Breath Control Play
by Vamp
Notes from within Reality: We have read all sorts of information on the web about breath control play but these following resources to us seem to be the most accurate and up to date that we have seen around the web on this topic (we are not doctors so of course don't have any medical knowledge). Please play responsibly and know the risk of what you doing. We take no legal responsibility for any information given within in these resources. Reprinted with permission from author.
Table Of Contents
Introduction
I found while trying to put this information together that it is hard to get a lot of information about breath control. Many people are afraid that by giving information they will encourage someone to play this way and if that person ends up dead they will feel responsible. This strikes me a lot like the argument of those that say if teenagers are kept in the dark about sex they won't do it. I don't buy that argument and I don't think that any information is a bad thing. The documentation of erotic asphyxiation goes back to the 1600's at the very least. It was used back then as a form of therapy for those suffering from impotence. Breath play hasn't gone away yet and I don't think it will. Some claim that the media is responsible for a resurgence in interest and thus a higher mortality rate with this kind of play. I believe if anything, the lack of information available and the attitude of shame that surrounds it even in the counterculture has caused many of us who do it to not seek information and to experiment in sometimes deadly ways. I think if we have more information on what to avoid we'll have less problems. It is well documented that those that die of this play are usually playing alone and using a mechanism that doesn't protect them in case of fainting. I don't happen to think that people that do breathplay are suicidal, I'm sure not...and if I have better information I can do what I want to do better and safer.
I am not interested in convincing anyone to try this form of play or to tell anyone not to do it. I happen to do this play and I love it, but I am educated about the risks as I think anyone should be before any type of play. I admit that I became a lighter player after I found out how much could go wrong.
I am interested in putting together a list of informational pages about breath control or things related to breath control. If you own such a site or know of one, please write to me at breathplay@hotmail.com and I will add a link to your site and give you the nifty graphic and permission to link to this site. I am not interested in linking to pornographic sites or sites that do not deal with the technique, science, safety issues, legal issues, or the psychological elements of this play. I'm a research pervert as you can tell.
Thank you for your help to bring about a change in the level of information about this controversial (and enjoyable) type of play!
Vamp:)=
vamp_ire@hotmail.com
Definitions of Breath Control
Breath Control Play:
This is the process of limiting or restricting air and/or the supply of oxygen to the brain.
Auto-erotic asphyxiation:
The process of limiting or restricting air and/or the supply of oxygen to the brain WHILE ALONE.
Strangling: This usually involves compression of the carotid arteries to prevent blood from reaching the brain.
Suffocation: This involves somehow reducing the level of oxygen in the air available to breathe (usually gradually).
Hanging: This is a type of play that involves being suspended by the neck.
"New" breath play: The process of making someone more conscious of, directing, or using breath in play. The process of role playing or bringing about the psychological state of traditional breath play without using traditional methods.
Difference Between Snuff and Breath Control Play
I just thought we should address this as soon as possible. Unfortunately, too many people seem to think these two things are related when they certainly are not. I am sure that some people are into both or combine them but that is not what this site is about. This site is about love, life, exploration, and consensual breath control in which everyone intends to remain healthy.
So, here is the difference:
Why do we do it?
This is very individual. A person might as well ask, why do people have sex? I will attempt to explain a few reasons why I enjoy it.
Breath Control from the Bottom
Bondage has quite a draw for me and this type of play indulges that interest. It is quite powerful to feel yourself restricted in any way that involves the face or throat. When I wear a gasmask or hood during play I also have a freedom from having to worry about what I look like or what is going on around me. The gasmask becomes fogged and makes the world seem like a dream and the hood that I wear totally blocks my vision and hearing so I escape into a world inside my own head. I enjoy the feeling of being held tight everywhere...and this play works on that level.
Oxygen deprivation effects also attract a lot of us. When you have a lower amount of oxygen available (hypoxia) or no oxygen (anoxia) you start to feel a little dream like and light headed. This can be very pleasurable to some people. Depending on the person they will enjoy different levels of this. Some people like to routinely be taken to faint and other people like to only experience a slight light headed feeling from it.
Panic and Risk are sometimes elements that a person craves and can enjoy. I happen to enjoy them if I feel them in a context of a situation where I feel fairly secure that I will come through it energized and healthy. I get the same feeling from breath control that I get from playing tag. It is a rush of adrenaline and a feeling of being a bit out of control for awhile. I wouldn't enjoy it if I didn't feel totally safe in the situation I was in...the same as I wouldn't enjoy "tag" if it was with someone who was unsafe.
Submission is a thing that I enjoy. I like to give myself over to the desires of my partner for a time and show them that I have a trust in them that extends to my very existence. Some might think that is pretty extreme and I would remind them that if they have "regular" sex with someone without a condom they are doing the same thing...putting their life in the hands of their partner. I wouldn't trust just anyone with this play. To give my breath to my partner is an ultimate form of surrender and trust that leads me to feel more affectionate and safe with them. Masochism is also a part of this for me. I am a masochist and I enjoy the type of sensation I feel when I am being tightly compressed in a corset or someone is covering my mouth roughly. I also find that for some reason the breath control can effect the way I feel pain in a fun and interesting way.
Breath Control from the Top
Bondage is something I enjoy to do with someone. I think it is fun to hold someone and control them in every way possible. It is an ultimate form of bondage when you start taking over a person's vital functions. This bondage can be incredibly subtle and done in public. I can simply tell my partner not to breath. It is sexy and enjoyable.
Oxygen deprivation effects can be fun to help a partner experience. I personally don't get much from helping them to reach that state and I get a tad worried about taking someone's air away for too long but I will endeavor to give someone this experience if I feel that their health is appropriate for it.
Trust is something that I like to see in my partner. I enjoy the fact that they trust me enough to let me take control of something so vital. I feel very honored and excited when a partner knows me so well and feels so safe with me that they can enjoy the thrill of this play ...the panic....the risk...and know I will endeavor to ultimately make it a wonderful experience for us.
Dominance is a strong element of this play for me. I want to feel a person's total surrender to my control of a scene. It is a wonderful rush to for me when my partner allows me to shape their actions to this extreme.
Sadism is a something that I enjoy indulging in with a partner who will appreciate it. I like watching the struggle, humiliation, and panic of a partner. The reason that I enjoy it is that I know my partner deeply craves these things and I like to fulfill them.
I want to stress that I would only enjoy breath control with a partner that made fully informed consent to participate in it with me. I don't believe in ever "surprising" a person with this or any other form of play. I feel my partner should fully understand the risks and benefits of the types of play I want to do with them before they are ever in a situation of having to say yes or no to it. I am not someone that advocates coercion or pressure on a partner. No matter what the play style is that I am involved in I believe in always negotiating as equals. Sometimes that negotiation might involve their initial request that I do pressure them for play...in which case I will. It is essential that some kind of non-verbal and verbal safewords are in place for this (and in my opinion all) types of play).
Good partner material
These are, of course, my opinions of what I would expect in a partner. Everyone has different criteria for this and they have the right to those criteria.
The most important element in this or any type of play is mutual respect and trust. I would never consider being involved in this sort of thing with anyone I trusted with less than my very life. I think that aside from the basic trustworthiness a person who is interested in being involved in this sort of play should have a good idea of their health and a good working knowledge of CPR and first aid. I also think that an education in the anatomy and the physiology involved in the play should be a priority.
I take the risk factors that I know of into account when choosing a partner. You can read the section about who is most at risk and make your own choices on the matter. My partner in this play is very young and fit. He is a diver with a history of being able to hold his breath on long dives with no problem. I am well aware that doesn't erase the risks involved but I certainly feel more secure that it lessens some of them.
Traditional Methods and Risks (with a partner)
This section is written for people who will be engaging in breath play with a partner. If you intend to engage in solo play, please read the solo play section.
Playing this way with a partner really lessens your chance of experiencing complications and makes more play options available for the simple reason that you will have someone to help you if you pass out. Aside from that, if you have some form of injury occur you will have someone to help you get assistance. The main downside to play with a partner is that you have to spend a lot of time finding the person you will literally trust your life with and if something goes horribly wrong you may end up convicted of a crime or having your lover convicted of a crime. The physiological things mentioned in another section will all still be present so even if you play very "safe" you could end up drawing the short straw and taking the consequences. Out of 25 million people in the U.S., it is estimated that 250 will die of erotic asphyxiation in a year. Of those 250, almost all of them will be auto-erotic asphyxiation (solo play). Therefore, statistically your chances of partner play going wrong are pretty darn low if you pay attention to avoiding the risks you can control. With that in mind...let's talk about how things could be done and how to lower the risks.
Some things to consider no matter what kind of method you use is how your partner will signal you if there is a problem and they can't talk. Whatever the signal it should automatically happen if they faint. An example of a signal I've used is having someone hold their hand up...or put it on my hips...or something. It has to be in a place that if they faint...the hand will fall. It is important you pay very close attention to your partner and choose someone you trust with your life. It goes without saying (but I'm gonna say it anyway) that you need to make sure that if your partner faints they don't fall and harm themselves. It may also be a good idea to take into account what would happen to your partner if something were to happen to you during play. For example, you may think a bit before mummifying them (in a way they can't escape) and putting a plastic bag on their head with rubber bands. If you were to faint or something, they wouldn't be able to get out and save themselves. I can't tell you what is an acceptable risk, but I thought I better bring the subject up for you to think about.
For the purpose of this discussion I will refer to the person who is having their air taken away as the "bottom." This is a term used in BDSM that just seems the easiest to use here.
Having the bottom hold their breath
This is simple and will probably save you from prosecution if anything goes wrong with the play. You can simply tell your partner not to breathe. The most important thing to watch with this would be that if they faint you need to make sure they don't fall and hurt themselves. I think that this is a pretty sexy way to play...and if you have a fetish for objects you can work that into this. For example, if I were doing a scene using this I might hold a ligature loosely around my partner's neck and tell them not to breath. If I were involved in playing with them in a BDSM context, I might dress it up with some kind of passionate threat that I would strangle them to death with the ligature if they breathed before I gave them permission. Another possibility would be wrapping them in plastic but not covering their mouth and nose. Then telling them not to breathe as I held a feather over their mouth and nose and told them that if they breathed I would punish them.
Nose Pinching
This is my favorite type of breath play to use. It can be accomplished many ways and I will only name a few here. You can cover your bottom's mouth and nose with your hands. You can put duct tape (I recommend the name brand) over their mouth and pinch their nose closed with your hands. You can put a gag in their mouth and pinch off their nose with a clothespin. You get the idea. This method needs to take into consideration what will happen if the bottom vomits. I recommend that if you use a gag, it is one that doesn't have a complicated closure. I recommend Velcro if possible. If you must use a complicated gag, then have some heavy-duty scissors literally in hand to cut through the bondage if you have to get them out of it fast. The stuff to remember with this is all pretty basic and it has little chance of any real problem developing as long as you restore normal breathing to the bottom if they faint.
Queening or Kinging
Okay, so I don't know if Kinging is the proper term but it is the one I'm going to use because I like it. Queening is basically when a woman smothers a person by pressing her sex into their face so that they can't breath. Kinging is basically when a man uses his sex to keep a woman from breathing as he pinches her nose closed somehow. I think it is fun to wear a harness with a dildo and use that method of domination myself. Obviously you could smother people with other body parts too, but I won't go into every part you could use. The risks are all about the same. If anything is in a person's mouth that could spark a gag reflex, I think it is important not to insert it too deep or someone could throw up and inhale their own vomit. Many of us have faced that fear even when we weren't doing breath control..haha. If you are sitting on someone's face, it is really important to have some non-verbal signals since you may not notice if they faint.
Gas Masks or Hoods
I love these. They are some of my personal favorites but they are a tad riskier than the options I mentioned earlier. You can put the bottom in a gas mask (my favorite is the Israeli style) and cover the air inlet. If you are really creative, you can attach a tube to the air inlet and cut the air off by placing the tube opening against the body of the Top or bottom. It is hard to describe how delicious it is to be gasping from lack of air and have the tube placed against one of my nipples so that I am literally sucking on it with each gasp. Be very familiar with the gas mask and how to get it off quick if the bottom vomits from lack of oxygen. In the case of hoods, the first thing I would mention is that you need some way to monitor the bottom's state while they are in it. Depending on what style hood you are using, you will need to adjust your play style accordingly. I recommend a hood with a mouth opening that you can cover so that it could be open if the person gets sick. If you choose to use some kind of discipline hood that uses tubes in the nose and mouth of your bottom you may want to be especially careful that if your bottom passes out, the tubes won't get jammed into them too far if they fall. It is also important that you can remove the hood fast if the need arises. As much as I love inflatable hoods, they are slow to remove and I think them poorly suited for breath control play. When you restore breathing to your bottom, it is important that you make sure there is nothing in the air that may hinder their breathing or harm them to inhale through the tubes. I've inhaled latex polish and baby powder and I can tell you it isn't fun.
Bags/Plastic wrap
The main things to keep in mind are all pretty obvious. Remove the bag or plastic if the person faints. I would recommend that the material be held in place by hand. If you opt for another way of holding it in place, try to avoid any pressure to the larynx.
