Alternatively, the open container or soaked rag can be placed in a bag where the vapors concentrate before being inhaled. Although inhalant abusers may prefer one particular substance because of the odor or taste, a variety of substances may be used because of their similar effects, availability, and cost. Once inhaled, the extensive capillary surface of the lungs allows rapid absorption of the substance, and blood levels peak rapidly. Entry into the brain is so fast that the effects of inhalation can resemble the intensity of effects produced by intravenous injection of other psychoactive drugs. The effects of inhalant intoxication resemble those of alcohol inebriation - stimulation and loss of inhibition, followed by depression.
Users report distortion in perceptions of time and space.
Many users experience headache, nausea or vomiting, slurred speech, loss of motor coordination, and wheezing. An odor of paint or solvents on clothes, skin, and breath is sometimes a sign of inhalant abuse. Sniffing highly concentrated amounts of the chemicals in solvents or aerosol sprays can directly induce heart failure and death. They also cause death from suffocation by displacing oxygen in the lungs and then in the central nervous system, causing breathing to cease. The chronic use of inhalants has been associated with a number of serious, long-term, and often irreversible health problems.