Xref: utzoo sci.bio:2344 sci.med:12490 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!ukc!strath-cs!cs.glasgow.ac.uk!jack From: jack@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin) Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.med Subject: Re: Butane death Message-ID: <3460@midway.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> Date: 22 Sep 89 19:26:50 GMT References: <4655@cps3xx.UUCP> <9977@multimax.Encore.COM> Reply-To: jack@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin) Organization: COMANDOS Project, Glesga Yoonie, Unthank Lines: 22 Summary: Expires: Sender: Followup-To: Keywords: devoz@multimax.UUCP (Joe DeVincentis,EFD TR 75S TR 4S TL 1S TL,2622,7568004) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ quoted this, after a short discussion: ^ what is this stuff? ^ >> Today in Pennsylvania, a 15 year old died of a heart attack when he >> inhaled butane in order to "get a rush". Nobody over there seems to believe this was a heart attack. In the UK this is a fairly frequent occurrence with people who inhale butane or solvents. The usual explanation is that these substances make the heart likely to go into fibrillation after strenuous exertion, like a sprint to get away from a cop. (So, not an infarction, but near enough). I suppose the reason this isn't mentioned in anaesthesiology books is that surgical patients aren't often required to run round the recovery room when they wake up. I think other drugs (amphetamine?) can make it even more likely when combined with glue. -- Jack Campin * Computing Science Department, Glasgow University, 17 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QQ, SCOTLAND. 041 339 8855 x6045 wk 041 556 1878 ho INTERNET: jack%cs.glasgow.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk USENET: jack@glasgow.uucp JANET: jack@uk.ac.glasgow.cs PLINGnet: ...mcvax!ukc!cs.glasgow.ac.uk!jack