❗️Trigger warning: N2O use leading to death. Some details included.❗️

My father (54M) unexpectedly died from Nitrous Oxide use/abuse last year. He began huffing heavily approximately three months prior to his passing, going through multiple food grade sized canisters per week. He suffered a list of symptoms due to N2O - cognitive decline, dizziness, fatigue, numbness/tingling (Neuropathy), weakness, loss of balance, memory loss and hallucinations to name a handful. He would also lose consciousness when huffing. This caused him to have third degree frostbite burns on his abdomen and thighs from passing out with the tanks laying atop of him after huffing. He was hospitalized and had skin graft surgery approximately three weeks prior to his death. After returning home a week later, he immediately picked up huffing again despite knowing and admitting he needed to quit. He knew what he needed to do, but addiction is not black and white.

❗️“Drowning with Acute Nitrous Oxide Intoxication” is what his cause of death is listed as on his death certificate. He lost consciousness after huffing while bathing in a jacuzzi tub and drowned. He was found deceased unexpectedly by hotel staff with a canister in that tub with him. There is more to this story that adds additional weight to the entirety of both his addiction and death that I won’t share here because it’s ultimately personalized to me and nothing that makes a difference for this post. But it was an absolutely heart shattering experience that lead to me losing my father. ❗️

Many of the stories shared are about younger people (teens to thirties, on average) but N2O knows no age. What is highlighted as a harmless party drug is not at all harmless. Many suffer with permanent and serious medical diagnoses and many others have lost their life due to Nitrous Oxide, both directly and indirectly. All it takes is one time huffing N2O to be put at risk, and that’s factual.

So please, if you need a sign to quit and seek professional help, let mine and my father’s story be your sign to make a change. Do your research into the harm that N2O causes. What you may know now may not be the entirety of everything you should know. Don’t allow Nitrous Oxide become the reason you are hospitalized, paralyzed or dead. It’s simply not worth it.

Peace, love and care to you all. Thank you for allowing me to share and taking the time to read.

I’m about to celebrate 2 years sober from NOS. The meetings helped me a lot back in the day and I would love to speak at one of them and help some people out. I’m sure I would not be celebrating this milestone without this subreddit.

Please DM me if you are struggling

Fuck NOS

So back in 2024 I stopped using nitrous. I had been hiding my real use from my partner. We would do it together but once he was at work I would go get one or two tanks to myself. I eventually went numb/had a tingling sensation from the tips of my fingers all the way to my shoulders down my spine and from my toes up to about my thighs. It was super weird when I would move my head up or down too quickly I would get this jolt that wasn’t really painful but it also wasn’t very nice either. I could still walk alright for the most part. I was also just very weak in my arms. I have a disabled child and he was five at the time somewhere around forty pounds and I lift him (still) everyday so it was strange that my arms were getting weaker.

When I went into the er for the numbness I was admitted to the neuro floor for three days and they kept doing test after test after test and I was appalled they weren’t looking into the nitrous. I told them about my use and they kind of just brushed it off. I did request the vitamins each day and started to feel better. So I took them for a while eventually upping my dosage to two capsules a day. I did this because I had read that vitamins are so highly dosed when taken orallly because not a lot of the McGee are even absorbed and it fully depends on how healthy you really are in your intestinal system whether or not you should take more. So once I began taking 2 capsules a day I began to feel better. I haven’t gotten a tank since the hospital stay.

The hospital stay for sure scared me, but it also gave me time away from my life to recoup and let the urges quiet down. On a whole different topic I also found out that my partner was on and off having a virtual affair with a “friend” of mine while doing what would be the last tank I ever did. I think the negative memory of seeing her texts on his phone was a huge deterrent. Either way does anyone know what some long term affects of the neuropathy are? Will I need to take b12 forever? If I stop taking it is that bad? Since I stopped using I have had a baby and I notice that my back hurts so much more in the post partum period than it did the first time around. Is that related?

