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Post by jenjie on Jun 11, 2016 1:58:24 GMT
My 16 year old nephew. Maybe moreso, his mom for thinking this is funny. Here is the text she sent me:
Nephew got annoyed with his sister's birthday balloons and sucked in the helium out of one and passed out cold. It was so funny. He fell on my plants. Dummy. I didn't think you could pass out from that.
ETA Medical peas is there a PSA we should be aware of with helium? I feel like I should already know this.
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Post by lucyg on Jun 11, 2016 2:00:14 GMT
 Yeah. Mom is pretty special. Kid too, I guess. 
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The Birdhouse Lady
Drama Llama
Moose. It's what's for dinner.
Posts: 7,348
Location: Alaska -The Last Frontier
Jun 30, 2014 17:15:19 GMT
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Post by The Birdhouse Lady on Jun 11, 2016 2:05:24 GMT
Yep, pretty stupid for sure.
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Deleted
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Oct 7, 2024 7:28:37 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2016 2:07:27 GMT
Wow! That could have been ended up so much worse. Dare we hope he learned his lesson?
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Post by jenjie on Jun 11, 2016 2:09:22 GMT
Wow! That could have been so much worse. Exactly!! Medical peas is there a PSA we should be aware of with helium? I feel like I should already know this. |
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Post by jenjie on Jun 11, 2016 2:10:46 GMT
@nicksmom I hope so!
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valleyview
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,816
Jun 27, 2014 18:41:26 GMT
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Post by valleyview on Jun 11, 2016 2:18:13 GMT
Isn't the problem with helium that it isn't oxygen? Sounds scarier than funny.
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Post by anniefb on Jun 11, 2016 2:39:22 GMT
Isn't the problem with helium that it isn't oxygen? Sounds scarier than funny. Yeah I think the issue is you're not getting any oxygen, hence why nephew got light headed and passed out. Dumb thing to do. SaveSave |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 11, 2016 2:48:21 GMT
Google knows everything. Sounds legit.  |
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Post by pjaye on Jun 11, 2016 3:18:31 GMT
Google knows everything. Sounds legit. It is. It's always a bad idea to replace what should be oxygen in your lungs with some other gas. Lack of oxygen leads to unconsciousness...so it depends where you are at that point, if you fall unconscious near water then potentially you can drown, if you fall into some other dangerous situation then potentially that fall can kill you (for example hitting your head on the way). If the oxygen deprivation is prolonged then it can lead to cardiac arrest.
Additional dangers include that inhaling a gas under high pressure, can rupture the alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs or in extreme cases can rupture a blood vessel and then you can get a bubble of gas in the blood stream - which can also cause death.
So there's several ways that inhaling helium can lead to someone's death, and it does happen:
So yes, the nephew and his mother are lucky he only fell onto some plants and didn't crack his head open or break his neck on coffee table or something on the way down. Probably can't blame the 16yo nephew for not knowing any better at his age, but I'd hope most mothers would be concerned when their child does something that renders them unconscious. That's generally something pretty serious and rarely a laughing matter.
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Jun 11, 2016 3:21:41 GMT
Inhaling helium could suffocate you.
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Post by mlynn on Jun 11, 2016 3:23:14 GMT
People used helium balloons to do the Donald Duck voice all of the time when we were kids/younger. I never knew there was any hazard. I never heard of anyone passing out or anything. Is there something different about balloons these daays?
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 7, 2024 7:28:37 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2016 3:27:00 GMT
People used helium balloons to do the Donald Duck voice all of the time when we were kids/younger. I never knew there was any hazard. I never heard of anyone passing out or anything. Is there something different about balloons these daays? We did this as kids. Perhaps it has to do with the volume of helium inhaled. |
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Post by mom on Jun 11, 2016 3:39:09 GMT
Oh wow! She's a special one!
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Post by refugeepea on Jun 11, 2016 3:43:28 GMT
It's much more dangerous to suck helium out of a helium tank. Not a smart move, but he will live. He should know better at his age. "You don't have to worry about fatal asphyxiation if you're sucking from a helium balloon at a party. At worst you'll keep going until you get lightheaded and pass out—at which point you'll stop inhaling helium and your body's oxygen levels will return to normal. Of more concern is the possibility that you'll hurt yourself when you fall down." www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2006/06/stay_out_of_that_balloon.html |
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Post by Sparki on Jun 11, 2016 3:43:36 GMT
I was just reading a novel where a character committed suicide by inhaling helium.  |
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Post by miominmio on Jun 11, 2016 4:46:24 GMT
People used helium balloons to do the Donald Duck voice all of the time when we were kids/younger. I never knew there was any hazard. I never heard of anyone passing out or anything. Is there something different about balloons these daays? It depends on the amount of oxygen that's being replaced by helium in your lungs. |
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Post by miominmio on Jun 11, 2016 4:47:39 GMT
Mum is stupid for thinking this is funny......and sadly, it seems stupidity is hereditary.
