PSA: Choking Game

[RanchGirl]

A 13 year old in our community died recently. At first they thought it was suicide but now they think she was playing the Choking Game. I had never heard of it before but apparently kids are doing this both with friends and alone, and they can become addicted to it. It causes brain damage and death.

 

It's honestly the saddest, most shocking thing I have encountered in a long time.

 

Here's some more information, including warning signs for parents:

http://www.gaspinfo.com

 

Please consider talking to your children about this. I think some kids don't realize it's as dangerous or possibly more dangerous than drugs. It's also free and easier to access than drugs.

 

fyi, it can also be called by other names:

 

Blackout, Fainting Game, Space Monkey, Dream Game, Suffocation, Roulette, Passout, Flatliner, California High, Airplaning, Space Monkey, American Dream, Funky Chicken, Tingling, Gasp.

[LidiyaDawn]

It's not new ~ I remember playing "the fainting game" with friends when I was about 11 (I'm 34) …

 

Sorry to hear about the girl in your community.. :(

[Shelly in IL]

Good kid, just a sick, sick way to have lost his life.

[NanceXToo]

It's not new ~ I remember playing "the fainting game" with friends when I was about 11 (I'm 34) …

 

Sorry to hear about the girl in your community.. :(

 

I can remember trying something like that one time when I was about 12 or so (I'm 38 now) with my brothers... only because I'd heard/read that if you held your breath until you passed out it wouldn't matter because you'd just start breathing again once you passed out or something stupid like that, so we thought it might be "fun" to try to choke each other until we passed out and then let go and start breathing again.

 

However, we never got that far, we got too scared. Thank goodness. Kids do some really stupid things huh?

 

I will mention this to 10 y/o dd in case any of her friends get something dumb like this in their heads!

[....]

Wow. That age group needs more supervision than the younger ones. The neighbor's kid tried to dare my son to drink gasoline out of the lawnmower gas can in our garage. I think I talked to my kids about the choking game, but we should probably review. :glare:

[Jean in Newcastle]

I remember it from my youth and I'm 47. I have talked to my kids about it. I never did it - btw - it seriously freaked me out when I'd see my friend's eyes roll up in their head. . .

[In the Rain]

I've never heard of this! :001_huh: The website listed 8 and 9 yo kids dying from it! At what age should a parent discuss this with their kids? How would you bring this up to kids who had never encountered the choking game?

[SeekingSimplicity]

I'm 34, and when I was about 12 I had a friend as me to choke her. She wanted to choke me and I wouldn't let her. Thank goodness for that one little bit of common sense. But I did give in and choke her. She had me press my hand a certain way to her throat, and in seconds her eyes rolled back and she dropped to the floor. It was scary. She seemed to get some sort of high off it.

[flobee76]

This happened to my friend's son a few years ago... he was only 13.

 

WARNING: Faint of heart, do not scroll down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His parents found him. It was an experiment. He was only supposed to choke himself until he passed out (via hanging)... he was even video taping himself to show his friends later...

 

tragic.

[justasque]

There is a very good podcast on this subject, part of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Grand Rounds lecture series, titled "Asphyxial Games in Children". It's done by a forensic pathologist from Connecticut. (Hardly any medical jargon, so accessible/understandable by the average non-medical person.)

[cin]

I'm 34, and when I was about 12 I had a friend as me to choke her. She wanted to choke me and I wouldn't let her. Thank goodness for that one little bit of common sense. But I did give in and choke her. She had me press my hand a certain way to her throat, and in seconds her eyes rolled back and she dropped to the floor. It was scary. She seemed to get some sort of high off it.

 

Not trying to make things worse for anybody, just more PSA, this is also used as an auto er0t1c4 thing. It's suppose to make the 'O' better, or something. I haven't read on it extensively. Just researched enough to confirm it before I posted it. Again, just wanted you all to be aware in case you would hear about something that does that, you'll have a better idea that they are, essentially talking about asphyxiating themselves.

[Ohdanigirl]

Not trying to make things worse for anybody, just more PSA, this is also used as an auto er0t1c4 thing. It's suppose to make the 'O' better, or something. I haven't read on it extensively. Just researched enough to confirm it before I posted it. Again, just wanted you all to be aware in case you would hear about something that does that, you'll have a better idea that they are, essentially talking about asphyxiating themselves.

