An East London woman, who has to use a wheelchair because of her laughing gas addiction supports next month’s ban but says it won’t stop youngsters who want to get high.
Former receptionist Kerry-Anne Donaldson, 26, from Newham started doing the gas nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas at parties when she was 18, and within three years she had lost feeling in her legs and feet forcing her to use a wheelchair.
The street drug, which starves the body and brain of oxygen to achieve its high, can lead to forms of anaemia and vitamin B12 deficiency, that causes serious nerve damage.
The government announced on Wednesday that laughing gas will be made illegal and categorised as a class C drug from November 8.
Kerry-Anne Donaldson, 26, from Newham started doing laughing gas at parties when she was 18 and by the age of 22 had to use a wheelchair because of her addiction
Ms Donaldson said about the development: ‘I don’t think the law will get it off the streets. If someone wants it, there will always be a way to buy it.
‘Kids have always found a way to get illegal drugs, so I’m not sure it will actually stop them, but it should at least push up the prices and prevent overuse.’
She added: ‘As soon as I woke up I would get straight on the balloons.
‘I kept chasing the original high I felt, but because my head was already rushing, I couldn’t find it.
‘I now can’t move my legs and have to take a lot of pain medication while living out of a wheelchair.
‘When taking the balloons I would barely eat so I am now anaemic and the shortness of breath has affected my asthma.
‘My dad is primary carer, and I’m so lucky to have so much support around me, from him, my mum and my sisters. I don’t know what I would do without them.’
At 21, Ms Donaldson began to notice the negative health effect that her increased laughing gas addition was taking, so she consulted her doctor.
She said: ‘The doctor asked if I had taken anything so I was honest and told him I had been using cannisters and balloons.
‘That’s when he informed me what was in them – nitrous oxide – and told me about the effects.’
The government announced on Wednesday that laughing gas will be made illegal and categorised as a class C drug from November 8
‘He said the reason I’m in pain and unable to walk is because of the damage it causes.
‘It blocks oxygen from going around your body and to your brain and destroys your vitamin B12 levels.’
Ms Donaldson was eventually hospitalised and put in a wheelchair, but struggled to stay off the substance, quickly falling back into her old ways and inhaling the drug from ‘morning to night’.
Ms Donaldson’s legs began to feel numb again in early 2021 so she decided to quit the substance again.
She was also told then she had a vitamin B12 deficiency, so had to receive injections three times a week for three months.
Even after an entire year off the high, Ms Donaldson completely lost feeling in her legs in January 2022.
She was bedbound for months, relying on assistance from family and friends to do even the simplest of tasks, such as showering and getting dressed.
She finally got a wheelchair in July 2022, which has been using ever since.
Recently, after pushing herself to start walking with crutches, she says her symptoms have worsened, with the numbness spreading from her legs and feet, to her hands and fingers.
‘About a month ago I started to struggle using my hands, having to use both to drink from a glass,’ she said.
‘The doctor said my folic acid and iron is low, but they haven’t been very helpful over the past few years other than prescribing pain medicine and they’ve recently referred me to the pain clinic.’
She is pleased that the new laws will hopefully get the previously accessible drug off the streets as she feels strongly about saving other teenagers from the same fate.
‘I started my Tiktok @-theydontloveyou and posted videos about my story, and some went viral,’ she said.
‘I feel like maybe this was my calling – to help others, and it’s really improved my mental health, which was never great even before the balloons.’
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