Rebreathing bladders
These are usually attached to gas masks or hoods. If you use them that way, see my comments above. If you use these with tubes or something just remember to make sure the tubes don't go too far down the bottom's throat or up their nose.
Pressure on the Trachea and/or Hanging
This form of play requires a lot of caution. If you are somehow compressing the trachea, it is important to do so by slowly applying pressure and making sure not to apply pressure to the larynx. One method is to take a curved finger and place it at the part of the throat where it meets the chin and pushing up and back slowly. Another method is to apply pressure below the larynx (sometimes with a scarf). A lot of injuries can occur to the trachea this way if you press too hard. If you are going to use a ligature or noose, it is safer if you use one that doesn't constrict. If it does, make sure it is wide and padded. If it is too narrow, it will cut or twist the skin causing bruising and damage to things such as blood vessels, nerves, the cervical spine, and the windpipe. It may also be a good idea to use a dry lubricant such as baby powder and a soft type of rope or ligature. If you are hanging someone, it is important never to drop them into place. That could break their spine. I think a really nice form of rigging for hanging is when a person is raised into place with their feet still on the ground. If you decide to try airwalking, there is a significant possibility of damage to the spine.
Compression of the chest
I like to simply have a lover lay on me and make it impossible for me to breathe. I'm rather teeny so if I have a big partner, they can accomplish this pretty easy. Another form of chest compression is corseting. I can personally attest to how wonderfully hot it is to barely be able to breath in when wearing one. If you pursue corseting, you should do some research on that particular topic. However you compress the chest, you need to go slowly and carefully. It would be easy to break a person's ribs. It is my understanding that when you ease up on someone you should do it slowly or they may faint.
Pressure on the carotid artery
It takes about 15 seconds of pressure on the carotid arteries to cause unconsciousness. If you use this method, bear in mind that you are cutting blood off from the brain and physically stimulating baroreceptors that will cause the vagus nerve to fire off impulses that could cause cardiac arrest. Other than that, it is important to avoid pressure to the larynx and damage to the blood vessels. Do not ever twist the skin or underlying structure of the neck while doing this. It could cause injury to the spine or internal trauma to the neck. A simple way to accomplish this is to stand behind the bottom and place the bend of your elbow in front of your partners throat. Then slowly bend your arm applying pressure on the carotid arteries but not on the front of the throat. Many police forces use this hold but most classify it as a form of deadly force.
Drugs
This is so incredibly dangerous that it amazes me that anyone is trying it. There are drugs that can induce asphyxia. I don't recommend them and I won't list them. I will list the problems with them. First, no one knows the safe dosage for you or your partner. Second, you can't reverse it quickly if things start to go wrong. Please remember that anesthesiologists train a very long time to be able to knock someone out safely and even when they use the best equipment and drugs available they can lose a person.
Alternate "Breath Play" Methods
Solo Play Methods and Risks
I never recommend playing alone, but if a person chooses to accept that risk I respect their choice.
Solo play is far more dangerous because if something goes wrong you have to be able to solve the situation yourself. This may be impossible if your problem is unconsciousness...a very natural part of our play. Most of the people who have died of breath play were solo players. The upside to solo play is that if you do happen to die, you will not leave behind a partner to possibly stand trial for assisting you in a consensual sexual act.
Here are some of the methods that people use in solo play...as with any form of asphyxiation play, all the physiological dangers will be present as will the dangers of vomiting, fainting, and seizuring. The cardinal rule of solo play is to have a fail-safe that automatically activates the instant you faint! Do not think that you will be able to operate the fail-safe yourself when you are groggy or beginning to faint.
Holding your breath
This is simple enough. You can hold your breath and have both hands free for other things. The problem with this method is that unless you are really good at resisting your urge to breath, you could let up before you really want to. Also, if you have a particular fetish for certain types of items (such as bags or nooses), I know this may not fulfill you. You might try holding, touching, or wearing the item in question but I don't know if that would work for you. I have a latex fetish and just touching it is wonderful...your mileage might vary on that one. This style of play is going to be for people who are into the physiological feeling of asphyxiation and not so much into the objects that cause it. If that is you, then this is one of the best choices. Your body will naturally faint when you run dangerously low on oxygen and your main worry is making sure that when you faint you won't fall and injure yourself. The physiological dangers inherent in breath control will still be there and so will injuries related to fainting and vomiting but it is relatively safe. Many children hold their breath till they faint all the time and doctors don't seem to be too worried about it.
Nose Pinching
If you find that you have a hard time resisting the urge to breath, one of your options might be to wear an easily removable gag or duct tape over your mouth while you pinch your nose shut with your hand. I don't recommend pinching your nose shut with anything like a clothespin because when you faint you will probably not have enough time to remove the clothespin. It would only take one mistake of leaving the clothespin on to end up dead. So, use your hand. If you faint, it will fall away and you will be able to breathe through your nose. Don't play this way if you have a cold or other problem breathing through your nose. The advantage of this play is that it doesn't take as much will power. I hear that the name brand duct tape is easier to remove then the generic brand but be aware that it may irritate the skin or hurt when coming off. If you use a gag, use one that you can take off in a second. I wouldn't recommend the use of any gag with a buckle closure. In fact, it may be useful to just hold the gag in your mouth without closing it in the back. The reason for this precaution is that if you vomit from lack of oxygen, you will need to get the gag off quick.
Suffocating yourself with objects
Pressing your face into something so you find it hard to breathe is another method. I think this can work out if you are standing or kneeling and pressing something into your face, such as a pillow or something. The main thing to be aware of is that you have to make sure that if you faint, the thing will fall away from your face and give you air. It is also important that if you fall you won't harm yourself too badly.
Gas Masks or Hoods
I happen to have a major gas mask fetish. I love to wear them and hear my breathing. I love the feeling of all-inclusive bondage I get from them. If you decide to use a gas mask on your own and cover the opening so you don't get any fresh air, please consider just using your hand rather than taping it shut. If you use your hand, it will fall away when you faint. If you use tape or any other method that will not remove itself in case of fainting you could die after a miscalculation of how close you were to unconsciousness. I think this method of self-play is a bit more dangerous than the others above because if you throw up, you will have it trapped in the mask until you can manage to remove it and it will be easy to inhale it.
If you wear a hood, such as a discipline hood that encloses your face and has tubes for the mouth and/or nose areas, I think you are taking a big risk doing solo play. If you are dead set on wearing one, I would suggest one with a mouth opening that you cover with your hand or place a gag into while shutting off the tubes for the nose with your hands (not by using clips...but just by covering the openings with your hands). That way if you throw up, you can spit out the gag. If you faint, you will have a chance that your hands will fall away and you will land in a way that does not block the tubes. Many of the discipline hoods have tubes that actually are placed up into the nostrils and mouth....and are independent of the mask itself (so they can slide), this is important to remember because if you faint you could easily jam those tubes very far up your nose or into your throat. Many hoods are difficult to remove and the latex inflatable ones that I am fond of can be near impossible to put on or take off properly without a partner, so I don't recommend them for solo play.
Bags
One of the ways that many people have died is by placing bags over their heads and fastening them there with rubber bands. They poke holes in the bag when they feel as if they are going to faint. This method allows for zero mistakes. More experienced and more knowledgeable people than you have died doing this. The bad news is that if you fainted in that situation described above, you couldn't survive. The good news is there is a way to get the same type of high...and even carry it to fainting...while having an excellent chance of it not causing a life-threatening situation. I'm sure that if you have ever hyperventilated, you have held a paper bag over your nose and mouth and experienced "therapeutic rebreathing." Well, if you use a plastic bag instead, you can do the same thing and even carry it to fainting while sitting up or in some other position that allows for the bag falling away automatically when you faint.
Rebreathing bladders
This is a tricky one to play with safely in a solo scene. I would say that if you could absolutely secure the air bladder and tube so that it could not move you could then put your mouth on the tube and pinch off your nose (with your hands preferably). It would have to be done so that if you fall, you would fall away from the tube and onto something that would not harm you. My instinct would be to hook something to the ceiling that you would have to reach up to slightly to put your mouth on.
Pressure on the Trachea and/or Hanging
I think that most of us would find this method a tad tricky as a solo practice. It is natural for us to release ourselves and panic when something presses into our windpipe. I imagine that a person could do this sort of play by taking a curved finger and pressing it into the trachea (up and back) where the neck meets the chin or by pressing into the windpipe below the larynx. Either way, the major downside to playing like this alone is that if you injure your windpipe or larynx you are going to be in big trouble if you are all alone. As long as the pressure is applied with your own hands, you do not have to worry about strangulation itself that much because your hands will fall away when you faint. If you use something like a ligature that tightens around the neck, you are really taking a big risk though. In that case you could easily injure your cervical spine, trachea, or larynx and even more importantly...if you pass out, the ligature may not ease up and could strangle you after you faint. This is one of those behaviors that has led to a lot of deaths when done solo. It is usually when someone opts for a ligature device that tightens and does not automatically release when they faint. Hanging is a practice I cannot ever recommend as a solo experience. It was designed to snap the spine and it is important to understand that if you are airwalking, you must not drop into position. Even a drop of 1 inch could break your neck or cause serious injury. If you are doing a solo hanging, you are taking a very, very big risk of all kinds of injury and if you faint, you are dead unless someone finds you in time. Some ways you can manage some of the injuries involved in hanging are by padding the noose, adding a dry lubricant to the skin of the neck, and always keeping your feet touching the floor. Once again, this play and Bagging are the two forms of auto-erotic asphyxiation that lead to the most reported fatalities.
Compression of the chest
I cannot currently think of a way to induce asphyxia through crushing the chest of a person that would allow a fail-safe feature that would automatically be in effect if the person faints. I can say that corseting is a form of specialized breath control and if you have an interest in that, you can see websites specific to that. Otherwise, I just don't have a clue how to make this safer other than never have anything apply pressure to the chest suddenly and violently. It must be slow and avoid trauma to the ribs. It is important that when someone feels faint while wearing a corset, they are slowly unlaced and have the corset slowly let out. If it is too rapid, they will generally faint or go into a form of shock. An interesting aside...in early America, if a lady died from her corset she was said to have be "screwed to death." What a thing to have printed in the newspaper.
Pressure on the carotid artery
This would be tricky to achieve while getting off. I suppose you could put pressure on your carotid arteries yourself with your hands because they would fall away when you fainted. If you have some form of device do it, you are taking one heck of a deadly chance though. It takes about 15 seconds of proper pressure to the arteries of the neck to cause unconsciousness and if the blood flow isn't restored, you are dead.
Drugs
This is so incredibly dangerous that it amazes me that anyone is trying it. There are drugs that can induce asphyxia. I don't recommend them and I won't list them. I will list the problems with them. First, no one knows the safe dosage for you. Second, if you overreact or have an odd response to the drug and you are alone, you are basically dead. Third, you can't reverse it quickly if things start to go wrong. I would advise against this even if you happened to be a trained anesthesiologist with the best equipment money could buy. It shouldn't be done alone, no matter what.
Physiological and Emotional elements and risks
Premature Ventricular Contractions
When the body gets low on oxygen (for any reason) the heart starts to receive extra "pacemaker" type signals. It is an attempt by the body to kick start the heart into action so that oxygenated blood will reach the brain. These signals are very difficult to pick up on even with a person hooked to medical equipment designed to pick up on them! A very skilled physician may be able to figure out when a person is starting to "throw PVC's" if they have the proper equipment and background, but even they will have intense difficulty. The extra pacemaker signals will usually effect the heart by making the ventricles contract irregularly. If one of these signals makes the heart contract at the wrong time, it can lead to the heart beating irregularly and ineffectively and finally to ventricular fibrillation (a form of cardiac arrest).
This is a very rare and very deadly phenomenon. If this happens during breath control play, it may be completely undetectable at first. The person throwing PVC's will most likely be completely unaware of it and may seem well after the play is over. The thing is, the PVC's may continue for up to 36 hours afterwards and the person may go into cardiac arrest at any time.
This is one of the reasons why working knowledge of CPR is really mandatory for this kind of play. Be aware that even with immediate CPR done exactly properly on a person they only have about 10% chance of coming out of cardiac arrest when it is caused in this way. If they do come out of the cardiac arrest, there is no guarantee that they won't go into cardiac arrest again.
The best chance of survival in a situation like that is when a defibrillator is available. These are incredibly expensive (the lowest quoted price I've seen on one is $4,000) and they still offer no guarantee of survival even when in the hands of a trained physician. They do offer the best chance of survival, however, because they can repolarize the heart the most effectively.