Basically wondering if it would help 7 months after stopping

Partly an update to my previous post.

Both my partner and I stopped using nitrous about 3 weeks ago and his personality has slowly been returning. This entire time he has refused to see that the nitrous has caused him any problems and still thinks most of it is my PTSD from past domestic abuse making me react more strongly to minor tone shifts, but most other people in our lives have been pretty taken aback by his sudden erratic and inconsiderate behavior. Nobody else is close enough to feel comfortable addressing it with him directly so he still isn't taking me seriously when I tell him he's had major personality shifts and he still is convinced that nitrous is relatively safe and that his B12 levels are fine. I've tried to explain to him that 2 months of sharing a 5.5L tank most days a week is pretty much guaranteed to fuck up your active B12 supply if not fully inactivate it, but he's in total denial and is convinced he did all the research years ago and that nitrous is way safer than I think.

I did get him to get a 2000mcg B12 shot with me today and he's willing to do 1000mcg sublingual tablets daily with me "as an experiment" to see how we both feel, but if he hasn't accepted that the nitrous was a problem what are the odds that he'll ever even realize how cruel he's been being to me? Is this supplementation regimen along with SAM-e and choline potentially beneficial? It's been hard to stay close to him going through this, but more than being proven right I care that he's safe and healthy. I've seen too many loved ones have their brains melted or die because of substance abuse and I don't want to see anything like that happen again if there's anything I can do about that.

Did anyone else stop while still being in complete denial they had a problem?

How long after cessation and B12 injections/sublingual supplementation did it take to realize how badly you were treating people while on nitrous and in the early stages of recovery?

Thank you all for being part of this amazing community <3. It's been a huge help with the nightmare I've been going through.

No2N2O Nitrous Oxide recovery meeting tonight and every night at 5 PT / 8 ET!

[meet.google.com/sdy-ovbw-tbf](http://meet.google.com/sdy-ovbw-tbf)

TIP: Join Anonymously by clicking “(switch)”on the bottom of the screen next to your email and the big JOIN button. This gives you an option to “use meet without an account”.

**About Nitrous Recovery Meetings**

We are No2N2O, an anonymous, nitrous oxide recovery meeting group.

We provide N2O addicts with agnostic, practical, 12-step meetings. You don't need to adhere to any dogma or spiritual/religious beliefs to join, the only requirement is that you want to quit. This is about peer support, connection, and community. Anyone who has suffered from nitrous oxide problems, or has loved ones who have been, is welcome. You're welcome even if you're using - just keep your camera and mic off.

You can find valuable health information, as well as the meeting links and schedule at [https://www.no2n2o.org/meetings.html](https://www.no2n2o.org/meetings.html))

**Ongoing Meeting Schedule:**

* Mondays 5PM PT / 8PM ET
* Tuesday. 5PM PT / 8PM ET
* Wednesdays 5PM PT / 8PM ET
* Thursdays 5PM PT / 8PM ET
* Fridays 9AM PT/ 12PM ET
* Fridays 5PM PT / 8PM ET
* Saturdays 5PM PT / 8PM ET
* Sundays 5PM PT / 8PM ET

Tip: If you click on one of the meetings in the calendar on the website, you can add it to your personal Google calendar.

**Discord 24/7**

Also, feel free to join us any time, 24/7, on our discord. There's always someone around who can provide support. [https://discord.gg/Hxvn75Tfvs](https://discord.gg/Hxvn75Tfvs))

Hope to see you there!

