Posted on 02/10/2006 6:23:57 AM PST by Dane
Deadly 'Game' Claims Local Boy's Life
Sometimes called the "fainting game" or the "pass out game," doctors say adolescents are using a belt, leash, rope or necktie to cut off oxygen to their brains to get a head rush -- not realizing the deadly consequences to this so-called game Signs that ar child may be engaging in the choking game include: bruised necks, bloodshot eyes and severe headaches
Marty Griffin Reporting
(KDKA) PITTSBURGH Doctors are calling the "Choking Game" a major problem with teenagers across the country; in fact, in the last week alone, it claimed the lives of two 12-year-old boys in Connecticut and Tennessee.
Now this so-called game has hit home with the death of a Mt. Lebanon teenager.
The thirteen-year-old boy's mother found his body Monday night. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner has ruled the cause of death as "asphyxiation by hanging."
While the manner of death is still pending, the boy's father told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that he did not commit suicide.
Lisa Katz knew the eighth-grader well, describing him as a sweet and kind youngster.
"It's devastating," Katz adds, "It's horrific to lose a child in this senseless manner."
After hearing the news, Katz says she immediately started talking to her kids about the "choking game."
Sometimes called the "fainting game" or the "pass out game," doctors say adolescents are using a belt, leash, rope or necktie to cut off oxygen to their brains to get a head rush -- not realizing the deadly consequences to this so-called game.
Experts believe this so-called game may be claiming hundreds of deaths a year many of which may be incorrectly ruled suicides.
"We have seen many of our patients who have engaged in this game," says Dr. Michelle Seliner. "There is no 'how to manual' on how to safely strangle yourself to the point of receiving a high. It's a dangerous, dangerous behavior."
Katz agrees, saying all parents need to learn from this tragedy.
"You can't make assumptions it's not my child," Katz adds. "You can't make the assumption that we live in the district that's upper middle class and educated families and therefore it's not gonna touch us. But this happens and it's happened to our kids and it's preventable."
Experts say parents can watch for certain signs that their child may be engaging in the choking game including bruised necks, bloodshot eyes and severe headaches.
The best way to prevent this risky behavior is for parents to talk to their children and let them know the choking game is anything but a game
I don't recall it ever having, apparently, reached epidemic proportions. In fact, I've never heard of it at all 'til recently.
This same story was posted six months ago.
If this is such an epidemic, we outlaw belts.
If belts are outlawed, only outlaws will have belts.
You can have my belt when you pry it from my cold dead belly.
The constitution protects our right to bare arms, not bare butts.
Time to ban "the game"! We need a War on "the game"!
And this game has been around since I was a kid in the 80s, probably even before that.
We tried a variant in my Catholic school in 1976 or so.
One kid would squat against the wall, take ten deep breaths, breath the last one all the way out, and then stand up. All the other kids would then press his chest against the wall, so he couldn't breath in.
The world would go all blurry then disappear, and then you would slowly wake up with everybody standing around you laughing.
The nuns went ballistic when they found out about it, after one kid took about twenty minutes to wake up.
I have no idea who thought the game up, or why we all did it. Probably because we were 12 years old and dopey.
Go to the Article8alliance web-site and scroll down to the Tranny Boys at the Boston Gay Pride Parade.
"For clarification, we were holding our breath in crouched position, and sometimes kids would pass out."
We tried that. We were trying to reproduce the "I got up too fast" sensation. We had some kids fall over but nobody lost consciousness.
"If you have a child be aware, be afraid, and be very proactively vigilant.
Gee, if we could get the public school system to get off their evolution and safe sex soap boxes for an hour or so, maybe they could address things like this in school assemblies.
Years ago, working for a large company, the plant was closed down midday as a snowstorm came through the area. Early, the following morning, a security guard found a division manager hanging from his belt suspended over his desk with his pants down at his ankles.
I am 56 years old and when I was that age we use to do the same thing, except in a safer way.
I never knew of anyone getting hurt or dying from it.
I would take 3 deep breaths and a person behind me would squeeze me around the center of my torso, until I went limp. They would then lie me down. After 5 seconds or so you would wake up.
It was stupid back then. But they must be squeezing around their necks today. Much more dangerous.
I did LOTS of stupid thing when I was a kid too, but I knew lots of kids that did even stupider things and it was mostly boys.
I am just saying - as adults I think we forget the sense of invincability teeneagers have. I cringe at things I did - especially driving at very high speeds - and I never thought of dying.
Yeah, I had the same sense of invincability, but it wasn't manifested like that. We did things with explosives/black powder, and got drunk skiing when we got older, and would go whippin' through traffic on our bikes, etc. But never in a million years would anyone have convinced me to try that. Can't speak for my friends, but I cannot imagine that most wouldn't have been a little concerned.
For me, the second I'd have read about one death, let alone two, three, or an epidemic, I'd have thought three and four times about that easily. IDK, different perspectives I suppose.
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