Laughing Gas (Nitrous Oxide) Is No Laughing Matter

Nitrous Oxide (NO2)-commonly referred to as ‘laughing gas' was used for years in the practice of dentistry. It is used currently as part of general anesthesia, and recently has been gaining popularity as a ‘recreational drug'. An article in Popular Science in the late 1940's demonstrates how easy it is to make NO2 with an at ‘home laboratory'.



Laughing gas (N02)--nitrous oxide--stops the methylation pathway in its tracks by deactivating B12, and stopping the activity of a certain enzyme for days to weeks. When someone is already deficient in B12/folate (e.g., due to diet, medications such as proton pump inhibitors or Metformin), or has genes that are not functioning properly, the B12 deficiency is suddenly worsened, and weeks later neurological and psychiatric problems develop. They can be subtle (e.g., trouble with balance) or they can be severe (cognitive problems); any psychiatric syndrome (e.g., panic, depression) can develop. It is unlikely that anyone will make a correlation of cause and effect between the NO2 and the symptoms, because of the delayed toxicity, and the fact that not every one is effected. Symptoms can be subtle.

NO2 is a very serious danger to your health. The risk is unappreciated by college students who are using NO2 as a recreational drug, and the risk needs to be assessed before use of anesthesia (by testing homocysteine and methionine in the blood, looking for risk factors for B12 deficiency such as a vegan diet or the use of certain medications, as well as the genetic MTHFR test) when possible.

Please raise people's awareness of this risk by passing this information along.