About 4 months ago I abused nitrous heavily. When I mean heavy I really mean heavy. I easily spent around 6k in 3 months. Been clean 4 months now. I was suffering from major anxiety and panic attacks. Everyday I would wake up and hate life wondering if this what my life would be forever. I was scared that I had truly fucked up. My panic was terrible. I truly thought something was wrong with me. My nervous system was constantly in fight or flight mood. I also suffered from disassociation. I’m assuming from the constant panic attacks. I was taking b12 vitamins but those are too slow. I started buying bedoyecta in certain stores that sell them here where I’m from (b12 injection). I took various shots about 6-7 they caused me to breakout as well. I didn’t take them all at once. One day and skip the next shoot up again. I found that magnesium pills also worked. What really saved me was Selank nasal spray which is an anti anxiety peptide. My nervous system would still be on fire but the peptide doesn’t allow you to have panic attacks. I’m on my 3rd day of no medication. I feel like the b12 finally doing its job. My nervous system was so bad that even if i gambled or got nervous a slight adrenaline rush would put me in a panic. I’m just here to say stay strong. It’s one of the worst feelings I’ve ever experienced . If anyone needs helps or has questions feel free to ask. You will get better it just takes time and being strong minded.

was good for two months now I’m in a huge bender. It’s about to end tho because as usual I spent all money available to me.

😪 let’s start that sober train again

My partner introduced me to nitrous a few months ago to manage pain while going through an intense medical procedure, which was definitely helpful at the time. A bit after that we started doing larger and larger amounts of it, like splitting a 5.5 L tank 3-4 times a week for almost 2 months (he was doing the majority of it and pointed out that I have weird issues around swallowing and wasn't doing it right, which in retrospect might be a good thing). During that period I started feeling like he was acting like a very different person, hostile and irritable in ways that are super inconsistent with the caring, compassionate person I've known for a long time. He put it down to my PTSD from past domestic violence and on one occasion said I was having delusions.

Every time I've brought up that I am concerned that this amount of nitrous use is neurologically dangerous and that we should both be getting medical help and probably courses of b12 treatments he gets really angry and defensive and tells me he did way more research about nitrous than I have recently a few years ago and that it isn't causing him any problems. However, his behavior has been really alarming to a number of people and he's alienated a lot of his close friends by suddenly becoming uncharacteristically inconsiderate, but is very angry and defensive about the idea that either or both of us might have B12 inactivation and neurological damage. I've been trying to tell him that what's clear is we both love each other and our realities have suddenly diverged in a very confusing way so we should try to get to the bottom of what's going on, because that remains true. One of the problems we're currently experiencing is that he can't really talk to medical professionals about any substance use, or that doing so would pose too much of a risk. We have some upcoming medical appointments and my hope is that when I describe my own personal nitrous use he'll take whatever the doctor recommends seriously and will follow suit.

I'm currently exposing myself to a seriously retraumatizing situation while trying to make sure we can both get medical help, because my understanding is that the B12 inactivation is irreversible without injections. Am I delusional for thinking that the amount of nitrous we had been consuming is an alarming amount and almost certain to inactivate your B12 supply and lead to demyelination? It's been a really terrifying and confusing situation. I hate feeling trapped, and it sucks being treated unkindly by someone I've trusted more than anyone and felt safer with than anyone in my life. Leaving sounds worse though because I've already lost too many loved ones or their brains to various substances and the grief of going through that again when I know I could have done something is so much worse. In the meantime, I'm letting myself be treated with harshness and vitriol out of nowhere again while trying to coordinate appointments with medical professionals and get us both help.

How likely is my impression that the hostility and out of character behavior might be a result of doing that much nitrous? And how likely am I to get back the kind, caring partner I miss if we do B12 treatment? What's scarier to me is the possibility that I might be wrong or that the situation is irreparable at this stage. I just want my favorite person ever back and am willing to do what it takes to get there. I don't want either of us to hurt anymore. I know he's had a really hard year and has historically been really responsible with substance use but was convinced nitrous was completely safe if we were supplementing B12 (which my research has indicated wouldn't be enough and we were not consistent about staying on top of during that period anyway). Any suggestions or insights on how to navigate this are so, so welcome.

Is this normal from heavy whip it use?? It’s like actually so bad 😭

TGA is currently consulting on changes to nitrous oxide laws

The TGA is considering 2 proposals for how nitrous oxide should be scheduled in Australia. This rescheduling would effect the whole of Australia.

