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    Nitrous Oxide Stats & Data

    Nos N2o N20 Nangs Nitro laughing_gas nitrous
    NPS DataHub
    MW44.01
    FormulaN2O
    CAS10024-97-2
    IUPACNitrous oxide
    SMILESO=N#N
    InChIKeyGQPLMRYTRLFLPF-UHFFFAOYSA-N
    Chemical Class Nitrogen oxide
    Psychoactive Class Dissociative

    Pharmacology

    DrugBank
    State Solid

    Description

    Nitrous oxide, commonly known as "laughing gas", is a chemical compound with the chemical formula N2O. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a pleasant, slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic effects. It is known as "laughing gas" due to the euphoric effects of inhaling it, a property that has led to its recreational use as an inhalant drug.

    Mechanism of Action

    Findings to date indicate that nitrous oxide induces opioid peptide release in the brain stem leading to the activation of descending noradrenergic neurones, which results in modulation of the nociceptive process in the spinal cord. Several receptor–effector mechanisms including dopamine receptors, α2 adrenoceptors, benzodiazepine receptors and -methyl- -aspartate (NMDA) receptors have been implicated although the relationship of one with the other is not known.

    Subjective Effects

    Physical
    • Spontaneous tactile sensations: The nitrous oxide body high starts off as the sensation of a mixture of cold, warm, sharp and soft tingles which begin across the head and face at lower dosages but spread out across the body at higher dosages.
    • Tactile suppression: This partially to entirely suppresses one's sense of touch, creating feelings of numbness within the extremities. It is responsible for the anaesthetic properties of this substance.
    • Motor control loss: A loss of gross and fine motor control alongside of balance and coordination is prevalent within nitrous and becomes especially strong at higher dosages.
    • Physical euphoria: This results in feelings of physical euphoria which range between mild pleasure to powerfully all-encompassing bliss.
    • Changes in felt bodily form: This usually occurs with higher dosages and can be described as feelings that in a non-painful fashion your body's physical form is being stretched into infinity, compressed into a singularity or split into two separate halves.
    • Decreased bodily weight: This creates the sensation that the body is floating and has become entirely weightless. It is often accompanied by feelings of slowly falling or drifting.
    • Dizziness: Although uncommon, some people report dizziness under the influence of nitrous.
    • Headaches: Although uncommon, a certain subset of people report headaches during the offset of nitrous oxide.
    Cognitive
    • Laughter: This effect is extremely powerful and pronounced within nitrous oxide and can be described as sudden bouts of intense laughter and giggling. It is especially prevalent in appropriate social settings.
    • Euphoria: Feelings of mild to intense happiness and general positivity.
    • Ego suppression, loss and death: At higher dosages, level 3 ego death is an all encompassing effect within nitrous oxide. It is unique in style due to its rapid onset and fast comedown, creating the experience that one's sense of self is rapidly disintegrated and then suddenly restacked through regaining one's own long term memory.
    • Déjà vu: Although uncommon, a certain subset of people report strong feelings of déjà vu consistently when under the influence of nitrous oxide.
    • Amnesia: At high dosages, it is often common for one to experience amnesia and memory loss after the experience has occurred. This is especially prevalent alongside of ego death.
    • Unity and interconnectedness: During high dosage states of ego death, this component is a common but inconsistent accompanying effect.
    Sensory

    In comparison to other dissociatives such as Ketamine or DXM, the visual effects of nitrous oxide are comparatively simplistic.

    Visual · Suppressions
    • Visual acuity suppression: Blurred vision to the point of all encompassing blindness is a completely consistent effect within nitrous oxide even at moderate dosages.
    • Double vision: This component is prevalent at moderate dosages and makes reading impossible unless one closes an eye.
    • Pattern recognition suppression: This effect generally occurs at higher dosages and makes one unable to recognize and interpret perceivable visual data.
    Visual · Hallucinatory States

    In comparison to other more classical dissociatives, hallucinations are particularly rare with nitrous but possible at high dosages.

    • External hallucinations: These are delirious in believability and commonly only include mundane scenarios such as perceiving and talking to people who are not currently present.
    • Internal hallucinations
    Auditory
    • Distortions: These distortions are very powerful and loud enough in their volume to make the original sound completely unrecognizable. They include phasers, white noise, high pitch tones and notes, flanging, changes in pitch, echo effects, and stuttering.
    • Suppression: This effect can be described as a muffling and quieting of externally sourced sound which results in it sounding more indistinct and distant than it would usually be.

