An Illinois bartender’s life took a dramatic turn after excessive use of nitrous oxide left her paralyzed and with significant brain damage.
Rachel Kelly was first introduced to nitrous oxide in 2018, at the age of 21, while attending an electronic dance music festival. The allure of the festival’s high-energy atmosphere kept her dancing for hours.
By 2023, Kelly’s usage had escalated, costing her more than $220 daily to consume eight two-liter tanks of nitrous oxide, which she purchased from local convenience stores.
Nitrous oxide, commonly used in dental practices for its sedative effects, deprives the lungs of oxygen, subsequently reducing oxygen supply to the brain and slowing down the nervous system.
The gas induces a brief but intense feeling of euphoria, lasting only about a minute, which makes it highly susceptible to misuse.
In April 2024, the consequences of Kelly’s abuse became painfully clear during a bartending shift. She experienced numbness in her feet and right hand, and her hips felt as though they were fractured.
She said: ‘People thought I was drunk and I seemed intoxicated as [the nitrous oxide] was poisoning my brain.’
Despite her symptoms, she bought another tank that same day. Within a few days, her body ‘shut down.’
Rachel Kelly (pictured here), a receptionist in Illinois, started using nitrous oxide at 21. The drug caused her to develop ‘dead zones’ in her brain
Kelly is pictured here inhaling laughing gas from a canister. At the height of her addiction, she inhaled eight two-liter tanks of the gas every day, which cost her $220 daily
Kelly lost feeling in most of her body, leaving her unable to hold her phone, brush her teeth or use the bathroom on her own.
At one point, she woke up and was unable to feel anything..
Nitrous oxide depletes vitamin B12, which is essential for maintaining the myelin sheath — a protective layer around nerve fibers, particularly in the spinal cord.
Without B12, the sheath deteriorates, damaging nerves and causing numbness, loss of coordination, weakness, and even paralysis.
Doctors told Kelly the nitrous oxide created ‘dead zones’ in her brain, which caused her to lose function of her hands, feet and bladder.
Kelly said: ‘All of [my nerves] had died and my body was just shutting down.
‘It’s like rat poison.’
She is now warning others that just because the gas is easily accessible, it can still cause lasting damage.
She said: ‘The biggest part for me is that the nitrous oxide was so accessible to me.’
Health authorities estimate 13million Americans have used laughing gas to get high at least once.
Possessing nitrous oxide is legal. The FDA has outlawed its dstribution for human consumption, but it’s difficult to enforce that law.
It’s still sold in pressurized whipped cream canisters in convenience stores and online retailers like Amazon and eBay.
The FDA warned earlier this year against the recreational use of nitrous oxide amid ‘an increase in reports of adverse effects,’ including blood clots, impaired bladder and bowel function, numbness, paralysis and hallucinations.
Last year, 30-year-old Ashley Weir of Florida was found dead in her bed from a nitrous oxide overdose.
In 2024, the laughing gas caused Kelly to lose all function of her hands, feet and bladder, and she woke up at one point unable to feel anything. It took several months of therapy for her to regain feeling. She is pictured here in rehab
Kelly, pictured now at age 29, is warning against using nitrous oxide to get high after her ordeal
After 10 days in the hospital, Kelly was transferred to a rehabilitation center, where she underwent occupational and physical therapy for 30 hours a week for a month.
During these sessions, she had to learn to walk and write again as well as practice ‘tedious’ tasks like brushing her teeth.
She then moved in with her parents and spent another five months using a walker and getting her independence back.
Just over a year later, Kelly has regained most of her abilities, though she still has some numbness in her toes and has to take B12 supplements.
She now works as a receptionist and plans to become a drug support worker.
She plans to become a drugs support worker in future and is urging others to not inhale nitrous oxide as ‘the 30-second high is not worth it’.
Kelly said: ‘The 30-second high is not worth it. Since coming out [of the hospital] I haven’t touched nitrous oxide again and I wouldn’t do now.
‘Just because something is sold in a store, doesn’t mean it is safe to use.
‘The end stage of this is you will end up in the hospital and it’s just a [matter of] when this will happen to you and when you will wake up and not be able to feel anything.’
