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Larissa Wright is calling for the regulations to be revised after she was paralyzed due to her addiction to the NOS.
A Christchurch woman who hit rock bottom when she woke up paralyzed by an addiction to nitrous oxide is calling for regulations on its supply to be revised.
Larissa Wright experienced seizures, memory loss, hyperventilation syndrome, and is still using a walker since she woke up paralyzed in January.
Nitrous oxide is a colorless gas, also known as NOS, whippets, nangs, and laughing gas, that is commonly used for sedation and pain relief, but is also used to make you feel intoxicated or high. It is prohibited for recreational use under the Medicines Act since 2005.
“I can’t feel my hands still, I have pins and needles, but I can move them,” Wright said.
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At the height of his addiction, he was going through 160 cans a day.
Wright lost his business, crashed his $ 20,000 car, and struggled with friends and family relationships due to his addiction, and is now calling for the regulations on supplying NOS to be reviewed.
It can be sold for use in the food industry and is commonly used for cream whipping devices, sold over the counter in many dairies in New Zealand.
Wright didn’t know she could be addicted since the boats were easily accessible.
A case of 10 cans can be purchased for $ 20 in stores and $ 8 online.
Kirk Hargreaves / Things
A box of loads of cream, also known as a NOS, can be purchased online for $ 8.
It needed to be more regulated as a controlled substance, not as something that people could buy “at the dairy with (their) milk and bread,” he said.
“I didn’t really see the damage and when I hit bottom, I couldn’t move.”
The 35-year-old had tried to quit smoking before and was in treatment for her addiction when she was paralyzed.
He completed five of his eight sessions with his drug and alcohol counselor and had reduced his use to 20 cans. He experienced warning signs but ignored them, without telling his family.
“My momentum was so powerful that I couldn’t stop myself.”
Wright said she grew up surrounded by a lot of drugs and alcohol. He knew it was not something he wanted for his family as he grew up, especially for his 16-year-old son.
She had prior alcohol addictions that helped her cope with an abusive relationship and “past unresolved trauma,” but since then she had been clean for six years.
Using NOS began as a substitution for alcohol at parties and helped her feel sociable.
What started recreationally turned into an addiction, leading to her spending up to five weeks away from home to avoid having to “justify her addiction” to her family.
Kirk Hargreaves / Things
NOS usage in Christchurch has skyrocketed since same-day nitrous oxide delivery services posing as catering supply companies increased.
After waking up paralyzed on January 29, Wright was rushed to the hospital but was released without B12, a vitamin vital to increasing the chances of reversing nerve damage caused by nitrogen poisoning, he said.
“My treatment was in jeopardy for three weeks.”
Encouraged by her mother, Wright returned to her GP, who told her that she shouldn’t have left the hospital without B12.
Since then, he has been financing his own daily B12 injections, which cost $ 11 a day. Now it has been reduced to weekly doses and will eventually be reduced to monthly.
It was a long process, but Wright said he was on the road to recovery and wanted to raise awareness and educate people about the dangers of the substance as much as possible.
There has been an increase in use after the emergence of nitrous oxide same day delivery services posing as catering supply companies.
Medsafe confirmed that it was investigating reported problems around the nitrous oxide supply across the country.
