‘It tastes sweet and sour and burns,’ reveals woman, 20, who’s addicted to drinking petrol in shocking clips
A SHOCKING clip shows a woman with a dangerous addiction to guzzling petrol.
Despite warnings that her strange craving could kill her, 20-year-old Shannon developed a habit of drinking gasoline daily.
Horrifying footage shows her trudging into her bathroom as soon as she wakes up and reaching for a red petrol canister stashed under the sink, before tipping its contents in her mouth.
It goes without saying that consuming petrol can have horrifying consequences on your health.
Aside from causing nausea, vomiting and intense stomach pain if ingested, the toxic liquid can damage your digestive tract and well as your heart and lungs.
It’s advised that you seek medical advise immediately if accidentally swallowing petrol.
Despite being aware of risks and struck by agonising chest pains and dizziness, Shannon, from Welland, Ontario, seems incapable of shaking her deadly addiction.
“I know this is not safe, I know it’s going to kill me and I still can’t stop.”
Shannon claimed: “It tastes sweet and sour, like a tangy sauce.
“It tingles at first and then it burns the back of my throat.”
“I can’t go a day without it,” she told TLC.
“I’ll wake up, go to the washroom and drink the gas. If I go out somewhere, I’ll put it in a small water bottle.”
Shannon even confessed to smearing fuel on her hands when she fills up her car at the petrol station and keeping a glass of it on her bedside table at night.
At the time she appeared on TLC, the 20-year-old said she’d been in the grips of her addiction for a year and drank up to 12 teaspoons of petrol a day.
That adds up to more than five gallons of the stuff in a year.
Shannon recalled loving the smell of petrol when she was younger, crouching behind her mum’s car to breathe in the exhaust fumes.
This lead on to her eventually trying a sip of the stuff when she was feeling “upset and alone”.
It was unpleasant, burning it’s way down her throat and causing “really bad pain”.
But the 20-year-old said she kept drinking petrol as a way of coping with her depression.
TLC warned that gasoline contains up to 150 toxic chemicals refined from crude oil.
“Drinking gasoline can cause vomiting, nervous system damage and death,” it stressed.
SPIRALLING ADDICTION
Shannon said her “favourite” way of drinking the toxic liquid was straight from the can, though clips of her tipping back petrol in shot glasses were also shown.
“I take the cap off and breathe in the fumes that come forcing out of the can,” she said.
Shannon’s addiction spiralled to the point where she was seeking other ways to silence her gasoline cravings, soaking scraps of newspaper in petrol before eating them.
She began suffering physical side effects from her addiction too.
“I get really dizzy, I have really sharp chest pains, I have pains in my stomach, in my intestines.”
The 20-year-old’s family begged her to find ways to get over her deadly addiction, fearing it would kill her before long.
“My biggest fear is that she could die,” Shannon’s sister Jacqueline confessed.
“I couldn’t imagine life without her.”
Her mum Connie told the show: “I’m at my wits end. I will do anything she needs to stop her drinking gasoline.”
Shannon’s story aired on TLC’s My Strange Addiction in 2012.
Since then, many have wondered if she survived her dangerous craving for petrol.
A curious Reddit user posted on the platform to ask: “I’m looking to see what happened to Shannon who appeared in TLC‘S season 3 of my strange addiction. She drank alot of gasoline, is she still alive?”
People speculated in the comments, with one claiming Shannon was from their hometown and was still living.
The dangers of drinking petrol
IT COMES as no surprise that ingesting petrol can severely damage your health.
Drinking it neat can lead to nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
In serious cases, it can damage to the digestive tract, as well as heart and lung problems.
It can also result in loss of muscle control and a coma.
The UK Healthy Security Agency (UKHSA) warned you shouldn’t make someone sick if they swallow petrol.
Instead, seek immediate medical help.
A severe form of lung damage called pneumonitis can also occur if liquid petrol is inhaled directly into the lungs, for example, whilst manually siphoning a tank.
Breathing in petrol fumes – not exhaust fumes from vehicles – may cause dizziness, drowsiness and headaches.
Inhaling large amounts can result in coma and loss of muscle control, heart and lung problems, UKHSA added.
Petrol can also irritate the skin if it comes into contact with it, causing it to become dry and cracked.
You can develop eczema if your skin is often exposed to petrol.
If the skin is exposed for a long time, then burns may develop.
What to do if you come in contact with neat petrol
First things first, remove yourself from the source of exposure.
If you have ingested neat petrol seek medical advice – do not make your yourself sick.
If you have inhaled neat petrol you should seek medical advice.
If you have got neat petrol on your skin, remove soiled clothing (not over the head), wash the affected area with lukewarm water and soap for at least 10 to 15 minutes and seek medical advice.
If you have got neat petrol in your eyes, remove contact lenses, rinse the affected eye with lukewarm water for at least 10 to 15 minutes and seek medical advice.
Source: UKHSA