Opioids Experienced IV users... help... shot up for the 1st time

[CatcherInPopEfield]

I am hoping for some good replies that might help me out. Long story short, I've done EVERY opiate/opioid under the sun except for raw opium and heroin. Have been using on and off for 20 years, with a preference for hydromorphone / morphine (can't stand fentanyl and don't even consider it a true opiate/opioid... no rush).

So, snorting has been my main ROA but I have IM'd a few times and enjoyed the onset of a nice slow rush. After being SO successful with IM, literally mastering it because you couldn't even tell that I do inject. I hit the muscles just right with little bruising and no swelling. Do I sound like I have an ego? Well I eventually ate humble pie because I decided it's IV time.

I desolved 6mg instant release hydromorphone into some filtered water (didn't cook...obviously). After stirring for a bit and letting the gunk fall to the bottom, I used a small piece of a regular cotton filter to suck it up into my syringe. I have a health science background so I found my vein super fast, plus I'm a lady who likes to workout so my veins do pop. I pull back and as my blood mixes with my solution I start to inject. I pulled the needle out and a few moments later I thought I was going to die!!

It lasted for 3 minutes or less but those 3 minutes were hell. I couldn't breathe and my heart rate got JACKED! Not sure what went wrong because this never happened when I got IV in hospital (granted they give .5mg IV as opposed to 6 mg). Also, IM was always so smooth! I got a nice slow onset of a rush, way quicker than snorting but not as fast as IV - it was nice. For the record I ALWAYS make sure there are no air bubbles, and I used this method for IM as well and my solutions were pretty clear (no sediments floating about).

So my question in short to the experienced with this: What is your theory? Where did I go wrong? If this in fact the dilaudid rush everyone is talking about, like dropping off a roller coaster... I DID NOT LIKE IT! This has terrified me from ever IV'ing again! Thanks, all.

 

[Dr. Extract]

Yep, that's the rush everyone is talking about. Some people say its like your stomach drops to your knees. I never really cared for the rush either. And in the hospital they push narcotics slowly to gauge your reaction and to reduce rush related side effects.

 

[Lorne???]

You probably pushed too quickly; you actually are supposed to inject slowly, and especially the first time.

Good thing you didn't try morphine; a large dose can give this weird head and sometimes intense sensation in your head, and the histamine release

Yet a couple of minutes later and you feel amazing...

Hydromorphone works well in the muscle, the BA% is excellent, IINM. However intramuscular injection of pills has it's own problems and risks; binders aren't supposed to be there.

Fent is really strong and weird, don't go IV'ing it, and if you try morphine, reduce the dose, and push slowly

 

[CryptoSinco]

IV'ing any drug is a whole different ball game, ive never done it personally, just keep that in mind! its Bio-avilabilty is always 99%+ and hits you within seconds!

 

[rwkregime]

You probably had an instant panic attack because of the intensity of the rush which you are not at all used to. IV Hydromorphone actually has a more intense rush than IV heroin, much more intense in my personal experience. How many MG did you do? The first time I IV'd Hydromorphone, I just did my friends wash and my vision went tunnel and fuzzy and I was astounded at how intense it was and was fairly opiate tolerant at the time. Probably not the best opiate to pick for a first time IV user.

 

[Lorne???]

^ Wouldn't reallocate compare them like that. Hydromorphone is more physically "intense", and can even feel uncomfortable, while H just hits you all at once like almost nothing else, and is generally, well pretty �� good

 

[Jekyl Anhydride]

That weird head Lorne??? is talking about can turn into a monster headache unlike any other. IME it's usually with very high dose Morphine and can be so incapacitating that you have to lye still as any movement that causes even the slightest increase in heart rate cause the "knives" to sink in deeper to your temples and cranium. It can last for up to 10-15mins but seems like hours, any onlookers would think you were dying and it probably increases your risk of stroke or hemorrhage too. The pins & needles + blotchy skin is just the beginning. You might want to look into micron filters if the IM'ing is a regular thing. Abscesses can be gnarly with a bad IM shot.

Antihistamines can go along way to mitigating histamine release when used early enough before partaking and slow push for sure. This is of far lesser risk with Hydromorphone but still I'd thought I'd mention it in case you switch to MS.

 

[Backfromthebrink]

Always find it astonishing that people IM pills, even after micron filtering. The risk of infection and abscess is just so high as the particles just sit in the muscle...not like IV where they are washed away into the blood stream (although that in itself poses a whole different set of risks). Not trying to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't be doing of course, but IMing pills seems incredibly risky to the point that the risk seems almost unacceptable.

If you do get a deep intramuscular abscess you will certainly know about it..and getting it cut open and drained is far from fun.

 

[Lorne???]