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tincin
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,378
Jul 25, 2014 4:55:32 GMT
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Post by tincin on Jun 11, 2016 5:01:07 GMT
That's definitely a problem. I know someone whose child committed suicide via helium. Not really a cool thing to do.
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Post by leftturnonly on Jun 11, 2016 8:39:32 GMT
Well, now that we're talking about it, it does seem kinda obvious.... but I would not have thought he would have passed out from one balloon either.
Kid must have taken a big whiff to pass out!
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Post by yivit on Jun 11, 2016 9:38:42 GMT
Helium is (or was) part of suicide kits. Helium displaces the oxygen and starves your body and brain. Under pressure, it an cause an embolism. If you inhale enough to pass out, there are all the hazards involved in falling and hitting something. It probably doesn't take as much as you might think to cause problems. Point your nephew and his mom to www.kaitlynspromise.com - Kaitlyn didn't huff helium, but "just" keyboard cleaner (aka canned air) and passed out and drowned. |
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gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by gsquaredmom on Jun 11, 2016 10:06:12 GMT
Darwin Award
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2016 12:38:42 GMT
Point your nephew and his mom to www.kaitlynspromise.com - Kaitlyn didn't huff helium, but "just" keyboard cleaner (aka canned air) and passed out and drowned. I remember when this happened, as Kaitlyn's mom and aunt were peas. I can't believe it will be 10 years this August. My kids are teens now, and we have discussed the dangers of huffing. I have had both of them read Kaitlyn's story. |
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Post by melanell on Jun 11, 2016 13:15:15 GMT
People used helium balloons to do the Donald Duck voice all of the time when we were kids/younger. I never knew there was any hazard. I never heard of anyone passing out or anything. Is there something different about balloons these daays? Well, the ones that are made to last longer absolutely do have something else in them, but I may have read that there is something different about even the regular ones as well. |
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Post by peasapie on Jun 11, 2016 13:18:52 GMT
People used helium balloons to do the Donald Duck voice all of the time when we were kids/younger. I never knew there was any hazard. I never heard of anyone passing out or anything. Is there something different about balloons these daays? I was thinking the same thing. Then again, I did a lot of stupid things when I was a kid. It's a wonder anyone makes it to adulthood. |
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Post by peasapie on Jun 11, 2016 13:24:39 GMT
People used helium balloons to do the Donald Duck voice all of the time when we were kids/younger. I never knew there was any hazard. I never heard of anyone passing out or anything. Is there something different about balloons these daays? I was thinking the same thing. Then again, I did a lot of stupid things when I was a kid. It's a wonder anyone makes it to adulthood. The way people commit suicide with helium is to put a bag over their head while breathing in a lot of it. I wonder how much this kid inhaled to make him pass out. Is so weird that his mom thought this was so funny. |
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Post by Merge on Jun 11, 2016 13:24:43 GMT
Oh my. My oldest did this at her 9th birthday party. Sucked a little helium from a balloon, was dancing around and passed out on our living room floor.
As others have mentioned, we did this all the time as kids to make the funny voice and no one got so much as lightheaded. Obviously something is different.
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Post by anxiousmom on Jun 11, 2016 13:42:44 GMT
It does make you wonder if something is different, like maybe a different mix of helium and something? I am as far away from a science person as one can get so I don't know. I do know that there is a shortage of helium (I googled it after watching the Sheldon and Leonard buy black market helium on The Big Bang Theory.  ) So maybe the people who knows things started mixing helium with another gas? I do know that somewhere back in the dark ages I worked in a gift store that also did balloon 'bouquets.' When the store was quiet, or after we closed and were cleaning up, the helium was fair game and we had a ball taking 'hits' off the helium tanks. To my knowledge, no one ever passed out...and as to killing brain cells, I can safely say that there were a lot of other activities on my personal brain cell killing list that I wouldn't be able to say if the helium made a difference.  |
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Post by Chips on Jun 11, 2016 15:12:37 GMT
People used helium balloons to do the Donald Duck voice all of the time when we were kids/younger. I never knew there was any hazard. I never heard of anyone passing out or anything. Is there something different about balloons these daays? I was thinking the same thing. Then again, I did a lot of stupid things when I was a kid. It's a wonder anyone makes it to adulthood. The way people commit suicide with helium is to put a bag over their head while breathing in a lot of it. I wonder how much this kid inhaled to make him pass out. Is so weird that his mom thought this was so funny. Add me too the list - kid who did a lot of stupid things and did not realize that this could happen. Breaks my heart that the Mom thought her son passing out was funny because I would of been terrified. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2016 15:39:36 GMT
The helium is the same as it was. We just didn't inhale very much, whether it was because the balloons were smaller or whatever. It still killed people, but we just didn't hear about it.
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Yeah. Mom is pretty special. Kid too, I guess. 
) So maybe the people who knows things started mixing helium with another gas?