    Forked from Subjective Effect Documentation by Josie Kins, February 2014. Via dose.wiki (CC0).

    Toxicity

    PsychonautWiki

    The exact toxic dosage is unknown. Potential problems include:

    Addiction & dependence

    As with other dissociatives, the chronic use of nitrous oxide can be considered mildly addictive with a moderate potential for abuse. Tolerance to many of the effects of nitrous oxide develops with prolonged and repeated use. This results in users having to administer increasingly large doses to achieve the same effects.

    Effect Profile

    Curated + 241 Reports
    Dissociative 5.3

    Strong dissociative depth with strong motor impairment and mania, low insight

    Dissociative Depth×3
    103.42.7
    Mania / Compulsion×1
    81.00.6
    Insight / Novel Thought×2
    22.9
    Motor / Sensory Impairment×1
    92.01.9
    Catalog Erowid BlueLight

    Community Effects

    TripSit
    Positive
    euphoria dissociation analgesia

    Tolerance & Pharmacokinetics

    drugs.wiki

    Tolerance Decay

    Full tolerance 1h Half tolerance 7d Baseline ~14d

    Experience Report Analysis

    Erowid BlueLight
    504 Reports
    210 Single-substance
    1992–2025 Date Range
    169 With Age Data
    25 Effects Detected

    Demographics

    Gender Distribution

    Age Distribution

    Reports Over Time

    Effect Analysis

    Erowid + Bluelight

    Effects aggregated from 241 experience reports (210 single-substance Erowid + 31 Bluelight)

    241 Reports
    111 Effects Detected
    54 Positive
    23 Adverse
    34 Neutral

    Effect Sentiment Distribution

    Confidence Distribution

    Each bar is the share of reports mentioning the effect; its whisker, and the band on the rows below, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind.

    Positive Effects 54

    Awe 32.3% (95% interval 19 to 50 percent) 84%
    Joy 32.3% (95% interval 19 to 50 percent) 86%
    Euphoria 30.3% (95% interval 25 to 36 percent) 90%
    Empathy 21.4% (95% interval 16 to 28 percent) 70%
    Music Enhancement 19.9% (95% interval 15 to 25 percent) 90%
    Tingling 19.4% (95% interval 9 to 36 percent) 90%
    Insight 16.1% (95% interval 7 to 33 percent) 86%
    Lightness 16.1% (95% interval 7 to 33 percent) 84%
    Body High 15.0% (95% interval 11 to 20 percent) 87%
    Color Enhancement 14.5% (95% interval 11 to 20 percent) 86%
    Mystical Quality 12.9% (95% interval 5 to 29 percent) 89%
    Revelatory Insight 12.9% (95% interval 5 to 29 percent) 86%
    Thought Acceleration 12.9% (95% interval 5 to 29 percent) 83%
    Introspection 11.2% (95% interval 8 to 16 percent) 75%
    Patterning 9.7% (95% interval 3 to 25 percent) 90%
    Identity Alteration 9.7% (95% interval 3 to 25 percent) 85%
    Auditory-Visual Synesthesia 9.7% (95% interval 3 to 25 percent) 83%
    Cosmic Significance 9.7% (95% interval 3 to 25 percent) 85%
    Stimulation 8.6% (95% interval 6 to 13 percent) 70%
    Thought Connectivity 6.5% (95% interval 2 to 21 percent) 82%

