And now, some unsettling news out today about a trend among kids. It goes by lots of names, including the choking game. Experts say it's endangering the lives of adolescents who mistakenly think it's a safe way to get high.

NPR's Rob Stein has more.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE: It might be called the choking game, but it's hardly a game - as Michele Galloway knows all too well. She went looking for her son Connor one morning, to make sure the 7th-grader hadn't overslept.

MICHELE GALLOWAY: I opened the door and I found him, and he looked like he was standing up beside his bed. And I just said, Connor you're awake. And then I realized he was not awake. And then I saw there was a little gap between his feet and the floor. And I realized, you know, he had a belt around his neck.

STEIN: The other end of Connor's belt was looped around the top of his bunk bed. At first, everyone thought it was a suicide, even though Connor was a happy popular 12-year-old. But Connor's friends at school fessed up, right away. They had all been talking about playing the choking game.

GALLOWAY: I kept thinking, if I pinch myself, this is not real, I'm dreaming. This is not really happening.

STEIN: But it was. And Connor's parents aren't alone. Similar reports have been emerging around the country. And doctors like Katrina Hedberg in Oregon's health department have been getting worried. Here's how she describes what kids are doing.

DR. KATRINA HEDBERG: The choking game is a strangulation activity that some kids participate in, using either hands or something like a rope or a belt or something like that.

STEIN: Why? Thomas Andrew, a health official in New Hampshire, explains.

THOMAS ANDREW: As the brain is deprived of oxygen, there's this sensation of light-headedness which is interpreted as a high. And then, once the pressure is released and blood flow is restored in a normal fashion, they see stars and the feeling is described as a rush.

STEIN: According to a new study, around six percent of middle schoolers in Portland, Oregon, have tried the choking game. And a quarter of them have done more than just try it, they've done it again, and again and again - at least five times.

ANDREW: With each of those episodes, obviously, just a little bit of the brain is being damaged. So who knows what the long-term effects may be on children that do this repeatedly?

STEIN: And no one really knows how often the game's being played or how many kids have died.

Nancy Bass, she's a pediatrician in Cleveland who's studied the game, hopes the new research will help parents, doctors and teachers spot kids at risk.

DR. NANCY BASS: The thing that haunts me is that every parent that I've taken care of their child that has done this, did say to me, if I just knew. I mean I saw hickeys or red marks on my child's neck. I saw scarves tied around the bedpost or the closet rod being bowed. And if I would have just known what that meant, I could have talked to my child and gotten them some help.

STEIN: In hindsight, Michele Galloway remembers telltale signs about Connor. Since he died, she's gotten involved with a group of other parents who lost their children to the game, hoping her story will at least help prevent more deaths.

Rob Stein, NPR News.