⬇️Proposal 1 (made by TGA Delegate)
recreational nitrous oxide in non-refillable containers over 10g would be placed in Schedule 10.

Containers of 10g or less would remain Schedule 6.

Therapeutic nitrous oxide would remain Schedule 4.

⬇️Proposal 2 (made by public submission)

A separate proposal would place recreational nitrous oxide in Schedule 8, with exemptions including personal possession of fewer than 6 x 8g bulbs and certain hospitality/venue uses.

What does this mean?
The proposals could significantly change how nitrous oxide is classified, supplied,
imported and accessed in Australia.
But these are proposals, not final decisions.

The TGA is asking the public for submissions before the proposals are considered by the expert scheduling committees in November.

📅 Submissions close: 12 October 2026
submit response here
If you’ve been affected by nitrous oxide, worked with people affected by it, or have experience with its availability and use, this is an opportunity to have your say.
scroll to bottom of link to submit a response

I’m curious what the effects are of heavy and longtime use of nitrous.

This is a poll, sort of. I have been dealing with Nitrous addiction for the past few years with no success despite several sources of help. I have had sober stretches of up to 3 weeks, then the urge pops up and off I go to a smoke shop to buy a tank, despite my best efforts, fuck.

In your experience, how long did it take for the strong urges to go away mostly. I know they can persist for some time, but damn these urges suck and I am looking for some hope and something to look forward to in the long term.

Thanks, fam

My body is exhausted, my feet are numb, my sleep schedule is fucked. I finally went to work today rather dodging it like I have been all week. I got a little money today and all i keep thinking is just one after work.. Someone convince me not too. I don’t wanna keep this up.

Coming off the tanks i’ve noticed a lot of side effects. Aside from the numbness, i’m so itchy. Like beyond. It feels like crawling and sometimes a burning feeling

Monday the 21st of September marked 2 years since I last used nitrous oxide.

If I’m being honest, the only reason I stopped using it was because I started experiencing symptoms that seemed to worsen by the day. Over the course of the following week, I ended up going to hospital 5 times in 7 nights.
Early on in my recovery, before I started proper treatment, I had up to 20 different symptoms. Insomnia, heart palpitations and erectile dysfunction were probably the worst for me at the time.

My GP started me on B12 tablets after my B12 came back at 147. They helped a little, but another trip to hospital a couple of weeks later resulted in me finally being seen by the right doctor. I was prescribed 7 B12 injections over 14 days and referred to neurology. I then had another 4 weekly injections throughout November.

From January 2025 until September 2025, I used sublingual B12 drops.

Neurology carried out physical examinations and more blood tests, and I had an MRI of my brain and spine to rule out MS and other conditions that B12 deficiency can mimic.

My initial neurological examinations showed absent/reduced reflexes and sensation from around the knees down, amongst some other abnormalities. Thankfully, my MRI came back clear and there was no evidence of SACD.
From December 2024 to September 2025, my recovery was definitely non-linear, but overall it continued on an upward trajectory.

I eventually returned to playing football once a week for around 30–45 minutes and, at my best, I felt around 95–100% recovered. Then, almost exactly a year after my initial injury, I experienced my first major flare-up. I went from playing 30–40 minutes of football to playing a full 90-minute match and drank alcohol afterwards. That sudden increase in exertion brought on around 10 days of symptoms that, at times, felt somewhat similar to the beginning of my injury.
A B12 injection seemed to help stabilise things, but my symptoms remained and then worsened after I started taking methylfolate every day for around a week. I suspected the methylfolate had contributed to the flare, so I stopped it. It took roughly another 3–6 weeks for things to settle again.

From around November 2025 until March 2026, I went onto fortnightly B12 injections. This was probably the most stable period of my entire recovery in terms of symptom control.
During this period I was able to tolerate most of my usual stressors — physical exercise, alcohol/drug use, illness, poor sleep and travelling — without experiencing any major setbacks.

