I really love nitrous oxide. But I want to stress I am a person without an addictive personality. I really have a keen ability to measure how much a substance is aiding me versus harming me. I subscribe to Terence Mckenna's sort of philosophy that evolutionary advantage is gained by diet, and that it was humanity's encountering of the mushroom, or whatever, that catapulted into it higher consciousness. That we literally ate our way into higher consciousness.

From that I am always seeking drugs or things to safely integrate into my life which I feel hold stable benefit. Thus far I have developed a regimen of vitamin d supplement, fish oil, tobacco (vaporized), green tea and panax ginseng. One substance that has been knocking at my door as entry into regular diet is nitrous oxide. I am not talking about a lot of it. Right now I am thinking just one balloon a day when waking up to sort of kick start meditation. Is this safe? I've read a lot about nitrous oxide and in moderate use it's completely benign. But the usage described is recreational, like maybe 3-10 balloons a month or a few weeks apart during parties. What about just 1 balloon a day? Is this safe? I know Timothy Leary had a daily regimen of nitrous oxide he used. I assume probably for the same reason I am interested. It seems like I can sit there for an hour in meditation. Or I just inhale one balloon and can get to the same spot in a matter of minutes. I am interested in using it to hyper charge, augment, technologically bootstrap meditation. Has anyone tried, or known of anyone who used nitrous oxide, in small amounts, 1 balloon a day, in a regular regimen?

I'm sure this thread is dead, but if you are hyperventilating pure nitro in a balloon, I.e. breathing it in and out of the balloon without mixing in oxyen then it is definitely NOT safe, even one balloon. Nitro IS generally safe when mixed with O2 like at the dentist. "Huffing" a balloon can and will cut oxygen off to your brain and can cause serious brain damage/loss of consciousness/heart failure. Please be careful. But I agree, it's a fun one and very enjoyable.

*O*

Nitrous also irreversibly deactivates vitamin B12 stored in the body.
Once the bodies B12 stores are gone neurological damage begins to accumulate.
Missing B12 is not easy to replace on short notice since the body absorbs only 1 to 5% of whats ingested after its absorbed enough for a day, so those 1000 mcg 'megadose' pills might only be a 3 day supply. If blatant symptoms of neurological or blood damage, like numb fingers or anemia, manifest then injections are most likely required.

I believe the biggest problem with deaths associated with nitrous oxide is that the levels of oxygen. I believe that when under the influence of high levels of nitrous that you may *forget* to take a moment to breathe pure oxygen.

There was a story about a few college students who had access to large tanks of nitrous and essentially suffocated from the lack of oxygen.

Always keep a sitter by when dealing with something that can really zone you out of reality 100%, which nitrous can do in my experience.

Be safe and make sure the ratio of nitrous to oxygen is safe and will not suffocate you by definition.

A dentist friend of mine once told me you can do a nitrous session once a day for five years before adverse effects-this being under a controlled environment with proper oxygen levels every time.

That being said the "whip it" brands of cartridges you can buy to fill balloons will have rust inhibitor additives, oils and tiny bits of metal from being "cracked" that you do not want to be inhaling everyday...plus the fine dusting that is inside the balloons.

If you can get a medical grade tank, mask and gauges-go for a balloon a day. If not be aware of what you are really inhaling.

Erowid has some good writeups on the pollutants in nitrous cartridges. http://www.erowid.org/ch...s/nitrous_article2.shtml - some filtering should be used to avoid inhaling industrial lubricants, metal fragments and such. Combine the filtering recommendations, breath in some air between balloons and take it with a B-12 supplement and just use it, on a short and limited basis (it looses it's magic and just becomes a fiending high pretty quickly) when tripping and you'll get the most out of it with little to no downside. LSD + nitrous is a wonderful thing to behold.

Turning the punching bag balloons inside-out before use will also eliminate the balloon dust pollutant as well.