Perspective Now, I would like to offer some perspective on this very scary phenomenon. The body sends out these signals whenever the body is lacking oxygen. Therefore, you are just as likely to experience this if you are straining and holding your breath while going to the bathroom, doing aerobics, moving furniture, snorkeling, having sex, or going to a higher elevation then you are used to. They rarely cause a problem (obviously) because we do a lot of these things all the time. The problem is that if they happen to your partner at the wrong time, it can mean a murder charge for you. If one is using the argument that PVC's make any attempt at safety in breath control play worthless, I would say that is an incredible misrepresentation of the facts. One could easily use that logic to say that any activity that involves a slight lack of oxygen and extra work on the heart is possibly deadly. Living is dangerous...that is just a fact. The best a person can do is educate themselves about the risks and weigh them against the gains. Then, after making a decision, they should learn as much as they can about how to minimize the dangers. This is a danger that cannot really be minimized very much (outside of learning CPR or attaining a defibrillator), but there are many other factors in this type of play that can be adjusted to provide for more safety.
Respiratory Acidosis
If breathing is restricted, CO2 builds up and ultimately makes the blood more acidic (meaning decreasing its pH). This can cause headache, drowsiness, hyperventilation (as a way to compensate), cardiac dysrhythmias, gastrointestinal distress, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, blurred vision, and abdominal pain. In the extreme, it can cause death.
The best way to treat it is to restore normal breathing as soon as possible.
It is also important to monitor the person to make sure that Respiratory Acidosis is indeed the cause of the problems. It may be a very good idea to seek medical aid if symptoms do not clear up quickly. An important thing to gather from this is that those who have a build-up of CO2 may experience vomiting which is very dangerous if their airway is being restricted. It would be very easy for them to inhale their own vomit, which is deadly. Therefore, make sure that when you play with someone, they are not in any form of bondage that disallows for quick removal or would be difficult to position them in such a way that they could vomit safely. I think it is a very good idea to make sure that no matter how you are restricting oxygen, you could reverse it within seconds. Have a good pair of heavy bandage scissors. They are slightly curved and have blunt points so they can be worked beneath bondage without harming a person and can cut through materials to hasten the removal. I don't recommend using things that have a lot of buckles or that are very complicated when dealing in breath control.
Some perspective on this is that we experience this all the time and the body is an expert on how to come back from it. As long as you receive normal air as soon as possible it should never be much of a problem.
Respiratory Alkalosis If the person hyperventilates, CO2 is blown off and it makes the blood more alkaline (meaning increasing its pH). This can cause confusion and stupor, vomiting, hyperactive reflexes, seizure, rapid respiration, numbness, and coma. If the pH of the body increases drastically...it can be deadly.
The best way to treat it is by having someone do rebreathing until the hyperventilation calms down and then have a person breath normally. The classic example is to have them breath into a brown paper bag until they calm down.
Hyperventilation is something that we run into when doing breath control play because the body tries to compensate for the lack of oxygen and may go a bit overboard in doing so. It also is common that at times of fear a person will hyperventilate. The important thing to remember here is to monitor your partner for numbness and to be prepared for possible vomiting (see above) and seizures.
I would like to remind everyone that hyperventilation is extremely common and rarely becomes problematic. As long as an attempt is made to help the person calm down and do some rebreathing they should recover very quickly. This is a very common problem caused all the time by stress or physical exertion. The body is can deal with this easily if you help it along a bit.
Normal pH Range I've yet to figure out why people try to inform others of the proper range of pH for the body. I doubt that it will do anyone any good when playing. I suspect it is to be clever. In the interest of being clever, I shall offer that the normal pH of human blood is in the 7.35 to 7.45 range (slightly alkaline). If a person developed a pH falling to 6.9 (or raising to 7.8) they would no longer be in a range that sustains life. Now, don't you feel informed?
Metabolic Acidosis
If there's not enough oxygen to properly metabolize the pyruvate in the body, it is converted to lactic acid which changes the PH of the body. Pyruvate becomes a problem because the body attempts to metabolize glucose (sugar) by breaking it down into pyruvate that is supposed to quickly combine with oxygen and produce ATP which the body uses for energy but since the body doesn't have oxygen, it converts to lactic acid and starts to make the PH plummet.
This can cause headache, drowsiness, hyperventilation (as a way to compensate), cardiac dysrhythmias, gastrointestinal distress, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, blurred vision, and abdominal pain.
It is treated just like respiratory acidosis. Get them breathing regular air as soon as possible. Please see the explanation of respiratory acidosis for more information.
This is something that can quickly correct itself. It would most likely only become life threatening if breathing was not restored to normal quickly.
Legal history of prosecution and mortality stats
Legal history
Insurance
If a person is found to have died of auto-erotic asphyxiation, it may be ruled a suicide instead of an accident. It may also be considered a self-inflicted injury if a person manages to survive but is harmed. Therefore, a person should be aware that it will most likely invalidate their health insurance and life insurance.
Criminal Prosecution
I have to do better research in this area. I am currently aware that some people have had to face criminal prosecution or mandatory counseling because of their participation in consensual breath control. If you are caught in the act or are turned in as someone attempting suicide, most states can involuntarily commit you for a short time or force you into counseling. If you are involved in this play with a partner and something goes wrong, you could face charges involving manslaughter, murder, or criminal negligence. If your partner is injured or is angry at you, they may decide to sue you or take you to court for attempted murder, assault, domestic violence, or other charges. It is very important to be involved with someone that you trust with your life and reputation.
I have heard it suggested that people involved in partnered play write out some form of contract showing that they were involved in a consensual arrangement. It is a nice idea, but parties cannot make a legal contract about an illegal activity. There would also be a very strong chance that even if one could prove the legality of such a contract that it would be dismissed out of suspicion of coercion.
That said, it may be a very good thing to show a jury something that backs up your statement that you were involved in a consensual situation. Just do not have a false sense of safety with a "contract."
Mortality Stats
It is estimated that 1 person per million people in a population will die of erotic asphyxiation. Law enforcement has at times stated that they believe it to be much more like 4 people per million people in population but I would hesitate to put that statistic forward. I have read a bit about how forensic scientists and law enforcement decide that a death is erotic asphyxiation and most of the time it does make sense. They base it on obvious bodily signs of lack of oxygen like burst capillaries in the eyes and on the face of the victim to be sure they died of asphyxiation. They tend to put it in the "erotic" or "auto-erotic" category if they find pornography, open clothing, BDSM gear in the person's home, or some sign that perhaps the victim was attempting not to die from what they were doing (such as a noose that was padded). Some of these may be very good indicators, but I think it is very likely that they may include people who are murdered and then made to appear to have died of auto-erotic asphyxiation. They may also include suicides of people that were simply into BDSM. I also must admit that it is quite possible that those discovered by family or who die during breath control with a partner may have the scene "sanitized" before law enforcement or forensic experts see what has happened. I would think that they would figure out that asphyxiation is the cause but they may think it is something like positional asphyxia or sleep apnea if the scene is properly sanitized and the form of asphyxiation was subtle enough.
I wish I could offer what percentage of people that practice breath control play experience injury or death but there is simply no available data on even how many people practice this form of play. I can say that most of the people to die of erotic asphyxiation are people who are solo players. This is something that is exceptionally dangerous to do alone. Most of those who have died are using bags over their heads (held there by rubber bands or such), nooses around their necks, complicated machines that are difficult to turn off, or other such devices that do not allow for the possibility of the person passing out or becoming somewhat disoriented and surviving.
Possible long term health risks
>Brain
There is simply not any information directly related to this play. Therefore, information from other sources about such things as sleep apnea, the valsalva maneuver, and general hypoxia have been studied.
I can say that long term brain damage is a risk of this play. Whenever the brain is without fresh oxygen or the oxygen level is lowered substantially there will be brain damage. This damage is fairly generalized. Depending on the duration and amount of oxygen in the blood the damage will be different. To my knowledge, there is no formula for determining an exact amount of damage per second of hypoxia or anoxia.
I can say that many people with long term sleep apnea (one of the most common health concerns) usually only experience slightly detectable brain damage over many years of struggling with apnea. To be categorized as someone with sleep apnea they must experience at least 10 apneas + hypopneas per hour of sleep. An "apnea" is defined as a cessation of airflow that lasts at least ten seconds. A hypopnea is defined as a significant reduction in airflow lasting at least ten seconds and usually associated with a decline in a person's oxygen level.
The findings in such cases seem to suggest that some sleep apnea patients will perform worse on certain types of neurophsychological tests (especially those involving memory). They generally have complaints about their level of concentration and some are said to have undergone personality changes and have shorter tempers or depression. This may be attributed to brain damage, but there is no direct causality proven in the research I have seen. This all may just be attributed to poor quality of sleep the patients have. I have seen these very same symptoms appear in many studies of those experiencing sleep deprivation.
Therefore, while brain damage is certain whenever the brain experiences hypoxia or anoxia it has not been proven that noticeable brain damage has been noted in anyone due to breath control play involving lack of oxygen lasting under a minute (many apnea patients will experience apneas of this length). There have been some studies done on rats being deprived of oxygen for two minutes and then given air for half an hour before being deprived of air for two minutes again that resulted in heavy brain damage in the animals. I think that we could infer from this that repeatedly depriving someone of air till they faint and repeating the procedure over and over again is going to cause heavy brain damage. It is difficult to say, however, because people are a heck of a lot different from rats.
An important thing to know about the brain is that it does not grow new brain cells. Once you lose one, you lose it. Another important thing to understand is that the brain does not store oxygen as some of the other tissues in the body do. If your oxygen level is compromised, the damage starts close to immediately.
Now, I would like to add a little perspective. You lose brain cells all the time, our brain is set up so that we can endure a lot of brain damage without any real consequences. Drinking, drugs (even prescription drugs), aging, and many contact sports lead to regular brain damage. Once again, it is all a matter of being conscious of the risk and deciding what level of damage you are comfortable with. I happen to feel very comfortable with absences of oxygen that are under 30 seconds (but that is a personal choice).
I can tell you that it is always important to return a person to normal breathing if they are passing out from oxygen deprivation. I can tell you that anoxia is more dangerous than hypoxia. I can tell you that the longer the breath play continues the more damage will be done. I cannot tell you what is acceptable for you.
Heart and Lungs
There is simply not any information directly related to this play. Therefore, information from other sources about such things as sleep apnea, the valsalva maneuver, and general hypoxia have been studied. I have read many things that have stated that there are no long term effect on the heart or lungs. Almost all of the information below is extrapolated from studies on those with sleep apnea and thus they may be associated more with factors such as underactive thyroid gland, overactive pituitary gland (if it is secreting too much growth hormone), and obesity that is frequently seen in apnea patients. With that in mind here are some of the problems that are sometimes seen in sleep apnea patients:
High blood pressure (there is pretty good evidence of this).
Heart attack and stroke (there is very poor evidence of this).
Heart failure This is very rare and they usually experience marked swelling of their ankles and legs beforehand. Later they may experience some shortness of breath with exertion and or some swelling of their abdomen.
Heart arrhythmias (it is unlikely that apnea causes arrhythmias from the research I've read).
Respiratory (lung) failure This is extremely uncommon and only seen in the most severely affected apnea patients. Apnea patients who develop this usually experience some shortness of breath but usually they are unaware of the problem until the doctor does a blood test. If the body's oxygen level is very low or the carbon dioxide level is too high then this tells the doctor that the body's breathing system is not working properly and is starting to fail.
Common Injuries
Trachea
The trachea is commonly known as the windpipe and is essentially a cartilaginous tube. Some people who practice breath control put pressure on the trachea during play. There are a few important injuries that can come of that.
The trachea can rupture. This will cause intense pain, gasping for air, and thick secretions in the throat. This is a medical emergency and proper medical care must be sought immediately.
Another less immediate condition that can occur is Tracheitis. It is an inflammation of the trachea. The signs of tracheitis are thick and purulent secretions of the throat, swelling, croupy cough, sore throat, and fever. This may seem minor at first and it may correct itself if the throat is rested and you use a humidifier to help with the secretions. This can ultimately turn deadly very quickly, however, and I would feel uncomfortable with only doing this. Usually a hospital will deal with this condition by administering humidified oxygen, suctioning the throat, giving antibiotics, and monitoring a person's vital signs.
In either of these cases, there is always the possibility of an emergency tracheotomy and need for medical attention. This involves an incision that is made through the skin and muscles into the trachea to get air to the lungs. If you do a lot of play that involves pressure on the trachea, I would suggest you know how to perform an emergency tracheotomy.
I do not have information on whether repeated attempts of tracheal compression will weaken the trachea but I would personally recommend that if you are going to play in this way, you go about it with a slow even pressure. This is not something to do violently and it could easily get a bit rough in the heat of passion.
Larynx The larynx is the enlarged upper end of trachea below the root of the tongue. It is the organ of voice and consists of nine cartilages bound together by elastic membranes and moved by muscles. It is a very intricate structure and can be easily injured. Pressure to the larynx should always be avoided. Here are a few of the injuries that can occur.
A Fracture of the Larynx is an incredibly serious injury that needs immediate medical attention. Some signs of fracture or compression of larynx are loud breathing, choking and gasping respiration, weak and fast pulse, and blue skin. If left untreated, it will usually lead to death. It can also seriously effect the voice if a person does manage to survive the injury.
I would say that if you do any type of compression of the neck, it is important to do some research into emergency tracheotomy. If this type of injury occurs it will at least give your partner some chance of survival if the air is completely cut off with this injury.