    Adverse Effects 23

    Depersonalization 29.0% (95% interval 16 to 47 percent) 82%
    Anxiety 25.7% (95% interval 21 to 32 percent) 83%
    Confusion 19.1% (95% interval 15 to 24 percent) 82%
    Fear 16.1% (95% interval 7 to 33 percent) 87%
    Delusion 9.7% (95% interval 3 to 25 percent) 83%
    Paranoia 9.7% (95% interval 3 to 25 percent) 88%
    Amnesia 9.7% (95% interval 3 to 25 percent) 80%
    Memory Suppression 7.9% (95% interval 5 to 12 percent) 80%
    Ego Inflation 6.5% (95% interval 2 to 21 percent) 88%
    Panic 6.5% (95% interval 2 to 21 percent) 85%
    Nausea 6.2% (95% interval 4 to 10 percent) 84%
    Motor Impairment 5.8% (95% interval 4 to 10 percent) 82%
    Headache 5.4% (95% interval 3 to 9 percent) 80%
    Thought Loops 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 85%
    Shadow Imagery 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 88%
    Paralysis 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 90%
    Paranoid Ideation 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 90%
    Pain Enhancement 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 80%
    Tinnitus 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 90%
    Taste Distortion 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 90%
    Show 3 more adverse effects
    Chills 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 85%
    Vomiting 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 90%
    Thought Disorganization 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent) 80%
    Show 34 neutral or unclassified mentions
    Auditory Effects 31.1% (95% interval 26 to 37 percent)
    Body Load 25.8% (95% interval 14 to 43 percent)
    Time Dilation 22.6% (95% interval 11 to 40 percent)
    Visual Distortions 20.8% (95% interval 16 to 26 percent)
    Dissociation 19.1% (95% interval 15 to 24 percent)
    Numbness 16.1% (95% interval 7 to 33 percent)
    Entity Imagery 9.7% (95% interval 3 to 25 percent)
    Auditory Suppression 9.7% (95% interval 3 to 25 percent)
    Closed-Eye Visuals 9.2% (95% interval 6 to 13 percent)
    Hospital 7.6% (95% interval 5 to 12 percent)
    Sedation 7.0% (95% interval 4 to 11 percent)
    Ego Dissolution 7.0% (95% interval 4 to 11 percent)
    Geometric Imagery 6.5% (95% interval 2 to 21 percent)
    Dizziness 6.5% (95% interval 2 to 21 percent)
    Pressure 6.5% (95% interval 2 to 21 percent)
    Drowsiness 6.5% (95% interval 2 to 21 percent)
    Visual Fragmentation 6.5% (95% interval 2 to 21 percent)
    Thought Deceleration 6.5% (95% interval 2 to 21 percent)
    Open-Eye Visuals 5.8% (95% interval 4 to 10 percent)
    Time Distortion 5.4% (95% interval 3 to 9 percent)
    Eye Rolling 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Self-Multiplication 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Meta-Awareness Of Irrationality 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Blurred Vision 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Metallic Taste 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Involuntary Movements 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Conceptual Thinking 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Field Narrowing 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Muscle Twitching 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Vibrating 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Perceived Size Change 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Sleep Paralysis 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Derealization 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
    Temporal Disorientation 3.2% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)

    Also reported in combinations. In the 294 Nitrous Oxide reports where another drug was taken too, 13 (4.4%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 3 (1.0%) a seizure and 19 (6.5%) psychosis. In the 210 single-substance reports: 7.6%, 0.5% and 0.0%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Nitrous Oxide alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.

    Subjective Effect Ontology

    Experience Reports

    Structured effect tags extracted from 535 Erowid & Bluelight experience reports using a controlled vocabulary of 220+ canonical effects across 15 domains.

    Auditory

    music enhancement 198 37.0% (95% interval 33 to 41 percent) auditory distortions 173 34.3% (95% interval 30 to 39 percent)

    Cognitive

    confusion 159 29.8% (95% interval 26 to 34 percent) focus enhancement 109 21.6% (95% interval 18 to 25 percent)

    Emotional

    anxiety 206 38.5% (95% interval 34 to 43 percent) euphoria 206 38.5% (95% interval 34 to 43 percent) empathy 149 29.6% (95% interval 26 to 34 percent)

    Motor

    stimulation 124 24.6% (95% interval 21 to 28 percent)

    Selfhood

    dissociation 131 24.5% (95% interval 21 to 28 percent)

    Tactile

    tactile enhancement 115 22.8% (95% interval 19 to 27 percent)

    Visual

    visual distortions 254 47.5% (95% interval 43 to 52 percent) color enhancement 174 32.5% (95% interval 29 to 37 percent)

    12 unique effects extracted · Derived from Erowid & Bluelight reports

    Common Combinations

    Most co-occurring substances, as a share of all 504 reports filed under Nitrous Oxide; whiskers are 95% intervals

    Form / Preparation

    Most common forms and preparations, as a share of the 415 reports that give one; whiskers are 95% intervals

    Redose Patterns

    Redosing behavior across 446 reports

    8.7% (95% interval 6 to 12 percent) Redosed
    1.1 Avg Doses
    105m Median Interval
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