During Desert Storm in 1991 One of my soldiers kept himself awake for four days by the use of Smelling Salts. We discovered his use by his sudden onset of a massive Headache. The Doctors at the MASH ER had never seen a case like this. People who stayed awake that long had used Meth or Steroids according to the Doctors, but they had diffent symptoms. Soldier thought he was going to die. He thought his brain exploded. Moral of this incident is use as directed.
@Please Complete All Fields No, not as a Recreational drug, but to stay awake and goof off instead of sleeping when he had the chance. We were not front line combat troops, but we were doing our missions for up to 18 to 20 hours daily leading up to and during that conflict. It could be a recreational drug only if one likes PAIN and ABUSE as fun.. Not me, I got and gave more than I cared for during that period of time.
To be fair context matters, consciousness can be used to reference if they're sensible while out, If someone passes out but they're conscious it's usually easier for them to wake up on their own and will sometimes be aware after waking up, unconscious can be when they need assistance with waking up and they're unaware. Not always the case but usually is.
@@OceanBagel Wrong...I passed out once and was aware of the whole thing, blacking out, falling and my head hitting the floor...could not control it and thankfully came back out of it immediately after my head hit the floor but yes, I was conscious the entire time and honestly am still a bit freaked out by it as I have no idea why it happened... Thankfully, that has not happened again since...
Had the pleasure of smelling salts after passing out at a tattoo parlor. Passed out after getting a belly ring for whatever reason. Heard a quick snap & almost instantly bolted awake & quickly threw up in a pail next to me. The tattoo artist who had used the smelling salts was very excited having never gotten to use them before. Lucky me. It's what I would imagine snorting cat piss would feel like.
I experienced smelling salts once. I fainted during a concert (as one of the performers) and yes, it really works. To be fair, in my case it was a combination of bad circulation and no movement in the cold, so laying on the floor itself would have been enough to wake me up again, but you do what you can to get your nose away from that smell
Why is everyone so shocked it works? It is proven science and has been proven in human use for hundreds of years. Almost everyone knows or has seen someone faint and get revived from smelling salts.
@@robs5268 - Eh, Rob? “Passing out” literally means losing consciousness. It’s not possible to pass out yet remain conscious no matter how hard the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated by smelling salts. I return the title of donut to you, good sir.
Ammonium carbonate is still being used in Austria for making gingerbread. My friend's dad baked a huge batch when I visited one Christmas. He apologized for the whiff of the kitchen, but the advantage over regular baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is that it completely decomposes to gases in the heat of the oven, and will never leave a bitter salt behind if you put too much.
We had some of the capsules in an old medical kit. They were expiring so we decided to give them a try before we replaced them. The best way to describe it is like being slapped in the face. I have never had such an intense physical reaction from a smell.
“Umm, Gabriel, when I said there was a time and a place, I meant NOT here and NOT now. I guess I should have been more clear, my mistake. Let’s just... go.” 😅💪🏻
I’ve been a paramedic in Southern California for 25 years and these were removed from our scope of practice well before my time. I did use them in an ER in the 90’s though and they do work as intended.
I have only fainted one time in my life after a surgery. I think the fear of having that horrible stuff used on me again keeps me wide awake and alert.
Had a bottle of the stuff back in the day from the late 1900s (was my grandmother's), and I opened it up and took a huge smell because I didn't know what it was and it had "lavender" on the label. Well, while they might revive you when you're out cold, they do the opposite if you're already conscious. 😂 Edit: late 1800s, not 1900s
Whole my life I thought smelling salts was regular salt drenched in essential oils. I never even considered it could be something else and have no idea how I came up with the idea. This video really blew my mind. Keep it up! :)
I work for an engineering company that uses huge amounts of ammonia gas. The whole place has a general ammonia smell but if an exhaust gets blocked and we have to clear it out you get a face full of the lovely stuff. It's quite common too, I had it twice last week alone. It did wake me up though and get my attention at 4am on a night shift so at least it's effective lol.
When I was 9 I fainted after getting a flu shot in an Albertsons and woke to someone shoving something like this in my face. It felt like it was burning my throat and nose so badly and my whole body convulsed like the world’s hardest sneeze. It was low key a terrible experience but I’m glad I now know why they do it lol.