The best way to avoid this injury is to learn where the larynx is and never do any form of play that places pressure upon it. If you practice some form of breath control that is going to press on the larynx, then at least apply it slowly and carefully and try to pad any apparatus that could be used around the neck. I really cannot stress enough how dangerous the consequences of this type of compression could be.
Laryngitis is also a complication of any form of compression of the larynx. It is essentially an inflammation of the larynx. Some symptoms of laryngitis are loss of voice, hoarseness, pain, and sometimes coughing.
It is usually harmless and doctors recommend that you rest your voice, take cough suppressants, and inhale steam. I would personally look into seeing a doctor for it just in case there is a slight fracture or other problem present causing the symptoms.
The best way to avoid this injury is to not put pressure on the larynx.
Blood Vessels
At times play puts stress on the blood vessels of the neck, especially the carotid arteries. This can cause several problems but I'm going to focus on dissection. There are two types, post-traumatic dissection and spontaneous. For our purposes, I will speak to the post-traumatic type.
Post-traumatic carotid dissection is essentially stretching and small tearing of the artery brought on by trauma such as strangulation.
The symptoms of this tearing are visual loss, weakness, numbness, or speech difficulties. These events may be transient or permanent.
The only treatment is to get to a doctor and have it evaluated. They usually test using MRI or angiography. If they find that you are suffering from it you will probably be given anticoagulation (blood thinning) drugs for a total of 8-12 weeks. They will also do repeated angiography before stopping treatment to ensure that the vessel has healed.
I think I should add some perspective about this injury. It most often occurs by people simply turning their head at the wrong time or by going to a chiropractor. It is a pretty common injury that doesn't necessarily need a lot of stress to come about.
The best advice I can offer to avoid this injury is that if you do hanging, you should pad the noose. If you have your partner strangle you, they should apply pressure to your neck slowly and never twist the neck. Also, any bondage around the neck should be wide enough that it doesn't dig into the flesh easily and twist against the skin...I'd say a good rule is to not use anything less than 1/2 inch wide. If I were going to use a ligature of some sort directly against the skin, it would be soft and lubricated with a dry lubricant such as baby powder. I would be careful not to apply so much dry lubricant that I ended up inhaling it, however. That wouldn't be fun.
Stroke
This could have gone under Blood Vessels but I thought it deserved separate attention. A stroke is basically a sudden loss of consciousness and paralysis caused by a hemorrhage into the brain, blockage of a blood vessel with a blood clot or foreign object, or a rupture of an artery in the brain.
Sometimes during strangulation play plaque (a fatty substance in the blood vessels) is dislodged. If that happens, it can lodge itself in the blood vessel and lead to a stroke.
Strokes are unfortunately very common in this society and a few symptoms of one are loss of consciousness, paralysis, unequal pupils (large one on side of stroke), paralysis usually on one side, sweating, slightly lowered temperature, and speech disturbances.
I would think that a person would be more prone to stroke if they have had one before, they have a history of heart or blood pressure problems, they are overweight, in poor physical condition, or they have a cholesterol problem.
If your partner has a stroke, they need immediate medical attention. While you wait for the ambulance, you can help them in a couple of ways. Handle them very carefully, especially their paralyzed parts. Keep them lying on their back, head and shoulders slightly raised. Turn the person's face carefully to the side if they are having a hard time breathing. That will let the secretions drain out. If they have anything in their mouths, remove it. Keep them warm and quiet but don't overheat them. Do not move your partner more than necessary. Do not use any stimulants or smelling salts. The person may be unconscious but able to hear what you say...so don't say things to panic them. Don't try to give them anything to drink or eat.
Some things that may help you to avoid this problem are regular aerobic activity and good diet (if you like to bottom to strangulation). It is important that if you bottom to this sort of play you get regular physicals that evaluate your general health. If you have a risk factor such as high cholesterol, then perhaps avoid strangulation play. If you do strangulation play, be sure that pressure is applied slowly and that no twisting occurs. If you lessen the trauma to the vessel, you lessen the risk of dislodging something. Do whatever you can to avoid trauma to the vessels.
Spine The cervical spine is made up of the first 7 bones of the spinal column. There are several things that can happen to injure this area. I will cover a couple of them.
A Fracture in the Cervical Spine will usually cause pain, possible paralysis, fainting, and suppression of reflexes.
A pinched nerve in the area of the cervical spine will mimic a lot of the symptoms of a fracture and is also very serious. In the long term, if left untreated, it can cause constant pain and loss of muscle tone.
The most important thing to do in the case of spinal injury is to make sure the person does not move. Calm them and tell them to lay still while you call for medical assistance. It is important to reassure them that everything will be well as long as they do not move around.
The treatment of these injuries usually involves putting a person in some form of traction so they will not move while the bone(s) are healing. In the case of a nerve being pinched, it is possible that surgery will be needed.
There are several things you can do to avoid this injury. The first being that if you are involved in hanging with your feet off the floor (or being an "airwalker"), it is important that you do not allow yourself to drop into position. That can lead to serious spinal injury even if the drop is as little as an inch. Remember, hanging was originally not used to strangle someone but instead used to break their neck. Any ligature is going to be more likely to cause a spinal injury, especially if it is a thin one. Another risk is if you apply a police style choke hold when your bottom is struggling or if you twist the neck slightly while applying it. It is very easy to cause injury that way.
Seizures and Fainting
Seizures and Fainting take similar first aid so they will be described together.
Seizures fall into three categories.
Whatever seizure a person experiences, they may find that they have a strange feeling, smell, pain, or visions beforehand that signal the beginning of an attack.
Fainting is a sudden loss of consciousness due to insufficient supply of oxygenated blood to the brain. It is also common to faint out of an emotional response to something unpleasant or scary. Fainting is more common as you get older.
A few things that you may notice in someone before they faint are weakness, dizziness, paleness, sweating, and cold skin. The victim may notice spots before the eyes, numbness, tingling of extremities, nausea, disturbances of vision, shallow breathing (in our case...sometimes no breathing *wicked grin*), and a feeling of lightheadedness. The pulse is usually rapid and weak.
Both of these conditions in and of themselves are not considered medical emergencies and both are treated similarly.
If your partner faints or seizures, be sure to make sure they don't fall and harm themselves. Keep calm. There is no way you can stop a seizure. Do not forcefully restrain your partner and loosen any clothing or restraints that may limit their circulation. Make sure that they have an open airway. In the case of a seizure, you might place a pillow under your partner's head so they don't hurt themselves. In the case of fainting, elevate the legs so that the head is lower than the feet. If you can, you might want to gently turn their head to the side so they don't choke on saliva or vomit. Sometimes in the case of a seizure, a person will stop breathing. Monitor your partner's condition carefully and make sure that you follow up with first aid for any secondary situation that might arise.
There is very little we can do to avoid these things and still play like we enjoy. The important thing is how we handle it after it happens. You need to restore air as soon as possible when a person faints or seizures and give them proper first aid. The main cause of death involving breath play is that someone is playing by themselves and faints or seizures while unable to remove the device restricting their air.
Airway Obstruction by the Tongue
A simple thing to overlook is that if your partner passes out their tongue might fall back in their throat and continue to suffocate them.
If your partner passes out, you can prevent this problem by tilting your partner's head, chin pointing up. Place one hand under the person's neck and gently lift while pushing with one hand on the victim's forehead. This should move the tongue away from the back of the throat and clear the airway
Aspiration of vomitus, mucus, or saliva
Sometimes a person can inhale his or her own vomit, mucus, or saliva. This is very dangerous.
Usually a person will not actually draw the materials completely into the lungs. The symptoms of aspiration of foreign materials is coughing, unconsciousness, cyanosis, cardiac arrest, and cessation of breathing.
If the person begins to develop a problem the very first thing to do is to position them so they can vomit and keep an open airway. Remove all gags or bondage immediately. Sometimes the Heimlich maneuver can help to clear their airway if something is lodged within it. If they are coughing, make sure to monitor them while you get emergency medical attention. I do not have enough information yet on what else might be helpful. I have heard that some people have successfully helped in this situation by plugging the victim's nose and using their own mouths to suction the airway.
There are some things that will probably lower your risk of having this happen in play. Do not gag the person you are choking. If you do gag them, have a way to release the gag in a second (literally). Do not put the bottom into such tight bondage that you couldn't turn them to the side if they needed to throw up. Don't play with someone when they have a head cold. If you have a partner who gets nauseous during play it may be a good idea to stick to shorter times of asphyxiation.
Who Is Most At Risk
Unfortunately, there is no available statistically viable research that is specifically targeted at living practitioners of this type of play. We are left to extrapolate from research on other things or on similar things done under different circumstances. Therefore, the information below is based upon information taken from studies on police choke holds (where the police apply pressure to the carotid arteries) and Mountain sickness (a form of high elevation hypoxia suffered by climbers). Here is what these two types of asphyxiation have taught us about who tends to be injured or has the highest mortality rate in reference to lack of oxygen:
Suggested reading materials or sources
Here are two new links to suggested health sites. I want to stress that they cannot replace proper hands on training, but they are excellent sources of information.
Supporting Life (various excellent health links): http://hometown.aol.com/jfuller428/LIFE.html
Less Stress Training (CPR and First Aid Simulators- REALLY good source of info): http://www.lessStress.com
Books
Web Pages
Asphyxiation movie guide: http://necrobabes.com/samson/index.htm
Erotic Asphyxiation Video Catalog from Necrobabes http://www.necrobabes.com/video/vasphyx.htm
Queening
Green Eyes Videos - http://greeneyes.com/apmain.htm
News Groups
Table Of Contents
- Introduction
- Definitions of Breath Control
- Difference Between Snuff and Breath Control Play
- Why do we do it?
- Good Partner Material
- Partner Play Methods & Risks
- Alternate "Breath Play" Methods
- Solo Play Methods and Risks
- Physiological & Emotional elements & risks
- Premature Ventricular Contractions
- Respiratory acidosis and Respiratory alkalosis
- Metabolic acidosis
- Legal history of prosecution & mortality stats
- Possible long term health risks
- Common Injuries
- Who Is Most At Risk?
- Suggested Reading Material and Resources
Introduction
I found while trying to put this information together that it is hard to get a lot of information about breath control. Many people are afraid that by giving information they will encourage someone to play this way and if that person ends up dead they will feel responsible. This strikes me a lot like the argument of those that say if teenagers are kept in the dark about sex they won't do it. I don't buy that argument and I don't think that any information is a bad thing. The documentation of erotic asphyxiation goes back to the 1600's at the very least. It was used back then as a form of therapy for those suffering from impotence. Breath play hasn't gone away yet and I don't think it will. Some claim that the media is responsible for a resurgence in interest and thus a higher mortality rate with this kind of play. I believe if anything, the lack of information available and the attitude of shame that surrounds it even in the counterculture has caused many of us who do it to not seek information and to experiment in sometimes deadly ways. I think if we have more information on what to avoid we'll have less problems. It is well documented that those that die of this play are usually playing alone and using a mechanism that doesn't protect them in case of fainting. I don't happen to think that people that do breathplay are suicidal, I'm sure not...and if I have better information I can do what I want to do better and safer.
I am not interested in convincing anyone to try this form of play or to tell anyone not to do it. I happen to do this play and I love it, but I am educated about the risks as I think anyone should be before any type of play. I admit that I became a lighter player after I found out how much could go wrong.
I am interested in putting together a list of informational pages about breath control or things related to breath control. If you own such a site or know of one, please write to me at breathplay@hotmail.com and I will add a link to your site and give you the nifty graphic and permission to link to this site. I am not interested in linking to pornographic sites or sites that do not deal with the technique, science, safety issues, legal issues, or the psychological elements of this play. I'm a research pervert as you can tell.
Thank you for your help to bring about a change in the level of information about this controversial (and enjoyable) type of play!
Vamp:)=
vamp_ire@hotmail.com
Definitions of Breath Control
Breath Control Play:
This is the process of limiting or restricting air and/or the supply of oxygen to the brain.
Auto-erotic asphyxiation:
The process of limiting or restricting air and/or the supply of oxygen to the brain WHILE ALONE.
Strangling: This usually involves compression of the carotid arteries to prevent blood from reaching the brain.
Suffocation: This involves somehow reducing the level of oxygen in the air available to breathe (usually gradually).
Hanging: This is a type of play that involves being suspended by the neck.
"New" breath play: The process of making someone more conscious of, directing, or using breath in play. The process of role playing or bringing about the psychological state of traditional breath play without using traditional methods.
Difference Between Snuff and Breath Control Play
I just thought we should address this as soon as possible. Unfortunately, too many people seem to think these two things are related when they certainly are not. I am sure that some people are into both or combine them but that is not what this site is about. This site is about love, life, exploration, and consensual breath control in which everyone intends to remain healthy.
So, here is the difference:
- Snuff is about fantasies or actions surrounding the idea of killing or being killed.
- Traditional Breath Control Play is about fantasies or actions surrounding the restriction of oxygen that leaves the person healthy and alive during and after the play.
