A 29-year-old had to relearn to walk after using the popular party drug nitrous oxide, which she was first introduced to in her early twenties
At one point, Rachel Kelly spent over $220 per day on canisters of nitrous oxide, which she said she purchased at local convenience stores
After being hospitalized for complications from her nitrous oxide use, she is warning others that “the 30-second high is not worth it”
A 29-year-old woman said she became partially paralyzed after using a popular party drug. Now, after relearning how to walk, she wants to warn others against using it.
Rachel Kelly said that she was spending $220 or more per day on nitrous oxide in 2023 after first trying the drug in her early twenties, according to The Sun.
Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, is a sedative that, when administrated by healthcare professionals, can help patients stay comfortable during routine medical procedures, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The drug slows down the nervous system and makes people feel “a sense of calm and euphoria,” and also reduces anxiety. Cleveland Clinic notes that recreational use of the drug can “can cause serious and potentially life-threatening health complications,” including heart attack or nerve damage. Long term effects can include memory loss, psychosis, depression, numbness, or birth defects if the drug is used during pregnancy.
Kelly said she was first introduced to the drug in 2018 while she was working as a bartender in Michigan.
“The high lasted a really short time and it just made me feel out of it,” she said, per The Sun.
Kennedy News/ Rachel Kelly
Rachel Kelly
By 2022, Kelly said “everyone” was using the drug, which she said she purchased at local convenience stores and inhaled straight from the nozzle.
“The biggest part for me is that the nitrous oxide was so accessible to me,” she said. “[In 2023], I was using about eight of the two-liter tanks a day.”
A major wakeup call came for Kelly when her feet and right hand suddenly became numb while she was working at the bar in April 2024.
“My hips felt really tight. People thought I was drunk and I seemed intoxicated as the nitrous oxide was poisoning my brain,” she said. “My feet and right hand were completely numb and it felt like my hips were broken and I could barely walk.”
She went to the emergency room but medical staff, unaware of her nitrous oxide habit, discharged her and said she had muscle spasms, Kelly said.
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Days later, Kelly returned to the hospital, where she remained for more than a week, and found herself unable to walk.
“I lost the ability to function in the hospital. I couldn’t hold my phone and I couldn’t go to the bathroom and had to catheterise myself,” she said, according to The Sun. “I couldn’t go to the toilet on my own.”
Kelly then spent a month in a rehabilitation center, where she faced 30 hours of occupational and physical therapy per week and received B12 injections.
She then spent five months at her parents’ house undergoing continual therapy.
Kelly said she hasn’t touched nitrous oxide since leaving the hospital, but she still hasn’t regained sensation in some of her toes.
“I now have a bunch of dead zones in my brain and these don’t come back. It’s like rat poison,” Kelly said.
Now, she’s warning others that “the 30-second high is not worth it.”
Read the original article on People
