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Parents need to be cautious
about love for inhalants among children, as more and
more children between the age group of 10 and 19 years
are falling prey to the ‘inhalant-induced disorders’ in
urban areas. The impact of this addiction in rural areas
is quite negligible.
The addiction starts with
inhaling of nail polish and petrol and finally ends with
consuming smack or other such intoxicants. Besides, the
addiction causes several neurological and muscular
disorders among children in teen age and they become
unfit to lead a normal life. |
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During examination of school
children, a large number of students Suffering from
problems of staggered – walking, red-eyes, burning-eye
syndrome, conjunctivitis, violent behavior tremors and
other neuromuscular problems. |
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The
‘inhalant-induced addiction’ also changes their
behavior and they even adopt criminal ways to
satisfy their need for intoxication. Many
children reveal that they love smelling petrol
dipped cotton, nail polish and thinner. Before
going to bed in most cases children enjoy this
intoxication avoiding the presence of parents.
Inhalants are volatile hydrocarbons like
toluene, n-hexane, methyl-butyl ketone
(hex-2-one), tri-chloro ethylene, trichloro
ethane, dicholoro methane, gasoline and butane
and they are used to produce solvents for glues
and adhesives, propellants for aerosol paint
sprays, hair sprays, frying pan sprays and
shaving cream, thinners for paint products and
typing correction fluids and fuel like petrol.
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The smells of all these
chemicals attract many children and they get addicted to
it and later the abnormal and excessive inhalation of
these chemicals causes regular addiction. A smaller
degree of addiction is called as ‘inhalant use disorder’
(‘inhalant abuse’ and ‘inhalant dependence’) which are
characterized by mal-adaptive patterns of inhalant use.
The second category ‘inhalant induced disorders’ results
from the toxic effects of inhaled substances. 5.7% of
boys and girls of 10 to 20 years of age had used an
inhalant at some time in their lives. The prevalence is
8.0 per cent among males and 3.5percent among females.
Mal-adaptive behavioral or psychological changes like
belligerence assault apathy, impaired judgment impaired
social or occupational functioning are developed during
or shortly after the use of or exposure to volatile
inhalants.
Heavy inhalation may cause
dizziness, slurred speech, unsteady gait, depressed
reflexes, tremors, muscle weakness and blurred vision. |
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