^ Yeah especially with like mscontin or multiple tablets; probably not as bad with a hydromorphone tablet, still not great thiugh

Yeah have had experience in public restroom(s) injecting morphine, in wd so injecting too quickly and with lessened tolerance and what not, and the head rush was too intense, and the warmth, don't really know if anyone was paying attention though sure I would have seemed either like a crazy person or having a medical ordeal

Probably part of the reason morphine doesn't seem as popular as it should, even though after the initial effects it would literally be indistinguishable from heroin(more or less) in effect

 

[Tubbs]

Iv Morphine definitely hits hard, like you said just a weaker heroin high.

 

[Trabbamab]

As others have touched on, the rush of different opiates when taken IV is fairly different:

Heroin: Kind of a class of its own. It is probably the one that most non-IV drug users would expect in that you are sober one second and then very high a few seconds later.

Oxycodone: Similar to heroin, except it causes a moment of "weightlessness" where your head can feel like it is spinning.

Morphine and hydromorphone: Probably the strangest of all. These both cause extreme hot flashes, reddening of the skin, hot "pins and needles" feelings all over the body peeking at the back of the head and neck and even nausea. Morphine has this effect a bit stronger than hydromorphone but they are definitely closely related.

Fentnyl: Almost no rush at all. You IV it, and immediately believe you missed or something. 10 seconds. Nothings. 30 seconds. Oh god, what did I do? 3 minutes later. Oh shit, I'm high!

So it sounds like you started feeling strange due to the rush and your heart rate went flying because you were probably already fairly nervous and then thought you had done something wrong.

I got started on opiates using heroin. Like I mentioned above, heroin is a very easy to understand rush. You just grow high really, really quickly. One day my guy went out and came back saying he couldn't find any heroin but had copped some morphine. I was hesitant to try it since I hadn't had it before but he convinced me it was basically the same thing. He cooked the pills down and drew them up. As soon as I injected it, I thought I was dying. My body grew really hot, I got pins and needles all over. I thought I was having an allergic reaction or was ODing or something and quickly started internally panicking as I was trying to hold it together on the outside for my friend. About 15 minutes later, I realized I was fine, high and all was good. After that I eventually came to get very addicted to the morphine rush and what started as those painful, scary hot pins and needles became something I hungered for.

I have also IM'd morphine and you get absolutely no trace of this rush. It is only IV that it occurs with. So it most definitely makes me think that this is the first time you have felt the hydromorphone IV rush and it spooked you a little bit like the morphine rush spooked me all those years ago.

And even though you didn't ask, I will just say my little piece that you are definitely walking into the fire at this point. As hard as it is to imagine, that rush that scared you can become the only thing you care about in your life. People get addicted to the needle and the drug. I am still dealing with the after-effects of my addiction over ten years since the last time I touched a needle.

 

[Lorne???]

^ Good message

 

[CatcherInPopEfield]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. First, I'd like to say I have a MONSTER tolerance. I can easily snort 100mg of morphine and you'd never know. However, I just got off a spin cycle and wanted to play it safe with the hyromorphone and shot only 6mg (which is like 40mg of morphine). Let me say that I did not get any pins and needles or warmth like when I snort hydro or even IM. I was NOT high at all and all I got was a fast heart rate and laboured breathing which was not fun and nothing I want to experience again.

A theory I read in another thread was that I didn't filter properly. I used a piece from a regular cotton ball instead of micron. I don't know, it's all interesting and I still can't pinpoint why this happened. The sick thing is I am thinking of trying again because I want to "right the wrong" and get the high I was really looking for. BTW, I have no idea why I am so lucky at IM and maybe I should stop that before something bad does happen. However, I do a great job of sanitizing and hitting the muscle and funny enough I inject slow with IM whereas I went superfast with IV. Heroin is a whole lot worse than filtered pills and people IM that all the time. I do know a guy who lost his leg shooting heroin & coke in it though. :/

PS -- I LOVE the pins & needles and warmth. That is EXACTLY what I look for when I lay in the poppy field. When I can't get the pins & warmth I am quite irritable. At this point I really want to shoot heroin. I've done it all but heroin and the curiosity is getting to me. I've been an opiate/opioid user off and on for 20 years so really now, I'd like to try that final forbidden fruit. Just extra babble and I don't want to influence anyone to do such a thing or glamorize this crap. I wish I never started on this stuff.

 

[Trabbamab]

Okay, I didn't catch that you didn't get high at all. I think I have also experienced something similar to this. Did the arm you use swell at all? Every once in a while I would do a hit and my arm would start to burn, my heart rate would go up, I would start to get little white, swollen patches on my arm and I would not get high at all, no matter how much was in the needle. And it wasn't a miss either, because a miss will still get you high as if it was an IM shot. A while later, my whole arm would start to swell. It would take hours to a few days for it to go back down.

To tell you the truth, I never figured out exactly what caused this. People have said you hit the wrong vein, but I know it was in the same vein I have used tens of thousands of times.

