MetaChat - Wonders of Nitrous Oxide

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06 June 2008

Wonders of Nitrous Oxide I had a bit of oral surgery yesterday afternoon. They used nitrous oxide along with whatever is in the shots they administer. Interesting thoughts occurred to me while breathing the gas… does anyone care to share thoughts?
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The assistant started the gas awhile before the doc was ready. The doc was working on someone else too, and the aide apologized for it taking so long for him to come in. So, I had the benefit of the gas for a good long time. I found that I could change the intensity of the sensation by breathing through my mouth and inhaling more oxygen, or by breathing solely through the nose and having full gas.

The most noticeable thing was feeling “fuzzy” – a slight tingling in extremities with a calm disassociation from myself. The more I breathed in the gas, the deeper the feeling. It occurred to me that if I closed my eyes I could perhaps will myself to sleep, or even to die. Not a bad sensation, just the increasing lack of feeling and numbness along with the awareness of going deeper into the fog. I hope it is like that.

post by: mightshould at: 11:01 | 19 comments

I've never had (used?) nitrous oxide. I've never even had it offered to me. *sniff*

posted by deborah 06 June | 11:41

We could all hope it will be like this. Or better yet, dead in half a second. You never knew what hit you.

I've never had gas before either. I have had Versed a few times. It's lovely to feel the sensation, even for a few seconds, of drifting off.

posted by LoriFLA 06 June | 11:54

I've never had any form of dental work beyond cleanings (thanks for the good teeth, dad) but I have had nitrous during a minor gyn/lap procedure.

it did nothing for me and didn't even blunt the edge of the pain, and I can tell you I'm pretty stoic about pain, to the point where I've run my own IVs when the nurse prac. couldn't get a good stick (I have difficult veins).

it didn't help either that the surgeon was a total dick. what kind of unmitigated asshole works on a weeping, squirming, obviously-in-pain seventeen year old girl, and instead of going to a better anaesthetic, snaps "oh, be quiet, there's nothing wrong with you!!".

this gave me a fear and loathing of doctors that persists to this day, although I know better and actually really like some of the urgent care dudes who after various mishaps have scrubbed my road rash and set my broken bones at the local joint.

posted by lonefrontranger 06 June | 12:03

Hehehe... I just had a root canal and spent some time under. It was an interesting experience. I wrote a little about it here if you want to read.

posted by tcv 06 June | 12:53

I breathe a lot of n2o. IT'S FUN. It's usually about jokes, language, referentiality and comprehension. But that's higher intensity doses for shorter times.

posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 06 June | 12:58

I've never had laughing gas, but it sounds a bit similar to the "pain-killing" effects of oxycodone (which I've taken, once, when I sprained my ankle). I didn't kill the pain, exactly, but I had a general feeling of dissociation from my body.

posted by muddgirl 06 June | 13:36

Nitrous Oxide is good stuff, whether used dentally or recreationally. This post made me think of this, which is somewhat related:

Dr. [Oliver Wendell] Holmes inhaled ether at a time when it was popularly supposed to produce mystical or "mind-expanding" experiences, much as LSD is supposed to produce such experiences today. Here is his account of what happened: "I once inhaled a pretty full dose of ether, with the determination to put on record, at the earliest moment of regaining consciousness, the thought I should find uppermost in my mind. The mighty music of the triumphal march into nothingness reverberated through my brain, and filled me with a sense of infinite possibilities, which made me an archangel for a moment. The veil of eternity was lifted. The one great truth which underlies all human experience and is the key to all the mysteries that philosophy has sought in vain to solve, flashed upon me in a sudden revelation. Henceforth all was clear: a few words bad lifted my intelligence to the level of the knowledge of the cherubim. As my natural condition returned, I remembered my resolution; and, staggering to my desk, I wrote, in ill-shaped, straggling characters, the all-embracing truth still glimmering in my consciousness. The words were these (children may smile; the wise will ponder): A strong smell of turpentine prevails throughout.'

posted by jtron 06 June | 13:38

I guess I'm the only one who ever worked at a cafe and did whippets in the storeroom off of the spent whipped cream cans, then?

posted by bmarkey 06 June | 13:44

I had it once years ago. It worked really well. I was literally working to keep myself from snickering as the dentist was cutting into my gum and recontouring a bone surface. I had the mental image of the dentist playfully pretending to cut with his index finger rather than the knife, and I found it hilarious.

posted by DarkForest 06 June | 14:04

I had nitrous in 8th grade for a minor throat surgery. I remember making all these great puns in my head while listening to what the doctor and nurses were saying to each other. I couldn't see any of them, but I could feel pressure and hear amazingly well. I remember asking the doctor if it was his belt or shoes that squeaked during surgery. And I remember trying not to laugh. And I remember asking the nurse if she drove a Plymouth (ply-mouth) car. She laughed and said the last kid she worked on asked her to marry her.

posted by Cinnamon 06 June | 14:43

If you dig around in the deep recesses of my house, you'll still find the occasional spent nitrous cartridge. Good times.

posted by BoringPostcards 06 June | 17:03

I remember having nitrous in high school for dental work. That, combined with the fact that I listened to the instrumental side of Bowie's Low on my walkman through the whole thing (yes, back when albums had "sides" and we listened to them on portable cassette players!), led me to inform my father as he drove me home that I had figured out the meaning of god and the universe.

"I'm sure you did, honey," he remarked dryly.

posted by scody 06 June | 18:23

Nitrous is wonderful stuff. I don't get deep thoughts with it - I just enjoy it as a sort of "sound-drug." It does pretty incredible things to your aural perception as long as you keep your eyes closed; the strange, strobing, droning aural effect is ruined once you realize the whole room isn't actually vibrating like that too.

posted by mykescipark 06 June | 18:50

Nitrous oxide binds to red blood cells -- it replaces oxygen. That buzz you feel is brain cells suffocating.

Use real drugs, people!

/waggles finger disapprovingly

posted by BitterOldPunk 06 June | 19:19

Speaking of nitrous oxide.

posted by BitterOldPunk 06 June | 19:26

Oh, I love nitrous.

William James did too. I recall reading somewhere that it was the only way he could understand Hegel.

posted by treepour 06 June | 21:20

BOP, I have enough Ecstasy in my kitchen to kill Marc Almond. The nitrous is just a nice little cherry on top, believe me.

posted by mykescipark 06 June | 21:24

I used to know a chick who was into nitrous (she had a host of other admirable traits as well, but that's a story for another time). One night she decide to tank up in my car as we were driving. She passed me the balloon, just as we drove past the police station. regular genius she was.

posted by jonmc 06 June | 21:49

Sigh, I (sort of) remember a college weekend in the mid-eighties with 6 of us, a couple bottles of Gin, a couple cases of beer and lots and lots of nitrous. Oh and some other substances. I seem to remember waking up Sunday morning on the floor underneath the couch with glass from the window, I half jumped through, embedded in my shoulder. I still have a scar. Probably the last time I did nitrous.

posted by octothorpe 06 June | 21:58

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