A man claims that inhaling hundreds of laughing gas balloons a week has left him with ‘dinosaur hands’.
Connor Wilton, 27, is now permanently disabled and needs a wheelchair and crutches to get around.
He first started inhaling laughing gas, medically known as nitrous oxide, when he was 18. Before long, Connor was breathing in 480 balloons every weekend.
In November 2022, Connor was found collapsed on the floor by his dad Jamie in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, having suffered from severe nerve damage.
Doctors said using the drug had starved his body of oxygen and vitamin B12, an essential nutrient for nerve and blood cell health, all but paralysing him.
Over the three months in the hospital and a further four in a neuro-rehabilitation unit, Connor had limited muscle control, causing them to bend like ‘dinosaur hands’.
The mental health rehabilitation worker had to wear a nappy for five months.
Connor’s laughing gas habit began when he was out on a holiday with friends aged 18.
‘I was abusing it for years. Not badly. I did it socially at weekends and when I went to Kavos and stuff like that,’ he said.
‘During October 2022 I was smashing it every weekend. I started to be sick all the time. I didn’t think it was to do with nitrous oxide, to be honest. I was quite naive.
‘Then I started to get tingly feet. One day my dad found me collapsed on the floor from smashing laughing gas.
‘I couldn’t feel my legs properly. I was moaning about not being able to wee. I couldn’t wee for six days. It’s because my nerves and muscles had failed on my bottom half.”
Nitrous oxide has long been used in hospitals and dentist surgeries as a fast-acting anaesthetic. The gas is also sometimes called whippets as it is used as a propellant in whipped cream.
Inhaling the drug can leave people feeling relaxed and euphoric or the complete opposite – paranoid and anxious – for a minute or two, according to the anti-drug advisory service Talk to Frank.
However, breathing in high concentrations of laughing gas can quickly reduce the blood’s oxygen level. People can also fall unconscious and suffer seizures.
Long-term effects include memory loss, B12 depletion, lib spasms, numbness in hands and feet and a weakened immune system, among other impacts.
Connor says he knows this all too well. ‘It was absolutely horrible. I couldn’t control my muscles. My hands were starting to bend like little dinosaur hands. I couldn’t pick up my phone properly,’ he says.
My bowels failed and I kept sh***ing myself. I was really psychotic for 10 days.
‘I had a catheter for five months. I had to wear a nappy for five months and I was in 24/7 bed care. I spent two full months hoisted. I couldn’t feel or move my legs. My hands slowly started to get better.
‘I was hoisted into a chair out of my bed every day. I was bed-bound for ten weeks. I didn’t stand up until the week before Christmas with help from two workers.’
Connor has to have vitamin B12 injections every three months and still uses a wheelchair and crutches. His legs often spasm or seize up.
‘The amount of nerves I’ve damaged, some are too far gone and will never repair,’ Connor said. ‘I will never be able to stand up straight. I’ve got 35-degree drop feet.’
He added: ‘My bowels still don’t work. I don’t even know if I’m going to s**t myself in public.’
Connor now shares his ordeal and day-to-day life on Facebook to warn young people about the dangers of abusing laughing gas.
‘Stay off balloons kids. Never thought this could or would happen,’ he wrote on one post, adding: ‘It ruined my life”.
The casual party drug was banned in the UK last year, with dealers facing up to 14 years in jail.
Laughing gas was the fourth most used drug in the UK in 2015, according to the Global Drug Survey 2015.
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