A THORNBURY woman had to learn to walk again after inhaling laughing gas from a balloon.

Liv Golding, 24, was admitted to Southmead Hospital after the nitrous oxide left her body without feeling from her calves to her shoulders and unable to use her hands.

The damage caused left Liv with Subacute combined degeneration of spinal cord, also known as Lichtheim’s disease.

Writing on Facebook, Liv described the effect the nitrous oxide had on her body.

“Over the past month my body has slowly been becoming numb, deteriorating in front of me getting to the point I no longer could move my hands or even dress myself.

“The disease has caused different parts of my body to shut down leaving me now unable to walk and feel my body from the chest down - giving me limited use of my hands without them closing in or shaking.

“I am unable to move without someone assisting me,” she said.

Liv has seen the balloons being sold at festivals, on the street and in nightclubs and has now implored her friends to stop using them.

She said: “I wanted to make everyone aware that the 20 second high off that one balloon could cause you weeks in hospital teaching yourself to walk properly again.

“The nitrous oxide that is put into the balloon that we all crave is actually starving your brain of oxygen and eating away at your nervous system. After having brain scans and MRI I’ve now been diagnosed with my nervous system as damaged.

“I understand most people will think ‘it won’t happen to me’ but I thought that when I was sat with my friends and going to festivals until I woke up last week unable to move. It’s really not worth it.

“If this just stops one person from doing them I feel I would have succeeded in some way,” she said.

The effects of nitrous oxide include feelings of euphoria, relaxation and calmness as well as dizziness, difficulty in thinking straight and fits of giggles and laughter.

It can even cause hallucinations.

Regular use of the drug can lead to deficiency of vitamin B12 which in turn can cause serious nerve damage. This causes tingling and numbness in the fingers and toes and other extremities, and difficulties with walking.

The increasing popularity of the drug also known as ‘hippy crack’ helped lead to the introduction of a new law.

Since the Psychoactive Substances Act came into effect in May 2016, it is illegal to supply or import nitrous oxide for human consumption.

Nitrous oxide is still available for sale as it does have a number of legitimate uses.

It can be used as an anaesthetic during dental work and childbirth and is also used in whipped cream aerosol cans.

Nitrous oxide was first discovered in 1772 by British scientist Joseph Priestly.

The term ‘laughing gas’ is believed to have been coined by Humphry Davy in 1799, one of the first to use the drug recreationally.