A new study has revealed the life-changing damage that can be caused by nitrous oxide use, more commonly known as nangs.
1News spoke to an Auckland woman who lost movement in her legs from the drug and has said the side effects of the product, which is designed to whip cream, are not well known.
The woman told 1News she was likely inhaling 1000 cannisters over two weeks.
Her nang usage inflamed her spinal cord, leaving her in hospital for six weeks.
"I woke up one morning, and I tried to get out of bed, but I lost the ability to use my legs and my arms," she said.
She said that life has been "very, very difficult" ever since then.
"Due to obviously all my nerves not working, I also suffer from finding it hard to breathe, a lot of headaches."
Cases like the woman's are on the rise at Auckland City Hospital.
"In the last year, we've had 1-2 patients per month presenting with severe symptoms for nitrous oxide myelopathy," Dr Shilpan Patel said.
"And a lot of these patients had questions about how they would recover long term."
It prompted him to start researching the effects of the drug, which led to the release of a study in the New Zealand Medical Journal today, which analysed 12 patients who had suffered from recreational use.
One patient in the study used 720 cannisters in a day, putting them in hospital for nearly a month.
"Some patients were bed-bound; they were unable to walk," Patel said.
"Our findings from our study show that these people do improve, but the recovery is very slow."
Medical professionals want better education about the risks of using nangs.
"We think it would be good if young people weren't able to use such large quantities of nitrous oxide because it's quite dangerous for them," Patel said.
Patel also said he wants to see stricter restrictions around nangs to minimise harm.
Associate Health Minister David Seymour said: "The Government is not looking at further restrictions on nitrous oxide, but if people abuse and misuse it, we may be forced to.
"And that would be a real shame for people who legitimately use nitrous oxide just to whip up something to put on their baked goods."
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