Everything You Should Know About Whippets and Galaxy Gas

Whippets are another name for nitrous oxide or laughing gas. When administered safely under the supervision of doctors or dentists, nitrous oxide can help people relax when they’re undergoing specific medical procedures.

But lately, there’s been widespread concern as teens flock to social media to share videos of people sucking on Galaxy Gas canisters. These colorful whipped cream chargers are pressurized containers of nitrous oxide. As a result, the people who inhale the gas promptly fall over, faint or experience uncontrollable muscle spasms and a brief lack of coordination.

The videos showcasing this content have resulted in TikTok banning “Galaxy Gas” from search and the company temporarily halting all sales of the product. But Galaxy Gas is just the latest in a long line of trends related to whippets being used as a popular party drug.

“Whippets are inhalant drugs,” says emergency physician Bryan Baskin, DO, FACEP. “They are undiluted nitrous oxide.”

But whippets’ potential to cause harm is no laughing matter. Here, we break down what whippets are and how they can affect your health.

What are whippets?

Whippets are an inhalant drug popular among teens and young adults. They’re also known as whippits or whip-its. People have turned to Galaxy Gas as the latest form of this inhalant.

The name whippets is a reference to whipped cream canisters, which contain little chargers that are filled with nitrous oxide. That’s what propels the whipped cream out of the canisters. People who use whippets inhale the gas from those chargers. Some people inhale the gas directly. Others fill something like a balloon with the nitrous oxide gas and inhale it from the balloon. Or they fill a bag with the nitrous oxide and close the bag around their head. The result is a short-lived “high,” similar to poppers.

“Inhaling nitrous oxide produces a very transient high from a few seconds to a minute or two — a tingling sensation or a sense of dizziness, calmness or relaxation,” Dr. Baskin says. “You might also notice some slurred speech and loss of coordination.”

Whippet cartridges can be bought on their own, not just in whipped cream cans like Galaxy Gas. Some states have made it illegal to sell nitrous oxide canisters to people under the age of 21 in an effort to curb inhalant abuse.

Nitrous oxide is commonly used for sedation to help people relax during medical procedures. It’s often used as a remedy for anxiety at the dentist’s office during a cleaning or a dental filling. But inhaling nitrous oxide outside of a medical facility is a much different circumstance.

“In medical use, nitrous oxide is given in conjunction with a pretty high-flow of oxygen. That helps to keep people safe from some of the dangerous effects of the gas.” Dr. Baskin explains. “People using it recreationally aren’t taking those precautions. They’re just getting straight shots of it, which can be harmful, particularly with repeated use.”

Are whippets bad for you?

Like abusing other kinds of inhalants, such as paint thinners or glue, whippets use can pose threats to your health. Anytime you purposefully inhale or ingest things not meant to be put in your body, you’re not doing great things for your health.

Short-term side effects

Using whippets impairs your judgment and motor skills that can lead to accidents and injuries. Studies have also shown that recreational use of whippets can cause psychiatric symptoms as well, including hallucinations and paranoia, which can also result in serious injury to yourself and others.

Additionally, whippet use can cause:

• Dizziness.
• Fainting or passing out.
• Irregular heart rhythms.
• Headaches.
• Nausea.
• Irritability or emotional dysregulation.

Repeated exposure can have more dangerous consequences.

Long-term effects of whippets

Abusing inhalants like whippets over time can cause significant damage, particularly to your nervous system, muscles, kidneys and liver.

Nervous System and Muscle atrophy

Research has shown the potential they have for causing a severe vitamin B12 deficiency.

“Using whippets extensively can impair your body’s ability to process vitamin B12, which can lead to changes in your nervous system and severe muscle weakness, to the point of hospitalization,” explains Dr. Baskin. “Symptoms such as imbalance, loss of sensation, and psychiatric changes can develop.The effect in some people who use whippets chronically can be similar to people living with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which is a condition when the immune system attacks the body’s nerves.”

In cases of extreme B12 deficiency, people can be hospitalized for long periods of time and even permanently lose muscle function.

Organ damage

Additionally, repeated use of whippets over time can severely decrease the oxygen available in your blood. That can put enormous pressure on your organs and lead to kidney disease and liver damage.

“Your kidneys and liver are ‘end organs,’ meaning they’re at the end of the supply chain of oxygen in your body,” Dr. Baskin explains. “When you use whippets repeatedly, you decrease the oxygen saturation in your body. That means those later-stage organs will have less oxygen available to them and, therefore, become damaged.”

Are whippets addictive?

Whippets and Galaxy Gas may not be physically addictive in the same way some other nonprescription drugs like cocaine, heroin or other opiates are, but chasing the high you can get from whippets can be psychologically addictive.

Using cocaine, opioids and other physically addictive substances gives you a rush of dopamine and serotonin, commonly referred to as “happy hormones.” That hormone-altering rush is part of what makes those drugs physically addictive — they change the very physiology of how your body functions.

Whippets, on the other hand, don’t have an effect on dopamine or serotonin. Instead, a whippet high is the result of decreased oxygen and increased carbon dioxide in your body.

In that way, whippets aren’t physically addictive in the same way as other drugs. They don’t change the way your body functions at its most basic levels. But they can cause a psychological craving.

“In a lot of people’s minds, particularly younger people, it’s easy to think, ‘If a little bit is good, more must be better,’” Dr. Baskin states. “So, it’s easy to see how people can continue to chase that high and disregard potential dangers.”

Can you overdose on whippets?

The euphoric feeling that comes from using whippets is short-lived, lasting only a few seconds or minutes. So, repeated use over a short period of time is common. But the more whippets you inhale, the more you’re decreasing the oxygen in your body, increasing your risk for harm.

In rare cases, people have died from asphyxiation (suffocation) after inhaling very high amounts of nitrous oxide.

Talk to your kids about whippets

Like other inhalant drugs, whippets can be easy for young people to get ahold of and abuse. Dr. Baskin advises parents to be cognizant of whippets, Galaxy Gas and other household products that can be dangerous when used incorrectly.

“Whippets are one more danger that parents should be aware of, particularly because they’re easy to obtain and, therefore, easy for teenagers to try out, particularly if they don’t understand the long-term effects,” he adds. “Young people are vaping. Young people are huffing. Whippets are something to add to this growing list of common household things that can be used in illicit ways and cause some pretty significant damage.”