holes but they could contort into the most humiliating [sic?] expressions I have ever seen. When I blacked out, there he’d be, waiting. ‘You couldn’t help it could you? Oh dear...’ While I was stuck there, he’d scare me, until I thought I would die of shock, and then a bit more. Sometimes he would be sympathetic and try and comfort me, until I relaxed, then it would all start again. My nerves were a mess, maybe I could just get past it, one more blast... I was in a trip like this when my mate walked in and I started to throw punches, luckily none of them landed, God knows what he thought. I was so ashamed, I let him throw away the can but, as soon as he had gone, I went searching. Out of the shadows he came, laughing his head off. If I dared challenge him, which I once did, he would subject me to the most terrifying visions possible.

On the last day of my habit came the Grande Finale. I was sat down having a particularly long blast, I put the can under the waistband of jacket, in case anyone came in (paranoia). Although they would know what I was doing just looking at me – mouth open, saliva dripping out, staring right through them etc. I jumped with a start, as I heard ‘one more puff and you’re dead’. It was too late. His sinister laughing blocked out all sound, I looked for the can to get passed it. But where was the can? It was always between my feet, always. It had gone. The laughing continued and the voices began to echo ‘You’ve found what you always looked for now, this is it, you’re dead’. Was I dead? I began to wonder, and cried for help. But there was no one around, I was on my own. If I closed my eyes it was far worse. ‘You’re dead, dead, dead...’ Faceless people would begin to drift in from every corner...laughing! I fell as I tried to run, hitting the ground. Out fell the can. The laughing stopped, the visions disappeared. It was as if they were all waiting to see if I would have another blast. I felt the urge, but stopped, it was lucky that I did. I was within an inch of killing myself.

It took a few days just to recover from this one trip and eventually I pulled it together. Throughout my three month addiction I was bored, searching for something inside, an answer, in a corner of my mind, that I didn’t even know the question for. All I found was the sound of an empty can sucking on my tongue, the most disgusting sound I’ve ever heard and I never want to hear it again...

lucian added 311 Minutes and 6 Seconds later...

Just found another piece on the net. There is a whole article on inhalents but unfortunately it tends to group the risks together for various substances. There is however one paragraph which mentions Sudden Sniffing Death which is attributed to Butane in additon to other substances

Some inhalants change cardiac physiology and increase the risk for cardiac failure. For example,butane (from cigarette lighters), freon (from aerosol propellants) and toluene (from glues) hypersensitize cardiac cells to norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter that stimulates cardiac contractions. Inhalants interfere with the transport of oxygen by interfering with the binding or release of oxygen by red blood cells. The resulting hypoxia also causes cardiac cell hypersensitivity to norepinephrine. Norepinephrine sensitivity and hypoxia can cause cardiac muscles to defibrillate or begin contracting randomly. A syndrome called Sudden Sniffing Death (SSD) occurs without warning, and discontinuation of breathing the inhalant does not reverse the sequence of events. Victims of SSD often appear to sense that something is wrong, and run away from the source or site where they were inhaling, before collapsing and dying.

The website was also kind enough to provide their references if anyone ever feels like looking them up.

ReferencesBrick, J. (1998). Inhalants, Technical Document No. 3. Yardley, PA: Intoxikon International.
Broussard, L. (1999). Inhalants. In B. Levine (Ed.). Principles of forensic toxicology (pp 345-353). Washington: American Association for Clinical Chemistry.
Kolecki, P and Shih, R. (2003). Inhalant abuse. In J. Brick (Ed.). Handbook of the medical consequences of alcohol and drug abuse (pp 579-607). New York: Haworth Medical Press.

lucian added 149 Minutes and 8 Seconds later...

Some more info:

Purity: Compounds sold as 'butane' often contain mixtures of methane, ethane, propane, iso-butane and n-butane (Ramsey et al., 1989) Butane is found in aerosols, lighter fuel and refills, small blow torches and camping stoves. It is used in organic synthesis. Pure grades are used in
calibrating instruments and as a food additive.

Deaths in UK: In the United Kingdom between 1988 and 1990, 398 people (mainly teenagers) die due to abuse of fuel gas. Butane from lighter refill canisters has accounted for three times as many deaths as any other produce after the victim sprayed it down their throats to attain euphoria (Russell, 1993). In studies, concentrations in air as low as 15% produce myocardial sensitisation and dysrhythmias (Aviado and Beley, 1974).

Vagal inhibition of the heart: is a reflex response associated with stimulation of the vagal nerve (ie. irritation of the larynx). By spraying the butane directly into the throat the jet of fluid can cool rapidly to -20°C by expansion (Ramsey et al.,1989). Sudden, or severe stimulation of the vagusmay result in profound bradycardia or even cardiac arrest (Shepherd, 1989)

Cardiac arrhythmias: There is some experimental evidence that butane can 'sensitise' the myocardium to the action of adrenaline and other endogenous catocholamines (Aviado and Beley, 1974). This 'sensitisation' is thought to be more profound in the presence of hypoxia (Shepherd, 1989). 'Sensitisation is erroneous as it is more likely that butane is membrane stabilising agent that actually stabilize the myocardial cell membrane to depolarisation. However, because of the variable response of individual cells and the complex way in which the myocardial electrical impulses are propagated the 'stability' blocks their transmission and leads to a increased risk of arrhythmias. Butane is quickly absorbed into the fatty tissues that line the nerve fibres and then is slowly released back into the blood stream, this is the probable cause of the acute, direct 'postponed' deaths.