- "New" Breath Control Play is about making someone more conscious of, directing, or using breath in play. It is also the process of role playing or bringing about the psychological state of traditional breath play without using traditional methods. Once again, this play expects each participant to remain healthy and alive during and after play.
Why do we do it?
This is very individual. A person might as well ask, why do people have sex? I will attempt to explain a few reasons why I enjoy it.
Breath Control from the Bottom
Bondage has quite a draw for me and this type of play indulges that interest. It is quite powerful to feel yourself restricted in any way that involves the face or throat. When I wear a gasmask or hood during play I also have a freedom from having to worry about what I look like or what is going on around me. The gasmask becomes fogged and makes the world seem like a dream and the hood that I wear totally blocks my vision and hearing so I escape into a world inside my own head. I enjoy the feeling of being held tight everywhere...and this play works on that level.
Oxygen deprivation effects also attract a lot of us. When you have a lower amount of oxygen available (hypoxia) or no oxygen (anoxia) you start to feel a little dream like and light headed. This can be very pleasurable to some people. Depending on the person they will enjoy different levels of this. Some people like to routinely be taken to faint and other people like to only experience a slight light headed feeling from it.
Panic and Risk are sometimes elements that a person craves and can enjoy. I happen to enjoy them if I feel them in a context of a situation where I feel fairly secure that I will come through it energized and healthy. I get the same feeling from breath control that I get from playing tag. It is a rush of adrenaline and a feeling of being a bit out of control for awhile. I wouldn't enjoy it if I didn't feel totally safe in the situation I was in...the same as I wouldn't enjoy "tag" if it was with someone who was unsafe.
Submission is a thing that I enjoy. I like to give myself over to the desires of my partner for a time and show them that I have a trust in them that extends to my very existence. Some might think that is pretty extreme and I would remind them that if they have "regular" sex with someone without a condom they are doing the same thing...putting their life in the hands of their partner. I wouldn't trust just anyone with this play. To give my breath to my partner is an ultimate form of surrender and trust that leads me to feel more affectionate and safe with them. Masochism is also a part of this for me. I am a masochist and I enjoy the type of sensation I feel when I am being tightly compressed in a corset or someone is covering my mouth roughly. I also find that for some reason the breath control can effect the way I feel pain in a fun and interesting way.
Breath Control from the Top
Bondage is something I enjoy to do with someone. I think it is fun to hold someone and control them in every way possible. It is an ultimate form of bondage when you start taking over a person's vital functions. This bondage can be incredibly subtle and done in public. I can simply tell my partner not to breath. It is sexy and enjoyable.
Oxygen deprivation effects can be fun to help a partner experience. I personally don't get much from helping them to reach that state and I get a tad worried about taking someone's air away for too long but I will endeavor to give someone this experience if I feel that their health is appropriate for it.
Trust is something that I like to see in my partner. I enjoy the fact that they trust me enough to let me take control of something so vital. I feel very honored and excited when a partner knows me so well and feels so safe with me that they can enjoy the thrill of this play ...the panic....the risk...and know I will endeavor to ultimately make it a wonderful experience for us.
Dominance is a strong element of this play for me. I want to feel a person's total surrender to my control of a scene. It is a wonderful rush to for me when my partner allows me to shape their actions to this extreme.
Sadism is a something that I enjoy indulging in with a partner who will appreciate it. I like watching the struggle, humiliation, and panic of a partner. The reason that I enjoy it is that I know my partner deeply craves these things and I like to fulfill them.
I want to stress that I would only enjoy breath control with a partner that made fully informed consent to participate in it with me. I don't believe in ever "surprising" a person with this or any other form of play. I feel my partner should fully understand the risks and benefits of the types of play I want to do with them before they are ever in a situation of having to say yes or no to it. I am not someone that advocates coercion or pressure on a partner. No matter what the play style is that I am involved in I believe in always negotiating as equals. Sometimes that negotiation might involve their initial request that I do pressure them for play...in which case I will. It is essential that some kind of non-verbal and verbal safewords are in place for this (and in my opinion all) types of play).
Good partner material
These are, of course, my opinions of what I would expect in a partner. Everyone has different criteria for this and they have the right to those criteria.
The most important element in this or any type of play is mutual respect and trust. I would never consider being involved in this sort of thing with anyone I trusted with less than my very life. I think that aside from the basic trustworthiness a person who is interested in being involved in this sort of play should have a good idea of their health and a good working knowledge of CPR and first aid. I also think that an education in the anatomy and the physiology involved in the play should be a priority.
I take the risk factors that I know of into account when choosing a partner. You can read the section about who is most at risk and make your own choices on the matter. My partner in this play is very young and fit. He is a diver with a history of being able to hold his breath on long dives with no problem. I am well aware that doesn't erase the risks involved but I certainly feel more secure that it lessens some of them.
Traditional Methods and Risks (with a partner)
This section is written for people who will be engaging in breath play with a partner. If you intend to engage in solo play, please read the solo play section.
Playing this way with a partner really lessens your chance of experiencing complications and makes more play options available for the simple reason that you will have someone to help you if you pass out. Aside from that, if you have some form of injury occur you will have someone to help you get assistance. The main downside to play with a partner is that you have to spend a lot of time finding the person you will literally trust your life with and if something goes horribly wrong you may end up convicted of a crime or having your lover convicted of a crime. The physiological things mentioned in another section will all still be present so even if you play very "safe" you could end up drawing the short straw and taking the consequences. Out of 25 million people in the U.S., it is estimated that 250 will die of erotic asphyxiation in a year. Of those 250, almost all of them will be auto-erotic asphyxiation (solo play). Therefore, statistically your chances of partner play going wrong are pretty darn low if you pay attention to avoiding the risks you can control. With that in mind...let's talk about how things could be done and how to lower the risks.
Some things to consider no matter what kind of method you use is how your partner will signal you if there is a problem and they can't talk. Whatever the signal it should automatically happen if they faint. An example of a signal I've used is having someone hold their hand up...or put it on my hips...or something. It has to be in a place that if they faint...the hand will fall. It is important you pay very close attention to your partner and choose someone you trust with your life. It goes without saying (but I'm gonna say it anyway) that you need to make sure that if your partner faints they don't fall and harm themselves. It may also be a good idea to take into account what would happen to your partner if something were to happen to you during play. For example, you may think a bit before mummifying them (in a way they can't escape) and putting a plastic bag on their head with rubber bands. If you were to faint or something, they wouldn't be able to get out and save themselves. I can't tell you what is an acceptable risk, but I thought I better bring the subject up for you to think about.
For the purpose of this discussion I will refer to the person who is having their air taken away as the "bottom." This is a term used in BDSM that just seems the easiest to use here.
Having the bottom hold their breath
This is simple and will probably save you from prosecution if anything goes wrong with the play. You can simply tell your partner not to breathe. The most important thing to watch with this would be that if they faint you need to make sure they don't fall and hurt themselves. I think that this is a pretty sexy way to play...and if you have a fetish for objects you can work that into this. For example, if I were doing a scene using this I might hold a ligature loosely around my partner's neck and tell them not to breath. If I were involved in playing with them in a BDSM context, I might dress it up with some kind of passionate threat that I would strangle them to death with the ligature if they breathed before I gave them permission. Another possibility would be wrapping them in plastic but not covering their mouth and nose. Then telling them not to breathe as I held a feather over their mouth and nose and told them that if they breathed I would punish them.
Nose Pinching
This is my favorite type of breath play to use. It can be accomplished many ways and I will only name a few here. You can cover your bottom's mouth and nose with your hands. You can put duct tape (I recommend the name brand) over their mouth and pinch their nose closed with your hands. You can put a gag in their mouth and pinch off their nose with a clothespin. You get the idea. This method needs to take into consideration what will happen if the bottom vomits. I recommend that if you use a gag, it is one that doesn't have a complicated closure. I recommend Velcro if possible. If you must use a complicated gag, then have some heavy-duty scissors literally in hand to cut through the bondage if you have to get them out of it fast. The stuff to remember with this is all pretty basic and it has little chance of any real problem developing as long as you restore normal breathing to the bottom if they faint.
Queening or Kinging
Okay, so I don't know if Kinging is the proper term but it is the one I'm going to use because I like it. Queening is basically when a woman smothers a person by pressing her sex into their face so that they can't breath. Kinging is basically when a man uses his sex to keep a woman from breathing as he pinches her nose closed somehow. I think it is fun to wear a harness with a dildo and use that method of domination myself. Obviously you could smother people with other body parts too, but I won't go into every part you could use. The risks are all about the same. If anything is in a person's mouth that could spark a gag reflex, I think it is important not to insert it too deep or someone could throw up and inhale their own vomit. Many of us have faced that fear even when we weren't doing breath control..haha. If you are sitting on someone's face, it is really important to have some non-verbal signals since you may not notice if they faint.
Gas Masks or Hoods
I love these. They are some of my personal favorites but they are a tad riskier than the options I mentioned earlier. You can put the bottom in a gas mask (my favorite is the Israeli style) and cover the air inlet. If you are really creative, you can attach a tube to the air inlet and cut the air off by placing the tube opening against the body of the Top or bottom. It is hard to describe how delicious it is to be gasping from lack of air and have the tube placed against one of my nipples so that I am literally sucking on it with each gasp. Be very familiar with the gas mask and how to get it off quick if the bottom vomits from lack of oxygen. In the case of hoods, the first thing I would mention is that you need some way to monitor the bottom's state while they are in it. Depending on what style hood you are using, you will need to adjust your play style accordingly. I recommend a hood with a mouth opening that you can cover so that it could be open if the person gets sick. If you choose to use some kind of discipline hood that uses tubes in the nose and mouth of your bottom you may want to be especially careful that if your bottom passes out, the tubes won't get jammed into them too far if they fall. It is also important that you can remove the hood fast if the need arises. As much as I love inflatable hoods, they are slow to remove and I think them poorly suited for breath control play. When you restore breathing to your bottom, it is important that you make sure there is nothing in the air that may hinder their breathing or harm them to inhale through the tubes. I've inhaled latex polish and baby powder and I can tell you it isn't fun.
Bags/Plastic wrap
The main things to keep in mind are all pretty obvious. Remove the bag or plastic if the person faints. I would recommend that the material be held in place by hand. If you opt for another way of holding it in place, try to avoid any pressure to the larynx.
Rebreathing bladders
These are usually attached to gas masks or hoods. If you use them that way, see my comments above. If you use these with tubes or something just remember to make sure the tubes don't go too far down the bottom's throat or up their nose.
Pressure on the Trachea and/or Hanging
This form of play requires a lot of caution. If you are somehow compressing the trachea, it is important to do so by slowly applying pressure and making sure not to apply pressure to the larynx. One method is to take a curved finger and place it at the part of the throat where it meets the chin and pushing up and back slowly. Another method is to apply pressure below the larynx (sometimes with a scarf). A lot of injuries can occur to the trachea this way if you press too hard. If you are going to use a ligature or noose, it is safer if you use one that doesn't constrict. If it does, make sure it is wide and padded. If it is too narrow, it will cut or twist the skin causing bruising and damage to things such as blood vessels, nerves, the cervical spine, and the windpipe. It may also be a good idea to use a dry lubricant such as baby powder and a soft type of rope or ligature. If you are hanging someone, it is important never to drop them into place. That could break their spine. I think a really nice form of rigging for hanging is when a person is raised into place with their feet still on the ground. If you decide to try airwalking, there is a significant possibility of damage to the spine.
Compression of the chest
I like to simply have a lover lay on me and make it impossible for me to breathe. I'm rather teeny so if I have a big partner, they can accomplish this pretty easy. Another form of chest compression is corseting. I can personally attest to how wonderfully hot it is to barely be able to breath in when wearing one. If you pursue corseting, you should do some research on that particular topic. However you compress the chest, you need to go slowly and carefully. It would be easy to break a person's ribs. It is my understanding that when you ease up on someone you should do it slowly or they may faint.
Pressure on the carotid artery
It takes about 15 seconds of pressure on the carotid arteries to cause unconsciousness. If you use this method, bear in mind that you are cutting blood off from the brain and physically stimulating baroreceptors that will cause the vagus nerve to fire off impulses that could cause cardiac arrest. Other than that, it is important to avoid pressure to the larynx and damage to the blood vessels. Do not ever twist the skin or underlying structure of the neck while doing this. It could cause injury to the spine or internal trauma to the neck. A simple way to accomplish this is to stand behind the bottom and place the bend of your elbow in front of your partners throat. Then slowly bend your arm applying pressure on the carotid arteries but not on the front of the throat. Many police forces use this hold but most classify it as a form of deadly force.
Drugs
This is so incredibly dangerous that it amazes me that anyone is trying it. There are drugs that can induce asphyxia. I don't recommend them and I won't list them. I will list the problems with them. First, no one knows the safe dosage for you or your partner. Second, you can't reverse it quickly if things start to go wrong. Please remember that anesthesiologists train a very long time to be able to knock someone out safely and even when they use the best equipment and drugs available they can lose a person.