I don't know why, but I love the detail about this happening in a grocery store. 🤣 We don't have Albertsons here in OKC anymore, but I shop at a store that used to be one for my groceries to this day!
BRUXXUS Haha yeah this was in AZ and I haven’t seen an Albertsons in ages but for some reason those grocery store details stuck with me. I’d say the only place I’ve fainted that was equally memorable was on an Air Force bass during an air show...I woke up duct taped to a stretcher with a bunch of men carrying me and I was SO confused. 😅
Boxers and professional fighters in the 1800s and early 1900s used smelling salts and ether so regularly, the term “knockout” is still used to this day. Fighters would soak ether into their forward glove and soak smelling salts into the glove on the defense hand they kept close to their face. They would use the glove smothered in smelling salts to counteract the effects of their opponents ether laced punches, and counteract their own ether soaked glove if they were forced into defense and needed to keep both hands close to their face. This wasn’t considered cheating but instead drastically reduced the number of boxing deaths and brain injuries by making the matches much shorter and by forcing fighters to always be as defensive as they were offensive. It was considered a safer way to fight, by “knocking the opponent out” rather than for the opponents to just beat each other till death or serious injury.
1. My ammonium carbonate story is that I worked as a lab assistant in high school, and the chemistry teacher once asked me to mix up a 1 molar solution of it. There was a BIG jar of ammonium carbonate in the stockroom, and I opened it without first pondering the implications of its chemical formula. Let's just say it got my attention. 2. Ammonium carbonate DOES NOT absorb water when it decomposes; it gives it off. (NH₄)₂CO₃ → 2NH₃ + CO₂ + H₂O. 3. Ammonium carbonate is NOT sal ammoniac. Sal ammoniac is ammonium chloride, NH₄Cl.
Goddamn! Fun story time: used to work at a health club/gym with spa. One of my duties was adding the chlorine to the spa. I was 17 and given very little directions. No mask. No nothing. So I go in and pop the lid on this container for the first time and realized then and there what it was and that it and liquid were not friendly. Not because I spilled water but because I popped the lid off with more force then I realized throwing the powder up in the air and in my face. After that I always wrapped a towel around my face.
4. "ammonia carbonate" isn't a thing, he meant "ammonium carbonate" in the intro. Left me really confused until I realized those are ammonium ions _after_ searching it on wikipedia and getting ammonium carbonate which is what I would've expected it to be called Probably should’ve been obvious but cest la vie
I use them all the time. They help in the gym and also help for removing headaches, nausea, and when being tired mid-day. You can buy bottles that you just open the cap, take a whiff then close it up.
@@carlosanaya4149 It's not really a drug. It's the same how if you eat something sour it wakes you up because of the stimulation. Smelling salts give you quick perk that last for about 60 seconds.
I fainted for the first time recently. I was really high and laughing with friends on xbox live. The combination of being high and laughing super hard made me light headed and I blacked out and fell over in my chair, and I came to about 5 seconds later with my chair and all my stuff on top of me.
One big problem with smelling salts is the way they cause your head to jerk away when you take a sniff. People can injure their head or increase damage already caused, for example in boxing or other situations when there's been a blow to the head.
Been wondering about this for a while now, and my research skills are nothing compared to yours; I gave up last year after preliminary hunting. Thank you for scratching so many of our curiosity itches. Really appreciate all that you do!
Worked as a phlebotomist for a number of years. When we got a person who faints at the sight of needles/blood we woke them up by waving smelling salts under their nose! Worked every time, terrible smelling stuff...
Fun fact - The current worlds strongest man Hafthor Bjornsson uses salts before a heavy lift, along with a good shot of honey squeezed straight from the bear.
It's actually not all that uncommon among power lifters. It gives you a good rush and helps you focus. Lifting heavy shit requires a bit more concentration than you might think.
I had an old bottle of smelling salts when i was a kid and it said on the bottle it was for helping open blocked nasal passages aswell as wake up an unconcious person
In 1991 in an NFL playoff game with the Dallas Cowboys vs Chicago Bears, wide receiver Tom Waddle ( of the Bears) got so knocked around so badly , the medical staff used smelling salts on him 3 times. Oh the time before concussion protocol the league has now.
