A 27 year-old man claims laughing gas ‘ruined his life’ after his extreme use of the drug left him permanently disabled, incontinent and reliant on 30 daily pills to control his pain.
Connor Wilton was hospitalised in 2022 when his father found him ‘collapsed’ on the floor at his home.
The former mental health rehabilitation worker had inhaled a balloon filled with nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, in the minutes before his father discovered him.Â
At the time, Mr Wilton, from Shirebrook, Derbyshire, was inhaling roughly 480 balloons worth of the illegal drug every weekend.Â
Doctors later discovered he’d suffered severe nerve damage as excessive use of laughing gas had starved his body of oxygen and B12 vitamins. This ultimately left him paralysed.
Connor Wilton was hospitalised when his dad, Jamie Wilton, 53, found him ‘collapsed’ on the floor in November 2022 after using nitrous oxide
The 27-year-old from Shirebrook, Derbyshire, suffered from severe nerve damage that left him paralysed after the drug starved his body of oxygen and B12 vitamins
After spending three months bed bound in hospital and four months in a neuro rehabilitation unit, Mr Wilton will ‘never be able to stand up straight’ and is forced to use crutches and a wheelchair while taking around 30 tablets a day
Even after spending three months bedbound in hospital and four months in a rehabilitation unit, Mr Wilton will ‘never be able to stand up straight’ and is forced to use crutches and a wheelchair while taking around 30 tablets a day to manage pain.
He first started to use laughing gas aged 18 on lads’ holiday, he says. But he started ‘abusing’ the substance in October 2022 — roughly a year before it was made illegal.
Following his ordeal Mr Wilton took to Facebook to warn others against the dangers of using laughing gas.Â
In the caption the former laughing gas user said ‘stay off balloons kids. Never thought this could or would happen’ and how ‘it’s ruined [his] life’.
He explained he had so little muscle control that his hands began to bend like ‘dinosaur hands’ and he became incontinent, leaving him needing to wear incontinence pads for five months.
The controlled Class C drug, also known as NOS or hippy crack, is the second most commonly used drug among 16 to 24-year-olds in England after cannabis.Â
Inhaling the gas brings about short-term feelings of lightheadedness, fits of giggles and hallucinations.
Heavy, regular abuse risks significant health risks including anaemia and in more severe cases, nerve damage or paralysis.
Mr Wilton said: ‘It’s changed my life so much. I never believed it would happen. You see it and think “it’ll never happen to me”.
‘I was abusing it for years. I did it socially at weekends and when I went to Kavos and stuff like that.
‘During October 2022 I was smashing it every weekend. I started to be sick all the time. I didn’t think it was to do with nitrous oxide to be honest. I was quite naive.
‘Then I started to get tingly feet. One day my dad found me collapsed on the floor from smashing laughing gas.
‘I couldn’t feel my legs properly. I was moaning about not being able to wee. It’s because my nerves and muscles had failed on my bottom half.’Â
He was rushed to hospital where doctors discovered he had a vitamin B12 deficiency and degeneration of the spinal cord as a result of using nitrous oxide.
Left unable to stand for nearly two months and without control of his bowels, Mr Wilton needed round the clock bed care.Â
He said: ‘It was absolutely horrible. I couldn’t control my muscles.
‘My hands were starting to bend like little dinosaur hands. I couldn’t pick up my phone properly. My bowels failed.
‘I had a catheter for five months. I had to wear a nappy for five months and I was in 24/7 bed care.
‘I spent two full months hoisted. I couldn’t feel or move my legs. My hands slowly started to get better.
‘I was hoisted into a chair out of my bed everyday. I was bed bound for ten weeks. I didn’t stand up until the week before Christmas with help from two workers.’
Although doctors knew the damage was a result of balloons, they did not know the full extent of his condition.
Having first started to use laughing gas aged 18 on lads’ holidays and at social events, the former mental health rehabilitation worker started ‘abusing’ the substance, which became illegal in November 2023
He had so little muscle control that his hands began to bend like ‘dinosaur hands’ and he became incontinent, leaving him needing to wear a nappy for five months
Left unable to stand for nearly two months and without control of his bowels, Mr Wilton needed round the clock bed care
He went through the lengthy process of a nerve condition study, which measures the speed at which impulses travel along a nerve, to find out the extent to which sensation is lost.
It revealed the nitrous oxide destroyed all the B12 — needed for the body to produce DNA and maintain healthy blood and nerve cells — and starved his body of oxygen.Â
He underwent injections of vitamin B12 every two days for three months, and now has them once every three months. Â
After being moved to a neuro rehabilitation unit in Nottingham in January 2023, Mr Wilton was finally discharged but now relies on crutches and a wheelchair.
He said: ‘Still to this day I’m between a wheelchair and crutches.
‘The amount of nerves I’ve damaged, some are too far gone and will never repair. I will never be able to stand up straight. I’ve got 35 degree drop feet.
‘My legs spasm a lot. I get a lot of pain first thing in the morning. The muscles lock in my leg. I scream in pain.
‘My bowels still don’t work. I don’t even know if I’m going to s**t myself in public.
‘I’m quite independent now but I’m on crutches all the time. I have an adaptive car, which I drive with my hands.”
After being moved to a neuro rehabilitation unit in Nottingham in January 2023, Mr Wilton was finally discharged but now relies on crutches and a wheelchair
The 27-year-old says he is quite independent now but is on crutches all the time and has an adaptive car
He said: ‘I’d never do it again. Absolutely not. I hate it. It’s not worth being like this.
‘It’s changed my life so much. I love dancing and I can never dance again. I love festivals but I went to one just for fun the other week and it’s quite draining.
‘I tell people to stop doing it [nitrous oxide]. It’s not worth the risk. I’m probably the worst person I’ve seen with this.
‘That’s the go-to thing for young people because they think it’s funny. They think it’s not as serious as other drugs.
‘They’re massively accessible. People will sell them to kids because they think they’re not dangerous, it’s just a balloon. That’s why it wasn’t illegal until recently.’
