Inhaling pure oxygen experience...

[stevegong]

My grandfather has an oxygen tank which he uses sometimes when he feels faint, so I decided to give it a go. I was told by my chem teacher that one would feel very high when inhaling pure oxygen but to my surprise after inhaling it for a couple of minutes I felt very light headed and almost dizzy. I would think that since I was inhaling pure oxygen I would feel like at a state of higher consciousness or bodily and mental processes would speed up. I think my heart sped up a little, but I didn't feel more energetic.

Has anyone else here experienced this or can give any input on oxygen inhalation?

Stefano.


update: 20 minutes later I feel kinda sleepy. :confused:

[DMBand0026]

The medical reasoning behind all this is way too complicated to go into...but the sleepy part is a lot easier to explain than the other part.

The reason you feel tired now is because your body is under the (obviously false) assumption that you are in an oxygen deficient environment. You were on 100% oxygen for a period of "a few minutes" the air in the room that you're in is 21% (give or take a few %) oxygen. Obviously you can see the difference there. Your red blood cells were probably saturated with oxygen for he few minutes that you were on the pure stuff. So now that you're off of it and back to 21% your body thinks it should still have the extra supply, but it doesn't.

So you start to get a form of hypoxia (lack of oxygen). It's not true hypoxia because you still have a sufficient supply, but your body thinks it should have more. One of the first symptoms of lack of oxygen is a feeling of drowsiness. It'll go away after a while.

This is the short answer behind all this, I could have gotten a lot more complicated, but I chose to spare y'all. If anyone really cares to hear the whole story (including the reason why stevegong felt "dizzy and light headed") PM me or just ask me to post it here, I'll be happy to...but I promise your eyes will glaze over as you're reading it, unless of course you're in medic school like me :)

[stevegong]

This is the short answer behind all this, I could have gotten a lot more complicated, but I chose to spare y'all. If anyone really cares to hear the whole story (including the reason why stevegong felt "dizzy and light headed") PM me or just ask me to post it here, I'll be happy to...but I promise your eyes will glaze over as you're reading it, unless of course you're in medic school like me :)


Hey! Yeah please! Thanks a lot for you reply!

I'm a Biology major so it's all interesting!. :D

[autodata]

Do oxygen bars still exist?

[Luca]

Yeah, I was in Leadville, CO last summer and there was at least one there. FYI, Leadville is the town with the highest elevation in the continental US - 10,200 feet. Not sure if there is a town in AK with a higher elevation. I don't see the point though - although you might think it would be a good idea to have an O2 bar at a high elevation, wouldn't it make the post-inhalation experience that much worse? I didn't find it particularly fatiguing to exercise around 10,000 feet, but I did hike up to over 12,000, and once I got that far I started getting seriously winded. But a ten mile bike ride at 10,000 or so was really not much different from a ten mile bike ride here in Minnesota at < 1,000 feet.

[DMBand0026]

Hey! Yeah please! Thanks a lot for you reply!

I'm a Biology major so it's all interesting!. :D

Sorry, but 2am came way to quick here in the Windy City...so it wont' happen tonight, but it'll be my project for tomorrow, you'll get the explanation soon.

[Bones3D]

I had heard once that being in a 100% pure oxygen environment for a long period of time can actually be damaging to the lungs.

[Powerdoc]

I had heard once that being in a 100% pure oxygen environment for a long period of time can actually be damaging to the lungs.

Yes it leads to lung fibrosis.

[Moogs]

If Mr. Durden says Oxygen gets you high, then so it must be....

[stevegong]

Yes it leads to lung fibrosis.


shit... how long are we talking about?

Does it have any temporary benefits at all? Like temporary smarterness or something?.

(so when I really can't solve a math problem or something I take a breathe from the O2 tank and then eureka)

[Powerdoc]

shit... how long are we talking about?

Does it have any temporary benefits at all? Like temporary smarterness or something?.

(so when I really can't solve a math problem or something I take a breathe from the O2 tank and then eureka)

You are not involved, you need to breath it many hours ( I forgot the exact number, but it's a question of hours not minutes).
Don't worry ;)

[billybobsky]

There is also the fear of superoxide generation which doesn't need many hours to come into effect and happens even at standard o2 concentrations...