Correct Needle Width & Syringe Size for Meth IV

[Japhy Ryder]

What I can say from my experience, probably 25 years on and off IV use, maybe 10-15 of that pretty consistent/full time. I still have at least 4 useable veins in each elbow crook. And can only think of one other person I know/use with, or whatever, who also has elbow crook veins still.

That is damn impressive. I envy you. And it's true, usually nobody has anything in the arm crook unless they are young. Though I have a neighbour downstairs who rarely touches those easy spots--he's just squeamish about poking them, LOL! He's a bit squeamish in general about needles, I never figure how he ever got stuck on them in the first place.

I often just rotated through my easy places: all the crooks and the outer bicep. After about fifteen years they were mostly shot. I guess too, for a lot of years I was big on coke and you just bang over and over and over, fifty times or more in a single night, not including any misses or rooting, or switching as the night goes on and your sad scared veins flatten out and hide, while at the same time you are getting frenzied and obsessive with more-more-more, and your hands get less and less steady. messy ugly combo at times. That's a lot more wear and tear than heroin ever was. for veins.

I had to start spending mot of my time on veins in my forearms and i have the tiniest spidery veins, but by then I was using much less, not habitually anymore. Then over a period of just a few months I blew all of them, my wrists an the backs of my hands. my only dope source was some shitty cut or something that just kept mowing down my veins. But I was very depressed at the time, a really fatalistic fuck it period and i just kept ramming this garbage in and ruining them. I really regret that. Other than that bad period, the last few years, i only shoot once in a while for a treat, or with stuff that seems wasteful to use other ways because of low bioavailability, like dilaudid. But i did so much wreckage in that period, i rarely even try now. Nurses have trouble getting blood out of me and use those baby butterflies on little threadlike vessels. It sucks. I have the most beautiful meth right now and keep wanting to do a little shot. Every hour or so, i pour over my arms with my fingertips and sigh in defeat with no really great candidate. My legs never worked well.

It's also not so great for your skin and circulation and extremities either to blow all your surface veins. I curse having done it regularly. Most of my life, other than being a bit lazy with all the great pipelines, I was really into self care around IVing, and aftercare.

For any newbies, it is well worth following all the guidance you can find from reliable sources. Your veins are supposed to stick around for life. be religious about your rituals and regimen with shooting

 

[JessFR]

I've often wondered exactly why some people seem to have lost so many veins and others lost so few.

I injected drugs a pretty long time. I mean I'm about to turn 32 so obviously not as long as some people here, but I injected 2-3 times a day most days for most of my 20s. I only barely rotated injection sites. And for a few years of that I often reused needles long enough that they had long lost all their numbers by the time I replaced them. And my veins aren't big. But I haven't lost a single vein yet.

I think it's gotta come down to what you're injecting, injecting practices, and maybe genetics? Most heroin (I only occasionally injected meth) in Australia is probably less hard on veins than heroin in other places, but my ex partner had used up nearly all his veins using the same stuff so that can't be the whole story.

I dunno, there's a bunch of things like this involving drug use that seem so inconsistent. Like why the same drugs might feel different on different days.

 

[deficiT]

au$$ies be tweakin

 

[the_ketaman]

Don't believe that whole thing about less water= better rush.
More water= Healthier veins in the long term.
Heroin has not affected my veins at all hardly but 5 months of heavy ice and they're fucked.