An Experiment or Death by Strangulation

Another report about our deadly friend The choking game, still deadly, still here, not a trend, so get educated and stay educated on what you might be doing to your body.

credit:(dailyRx)

Reports, from the US and Canada, show that adolescents are experimenting with the ‘choking game’. Creating awareness of brain damage and accidental death may curb an adolescents interest.

It appears the choking game has been spreading across the nation for a few years.

A recent study assessed the choking game in Oregon’s eight-grade population. Researchers suggested spreading awareness of the risks and dangers to put an end to it.

Talk to your kids about choking risks.
Kenneth D. Rosenberg, MD, MPH, Robert J. Nystrom, MA, and Sarah K. Ramowski, MSW, from the Oregon Health Authority of the Public Health Division, teamed up with Julie Gilchrist, MD, and Nigel R. Chaumeton, PhD, from the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to look at the risks involved when eight-graders play the choking game.

The choking game is pretty simple. An individual or a group cuts off the blood flow to the brain or induces hyperventilation to generate a high.

The problems with the choking game are twofold: loss of oxygen to the brain kills brain cells, and accidental death from loss of oxygen or asphyxiation.

Oregon isn’t the only place where adolescents participate in the choking game. A recent study looked at accidental death from the choking game in Canada, while another investigated the prevalence of the choking game in Texas.

The Oregon Health Authority gathered data from 2009 on 5,348 eighth-graders. To get a full picture, the team asked about the prevalence and frequency of the individual’s choking game experience and, “included questions about physical and mental health, gambling, sexual activity, nutrition, physical activity/body image, exposure to violence, and substance use.”

Only 6.1 percent of both male and female eight-graders reported having ever participated in the choking game. Of those participants 64 percent had played more than once and 26.6 percent had played more than five times.

The research team found, “Among Oregon eight-graders surveyed, greater than 6% had ever participated in the choking game. Participation was linked to poor nutrition and gambling among females, exposure to violence among males, and sexual activity and substance use among both genders.”

Authors conclude, “The results of this study reveal that choking game participation clusters with other risk behaviors and is not an activity, among those studies, that is more likely to be found among high-achieving, low-risk-taking youth.”

Authors recommend awareness and intervention from parents, teachers and health care professionals to prevent or stop this behavior.

This study was published in the journal Pediatrics, May 2012. No external funding was provided and no conflicts of interest were disclosed.

More information and education here: www.ed4ed4all.com
Our team of educators and specialists in this area will be glad to help you, email me anytime if you know of someone that needs help or has questions about the choking game, our organization is also available for speaking engagements at schools, churches, clubs, etc. email me here ernursescare@charter.net

Leslie

Vote~ Kids are Dying~ Faces of The Choking Game

Every child seen here (and thousands more) DIED from 'playing' a 'game', many died within minutes!! Please TAKE A MINUTE and SAVE FUTURE Kids from the same fate. We need to win $10K in the Pepsi Refresh Everything Grant Challenge to hold a National Conference to Educate on the Dangers of the Choking Game.

Please join us in Saving lives - we need your votes and texts! With only days left - we are extremely close to winning to grant - but we desperately need more votes to get there. YOUR Vote or Text could make the $10K difference and the difference in the life of a child!!

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TEXT 109321 (message) to 73774 (recipient)
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Please visit our blog for more information, I am proud to also work with this team of warriors for the safety of our children. As the Injury Prevention Specialist for Ed4Ed4all,I have been blessed to meet so many people that have suffered great loss due to the death of a child from the "choking game" This senseless behavior has got to stop and that is why we work tirelessly to bring free education to any parent or educator. It will always be free and shared as a resource that it is.
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Image thanks to Christina Richert 

 article re-posted from child safety 101 "theexaminer.com"

Hopefully, if you are the parent of a young child or teen, you have heard of this game before.  If you haven't, you need to familiarize yourself with it and be prepared to talk to your child about its dangers.  Because most kids have heard of it, and many are playing it, sometimes with deadly consequences.
The Choking Game is also known by the names "Black Out" or "Pass Out", is defined by the CDC as "self-strangulation or stangulation by another person with the hands or a noose to achieve a brief euphoric state caused by cerebral hypoxia."  Translation?  Kids, primarily between 9 and 16 years old, are attempting to get a quick high by cutting off the oxygen to their brain for short periods of time.
The danger is that when a person's brain is deprived of oxygen for even short periods of time, brain damage or death can result.  Kids, who often play this game in groups, may never have witnessed any adverse effects, and therefore think the game is safe.  But its not.  According to the Games Children Shouldn't Play (GASP) website, between 250 and 1,000 kids die playing this game each year.
In What is the Choking Game, we examined this scary, potentially deadly game that is "played" by thousands of kids every year.  Awareness is great, but parents also need to know what they can do to prevent their child from falling victim to this trend, and what signs to look for that may indicate that their child is already participating.
Choking Game Prevention
The most important thing parents can do is talk to their kids about this game and it's dangers.  Many parents may be hesitant to do so, fearing that if they bring up the subject, they may be giving kids the "idea" to engage in this practice.  However, according to the Games Adolescents Shouldn't Play (GASP) website, most kids already know about the game anyway.  What they don't know is how deadly it can be. The GASP website has educational materials you can use to talk to kids about this dangerous activity.
Choking Game Warning Signs
The GASP website lists some of the common warning signs that a child may be engaging in The Choking Game:

• Any suspicious mark on the side of the neck, sometimes hidden by a turtleneck, scarf or permanently turned-up collar.
• Changes in personality, such as overtly aggressive or agitated.
• Any kind of strap, rope or belt lying around near the child for no clear reason—and attempts to elude questions about such objects.
• Headaches (sometimes excruciatingly bad ones), loss of concentration, flushed face.
• Bloodshot eyes or any other noticeable signs of eye stress.
• A thud in the bedroom or against a wall—meaning a fall in cases of solitary practice.
• Any questions about the effects, sensations or dangers of strangulation.

If you suspect a child may be engaging in this behavior, let their parents know right away.  Talk to them about the dangers, and refer them to the GASP website for more information.
Please take the time to view this short video about The Choking Game.
Thank you to Susan Carney Child Safety Examiner on the website examiner.com for this article to help us make parents more aware of this dangerous youth risk behavior, the team at Ed4Ed and Gasp want everyone to be more aware and look for all the signs. A complete injury prevention program for any parent or educator is located on our blog at Ed4Ed4All.blogspot.com please visit and educate yourself. You might just save a life that you love.