 

[CatcherInPopEfield]

Okay, I didn't catch that you didn't get high at all. I think I have also experienced something similar to this. Did the arm you use swell at all? Every once in a while I would do a hit and my arm would start to burn, my heart rate would go up, I would start to get little white, swollen patches on my arm and I would not get high at all, no matter how much was in the needle. And it wasn't a miss either, because a miss will still get you high as if it was an IM shot. A while later, my whole arm would start to swell. It would take hours to a few days for it to go back down.

To tell you the truth, I never figured out exactly what caused this. People have said you hit the wrong vein, but I know it was in the same vein I have used tens of thousands of times.

I've heard of what you went through and it's usually chalked up to heat rash from shooting really hot dope. I did not get that. I did get a bit of bruising and a bit of swelling around the vein (which did go down in the same day) but nothing at all like you explained. Hmmm. I don't think there's such thing as "hitting the wrong vein" as all veins have the same function. I know an artery is no good, but I'm certain I did not hit an artery because the blood was quite dark (deoxygenatd).

I guess this will remain a mystery :/

 

[Trabbamab]

I've heard of what you went through and it's usually chalked up to heat rash from shooting really hot dope. I did not get that. I did get a bit of bruising and a bit of swelling around the vein (which did go down in the same day) but nothing at all like you explained. Hmmm. I don't think there's such thing as "hitting the wrong vein" as all veins have the same function. I know an artery is no good, but I'm certain I did not hit an artery because the blood was quite dark (deoxygenatd).

I guess this will remain a mystery :/

Yeah, I never bought the whole "wrong vein" thing for the same reason. And I know it wasn't an artery either because it was the same vein I always used. I have heard the "heat rash" before but never thought it was that either, because hot dope would still get you high.

Perhaps this is the same thing as I had, but what I explained was a bit more my personal experience. Maybe you reacted somewhat differently. Because I really can't think of any other way for a sufficient amount of a drug to go into your vein and you suddenly feel pain, rapid heart rate and no high. I think it is too close to be anything else.

But sadly, as I mentioned, I never figured out what this was. It happened maybe once in every 60 - 100 shots. Maybe even a bit less often, but not too much less.

 

[Eurphorip0069]

Hey Catcher ��
So,....did it make you properly vomit then? very nauseous shortly after IV'ing or no ..
And I take it wasn't at all even slightly pleasurable then. ? Maybe a bit too much. .? To strong a rush/overwhelming?
Also.. I'm not sure if here is the right place for this but IV'n Quickly or Slowly and drawn out? I have a few acquaintances that tale a good 10 mins to get it all banged in but others it's gone instantly. .
Does anyone have any info on this? Does it make much if any difference? Does it hit you harder if you push it up slow. . Bit by bit.? Or shoot it quick all in one fast as possible go? And did this maybe have any effect on you Catcher ?
Lloyd Outear��✌

 

[sleepwalker]

I DID NOT LIKE IT! This has terrified me from ever IV'ing again! Thanks, all.

Now ,sorry for the bad experience, but hold that thought about IVing, theres so much more to life....without needles.
Needles only complicate everything.
Just be a good girl, and eat your pills!��

 

[JessFR]

Sounds like it might be that your experience was caused by a sudden large histamine release. Some opioids cause the release of histamine. The effect is stronger the faster the onset. And sounds like what you describe.

That's largely why codeine shouldn't be IVed but can be used just about any other ROA. It can cause a large histamine release with how fast IV is.

I used to get these symptoms sometimes with IV heroin a long time ago. Not sure why, it wasn't completely consistent. Might have been that some batches I used contained more ordinary morphine than others.

I wouldn't worry about air bubbles. The idea that they're horribly dangerous is largely a myth. It'd take a LOT of air to cause any serious harm (hundreds of ml at once). Of all the risks involved with IV, air bubbles isn't really one of them. God knows how much air I've shot all tolled over the years.

But shooting pills with poor filtering absolutely can cause harm, I'd worry a lot more about that. Short term you'll likely be fine but long term it's really bad for you.

I'm not telling you to never do it again, it's your life and it's not for me to judge. I'm just recommending you invest in micron filtering if you're gonna shoot pills.

EDIT: Speaking of judging...

Now ,sorry for the bad experience, but hold that thought about IVing, theres so much more to life....without needles.
Needles only complicate everything.
Just be a good girl, and eat your pills!��

If I'm honest this really sounds patronizing and unhelpful. People will do what they're gonna do, this is a place for support and information. Warning people of the risks is good, but after that it's for them to decide if they're willing to take them.

This is just my personal opinion, I'm not a moderator of this subforum, but to me this comment seemed kinda uncool and patronizing.

 

[HoldBack]

Sounds like a histamine rush to me. Like you would get if you did a big morphine shot.

Like your face got really flushed, you feel hot, you get a weird taste in the back of your throat, you feel like your heart is beating hard/quick , a feeling of pressure in your head (a bad headache if its a really bad histamine rush.

IV is the only ROA that will cause it.

The tar in SF can cause histamine rushes from time to time.