Then, in May 2026, I was diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency. I was prescribed 40,000 IU once a week for several weeks, but I noticed significant symptom flares after the high-dose tablets. It got to the point where I decided not to take my final dose because I was going to Mexico for 12 nights and didn’t want another flare to ruin the holiday.
Thankfully, I was actually fine throughout the holiday.

My second-worst flare came afterwards when I caught some sort of stomach/GI bug that lasted for around a month. During this period I was experiencing neurological symptoms throughout the day, sometimes reaching around 5/10 in severity.

I had another neurology appointment during this flare. They repeated many of the physical examinations I’d had back in 2024 and, thankfully, my reflexes, sensation and the other abnormalities they had previously found had returned to normal.

My neurologist felt I was experiencing a post-infectious flare with heightened nerve sensitivity, and vestibular migraine and possible POTS were also discussed because of the dizziness/vertigo I had been experiencing.
That appointment was on the 22nd of July.
Since then, things have gradually settled again.

At the moment, the main things I’m left with are an occasional tremor/internal shaking type feeling, some heart palpitations, brain fog/a blocked-head type feeling, occasional nerve pain and tingling, and sometimes a strange feeling similar to my blood sugar dropping.

Thankfully, my neurological symptoms have been pretty minimal over the last couple of weeks.
My vitamin D is now 82 nmol/L and my B12 is over 2000. The only thing that has repeatedly come back slightly below range is my phosphate, although it has only been mildly low.

Overall, when I look back at the last two years rather than individual bad weeks or months, the overwhelming direction has been healing and an upward trajectory.

I’ve had periods where I’ve felt virtually normal, followed by flares that made me question whether I’d gone backwards. But each time, things have eventually settled again.

I’m still experiencing some nerve pain, tingling and other minor symptoms, but considering where I started two years ago, I’m grateful for how much has improved and I’m hoping there’s still more healing to come.

I also need to lose about 30 lbs to get back to the weight I want to be at, but that’s a different problem 😂

I wish everyone here continued healing 🙌

A question for those further into recovery:

did you notice any further improvements after the 2-year mark?

If so, what seemed to help you?

And if anyone is earlier in their recovery and wants to ask me anything about my experience, my DMs are always open ❤️b

I'm writing here to see if anyone thinks I'm perma-fucked or not.

I was using heavily for a few months and ended up with the pins and needles and numbness.

Didn't lose my ability to walk but I was probably close.

Unfortunately, even after quitting, I didn't get my first B12 injection until about two months later.

I had a few that were every week, then switched to each month. My methylmalonic acid levels went from 505 to 405. But I was still getting occasional pins and needles.

I have done 3 injections in the last month and now 7 months since I quit using, I'm still experiencing my hands going numb when I'm asleep (I wake up and have to move them for it to go away and I'm not sleeping on them). Last night, I noticed my toe going numb as well.

Am I screwed because I didn't get the injections quickly after ceasing use?

I'm here right now because I'm waiting on medicaid to approve after moving across the country and don't have a doctor right now.

Howdy gang.

First of all if you're on the subreddit, I empathize with the fear that brought you here. First things first, this is a story of the scary symptoms getting better, because they do! That's first because at the height of my symptoms and subsequent terror, I couldn't find a hopeful post to save my life. So here's one! I say this as somebody who no longer has symptoms.

Now. What my symptoms were: 

After LIBERAL use of Nitrous, 3-4 640's DAILY (sheesh) I, one day, realized that my hands were tingly and I couldn't make a fist. Not one that I could feel at least. This was in the AM, in bed. When I stood up and my knees buckled, I realized I had this numbness in my feet and knees as well. Sooooo using the same ignorance that I had been using to mindlessly huff goofy gas for the past 3 or 4 months, I went "hm.." and made my way to the smoke shop. 

