What Is Inhalants Addiction?
Inhalant abuse, sometimes called "huffing" or "sniffing," involves the deliberate inhalation of volatile chemical vapors from common household and industrial products to achieve intoxication. These products include spray paints, aerosol propellants, cleaning solvents, gasoline, glue, nitrous oxide, and correction fluid. Inhalants are one of the few substance categories used more frequently by younger adolescents than by older teens or adults, in part because these products are legal, inexpensive, and readily accessible in most homes. Despite their everyday availability, inhalants are profoundly dangerous. The chemicals in these products can cause sudden death even on the first use through a mechanism called Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome, where the volatile compounds sensitize the heart to catecholamines and trigger fatal cardiac arrhythmia. Chronic inhalant abuse causes severe, often irreversible neurological damage. At Trust SoCal, we provide specialized treatment that addresses both the addiction and the neurological and psychological harm caused by inhalant exposure.