My gran used to keep a bottle of smelling salts in her handbag. My brother and I took turns seeing how deep a sniff we could take before pain and/or watering eyes got the better of us. Kids, eh? :D
I played with these as a kid. They came in our first aid kits in Boy Scouts. May still have some. It was ammonia and cotton. Whew man did that hit ya hard.
I got biscuit recipes from my grandma that use hjorthornssalt (ammonium bicarbonate, "salt of hart's horn") as the raising agent. I definitely have to try to make them after watching this.
I have a sleeping disorder and smelling salts are the only thing that helps me just make it through the day. Caffeine does nothing for my concentration, awareness or energy levels, it only keeps me awake at night when I really need to try and sleep.
It's been a year, so I doubt I'll get a reply, but do you have any brand recommendations? Caffeine also doesn't work on me and I'm hoping this will make me feel alert.
@@drews8992 Honestly, almost any brand is good. I just go down to my local pharmacy and buy the bulk pack of Ammonia Inhalants, I think they're called "First Aid Only" either way, just stay away from the ones that have ridiculous names, like "Rhino Smasher" or "Hellfire Extreme" or whatever. They're the exact same stuff, just upcharged for the silly branding. Also, I vastly prefer the small individual crushing ones. I like to keep them in my car or a few in my backpack when I'm out and about.
@@drews8992 Also, in this last year I've started drinking Ginger Tea as a pick me up and it works wonders, so give that a try too. Just boil a few crushed chunks of ginger in water for ~10-15 minutes, until it becomes brown and peppery.
Our doctor's office has a capsule of smelling salts taped next to the light switch in every examination room. This is so it's always within reach and easy to find in a hurry when needed.
Necropost here (you can thank the YT algorithm for that). I've had to have smelling salts used on me during my first 2 annual physicals after having my blood taken. No idea why I passed out those times, as I don't care about needles and such, though I suppose my body just reacted to reduced blood flow much more dramatically than expected. The third year on and by lying back during the procedure, no problems.
Smelling salts are pretty common on the benches of the NHL. Also, their visors are continuelly getting smaller, because a slight sight advantage is more important than their face.
I worked in a food plant and the refrigerant they used was ammonia, when you walked into a freezer or cooler with a leak you knew right away and it was not from the smell... it burns ( sensation only at first ) any moisture areas on the body and you got out fast! The repair men got used to it though and could walk in and not get the burning effec or smell it much even though it was bad for the person not used to it.
OSHA would have a field day at your facility. I went through Ammonia Refrigeration Operators school and that stuff is nothing to take lightly. It can kill you quick and turn your lungs into raisins in the process.
Smelling salts are extremely popular in strength sports such as Strongman and Power-lifting. I only use them in competition. lot of guys in my gym use them every-time they try and PR.
I could always be wrong here, but I believe "Sal Ammoniac" is Ammonium Chloride. Smelling salts are Ammonium Carbonate according to Wikipedia. I just know because I use a block of Sal Ammoniac for cleaning oxidation from soldering iron tips :-)
You both are exactly correct and well spotted. Smelling salts, or the active principal, is mostly Ammonium Carbonate and some Ammonium Bicarbonate - it is very volatile even as a solid and decomposes easily and so never occurs as a mineral. Chemists dry distil "Sal Ammoniac" Ammonium Chloride with Calcium Carbonate to produce Ammonium Carbonate by sublimation. You need a really cold condenser and have to scrape the snowy crystals off the condensing surfaces under very dry conditions. Then seal it well because it decomposes to Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide in the presence of moist air. Ammonia is lighter than air and so it "creeps up your nose".
@@kenosabi There is no such thing as facts outside of philosophical fantasy, just a margin of grays to navigate through. Wikipedia is just another shade of gray.
Sal Ammoniac is popular in Northern Europe, where they use it to make salty licorice, called salmiak. It is an acquired taste, but I kinda like it, especially the hot kind (Tyrkisk Peber).