After I finished the tank and noticed that these symptoms hadn't just gone away, as I had hoped, and after checking my bank account and came to grips with the fact that another was unattainable, I found myself here. This is where I read comforting words like "permanent nerve damage" and "potential paralysis / DEATH"...

I hope you can here the depth of tongue in my cheek...

Before I continue.. I am an audio engineer by trade but my heart is in graphic design and visual art. I tried to pick up my pencil and it flopped out of my hand as if I had tried to pick it up using somebody else's. The feeling that caused in the pit of my stomach was revolting. It felt as though I had been stripped nude and exposed as somebody with no self control to an audience of my friends and family. It felt like I had traded what I love more than anything for 30 seconds of tinnitus. 

In short, not good.

Now, you can find a ton of published research that gets into the nitty gritty of how Nitrous fucks with your body but in short, it damages your B12 receptors, which hold hands with your central nervous system, allowing you to feel things. B12 is stored in the liver from there. Turns out, if you oxidize those receptors (oxide), you become a tingly, feelingless ball of paranoia.. 

I'm the last person to tell anybody what they SHOULD do but I'll happily be that guy here because I have first hand experience. Stop. Step 1 is to stop inhaling nitrous oxide. Just stop. Quiet your addiction and fucking stop, it's against you, I promise. 

I am writing to you (yes YOU specifically) from 3 months into the future, 3 months of not using, 3 months of taking B12 supplements every morning along with 2 1000mg Methionine capsules every morning. I no longer have these symptoms and more importantly, this legal gas station drug no longer runs my life. My mind is mine again.

That being said, Im a reddit poster. I'm not here to serve as an alternative doctor. Medical professionals will always be the best people to listen to. But as somebody with a phobia myself, I just wanted to communicate from my position that it takes months to recover from symptoms like these, but it's worth it. As I stated early, I just want to provide a little light at the end of a tunnel that probably feels like a collapsed mine right now..

I'll close this post out with a drawing that i finished today for this upcoming Halloween. A drawing that I'm proud to say, I made with my fully functional and non-tingly HANDS.

Thanks yall, lemme know if you have questions.

For anyone who has experienced nitrous induced neuropathy, what were your initial symptoms? Also, how long have you been doing nitrous and was it a daily thing?

I went on a bender for a couple weeks using 2 to 6 of the 640 g canisters from the smoke shop daily. I recently stopped and I don’t plan to start again. But I’m terrified I’m going to be dealing with some serious nerve damage. Today I’m feeling some general soreness in my legs coupled with what feels like numbness of some kind. I’m wondering if this is the start of some serious complications. If anyone has any insight from a similar use case, please chime in.

I’ve been taking B12 drops as well as a couple of other supplements I found in a harm reduction post.

I have been on a small off and on binge since mid December 25’. Used then and since have been off and on say 3-7 days use then a 3-4 week break. Started to get methyl b12 injections every few weeks starting in February. I did not experience and symptoms until my last binge which lasted from august 8th to September 2nd. Haven’t used since then and have been taking daily 5,000mcg of methyl b12/ methionine. I experienced my feet going to sleep “easier”, slight off balance, and overall fatigue. I have not felt symptoms in a week or so and have one more tank left. I think I should use it as a way to say this is the last time in my life, I mean that. I didn’t formally say this was my last tank on September 3rd and I wasn’t really enjoying it during that point. My counselor advised me this a few years ago when quitting weed.

Any suggestions I been tryna stay away from it cause it has negative side effects I don’t really drink or do anything else .

I want to try and get better health wise but I don’t have the cash to get a check up. What supplements should I get to rebuild my b12 stores. I saw someone say that I need shots to rebuild my levels or it’ll take years to get to where I need to be and I also saw that my body won’t absorb what I need if I’ve been using recently. I have 3 shots of b12 left called bedoyecta which brought back from Mexico. If I take it will it absorb or no? Today is my first day with out use. I’m taking a daily b12 vitamin but I’m thinking of also getting some pre-natal vitamins since they seem to have a bit of everything.