 

Yes I have heard this before. I also have heard about the choking game. Both of them, I learned about in a movie or T.V. I never tried it and never would have known about it otherwise. It is so scary. I am so sorry for that child's family.

 

I think parents want to see their preteens as little adults. We need to remember that this is not the case. Dc this age often follow the "It won't happen to me" train of thought. They are more likely to take risks. Also, they are under a lot of pressure that we adults may not always notice.

 

This is so sad.:confused:

 

Danielle

[Twilight Woods]

My daughters public school has been doing PSA once a year since she was in first grade.

[Parrothead]

Not trying to make things worse for anybody, just more PSA, this is also used as an auto er0t1c4 thing. It's suppose to make the 'O' better, or something. I haven't read on it extensively. Just researched enough to confirm it before I posted it. Again, just wanted you all to be aware in case you would hear about something that does that, you'll have a better idea that they are, essentially talking about asphyxiating themselves.

This I've heard of. The other, no. I'll give a warning to dd and her friend's moms

[Penelope]

Not trying to make things worse for anybody, just more PSA, this is also used as an auto er0t1c4 thing. It's suppose to make the 'O' better, or something. I haven't read on it extensively. Just researched enough to confirm it before I posted it. Again, just wanted you all to be aware in case you would hear about something that does that, you'll have a better idea that they are, essentially talking about asphyxiating themselves.

 

Yes, the movie Blue Velvet. Shudder. A movie I didn't even finish, but would like to unwatch.

[*********]

I heard about this a while ago, but never talked to the kids about it. I just talked to dh, and we will be discussing it with dsd and dss next time they're over.

 

Scary stuff. Thanks for posting, OP.

[Carol in Cal.]

Well, I understand the curiosity. When I was a kid, there was a Judy Bolton mystery that mentioned that pressure on a certain part of your neck made you pass out. I assumed that I could figure it out. I didn't, but honestly, looking back on it I can't believe that I even tried something so stupid.

 

Same with chloroform. You read references to using it for anesthesia so much that it sounds benign. I'll bet kids sniff it if they can get ahold of it, and never even think about the fact that they could be doing something risky.

[Cindy in FL.]

An adult woman in my previous church died while engaged in the se*ual form of this "game".

[Cindy in C-ville]

I remember being at the bus stop in 5th/6th grade. We would take turns hyperventilating with a friend standing behind us holding us around the waist. At some point, we'd hold our breath and the friend would sort of squeeze like he/she was doing the Heimlich maneuver with the goal being to pass-out. I don't think it ever really worked, but I do remember getting light-headed. I remember being afraid of getting in trouble if an adult saw us doing it. I'm guessing this is the same thing. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[In the Rain]

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Edited June 1, 2011 by Julianna

[Blessedchaos]

RanchGirl,

 

We must live in the same community. I saw the obit in the Sunday paper and then saw it on the news. The next morning I sat my kids down and showed them the obit and asked what they noticed about it. Of course they noticed she was only 13 years old. I then showed them the news cast and we talked about it. Luckily they seemed to think it was a pretty dumb thing to do, but you never know...

 

I had heard about this before. There are just so many scary things to worry about as a parent nowadays. A boy at my ds's middle school just hung himself about three weeks ago, so we just had a conversation about suicide as well. These things scare me so much as a parent.

[sleepymommy]

What rock have I been living under? I have never heard of this game.

 

I feel horrible for that girl's family, so sad.

[I.Dup.]

An adult woman in my previous church died while engaged in the se*ual form of this "game".

 

How embarrassing, esp. that it became public knowledge! What a cr@ppy way to go!

 

This is very sad. Kids (and adults) can be so foolish.

[Ginevra]

Not trying to make things worse for anybody, just more PSA, this is also used as an auto er0t1c4 thing. It's suppose to make the 'O' better, or something. I haven't read on it extensively. Just researched enough to confirm it before I posted it. Again, just wanted you all to be aware in case you would hear about something that does that, you'll have a better idea that they are, essentially talking about asphyxiating themselves.

 

Yes, tragically, the 16yob of a mom I "knew" in cyberspace accidentally hung himself this way. I had never heard of that before. I still think about how awful that was for that family. Who would ever think of preparing their child to know about that and urge them not to do it? How would you ever enter a subject with your teen son about that anyway?