I've experienced them once, in boot camp during boxing(which was ended a few months after I got through it, after a couple recruits were killed in it). I went down, everything went black, just before awareness went away I shot back to full consciousness because holy shit that stuff is strong.
@@faizalf119 was just brain damage from the boxing. Even with protective gear punches to the head from USMC recruits is damage some people just can't take
Ive experienced it many many times. Every time as a kid :) Basically when my mother baked cookies and such, she would use what we call hjortetakksalt or hornsalt and I would smell it as a kinda dare between my siblings and I. This video taught me that raising agent is the same as I would see boxers get in those old boxing movies and such. Oh, and my mother let me smell poisonous gases when I was a kid... thats nice to know...
I was in college working at a retail store. I took out an ammonia capsule from a first aid kit. I colored the capsule blue and told a guy I worked with that it was a new Coolwater (cologne) sample. I told him all you have to do is crush it and it will release a small amount of the cologne. He gave it a good sniff and about passed out. We all had a good laugh.
"Harts-horn" is pronounced with no 'sh' sound; the word comes from the fact the the product is made from the horn of a hart (male deer) hence hart's horn. "Hart-shorn" would indicate that someone has given the hart a haircut.
I have worked as an industrial refrigeration operator for over a decade. The primary refrigerant we use is ammonia. Most people detect ammonia, via smell, at around 15PPM (parts per million). It takes in excess of 1000PPM to cause any permanent damage. I have breathed several hundred PPM of ammonia on many occasions with no permanent ill effects. It is hazardous, but I doubt that the concentration from smelling salts is enough to cause any long term damage.
About thirty years ago we used 'spirits of ammonia' in ice water to soak hand towels in. When we got very hot and/or tired we'd wipe down our faces with the solution and drape the towels over our heads to cool off. Sounds crazy but it works extremely well and a few years ago I tried to do it again but the new 'spirits of ammonia' seem much more diluted than before. Another case of the good old days I suppose.
Dude you are so awesome. Almost everything Im interested you have a video covering it. From your biographics to this type of stuff. I love it thumbs up.
Smelling salt is a normal type move that was introduced in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire known for being a special move able to be known by Makuhita and Hariyama. It does increased damage to paralyzed enemies. Oh wait. Smelling salts. Oops.
As a brain blaze listener, cc and warographics and the like. When I had a stoned thought on what were smelling salts and how do they work, imagine my joy seeing this young I believe pre parent Mr whistler
Used to know a girl in my chemistry class who was allergic to ammonia. She was very smegged when we did organic chemistry. It's probably a good thing smelling salts aren't common these days.
We use them at my work. It really helps to determine if someone is faking a seizure or not. Someone who is faking a seizure will have a reaction within a couple seconds with gagging and coughing. With a fake seizure, the reaction is [pretty immediate with coughing and gagging.The salts are also really strong. Smelled one once for fun with a coworker and holy shit clear my senses.
@@beeman7711 state women’s prison. Doesn’t happen often but I have seen a couple that would do it. Good way to tell if it’s fake is a) their jerking and seizing will be in a weird manner. One I saw she was like shrimping. B) they have a faster and more severe reaction to the salts. Like almost immediately start coughing and gagging. A legit seizure takes about a second before they start coughing and not as hard of a reaction. Couldn’t tell how many times we’ve had to call medical for seizure like activity.
I had to give 6 tubes of blood one time during medical procedures. It was supposed to be a walk-in, walk-out procedure. However, due to low blood pressure, I began to pass out at the third tube. I heard a snap and then worried murmuring from the two medical technicians present when I did not react at all. I woozily said, "if that's ammonia, it doesn't work on me. I have no sense of smell." They were stunned, having to lay me on the floor and wait for me to stop being woozy and lethargic. Neither had ever had a patient who did NOT react to ammonia at all.
Thanks, I appreciate the clear, intelligent, "a British Person", the what I perceived as balanced integration of informative content with optimistic advertising, and, I think that I shall be quite cautious of smelling salts.
A retired firefighter/EMT regaled us with this anecdote around a campfire - One of their 'usual downtown clients' was supposedly inert on a city sidewalk. The subject failed the 'eyelash flick' test. Aware of the many bystanders, my friend the EMT produced four ammonia inhalants, cracked them open, and CLAMPED them on the face of the patient. Said patient began fighting to pull them away from his face. The EMT leaned close and said "You're not going to call us again, are you!" Problem solved.