Alternate "Breath Play" Methods
- Making your partner aware of their breathing
- Verbal domination of breathing
- Inducing the psychological effects of suffocation
- Gas Mask play
- Scuba or snorkel play
- Controlling what your partner breaths in
- Using breath as a "toy"
Solo Play Methods and Risks
I never recommend playing alone, but if a person chooses to accept that risk I respect their choice.
Solo play is far more dangerous because if something goes wrong you have to be able to solve the situation yourself. This may be impossible if your problem is unconsciousness...a very natural part of our play. Most of the people who have died of breath play were solo players. The upside to solo play is that if you do happen to die, you will not leave behind a partner to possibly stand trial for assisting you in a consensual sexual act.
Here are some of the methods that people use in solo play...as with any form of asphyxiation play, all the physiological dangers will be present as will the dangers of vomiting, fainting, and seizuring. The cardinal rule of solo play is to have a fail-safe that automatically activates the instant you faint! Do not think that you will be able to operate the fail-safe yourself when you are groggy or beginning to faint.
Holding your breath
This is simple enough. You can hold your breath and have both hands free for other things. The problem with this method is that unless you are really good at resisting your urge to breath, you could let up before you really want to. Also, if you have a particular fetish for certain types of items (such as bags or nooses), I know this may not fulfill you. You might try holding, touching, or wearing the item in question but I don't know if that would work for you. I have a latex fetish and just touching it is wonderful...your mileage might vary on that one. This style of play is going to be for people who are into the physiological feeling of asphyxiation and not so much into the objects that cause it. If that is you, then this is one of the best choices. Your body will naturally faint when you run dangerously low on oxygen and your main worry is making sure that when you faint you won't fall and injure yourself. The physiological dangers inherent in breath control will still be there and so will injuries related to fainting and vomiting but it is relatively safe. Many children hold their breath till they faint all the time and doctors don't seem to be too worried about it.
Nose Pinching
If you find that you have a hard time resisting the urge to breath, one of your options might be to wear an easily removable gag or duct tape over your mouth while you pinch your nose shut with your hand. I don't recommend pinching your nose shut with anything like a clothespin because when you faint you will probably not have enough time to remove the clothespin. It would only take one mistake of leaving the clothespin on to end up dead. So, use your hand. If you faint, it will fall away and you will be able to breathe through your nose. Don't play this way if you have a cold or other problem breathing through your nose. The advantage of this play is that it doesn't take as much will power. I hear that the name brand duct tape is easier to remove then the generic brand but be aware that it may irritate the skin or hurt when coming off. If you use a gag, use one that you can take off in a second. I wouldn't recommend the use of any gag with a buckle closure. In fact, it may be useful to just hold the gag in your mouth without closing it in the back. The reason for this precaution is that if you vomit from lack of oxygen, you will need to get the gag off quick.
Suffocating yourself with objects
Pressing your face into something so you find it hard to breathe is another method. I think this can work out if you are standing or kneeling and pressing something into your face, such as a pillow or something. The main thing to be aware of is that you have to make sure that if you faint, the thing will fall away from your face and give you air. It is also important that if you fall you won't harm yourself too badly.
Gas Masks or Hoods
I happen to have a major gas mask fetish. I love to wear them and hear my breathing. I love the feeling of all-inclusive bondage I get from them. If you decide to use a gas mask on your own and cover the opening so you don't get any fresh air, please consider just using your hand rather than taping it shut. If you use your hand, it will fall away when you faint. If you use tape or any other method that will not remove itself in case of fainting you could die after a miscalculation of how close you were to unconsciousness. I think this method of self-play is a bit more dangerous than the others above because if you throw up, you will have it trapped in the mask until you can manage to remove it and it will be easy to inhale it.
If you wear a hood, such as a discipline hood that encloses your face and has tubes for the mouth and/or nose areas, I think you are taking a big risk doing solo play. If you are dead set on wearing one, I would suggest one with a mouth opening that you cover with your hand or place a gag into while shutting off the tubes for the nose with your hands (not by using clips...but just by covering the openings with your hands). That way if you throw up, you can spit out the gag. If you faint, you will have a chance that your hands will fall away and you will land in a way that does not block the tubes. Many of the discipline hoods have tubes that actually are placed up into the nostrils and mouth....and are independent of the mask itself (so they can slide), this is important to remember because if you faint you could easily jam those tubes very far up your nose or into your throat. Many hoods are difficult to remove and the latex inflatable ones that I am fond of can be near impossible to put on or take off properly without a partner, so I don't recommend them for solo play.
Bags
One of the ways that many people have died is by placing bags over their heads and fastening them there with rubber bands. They poke holes in the bag when they feel as if they are going to faint. This method allows for zero mistakes. More experienced and more knowledgeable people than you have died doing this. The bad news is that if you fainted in that situation described above, you couldn't survive. The good news is there is a way to get the same type of high...and even carry it to fainting...while having an excellent chance of it not causing a life-threatening situation. I'm sure that if you have ever hyperventilated, you have held a paper bag over your nose and mouth and experienced "therapeutic rebreathing." Well, if you use a plastic bag instead, you can do the same thing and even carry it to fainting while sitting up or in some other position that allows for the bag falling away automatically when you faint.
Rebreathing bladders
This is a tricky one to play with safely in a solo scene. I would say that if you could absolutely secure the air bladder and tube so that it could not move you could then put your mouth on the tube and pinch off your nose (with your hands preferably). It would have to be done so that if you fall, you would fall away from the tube and onto something that would not harm you. My instinct would be to hook something to the ceiling that you would have to reach up to slightly to put your mouth on.
Pressure on the Trachea and/or Hanging
I think that most of us would find this method a tad tricky as a solo practice. It is natural for us to release ourselves and panic when something presses into our windpipe. I imagine that a person could do this sort of play by taking a curved finger and pressing it into the trachea (up and back) where the neck meets the chin or by pressing into the windpipe below the larynx. Either way, the major downside to playing like this alone is that if you injure your windpipe or larynx you are going to be in big trouble if you are all alone. As long as the pressure is applied with your own hands, you do not have to worry about strangulation itself that much because your hands will fall away when you faint. If you use something like a ligature that tightens around the neck, you are really taking a big risk though. In that case you could easily injure your cervical spine, trachea, or larynx and even more importantly...if you pass out, the ligature may not ease up and could strangle you after you faint. This is one of those behaviors that has led to a lot of deaths when done solo. It is usually when someone opts for a ligature device that tightens and does not automatically release when they faint. Hanging is a practice I cannot ever recommend as a solo experience. It was designed to snap the spine and it is important to understand that if you are airwalking, you must not drop into position. Even a drop of 1 inch could break your neck or cause serious injury. If you are doing a solo hanging, you are taking a very, very big risk of all kinds of injury and if you faint, you are dead unless someone finds you in time. Some ways you can manage some of the injuries involved in hanging are by padding the noose, adding a dry lubricant to the skin of the neck, and always keeping your feet touching the floor. Once again, this play and Bagging are the two forms of auto-erotic asphyxiation that lead to the most reported fatalities.
Compression of the chest
I cannot currently think of a way to induce asphyxia through crushing the chest of a person that would allow a fail-safe feature that would automatically be in effect if the person faints. I can say that corseting is a form of specialized breath control and if you have an interest in that, you can see websites specific to that. Otherwise, I just don't have a clue how to make this safer other than never have anything apply pressure to the chest suddenly and violently. It must be slow and avoid trauma to the ribs. It is important that when someone feels faint while wearing a corset, they are slowly unlaced and have the corset slowly let out. If it is too rapid, they will generally faint or go into a form of shock. An interesting aside...in early America, if a lady died from her corset she was said to have be "screwed to death." What a thing to have printed in the newspaper.
Pressure on the carotid artery
This would be tricky to achieve while getting off. I suppose you could put pressure on your carotid arteries yourself with your hands because they would fall away when you fainted. If you have some form of device do it, you are taking one heck of a deadly chance though. It takes about 15 seconds of proper pressure to the arteries of the neck to cause unconsciousness and if the blood flow isn't restored, you are dead.
Drugs
This is so incredibly dangerous that it amazes me that anyone is trying it. There are drugs that can induce asphyxia. I don't recommend them and I won't list them. I will list the problems with them. First, no one knows the safe dosage for you. Second, if you overreact or have an odd response to the drug and you are alone, you are basically dead. Third, you can't reverse it quickly if things start to go wrong. I would advise against this even if you happened to be a trained anesthesiologist with the best equipment money could buy. It shouldn't be done alone, no matter what.
Physiological and Emotional elements and risks
Premature Ventricular Contractions
When the body gets low on oxygen (for any reason) the heart starts to receive extra "pacemaker" type signals. It is an attempt by the body to kick start the heart into action so that oxygenated blood will reach the brain. These signals are very difficult to pick up on even with a person hooked to medical equipment designed to pick up on them! A very skilled physician may be able to figure out when a person is starting to "throw PVC's" if they have the proper equipment and background, but even they will have intense difficulty. The extra pacemaker signals will usually effect the heart by making the ventricles contract irregularly. If one of these signals makes the heart contract at the wrong time, it can lead to the heart beating irregularly and ineffectively and finally to ventricular fibrillation (a form of cardiac arrest).
This is a very rare and very deadly phenomenon. If this happens during breath control play, it may be completely undetectable at first. The person throwing PVC's will most likely be completely unaware of it and may seem well after the play is over. The thing is, the PVC's may continue for up to 36 hours afterwards and the person may go into cardiac arrest at any time.
This is one of the reasons why working knowledge of CPR is really mandatory for this kind of play. Be aware that even with immediate CPR done exactly properly on a person they only have about 10% chance of coming out of cardiac arrest when it is caused in this way. If they do come out of the cardiac arrest, there is no guarantee that they won't go into cardiac arrest again.
The best chance of survival in a situation like that is when a defibrillator is available. These are incredibly expensive (the lowest quoted price I've seen on one is $4,000) and they still offer no guarantee of survival even when in the hands of a trained physician. They do offer the best chance of survival, however, because they can repolarize the heart the most effectively.
Perspective Now, I would like to offer some perspective on this very scary phenomenon. The body sends out these signals whenever the body is lacking oxygen. Therefore, you are just as likely to experience this if you are straining and holding your breath while going to the bathroom, doing aerobics, moving furniture, snorkeling, having sex, or going to a higher elevation then you are used to. They rarely cause a problem (obviously) because we do a lot of these things all the time. The problem is that if they happen to your partner at the wrong time, it can mean a murder charge for you. If one is using the argument that PVC's make any attempt at safety in breath control play worthless, I would say that is an incredible misrepresentation of the facts. One could easily use that logic to say that any activity that involves a slight lack of oxygen and extra work on the heart is possibly deadly. Living is dangerous...that is just a fact. The best a person can do is educate themselves about the risks and weigh them against the gains. Then, after making a decision, they should learn as much as they can about how to minimize the dangers. This is a danger that cannot really be minimized very much (outside of learning CPR or attaining a defibrillator), but there are many other factors in this type of play that can be adjusted to provide for more safety.
Respiratory Acidosis
If breathing is restricted, CO2 builds up and ultimately makes the blood more acidic (meaning decreasing its pH). This can cause headache, drowsiness, hyperventilation (as a way to compensate), cardiac dysrhythmias, gastrointestinal distress, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, blurred vision, and abdominal pain. In the extreme, it can cause death.
The best way to treat it is to restore normal breathing as soon as possible.
It is also important to monitor the person to make sure that Respiratory Acidosis is indeed the cause of the problems. It may be a very good idea to seek medical aid if symptoms do not clear up quickly. An important thing to gather from this is that those who have a build-up of CO2 may experience vomiting which is very dangerous if their airway is being restricted. It would be very easy for them to inhale their own vomit, which is deadly. Therefore, make sure that when you play with someone, they are not in any form of bondage that disallows for quick removal or would be difficult to position them in such a way that they could vomit safely. I think it is a very good idea to make sure that no matter how you are restricting oxygen, you could reverse it within seconds. Have a good pair of heavy bandage scissors. They are slightly curved and have blunt points so they can be worked beneath bondage without harming a person and can cut through materials to hasten the removal. I don't recommend using things that have a lot of buckles or that are very complicated when dealing in breath control.
Some perspective on this is that we experience this all the time and the body is an expert on how to come back from it. As long as you receive normal air as soon as possible it should never be much of a problem.
Respiratory Alkalosis If the person hyperventilates, CO2 is blown off and it makes the blood more alkaline (meaning increasing its pH). This can cause confusion and stupor, vomiting, hyperactive reflexes, seizure, rapid respiration, numbness, and coma. If the pH of the body increases drastically...it can be deadly.
The best way to treat it is by having someone do rebreathing until the hyperventilation calms down and then have a person breath normally. The classic example is to have them breath into a brown paper bag until they calm down.
Hyperventilation is something that we run into when doing breath control play because the body tries to compensate for the lack of oxygen and may go a bit overboard in doing so. It also is common that at times of fear a person will hyperventilate. The important thing to remember here is to monitor your partner for numbness and to be prepared for possible vomiting (see above) and seizures.
