a couple questions regarding storage of sterile water for injection

[Kallisti23]

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone knows how long sterile water for injection will safely last for once opened. I know technically as soon as it's opened it's not sterile any more, but if sealed (maybe with tape?) and stored safely how long will it realistically be safe for use? It's for IM injection of ketamine and it's a 5ml ampule so I won't use it all in one go. I have stored and used ketamine dissolved in sterile water for up to 2 - 3 weeks before with no problem but have always been a bit worried about the safety of it and have searched online for relative info with to avail.

Any useful information or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Solipsis]

Is it just sterilized water or is it bacteriostatic via preservative? Does it contain something like benzyl alcohol or sodium benzoate or whatever they use?

Water isn't really good to store at all once opened unless it has something like that in it. You'd want to micron filter it or resterilize it etc. But best would be to get something like an ampule of it that has a rubber injection port stopper...

I myself have used saline in the past for IM that is cheap, OTC (in the netherlands) and comes in sterile plastic ampules, they are 'saline nose drops for infants'. Might not have the top grade sterility, but I always micron filtered it anyway after dissolving a drug in it. Looks similar to this... don't get some nosespray looking nonsense and check the label whether the ampules are sterile.

Before micron filtering it should still be reasonably clean.

What you can do next time, is make a batch of your ketamine by using all the saline / bacteriostatic water right away, dissolving K, filtering it and injecting (through wheel filter) into a sterile vial with such a rubber stopper (put another needle in the rubber stopper to let air out as you push in the solution.). If a preservative is added, you made a nice sterile K solution ready for injecting that will last you a while - still, put it in the fridge.

Might be a pain in the ass to get that stuff at first, but injecting IM must be clean so you shouldn't skimp on it... also if you fumble with each and every injection and waste materials on it every time, over time that may also get expensive.

 

[Keif' Richards]

This is a tough one, because I think you're right, once it's opened, it can no longer be technically called "sterile". With that being said, I'm willing to bet that an opened container of sterile water for injection would be preferable to tap water. If you're worried about it, you could boil the water and then allow it to cool.

 

[Kallisti23]

Thanks for the replies. I might mix up what I need for the next few days and then save the rest of the water and boil any more I'm going to use. Solipsis your advice is very good and the method seems sound, unfortunately I'm not able to get one of those rubber topped ampules, although that would obviously be ideal. Saying that, in the past I have used a mixed opened solution that was sealed with cellotape for up to 3 weeks before without any problems. I may just have been lucky though so best not to take chances.

 

[JessFR]

Sorry to be pedantic, but if it has a rubber stopped it's a vial, not an ampule. An ampule is pure glass or plastic be broken open.

As for the question. I usually use sterile plastic ampules of water, I usually use the tab you break open and stick one of the two round sides of the tab as a cap for the ampule. I use them for a few days and then toss them. I've never gotten sick doing it. But then ive also shot using straight ordinary unboiled tap water hundreds of times and been fine, so it could just be luck.

It's also worth noting I use heroin IV. I don't shoot IM or SC, and those two routes are far more prone to infection than IV because anything in it has nowhere to go, and gets stuck there in a perfect place for to grow.

I also just use ordinary q-tip cotton rather than micron filters. I've never gotten sick this way, but again, I'm IVing, so I wouldn't recommend doing it for IM or SC.

 

[Burnt Offerings]

Personally I'd just designate a bottle of purified drinking water for injection purposes. As previously mentioned though I've used tap water directly from the sink countless times and have never had a problem (but always IV, never IM)

 

[Solipsis]

You'd be better off just buying distilled water in that case, but it's still not [perfectly] safe to just open and close the bottle and inject IM with it.

Also, the empty rubber topped ampules are available for sale online, you just have to look well and specify your search words properly. I got them from abroad, probably from the US.

A cellotape if you just open it to the air, is not really better than just a cap... it only works if the inside (in this case exposed tape glue) were a better inert sealant and you would inject through the tape. It's uncontrollable what happens with contaminants otherwise. At the very least either have a preservative that kills what gets inside or work sterile procedure so hardly anything gets inside in the first place - preferably both.

Cotton itself can contain contaminants which produce chemicals that cause cotton fever. Other than that, micron filters are meant to just filter any contaminant out that hitched a ride, but not entire colonies.

Boiling water (it takes over 15 minutes before that's even properly effective) can be done but the question is what happens after that: how long is it still exposed for the air for stuff to drop right back in it? If you can keep it in a closed venting container to cool that's good but it should be able to withstand boiling temperatures.

You actually can occasionally get away with bad practices, I can tell you from experience as I made a few bad decision on occasion when I was high and addicted on ketamine... that doesn't mean it's just a matter of not that much time before you get an abscess if you just make it a habit. Therefore, no anecdotal evidence that you can get away with it ever changes the matter... it just means it didn't catch up with you that time.

 

[Burnt Offerings]

Therefore, no anecdotal evidence that you can get away with it ever changes the matter

is anyone here saying that? I for one would never argue that injection drug use is safe. It's only a matter of time before the nature of IV drug (ab)use interferes with even the most astute HR practices, too, especially when you're dealing with highly addictive drugs.

But I would say that most of the time people run into problems related to re-using syringes or the nature of whatever they're injecting, rather than the solution itself (unless you're drawing water out of a public toilet or something)

 

[Kallisti23]

You're probably right. It definitely wouldn't be a bad idea investing in a rubber topped vial anyway. Better safe than sorry.