You know I like these videos, and I have learned quite a bit from watching them, however the most alarming thing I have learned is that the about 1/3 of their run times are advertising, I skip through this of course, and my admission of such will not be popular with creator nor sponsors, and I couldn't care less about that. I run an ad blocker for a reason, and that reason is I am tired of the constant bombardment of corporations trying to peddle their wares to me when they are 99% of the time for items or services that are unwanted. Most people that buy items rarely do so after watching an advertisement or buy the particular brand that has been advertised. People seek out people, items and services when they need them, and they are turned off by pushy, noisy, or lengthy(in the case of this video alone 1:53) and that is longer than a television commercial, who, despite what I said before, have learned that commercials do need to be short(since they pay for it), and it is something that it high time that RU-vidr content producers learn, too. Sorry but you will not be gaining an extra subscriber from me, and from your button, 1.9 million, you do not need me or anyone else.
Yeah it's pretty ridiculous. I used to watch this great channel focused on news and then it turned into 3/4s ads. The ads the creator put in plus the ads from YT. I quit watching that channel. Bitchute and Rumble are picking up speed and honestly YT is dying. Much of its content is nonsense top 10 lists or people talking really slow trying to hit their minutes for monetization. It's obnoxious. On the the plus side though it's made me start reading far more. Were trapped in this constant buy/consume cycle and its trite and a waste of life.
How could you not mention mention poppers. Amyl nitrite "poppers" is what gives you a rush, completely different chemical but looks identical! I cant believe companies have convinced people to use ammonia in place of it. If you see people taking multiple deep sniffs from one then you know its a popper and not actually a smelling salt.
Today, geographic maps are still full of mistakes. For a recent example, Sandy Island. Coastlines are fractals, and simply measuring their length depends on the resolution of the measurement. Plus, every landmass changes over time.
@@chrisbalfour466 Plus countries are (somehow, come on this is what the UN is for) allowed to _intentionally_ fudge their data, obscure, misreport, etc. their lands. We need a Google or the like to say "FU, here's an accurate map for free for everyone on Earth."
@@sharpskilz yeah I guess U.K has a massive rave culture so that makes sense...I wasn't high when some chick came up to me and did but it feels cool but ya when your high I can imagine it feels pretty awesome lol
@@JDMKEV Im sure it does.. im too old for all that now.. but in the early 90's the UK was an outlier... Probably the biggest or at least up there with holland
That spokesperson actually responded in a resonable manner instead of leaving the company open to a new market the spokesperson decided that its not worth the damage it would do and just shut it down by saying they are using it improperly
I feel a bit bad for those who've had bad experiences; It is super easy to just about knock yourself backward getting too big of a whiff from having the salts too close. So someone who hasn't taken an exploratory whiff themselves are very likely going to get it super close dropping a sledge on your sinuses etc so to speak.
When I was in the scouts, I did a lot of funeral duty. l would always carry smelling salts in my shirt pocket for wives, mothers, etc., who would sometimes lose consciousness, due to excessive grief. However, I learned that if it was a windy day, to make sure I stood up wind, when I snapped the vials.
Ken Fulton {Baby Elder} That is hilarious. Dude I'm always waiting for these videos to pop up every day then find your comments and laugh my ass off. Thank you
I get the smelling salt adrenaline correlation. If you have ever been woken with a start from a bad, or alarmimg dream: you get a burst of it. I don't see why that'd be different in a competitive sport and being made awake in the same manner.
He emphasized their use in American football rather than in hockey. Interesting. Many televised NHL games feature a pan shot of teammates on the bench, and often they can be seen sniffing something in their fingers and then shaking their head after it, or some other very obvious indicators that they're using smelling salts.
@@tonychen76 Makes sense. Kinda weird, but makes sense. Same with _kalium_ a.k.a _potassium_ (potash.) Don't think there are any others, besides stuff like _iron_ and _gold,_ that have their own words in every language. I'm kinda glad there aren't, it's a bit confusing sometimes when you hop from one language into another.