Adrenaline is released for a number of reasons and influences, stress and fear being the most common. The higher the level of adrenaline the greater the cardiovascular effect and the more likely is the production of arrhythmias. There are several reasons for raised adrenaline concentrations, for example: hallucination which may be disturbing and frightening,a desire to run, abusers who are being chased by the authorities or increase during sexual activities Shepherd, 1989.

Ventricular fibrillation

A 15 year old boy habitually inhaled butane by spraying it on to a towel and inhaling to gain a euphoric state. The effects normally took 20 minutes to wear off. A few moments after one such sniffing episode he suffered severe anterior chest pain, screamed, ran downstairs and collapsed. When the ambulance arrived he was pulseless and apnoeic. CPR was started and on arrival to hospital he was in VF and had DC cardioversion 3 times in 30 minutes. He was given intravenous (IV) lignocaine, atropine and calcium. ECG showed sinus tachycardia with left-bundle-branch block. Within 2 hours the QRS complex reverted to normal and there was widespread ST segment elevation. He was ventilated for 36 hours due to cerebral oedema and made a complete recovery in 4 weeks (Gunn et al., 1989).

Myocardial infarction

A 15 year old boy was found unresponsive and cyanosed after inhaling butane from a plastic bag. CPR was given, he was intubated and ventilated. He was in VT and VF which was treated with lignocaine, CPR and cardioversion. On arrival at hospital he was in asystole; sodium bicarbonate,adrenaline, atropine, naloxone and lignocaine were given, he converted to sinus tachycardia. He had generalised tonic clonic seizures, treated with diazepam, phenytoin and phenobarbitone. It was determined by ECG that he had suffered an anterolateral MI and was treated with dobutamine and captopril. CT scan showed bilateral hemispheric infarcts. He was ventilated for 13 days. During his hospital admission his cardiac status improved but he suffered memory and personality problems at the time of discharge (Bauman et al.,1991)).

Hemiparesis

A 15 year old boy inhaled half a can of butane then fell to the ground with his right leg 'dead'. On examination he was alert and orientated with a marked right sided hemiparesis,power was reduced to grade 1/5 in both arm and leg. Within 24 hours the power in the right hand and forearm was grade 3/5 and he was able to stand with assistance. On discharge 5 days later he had pronounced upper limb proximal muscle weakness and hemiplegic gait. CT scan was normal (Gray and
Lazarus, 1993).

Author: Medical Toxicology Unit,
Guyœs and St Thomasœ Trust
Avonley Road, London SE14 5ER, UK

Date: October, 1997

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Thanks for the transcript: useful
	Excellent work. Thankyou for the time taken. V. Valueable info

[anonuser30500]

Is butane or propane seen as a 'drug' or is it just something stupid that kids aged 11 to 15 seem to do?

Swim did this along with Swim mates when Swim was 15 or so. Bad idea, especially when the butane uses was lighter refill dosed with more than butane!

You'll likely do irreparable harm, at best, and for what? To get high for a few minutes?

There are many drugs which will get you high without harm.

[salviablue]

Thats the whole point of the thread, is to try and find out. its just conjecture re the damage etc. (meaning we just don't know, there isn't enough factual information either way).
Have you seen any factual scientific reports on the physiological, neurological or biopsychological effects of butane in/on the human body/mind?

Kids do it mostly just to get high, to rebel against their parents and/or society because they see the adults enjoying altered states on alcohol et al that they are often not party to. They want to be adults too, but getting pissed at school gets them 'told off', the effects last a while and are often more than they can handle, they stink (of alcohol, well, no, just stink), and can't hide it very well (the alcohol use/abuse, or their natural odour), butane is just as easy to get hold of as alcohol, if not easier, easier to conceal its use/abuse etc.
Though most the kids swim knew just drank, or smoked pot, or shrooms, you know the kind of damaging idiotic things kids do.
Some where even known to smoke herbs from their mums culinary draw (i.e. marjoram, fennel, mint, oregano etc), ......

Anyway, area of interest is butane gas, not gas lighter fuel, not deoderant propellant, not even the stuff in the chemistry lab at school/college, but butane. The least contimants the better and more accurate the information gleened. highly refined `pure` butane is difficult to come by for most kids that would do it, so they do dirty stuff.

I think some may find the sentiment "You'll likely do irreparable harm, at best, and for what? To get high for a few minutes?" a bit condescending, again there has been reported highly induced states of profound psychedelic experience, of the kind most would find resentful if it was attached to pretty much any other short acting drug, cocaine for one.

If you have facts, reports or evidence that butane directly causes damage of any kind through carefully considered administration pleasse do not keep the information to your self. At worst it frustrates those interested and at best it could save some poor kids life.

I have not seen this kind of "its bad, don't do it, kids do it, it must be bad, come on, adults don't do it there fore they must hold some hidden secret they aren't letting on. Everyone knows its bad, don't you talk to frank?" on a substance since......since I was a kid!

Although thanks for pointing out the fact most common sources of butane are have impurities or adulterants. They could the cause of what harm there may be, or maybe not?? (bloody infuriating maybe`s, I prefer them in june)

Now it may turn out that butane use causes more brain damage than ecstasy use, or liver damage than alcohol, it may be such a potent neurotoxin that the only reason more adolescent users don't continue its use into adulthood proper is because either they are dead or so brain damaged from it they think they are going about as normal, typing a message on some forum, browsing porn or buying novelty codpieces from fleabay when infact they have just filled thier second bucket full of dribble and the nurse is about to give them a bath because they just shit themselves for the forth time that morning.

But seriously, I just want to know the facts, let people make their own mind up from the facts. Like I said before discussion and well formed opinions/conjecture/theories are welcome too.

I certainly do not advocate the inhalation butane, or any substance use/misuse but neither will I advocate/tolerate misinformation nor `wilful ignorance`.