I would like to remind everyone that hyperventilation is extremely common and rarely becomes problematic. As long as an attempt is made to help the person calm down and do some rebreathing they should recover very quickly. This is a very common problem caused all the time by stress or physical exertion. The body is can deal with this easily if you help it along a bit.
Normal pH Range I've yet to figure out why people try to inform others of the proper range of pH for the body. I doubt that it will do anyone any good when playing. I suspect it is to be clever. In the interest of being clever, I shall offer that the normal pH of human blood is in the 7.35 to 7.45 range (slightly alkaline). If a person developed a pH falling to 6.9 (or raising to 7.8) they would no longer be in a range that sustains life. Now, don't you feel informed?
Metabolic Acidosis
If there's not enough oxygen to properly metabolize the pyruvate in the body, it is converted to lactic acid which changes the PH of the body. Pyruvate becomes a problem because the body attempts to metabolize glucose (sugar) by breaking it down into pyruvate that is supposed to quickly combine with oxygen and produce ATP which the body uses for energy but since the body doesn't have oxygen, it converts to lactic acid and starts to make the PH plummet.
This can cause headache, drowsiness, hyperventilation (as a way to compensate), cardiac dysrhythmias, gastrointestinal distress, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, blurred vision, and abdominal pain.
It is treated just like respiratory acidosis. Get them breathing regular air as soon as possible. Please see the explanation of respiratory acidosis for more information.
This is something that can quickly correct itself. It would most likely only become life threatening if breathing was not restored to normal quickly.
Legal history of prosecution and mortality stats
Legal history
Insurance
If a person is found to have died of auto-erotic asphyxiation, it may be ruled a suicide instead of an accident. It may also be considered a self-inflicted injury if a person manages to survive but is harmed. Therefore, a person should be aware that it will most likely invalidate their health insurance and life insurance.
Criminal Prosecution
I have to do better research in this area. I am currently aware that some people have had to face criminal prosecution or mandatory counseling because of their participation in consensual breath control. If you are caught in the act or are turned in as someone attempting suicide, most states can involuntarily commit you for a short time or force you into counseling. If you are involved in this play with a partner and something goes wrong, you could face charges involving manslaughter, murder, or criminal negligence. If your partner is injured or is angry at you, they may decide to sue you or take you to court for attempted murder, assault, domestic violence, or other charges. It is very important to be involved with someone that you trust with your life and reputation.
I have heard it suggested that people involved in partnered play write out some form of contract showing that they were involved in a consensual arrangement. It is a nice idea, but parties cannot make a legal contract about an illegal activity. There would also be a very strong chance that even if one could prove the legality of such a contract that it would be dismissed out of suspicion of coercion.
That said, it may be a very good thing to show a jury something that backs up your statement that you were involved in a consensual situation. Just do not have a false sense of safety with a "contract."
Mortality Stats
It is estimated that 1 person per million people in a population will die of erotic asphyxiation. Law enforcement has at times stated that they believe it to be much more like 4 people per million people in population but I would hesitate to put that statistic forward. I have read a bit about how forensic scientists and law enforcement decide that a death is erotic asphyxiation and most of the time it does make sense. They base it on obvious bodily signs of lack of oxygen like burst capillaries in the eyes and on the face of the victim to be sure they died of asphyxiation. They tend to put it in the "erotic" or "auto-erotic" category if they find pornography, open clothing, BDSM gear in the person's home, or some sign that perhaps the victim was attempting not to die from what they were doing (such as a noose that was padded). Some of these may be very good indicators, but I think it is very likely that they may include people who are murdered and then made to appear to have died of auto-erotic asphyxiation. They may also include suicides of people that were simply into BDSM. I also must admit that it is quite possible that those discovered by family or who die during breath control with a partner may have the scene "sanitized" before law enforcement or forensic experts see what has happened. I would think that they would figure out that asphyxiation is the cause but they may think it is something like positional asphyxia or sleep apnea if the scene is properly sanitized and the form of asphyxiation was subtle enough.
I wish I could offer what percentage of people that practice breath control play experience injury or death but there is simply no available data on even how many people practice this form of play. I can say that most of the people to die of erotic asphyxiation are people who are solo players. This is something that is exceptionally dangerous to do alone. Most of those who have died are using bags over their heads (held there by rubber bands or such), nooses around their necks, complicated machines that are difficult to turn off, or other such devices that do not allow for the possibility of the person passing out or becoming somewhat disoriented and surviving.
Possible long term health risks
There is simply not any information directly related to this play. Therefore, information from other sources about such things as sleep apnea, the valsalva maneuver, and general hypoxia have been studied.
I can say that long term brain damage is a risk of this play. Whenever the brain is without fresh oxygen or the oxygen level is lowered substantially there will be brain damage. This damage is fairly generalized. Depending on the duration and amount of oxygen in the blood the damage will be different. To my knowledge, there is no formula for determining an exact amount of damage per second of hypoxia or anoxia.
I can say that many people with long term sleep apnea (one of the most common health concerns) usually only experience slightly detectable brain damage over many years of struggling with apnea. To be categorized as someone with sleep apnea they must experience at least 10 apneas + hypopneas per hour of sleep. An "apnea" is defined as a cessation of airflow that lasts at least ten seconds. A hypopnea is defined as a significant reduction in airflow lasting at least ten seconds and usually associated with a decline in a person's oxygen level.
The findings in such cases seem to suggest that some sleep apnea patients will perform worse on certain types of neurophsychological tests (especially those involving memory). They generally have complaints about their level of concentration and some are said to have undergone personality changes and have shorter tempers or depression. This may be attributed to brain damage, but there is no direct causality proven in the research I have seen. This all may just be attributed to poor quality of sleep the patients have. I have seen these very same symptoms appear in many studies of those experiencing sleep deprivation.
Therefore, while brain damage is certain whenever the brain experiences hypoxia or anoxia it has not been proven that noticeable brain damage has been noted in anyone due to breath control play involving lack of oxygen lasting under a minute (many apnea patients will experience apneas of this length). There have been some studies done on rats being deprived of oxygen for two minutes and then given air for half an hour before being deprived of air for two minutes again that resulted in heavy brain damage in the animals. I think that we could infer from this that repeatedly depriving someone of air till they faint and repeating the procedure over and over again is going to cause heavy brain damage. It is difficult to say, however, because people are a heck of a lot different from rats.
An important thing to know about the brain is that it does not grow new brain cells. Once you lose one, you lose it. Another important thing to understand is that the brain does not store oxygen as some of the other tissues in the body do. If your oxygen level is compromised, the damage starts close to immediately.
Now, I would like to add a little perspective. You lose brain cells all the time, our brain is set up so that we can endure a lot of brain damage without any real consequences. Drinking, drugs (even prescription drugs), aging, and many contact sports lead to regular brain damage. Once again, it is all a matter of being conscious of the risk and deciding what level of damage you are comfortable with. I happen to feel very comfortable with absences of oxygen that are under 30 seconds (but that is a personal choice).
I can tell you that it is always important to return a person to normal breathing if they are passing out from oxygen deprivation. I can tell you that anoxia is more dangerous than hypoxia. I can tell you that the longer the breath play continues the more damage will be done. I cannot tell you what is acceptable for you.
Heart and Lungs
There is simply not any information directly related to this play. Therefore, information from other sources about such things as sleep apnea, the valsalva maneuver, and general hypoxia have been studied. I have read many things that have stated that there are no long term effect on the heart or lungs. Almost all of the information below is extrapolated from studies on those with sleep apnea and thus they may be associated more with factors such as underactive thyroid gland, overactive pituitary gland (if it is secreting too much growth hormone), and obesity that is frequently seen in apnea patients. With that in mind here are some of the problems that are sometimes seen in sleep apnea patients:
High blood pressure (there is pretty good evidence of this).
Heart attack and stroke (there is very poor evidence of this).
Heart failure This is very rare and they usually experience marked swelling of their ankles and legs beforehand. Later they may experience some shortness of breath with exertion and or some swelling of their abdomen.
Heart arrhythmias (it is unlikely that apnea causes arrhythmias from the research I've read).
Respiratory (lung) failure This is extremely uncommon and only seen in the most severely affected apnea patients. Apnea patients who develop this usually experience some shortness of breath but usually they are unaware of the problem until the doctor does a blood test. If the body's oxygen level is very low or the carbon dioxide level is too high then this tells the doctor that the body's breathing system is not working properly and is starting to fail.
Common Injuries
Trachea
The trachea is commonly known as the windpipe and is essentially a cartilaginous tube. Some people who practice breath control put pressure on the trachea during play. There are a few important injuries that can come of that.
The trachea can rupture. This will cause intense pain, gasping for air, and thick secretions in the throat. This is a medical emergency and proper medical care must be sought immediately.
Another less immediate condition that can occur is Tracheitis. It is an inflammation of the trachea. The signs of tracheitis are thick and purulent secretions of the throat, swelling, croupy cough, sore throat, and fever. This may seem minor at first and it may correct itself if the throat is rested and you use a humidifier to help with the secretions. This can ultimately turn deadly very quickly, however, and I would feel uncomfortable with only doing this. Usually a hospital will deal with this condition by administering humidified oxygen, suctioning the throat, giving antibiotics, and monitoring a person's vital signs.
In either of these cases, there is always the possibility of an emergency tracheotomy and need for medical attention. This involves an incision that is made through the skin and muscles into the trachea to get air to the lungs. If you do a lot of play that involves pressure on the trachea, I would suggest you know how to perform an emergency tracheotomy.
I do not have information on whether repeated attempts of tracheal compression will weaken the trachea but I would personally recommend that if you are going to play in this way, you go about it with a slow even pressure. This is not something to do violently and it could easily get a bit rough in the heat of passion.
Larynx The larynx is the enlarged upper end of trachea below the root of the tongue. It is the organ of voice and consists of nine cartilages bound together by elastic membranes and moved by muscles. It is a very intricate structure and can be easily injured. Pressure to the larynx should always be avoided. Here are a few of the injuries that can occur.
A Fracture of the Larynx is an incredibly serious injury that needs immediate medical attention. Some signs of fracture or compression of larynx are loud breathing, choking and gasping respiration, weak and fast pulse, and blue skin. If left untreated, it will usually lead to death. It can also seriously effect the voice if a person does manage to survive the injury.
I would say that if you do any type of compression of the neck, it is important to do some research into emergency tracheotomy. If this type of injury occurs it will at least give your partner some chance of survival if the air is completely cut off with this injury.
The best way to avoid this injury is to learn where the larynx is and never do any form of play that places pressure upon it. If you practice some form of breath control that is going to press on the larynx, then at least apply it slowly and carefully and try to pad any apparatus that could be used around the neck. I really cannot stress enough how dangerous the consequences of this type of compression could be.
Laryngitis is also a complication of any form of compression of the larynx. It is essentially an inflammation of the larynx. Some symptoms of laryngitis are loss of voice, hoarseness, pain, and sometimes coughing.
It is usually harmless and doctors recommend that you rest your voice, take cough suppressants, and inhale steam. I would personally look into seeing a doctor for it just in case there is a slight fracture or other problem present causing the symptoms.
The best way to avoid this injury is to not put pressure on the larynx.
Blood Vessels
At times play puts stress on the blood vessels of the neck, especially the carotid arteries. This can cause several problems but I'm going to focus on dissection. There are two types, post-traumatic dissection and spontaneous. For our purposes, I will speak to the post-traumatic type.
Post-traumatic carotid dissection is essentially stretching and small tearing of the artery brought on by trauma such as strangulation.
The symptoms of this tearing are visual loss, weakness, numbness, or speech difficulties. These events may be transient or permanent.
The only treatment is to get to a doctor and have it evaluated. They usually test using MRI or angiography. If they find that you are suffering from it you will probably be given anticoagulation (blood thinning) drugs for a total of 8-12 weeks. They will also do repeated angiography before stopping treatment to ensure that the vessel has healed.
I think I should add some perspective about this injury. It most often occurs by people simply turning their head at the wrong time or by going to a chiropractor. It is a pretty common injury that doesn't necessarily need a lot of stress to come about.
The best advice I can offer to avoid this injury is that if you do hanging, you should pad the noose. If you have your partner strangle you, they should apply pressure to your neck slowly and never twist the neck. Also, any bondage around the neck should be wide enough that it doesn't dig into the flesh easily and twist against the skin...I'd say a good rule is to not use anything less than 1/2 inch wide. If I were going to use a ligature of some sort directly against the skin, it would be soft and lubricated with a dry lubricant such as baby powder. I would be careful not to apply so much dry lubricant that I ended up inhaling it, however. That wouldn't be fun.
Stroke
This could have gone under Blood Vessels but I thought it deserved separate attention. A stroke is basically a sudden loss of consciousness and paralysis caused by a hemorrhage into the brain, blockage of a blood vessel with a blood clot or foreign object, or a rupture of an artery in the brain.
Sometimes during strangulation play plaque (a fatty substance in the blood vessels) is dislodged. If that happens, it can lodge itself in the blood vessel and lead to a stroke.
