Hookahs have become especially popular in the last few years. Beginning businessmen now prefer to open a hookah, rather than a cafe, because this is a profitable business and still little known. Modern youth in such establishments spends a lot of time, but few people realize that hookah can be a serious danger. In this article, we will deal with the question of whether it is possible to get hookah poisoning and what to do to maintain health.
A bit of history
It is difficult to say what roots the hookah has, but it is known for certain that it appeared several hundred years ago. It used to be especially popular in eastern countries, but in recent years it has gained great popularity with us. Hookah is understood as a special means for smoking, where tobacco mixtures are condensed and then filtered. Now to smoke a hookah is how to conduct a special ritual that can drag on for several hours. The device for a hookah includes several parts: a shaft, several tubes and a container for filling with liquid.
Some historians claim that the hookah appeared among the ancient Muslims, but the vast majority of colleagues insist that this tool first appeared in the distant nineteenth century in the territory of modern India, and from there it began to gradually spread around the world.
Why is hookah better than cigarettes?
There are several benefits of hookah over regular cigarettes. And they are all listed below:
- While smoking, liquid filtration and condensation occur in the device. In this regard, more than thirty percent of the toxins remain in the water and the human body is not affected.
- Hookah is smoked in a place designated for this purpose and is not carried everywhere. What not to say about cigarettes, because tobacco smoke on the streets of cities makes it difficult to breathe normally.
- Hookah smoke, if you just inhale it while others smoke, causes a minimum of harm to human health, which can not be said about cigarettes.
- If drugs are not mixed into the hookah, then it cannot cause addiction. It can only be moral, but it never grows into the physical.
But even such, at first glance, safe smoking, can cause irreparable harm to health. Therefore, you must follow all safety rules.
Can I get sick from a hookah?
In whatever club or hookah club you come to, you will be assured that they have absolutely everything safe and sterile, but is that so? In addition, even if everything is at the highest level in terms of cleanliness and order in the institution, no one will be able to insure you against intoxication. Although the hookah is not as harmful as regular cigarettes.
What can harm a hookah?
The first problem of every entertainment venue is sterility. In each good hookah, the visitor receives a replaceable mouthpiece, which can make you a little safe, but does not give a 100% guarantee that you will not catch the infection.
Every good institution is required to carry out sanitization daily. After all, smoking substances and carbon monoxide several times increase the risk of contracting an infection that could remain on the pipe.
Hookah can be infected with the following infections:
- Staphylococcus aureus, which can provoke inflammation of the respiratory apparatus and even internal organs.
- Aspergillus, which is much more dangerous than staphylococcus, because in a short time leads to pneumonia and quickly destroys them.
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This is such a bacterium that is not afraid of every antibacterial drug. If it enters the human body, it quickly leads to disruption of all organs of the person.
Causes of poisoning
Why does hookah poisoning occur and can this be avoided? If you know the reasons that will be listed below, then the problems can clearly be avoided:
- Hookah poisoning can occur in a person with a weak immune system.
- Toxicity can lead to too long smoking, which drags on for more than two hours. Some people have enough hours to feel unwell.
- If the device contains too many bacteria, which, together with smoke, quickly penetrate the human body.
Carbon monoxide poisoning from a hookah is caused primarily by too long smoking. If a person smokes an ordinary cigarette for two to eight minutes, then in the case of a hookah, the borders may not exist at all. Smoking for thirty minutes without a break is already a lot, since during this time smoke accumulates in the lungs and completely blocks the tolerance and absorption of oxygen by the blood. Thus, oxygen starvation occurs quite quickly in humans. What can we say about people who can smoke a hookah for three to four hours.
Other poisoning methods
There are several other reasons why poisoning occurs when smoking a hookah:
- A large amount of poisonous tar, nicotine and poisons enters the body, which are filtered, but still remain in smoke.
- Carbon monoxide is combined with benzopropylene, and the resulting substance is included in the first hazard group.
- Even the smoking collection itself, which seems safe, can cause poisoning, as it may contain harmful ingredients, the existence of which few people realize.
Let's look further at the symptoms and treatments for hookah poisoning.
