Oregon teenager dies after inhaling helium at party

Originally posted by Turq1
reply to post by Erongaricuaro

 

Thanks for the forewarning. It's not like only 3 people died in 2010 from inhaling helium. Oh wait, only 3 people did die.

To set up a foundation for helium intoxication...that's all they could come up with??

Three deaths in one year doesn't sound like a sufficient number for a warning that there could be dangers? I wonder how many deaths have occurred form take-out coffee being spilled and causing burns? Perhaps none but there have been successful lawsuits. McDonalds won't warn you about their gourmet grease selections, which probably do kill slowly over time and heavy consumption, but they do warn about their coffee.

I'm not suggesting laws or parental guidance, just common sense. Maybe someone at a party who doesn't want to participate won't be pressured into trying it - from a pressurized tank, no less, as something could happen. It's a popular prank that I've done myself on many occasions.

You suggest I'm being overbearing by posting this?

Originally posted by isthisreallife
One of my best friends killed himself my junior year of high school by strapping a helium mask to his face and breathing in deeply. Pure helium is becoming more and more popular because it's so easy to get and the high is supposed to be safe and fun.

Technically speaking, it wouldn't be a bad way to go if you were suffocated by it. Probably die in a hallucination of color, but that's just a theory...

There is no "high" involved with breathing helium, it's just a common party gag that makes your voice funny. If there IS a high in an instance that you may try this then I suggest you are breathing WAYYY too much of it. It's not supposed to do that. In some instances it has killed someone - as you already know, like not avoiding breathing gasoline vapors or from other spilled fluids for instance, but I do not suggest banning or licensing gasoline, just avoid breathing the fumes.

It sounds like it was the pressure that did it, not the helium. People don't know how to connect gases to themselves. Often people have frozen their faces off trying to get high from nitrous oxide (laughing gas). I install medical gas systems and connecting directly to a tank is very dangerous. Helium is great for NOT displacing oxygen, that is why it is breathed in pressurized environments like deep sea submarines.

I had a 16 year old cousin die from inhaling a helium balloon after HS graduation in 1987.

He sucked in the whole balloon and it displaced the oxygen in his lungs to the point that he couldn't draw a breath and he died in the backseat of his friends car. His friends thought he was joking at first and by the time they realized he wasn't he was already turning blue.

He could have lived if given CPR but his friends freaked out and drove him to the hospital instead of calling 911 and starting CPR right where they were.

It's a very real threat, even from a balloon.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro
You're talking to a society where common sense has been traded for knowledge by a majority of people. I understand that you desired to make people aware because awareness of an increasing trend is important to society. I think we are being conditioned to take risks above what is reasonable. I can't pinpoint the source though, it seems to be be going into a perpetually increasing state. Taking risk isn't bad if it's justified and reasonable but worldwide ignorance of this concept is now evident.

reply to post by AGWskeptic

Stories like yours should be used in schools. I see a need for a new required class in the Education field, "risk assessment".... It will never happen though because it is in direct conflict with our present form of capitalism.

Originally posted by jamsession
playing around with chemicals should be banned. one can never know if people are hypersensitive to certain substances. there's a big risk.

Not to be rude but Helium is an element not a chemical.. A chemical would imply a molecular soup....

It is sad seeing this kind of thing happen though.. Helium by itself is not what killed her.. It was the lack of Oxygen.. I also don't think you can ban helium... It's kinda one of the most abundant resources in the universe.. Whether or not she was told it was safe to inhale Helium from a tank.. It's not and she paid for it with her life.. I don't know what anyone can do about it though besides charge her friends with manslaughter.. Although I'm not sure I'm keen on destroying someone elses life..

If you took a hit straight off a SCUBA tank full of AIR at 3000 psi, with no regulator, you would die as well.

Should we outlaw air?

Kids should know better than that by age ten or so. Of course, their parents would have to, you know, TEACH them something. Wait, much better to have govt regulations to protect you from yourself.

I knew how to SCUBA dive when I was ten. This was way back before they even had certification. My Dad taught me. The tanks of compressed air can be dangerous. That is, if you act like a moron.

Originally posted by AGWskeptic
I had a 16 year old cousin die from inhaling a helium balloon after HS graduation in 1987.

He could have lived if given CPR but his friends freaked out and drove him to the hospital instead of calling 911 and starting CPR right where they were.

That is tragic, especially that his death was preventable. I was the lifesaver (probably) in a situation once with a bunch of idiot party-goers doing stupid things, experiencing an accident and panicking. Believe me, I am not the trained EMT who knew just what to do, instead I was the only one that went over and did something or quite likely someone would have died. Good thing I had a class in the Boy Scouts.

I had a girlfriend complain to me once that I didn't take enough chances or risks. I told her, "I take plenty of risks and have a dangerous job. The difference with you and I is that I do dangerous things safely, and you do safe things dangerously."

I lost a cousin once at about the same age. They lived out near the sticks by the Sequoias and was passenger in a car that crashed and ended up underwater water, not terribly deep. He went back under to try to free a friend who was trapped inside the car. One must be very careful with such heroics because the other one was stuck, drowning, and in panic near-death grabbed onto my cousin and wouldn't let go. Both died and were found by rescue team in that death-grip. I suppose there are worse ways to go.

Originally posted by Erongaricuaro

Originally posted by isthisreallife
One of my best friends killed himself my junior year of high school by strapping a helium mask to his face and breathing in deeply. Pure helium is becoming more and more popular because it's so easy to get and the high is supposed to be safe and fun.

Technically speaking, it wouldn't be a bad way to go if you were suffocated by it. Probably die in a hallucination of color, but that's just a theory...

There is no "high" involved with breathing helium, it's just a common party gag that makes your voice funny. If there IS a high in an instance that you may try this then I suggest you are breathing WAYYY too much of it. It's not supposed to do that. In some instances it has killed someone - as you already know, like not avoiding breathing gasoline vapors or from other spilled fluids for instance, but I do not suggest banning or licensing gasoline, just avoid breathing the fumes.

edit on 23-2-2012 by Erongaricuaro because: (no reason given)

It's not the helium itself that causes the hallucinations, instead it is the death of neurons in the brain from suffocation. It is similar to the experience noted in people who have their head trapped in a plastic bag. A mix of colors and visions occur just prior to unconsciousness.

reply to post by isthisreallife

I agree with you on oxygen deprivation. We tend to notice short term effects and neglect long term effects because they aren't readily noticed. Forgetting to do something or not remembering where you put something are sometimes symptoms.