Strokes are unfortunately very common in this society and a few symptoms of one are loss of consciousness, paralysis, unequal pupils (large one on side of stroke), paralysis usually on one side, sweating, slightly lowered temperature, and speech disturbances.
I would think that a person would be more prone to stroke if they have had one before, they have a history of heart or blood pressure problems, they are overweight, in poor physical condition, or they have a cholesterol problem.
If your partner has a stroke, they need immediate medical attention. While you wait for the ambulance, you can help them in a couple of ways. Handle them very carefully, especially their paralyzed parts. Keep them lying on their back, head and shoulders slightly raised. Turn the person's face carefully to the side if they are having a hard time breathing. That will let the secretions drain out. If they have anything in their mouths, remove it. Keep them warm and quiet but don't overheat them. Do not move your partner more than necessary. Do not use any stimulants or smelling salts. The person may be unconscious but able to hear what you say...so don't say things to panic them. Don't try to give them anything to drink or eat.
Some things that may help you to avoid this problem are regular aerobic activity and good diet (if you like to bottom to strangulation). It is important that if you bottom to this sort of play you get regular physicals that evaluate your general health. If you have a risk factor such as high cholesterol, then perhaps avoid strangulation play. If you do strangulation play, be sure that pressure is applied slowly and that no twisting occurs. If you lessen the trauma to the vessel, you lessen the risk of dislodging something. Do whatever you can to avoid trauma to the vessels.
Spine The cervical spine is made up of the first 7 bones of the spinal column. There are several things that can happen to injure this area. I will cover a couple of them.
A Fracture in the Cervical Spine will usually cause pain, possible paralysis, fainting, and suppression of reflexes.
A pinched nerve in the area of the cervical spine will mimic a lot of the symptoms of a fracture and is also very serious. In the long term, if left untreated, it can cause constant pain and loss of muscle tone.
The most important thing to do in the case of spinal injury is to make sure the person does not move. Calm them and tell them to lay still while you call for medical assistance. It is important to reassure them that everything will be well as long as they do not move around.
The treatment of these injuries usually involves putting a person in some form of traction so they will not move while the bone(s) are healing. In the case of a nerve being pinched, it is possible that surgery will be needed.
There are several things you can do to avoid this injury. The first being that if you are involved in hanging with your feet off the floor (or being an "airwalker"), it is important that you do not allow yourself to drop into position. That can lead to serious spinal injury even if the drop is as little as an inch. Remember, hanging was originally not used to strangle someone but instead used to break their neck. Any ligature is going to be more likely to cause a spinal injury, especially if it is a thin one. Another risk is if you apply a police style choke hold when your bottom is struggling or if you twist the neck slightly while applying it. It is very easy to cause injury that way.
Seizures and Fainting
Seizures and Fainting take similar first aid so they will be described together.
Seizures fall into three categories.
- Grand Mal seizures involve a sudden loss of consciousness followed by board like rigidity that changes to jerking muscle movements that gradually disappear. The victim usually wants to sleep afterwards. When they awake, they are usually cranky and have no memory of the seizure. There may be incoherent speech, extreme restlessness, and confusion.
- Petit Mal seizures last about five to twenty-five seconds. You will usually notice the person's skin go a bit pale and also notice them begin stare off into space. The eyes may roll back and the head, eyes and upper extremities may jerk slightly. The victim is usually alert right afterwards and able to function normally.
- Psychomotor seizures include automatic stereotyped movements of the body combined with partial amnesia. The victim may become angry and act out or have a temper tantrum after experiencing it.
Whatever seizure a person experiences, they may find that they have a strange feeling, smell, pain, or visions beforehand that signal the beginning of an attack.
Fainting is a sudden loss of consciousness due to insufficient supply of oxygenated blood to the brain. It is also common to faint out of an emotional response to something unpleasant or scary. Fainting is more common as you get older.
A few things that you may notice in someone before they faint are weakness, dizziness, paleness, sweating, and cold skin. The victim may notice spots before the eyes, numbness, tingling of extremities, nausea, disturbances of vision, shallow breathing (in our case...sometimes no breathing *wicked grin*), and a feeling of lightheadedness. The pulse is usually rapid and weak.
Both of these conditions in and of themselves are not considered medical emergencies and both are treated similarly.
If your partner faints or seizures, be sure to make sure they don't fall and harm themselves. Keep calm. There is no way you can stop a seizure. Do not forcefully restrain your partner and loosen any clothing or restraints that may limit their circulation. Make sure that they have an open airway. In the case of a seizure, you might place a pillow under your partner's head so they don't hurt themselves. In the case of fainting, elevate the legs so that the head is lower than the feet. If you can, you might want to gently turn their head to the side so they don't choke on saliva or vomit. Sometimes in the case of a seizure, a person will stop breathing. Monitor your partner's condition carefully and make sure that you follow up with first aid for any secondary situation that might arise.
There is very little we can do to avoid these things and still play like we enjoy. The important thing is how we handle it after it happens. You need to restore air as soon as possible when a person faints or seizures and give them proper first aid. The main cause of death involving breath play is that someone is playing by themselves and faints or seizures while unable to remove the device restricting their air.
Airway Obstruction by the Tongue
A simple thing to overlook is that if your partner passes out their tongue might fall back in their throat and continue to suffocate them.
If your partner passes out, you can prevent this problem by tilting your partner's head, chin pointing up. Place one hand under the person's neck and gently lift while pushing with one hand on the victim's forehead. This should move the tongue away from the back of the throat and clear the airway
Aspiration of vomitus, mucus, or saliva
Sometimes a person can inhale his or her own vomit, mucus, or saliva. This is very dangerous.
Usually a person will not actually draw the materials completely into the lungs. The symptoms of aspiration of foreign materials is coughing, unconsciousness, cyanosis, cardiac arrest, and cessation of breathing.
If the person begins to develop a problem the very first thing to do is to position them so they can vomit and keep an open airway. Remove all gags or bondage immediately. Sometimes the Heimlich maneuver can help to clear their airway if something is lodged within it. If they are coughing, make sure to monitor them while you get emergency medical attention. I do not have enough information yet on what else might be helpful. I have heard that some people have successfully helped in this situation by plugging the victim's nose and using their own mouths to suction the airway.
There are some things that will probably lower your risk of having this happen in play. Do not gag the person you are choking. If you do gag them, have a way to release the gag in a second (literally). Do not put the bottom into such tight bondage that you couldn't turn them to the side if they needed to throw up. Don't play with someone when they have a head cold. If you have a partner who gets nauseous during play it may be a good idea to stick to shorter times of asphyxiation.
Who Is Most At Risk
Unfortunately, there is no available statistically viable research that is specifically targeted at living practitioners of this type of play. We are left to extrapolate from research on other things or on similar things done under different circumstances. Therefore, the information below is based upon information taken from studies on police choke holds (where the police apply pressure to the carotid arteries) and Mountain sickness (a form of high elevation hypoxia suffered by climbers). Here is what these two types of asphyxiation have taught us about who tends to be injured or has the highest mortality rate in reference to lack of oxygen:
- Men over age 40
- People with a history of a seizure disorder
- People suffering from mental illness, especially manic-depressives in the manic phase
- Anyone under the influence of drugs or alcohol (even prescription drugs)
- Anyone talking any form of digitalis or tricyclic antidepressants
- Anyone with a history of respiratory, heart, or blood pressure problems
- People who are overweight (especially if they have high cholesterol levels)
- Anyone who has a cold or other respiratory problem at the time of the incident
Suggested reading materials or sources
Here are two new links to suggested health sites. I want to stress that they cannot replace proper hands on training, but they are excellent sources of information.
Supporting Life (various excellent health links): http://hometown.aol.com/jfuller428/LIFE.html
Less Stress Training (CPR and First Aid Simulators- REALLY good source of info): http://www.lessStress.com
Books
- Forensic Pathology (CRC Series in Fractical Aspects of Criminal and Forensic Investigations)
by Dominick J. Di Maio, Vincent J. M. Di Maio.
CRC Pr; ISBN: 0849395038;
Hardcover (January 1993). - "Death from Law Enforcement Choke Holds"
American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology,
Volume 3, Number 3, September 1982, pages 253-258. - Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary: Thumb Indexed (18th Ed)
Clayton L. Thomas (Editor), Robert H. Craven, Jr.
Hardcover - 2439 pages 18th edition (February 1997)
F A Davis Co; ISBN: 0803601948
Also Available:
Paperback - 2704 pages 19th edition (February 2001); F A Davis Co; ISBN: 0803606540
Software - 19 edition (January 2001); Unknown; ISBN: 0803606575 - Medical Self-Care and Assessment
Brent Q. Hafen, Ph.D., Molly J. Brogg, Ph.D., Kathryn J. Frandsen, Ed. D. - "The Breathless Orgasm: A Lovemap Biography of Asphyxiaphilia"
by John Money, Gordon Wainwright, David Hingsburger
Hardcover - 178 pages (April 1991)
Promethean Press; ISBN: 0879756640 - Jujutsu Shimete Strangulation techniques
Dr. Colin D. Mathers and John R. Bear
1998; IJJIA Research and Publications Division
0-9586408-1-5 - "Autoerotic Asphyxia: A Case Report"
Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy
Volume 23, Issue 4 - Publication date (expected/actual): October 27, 1997
Johnstone and Huws; pp. 326-332
Web Pages
- Sleep Apnea: http://www.sleep-apnea.ab.ca/ W. Ward Flemons MD FRCPC Medical Director, Alberta Lung Association Sleep Centre Foothills Hospital Medical Director, Sleep Apnea Society of Alberta.
- Sleep Apnea National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/index.htm National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892. Written June 1996.
- Jay Wiseman's essays on breath control: o "The Medical Realities of Breath Control Play" o "Breath Control: Is Epinephrine The "Smoking Gun"?" o "More On The 'Smoking Gun'" o "Where's My 'Precaution B'?" o "Cumulative Brain Damage From Breath Control?" http://members.aol.com/OldRope/breamain.htm
- Vagus Nerve http://www.intelihealth.com/ipn/pcn/HN/s_r/00205188.htm Nat Neurosci 1999;2:94-98. Reuters Limited
- Cerebral Ischemia The Neurodegeneration Research Group Address: Dept. of Anatomy, POBox 1105 Blindern, 0317 OSLO, NORWAY. Head: Professor Ole Petter Ottersen http://www.med.uio.no/imb/anatomi/gruppe_3/fluo.htm
- "Long Term Consequence of Mild Oxygen Loss During Delivery" United Cerebral Palsy Research & Educational Foundation, March, 1998 http://www.ucpa.org/html/research/oxygen.html
- Acute Mountain Sickness http://www.mountnet.net/malmoning.html
- Hypoxic Coma (Oxygen Deprivation Coma) http://www.comarecovery.org/hypoxiccoma.htm Coma Recovery Association Mihai D. Dimancescu, M.D., Director of International Coma Recovery Institute Chairman, CRA
- Breath Control By Des (Dirk) de Moor - email: dirkje@dircon.co.uk. The Deviants' Dictionary http://www.queernet.org/deviant/bfbreath.htm
- What is it about breath control? Is it safe to make someone pass out? The Soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm FAQ list http://www.unrealities.com/adult/ssbb/m.htm Rob Jellinghaus
- "The Autoerotic Asphyxiation Syndrome In Adolescent and Young Adult Males" http://members.aol.com/bj022038/index.html
- Asphyxiation movie guide http://necrobabes.com/samson/index.htm
- Death Stats http://www.cdc.gov/nchswww/search/search.htm
- * Fears over killer choking game By JOHN GASKELL, London, Sunday http://www.theage.com.au/daily/980112/news/news17.html
- Erotic Asphyxiation Video Catalog from Necrobabes http://www.necrobabes.com/video/vasphyx.htm
- Erotic Asphyxiation http://www.corpus-delicti.com/auto.html
- INXS Singer's Death Clouded in Controversy by Joal Ryan http://eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,2137,00.html
- Queening videos Green Eyes Videos http://greeneyes.com/apmain.htm
- Choke and Strangle- martial arts site http://www.zenbudokai.com/byuke/chokeandstrangle.html
- Hypoxyphilia definition http://www.umkc.edu/sites/hsw/issues/hypoxy.html
- Writer's club http://www.websurfer13.com/brendalove/writersclub.htm
- Kinsey research http://pavlov.psyc.queensu.ca/faculty/marshallb/sexual.html
- Deadly Sex Thrills by Matt Crowley. http://freespace.virgin.net/old.whig/fl20auto.htm
- Forensic strangulation photo (link given only to show what bruising and injury to the cervical spine can occur) http://uhsweb.edu/~lulo/lulo0002.htm
- "Death on the Web: A Mystery Reader's Encyclopedia" http://www-personal.umich.edu/~kschwart/death/articles/manual_strang.html
- Less Stress Training (CPR and First Aid Simulators- REALLY good source of info) http://www.lessStress.com
News Groups
- alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.neck
- alt.sex.asphyx