Symptoms of Poisoning
Each cause of poisoning has its own symptoms, by which you can easily determine the focus of the disease. So, with carbon monoxide poisoning, the following symptoms appear:
- The person begins to feel sick, there is a gag reflex.
- Headache and dizziness are severely affected, violations in coordination of movements are noticeable.
- The heart rate is severely disturbed, tachycardia or atrial fibrillation may occur.
- A person feels sleepy, loses strength.
- Loss of consciousness may occur, there have been cases of convulsions.
When various infections of the upper respiratory tract get into the body, the following manifestations are observed:
- A person feels constricted in the chest area, severe acute pain may occur.
- With an infectious hookah poisoning, the temperature is inevitable, it can rise to thirty-eight and above.
- A person may suddenly feel tired, nausea and vomiting begins.
- Muscles weaken, bone breaking begins.
With prolonged smoking of a hookah in humans, there is:
- Strong headache.
- Fatigue.
- It breaks bones, muscles are very weak.
If you notice at least one of these symptoms while smoking a hookah, you should immediately seek medical help. No need to wait until everything passes by itself. So you can do even more harm to your body.
First aid for intoxication
If you notice that a person shows the first signs of intoxication, then you need to immediately provide him with access to fresh air. It is necessary to immediately open all the doors and windows in the room, if possible, a person should be taken out into the street. All tight-fitting clothing must be removed and the button on the neck and chest unfastened. No need to slap a person in the face or shake him. Such actions can make things worse. After access to fresh air is provided, you must immediately call an ambulance.
Waiting for the ambulance
While you are waiting for an ambulance, you can provide first aid to the victim:
- Moisten a cloth with water or alcohol and rub the whole body. This will improve blood flow.
- A towel dipped in cold water is applied to the forehead.
- If you notice that a person is losing his pulse and his breathing is disturbed, then you need to do artificial respiration and heart massage.
- Artificial respiration should not be done directly; wet gauze must be applied to the victim’s mouth.
- If the victim loses consciousness, then you can return it to memory with ammonia.
Hookah poisoning treatment
Not a single intoxication can pass without a trace. You can’t do just a breath of fresh air. It will take long therapy to completely cleanse the body of harmful substances.
Treatment of poisoning is carried out as follows:
- The doctor prescribes a course of injection using a substance that absorbs carbon monoxide in the body.
- Vitamin droppers with glucose are also prescribed so that the body can restore vitality, convulsions stop.
- The body must be saturated with oxygen, to restore its high pressure. For this purpose, a special barometer is used.
- The patient attends a course of respiratory inhalation to ensure the flow of clean air to the lungs.
- Infectious diseases are treated, if any have been detected, and their consequences are eliminated.
Who should not smoke hookah?
Any smoking is harmful. To any, even the most healthy person, it will bring absolutely no benefit. But there are several groups of people who are generally strictly forbidden to do such things:
- It is strictly forbidden to smoke hookah to pregnant women, as well as mothers during lactation. Such actions can lead to the development of various pathologies in the unborn child, various chronic diseases and allergies can develop.
- Allergy sufferers for whom nicotine or the ingredients found in smoking blends are allergens.
- People who have various chronic and acute diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory system.
If you listen to reviews about hookah poisoning, then even the most healthy person in the world will not want to smoke it. Many people talk about shortness of breath, a complete lack of strength. My head hurts very much, and it seems that I’m about to lose consciousness. Not too pleasant and therapy after poisoning. We have to regularly attend all procedures, droppers and injections are prescribed. The body recovers for a long time after intoxication. After poisoning with a hookah, treatment at home will not be possible, as this may entail consequences.
Conclusion
As you can see, a hookah is not as safe as the smokers talk about it. Moreover, everything needs to be done in moderation. It is better to spend twenty minutes in the hookah room and get out of there as a healthy person, and then come back the next day again than to sit there all day and then recover the body for several months. In any case, you need to know the rules of first aid to a person who has been poisoned by carbon monoxide. Since it is she who can save the victim's life and health. And you do not need to ignore the symptoms of hookah poisoning, since a running problem is much more difficult to treat.