(Inhalant Abuse/Brain Damage) What Do I Have and Is It Fatal?
Question by StephX: (Inhalant Abuse/Brain Damage) What do I have and is it fatal?
I need to know the exact diagnosis of what I have, throughout the years I have visited emergency rooms and doctors, and every time I was diagnosed with anxiety/depression.
Is this anxiety?
When I was 12, I came home from school and was spraying my room with an air freshener. My finger slipped an inch off the spot and onto the hole that releases the vapors, causing a chemical reaction. Ice crystals formed out of the can and it caught my attention. I was curious, I smelled it and enjoyed the feeling I got from it. I continued to sniff and before I knew it was sucking up the vapors into my nose (huffing) and getting high. When I was 12 I didn’t even know what getting “high” was nor did I know the dangers of drugs. I just thought of it as a pleasant feeling, and told myself “if it feels good, what’s wrong about it?”
I continued to abuse myself for I think 2 years, hiding cans under my bed, getting yelled at for collecting cans… my parents didn’t know what I was doing, they just kept wondering why I was using up all the air fresheners. Not ONCE did it cross their mind. So don’t blame my parents, they didn’t know better.
After 2 years, I noticed that my skin was feeling funny, I was getting nauseas sometimes, and I had the worst panic attack. I clenched to my carpet and started crying, I thought I was dying. I ran to the bathroom and prayed. That’s when I looked at the can and in tiny SMALL fine print it said “Do not inhale, prevent huffing abuuse: visit www.inhalant.org” That’s when I had realized what I’ve done to myself. From that point, I stopped huffing for good. I read articles about teenagers dying from ONE can, and here I am sniffing up 30 in one month. How am I alive? I have no idea.
About a year later, I continued to have funny feelings. my skin felt cold, skinny, and numb. I lost my breath and gasped at night. I would always wake up catching my breath and my heart racing. I went to the emergency room and the doctor said all they could find was high blood pressure and they told me I had anxiety. All they did was prescribe me some acid reflux medicine (since they found I had acid reflux disease as well). I was upset, because I needed an answer and wasn’t getting it. Nobody believes me and everyone is telling me that my thoughts or my depression is causing me to have panic attacks and I’m basically “hallucinating” my numbness.
I do think I have a panic disorder, I control it more often now. The gasping stops, heart doesn’t race anymore, and that “near-death doom” sensation goes away. But the numbness doesn’t.
I’ve been to 3 doctors, none of them have diagnosed me with any type of neurological disorder. I’ve taken cat scans, MRI on the brain, and X-rays. NOTHING. They said my brain is “perfectly healthy”. My physician laughed at me when I said I feel like I have a nerve problem. I feel lonely, like no one can understand what I’m going through, I want to know what I have so I can find other people that have my condition.
What do I have? Is it fatal? Why can’t doctors find it? I know for a fact I have suffered some sort of brain or nerve damage. I asked my father to punch my arm, slap my arm, and pinch me. I felt no pain. It just feels like someone is poking me. That is my problem. Why are certain parts of my body insensitive to pain and what is this condition called? Please help. I’ve researched and looked and can’t find anything. Does anyone know what I have?
@Mircat And no, I am not obsessive. Read carefully. I said I STOPPED. I quit huffing years ago. There’s nothing obsessive. I don’t have an urge anymore I QUIT back in 2005. I’m not the most sane person in the world, but I’m not a psychopath either. I’m a normal person just like everyone else who made a mistake as a child because I was not informed about drugs. I do not have a drug addiction. I say I have some sort of brain/nerve damage because I KNOW MY BODY. I know what it felt like to have a normal body and normal sensations. I don’t have that anymore. You FEEL different. Nothing is wrong with me mentally as far as personality. This is obviously proof that there is not enough research being done about inhalant abuse! Are YOU a doctor? Do YOU know anything about neurological disorders and the effects of toxins on the nervous system? Because if you DID your research, you’d KNOW better. I’m telling YOU right now, I CANNOT process pain on certain parts of
Best answer:
Answer by Mircat
What you need more than any thing else is to be in therapy. You need weekly counseling and you need to get control of your obsessiveness about what you think is wrong. You’ve been examined, there is nothing wrong. You continue to believe otherwise even after trained professionals have told you there is nothing wrong with you. You are not trained in medicine so you cannot override what the professionals are telling you. In addition, you are now obsessing about what ever you think you have being fatal. You have mental problems, not physical problems. Those mental problems were most likely caused by the huffing. You need counseling to help you understand what is and what is not wrong with you. If you don’t get a grip you’re going to wind up on a psych unit. Ask your parents to take you to a psychiatrist. That’s counseling with a medical doctor who understands medical problems. That’s absolutely your best route if you want someone to listen to you when you describe what symptoms you feel you are having. Good luck!
http://www.teenhelp.com/teen-drug-abuse/inhalants-and-huffing.html
Answer by jannsody
I’m sorry that you’re going through so much and feel unheard by others. You’re very fortunate that nothing serious has shown on the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or CT (computerized tomography) scan. Please also be aware that a person can have microscopic (only seen under the microscope) damage in the brain and that brain scans may show larger irregularities.
I’m just an everyday person, but perhaps with the numbness, you’re having symptoms of peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage). That is primarily nerve issues that occur in the arms, legs, hands and/or feet.
Just an fyi that those who get panic attacks may get numbness and tingling during an anxiety episode as well.
I would like to provide a website for more information re: (regarding) physical therapy (PT) for those who have (not that you necessarily have that), however, please be aware that health insurance companies may ** NOT ** want to pay for a medical claim if the patient has a condition or disability that was “self-inflicted,” even though you didn’t mean to cause harm to yourself (and PT is *not* a cure-all/panacea for the symptoms): http://www.neuropathy.org/site/News2?id=7201&news_iv_ctrl=1101
My friend actually has a severe Brain Injury from inhalant use at the age of 12, now in her 30s. Young people (and even some older people) may not realize the danger of products found right in one’s household.
For more general info re: the dangers of huffing – National Inhalant Prevention Coalition: http://www.inhalants.org
This link has more info re: “PT, exercise and neuropathy” (though *not* that you necessarily have that and the article is *not* in place of self-diagnosis or self-treatment): http://neuropathysupportnetwork.org/blog/2011/05/physical-therapy-exercise-and-neuropathy/
Hoping that you’re well and that you make good, *healthy* choices in life 🙂
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