Harm Reduction Injection; IV Complications and Info MEGATHREAD & FAQ III Vs I Want Blood

[Jwrt9292]

IV meth complication. Numb swollen hands fingers and toes

I need help. Sunday morning shot up meth, filtered thru cig filter. Couldn't find a vein on either arm but finally did in the crook of my left arm, the main visible one, no pain, didnt miss. Hands and fingers became sore and numb hours later. Then began to worsen. It's now Tuesday and forearms are slightly swollen. Fingers and toes are swollen and extremely numb, Tingly and sore, and fairly cold to touch. More feeling in pinkeys. It's the worst in thumbs and pointer fingers. Wrists kind of hurt. I don't know what to do. Has this happened to anyone else? Should I go to the ER immediately? I don't want to lose any limbs. I'm scared. It's almost impossible to type this.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

I need help. Sunday morning shot up meth, filtered thru cig filter. Couldn't find a vein on either arm but finally did in the crook of my left arm, the main visible one, no pain, didnt miss. Hands and fingers became sore and numb hours later. Then began to worsen. It's now Tuesday and forearms are slightly swollen. Fingers and toes are swollen and extremely numb, Tingly and sore, and fairly cold to touch. More feeling in pinkeys. It's the worst in thumbs and pointer fingers. Wrists kind of hurt. I don't know what to do. Has this happened to anyone else? Should I go to the ER immediately? I don't want to lose any limbs. I'm scared. It's almost impossible to type this.

Yes, please seek medical attention.

 

[Serotonin101]

That post honestly turned my stomach. Go to the Dr man. Please or you could lose life and/or limb

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

I need help. Sunday morning shot up meth, filtered thru cig filter. Couldn't find a vein on either arm but finally did in the crook of my left arm, the main visible one, no pain, didnt miss. Hands and fingers became sore and numb hours later. Then began to worsen. It's now Tuesday and forearms are slightly swollen. Fingers and toes are swollen and extremely numb, Tingly and sore, and fairly cold to touch. More feeling in pinkeys. It's the worst in thumbs and pointer fingers. Wrists kind of hurt. I don't know what to do. Has this happened to anyone else? Should I go to the ER immediately? I don't want to lose any limbs. I'm scared. It's almost impossible to type this.

You should have gone to the ER way before you posted this and should not sit around waiting for a reply.

YES. Go to the ER. It sounds like you injected into an artery and from the symptoms you are describing, it's bad.

 

[5 meo dmTed]

You should have gone to the ER way before you posted this and should not sit around waiting for a reply.

YES. Go to the ER. It sounds like you injected into an artery and from the symptoms you are describing, it's bad.

^^^^^^^^
Except, if this took hours to progress to the point it has, and I'm in NO WAY saying thats not grounds for an immediate visit to the ER, but I've hit an artery twice in my life and it was immediately apparent, and I felt the same symptoms (in my wrist/hand, though, and never did it spread as described above) without having even depressed the plunger.. I don't know about an artery hit, especially if there was no immediate reaction in the form of pain or swelling (as this apparently happened hours after he completed the shot painlessly), so I'm quite intrigued as to what happened there. Regardless, hope you're okay mate!

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

^^^^^^^^
Except, if this took hours to progress to the point it has, and I'm in NO WAY saying thats not grounds for an immediate visit to the ER, but I've hit an artery twice in my life and it was immediately apparent, and I felt the same symptoms (in my wrist/hand, though, and never did it spread as described above) without having even depressed the plunger.. I don't know about an artery hit, especially if there was no immediate reaction in the form of pain or swelling (as this apparently happened hours after he completed the shot painlessly), so I'm quite intrigued as to what happened there. Regardless, hope you're okay mate!

There isn't always pain when injecting into an artety. Often, but not always. And a reaction doesn't also always happen immediately. Sometimes it can take many hours if not an entire day for the swelling to seriously develop, which is why any missed shots should be closely monitored for a couple days.

 

[Derschieber]

I just read this thread. Thank you all for sharing your concerns, advice and insights. Your experiences. After reading this, I feel strong emotions. Like taking a new and exotic drug. Thank you. I will not "just say no" to injecting myself. No need to. I know why I say no now. In the past I've just said yes. Like others here seem to be saying yes...just like that. Me too. Only not to this one. I have you to thank for this. I'm just like you. I kept seeing myself in your situations, feeling a little of what you may have been feeling. I can see myself in your place. As if I belong there.

JUST SAY NO...I hate the war on drugs...I hate the idea of others dictating to me what I may or may not put into my body...yea sure. I have felt passionate repulsion for the anti-drug propaganda. I have loved drugs in my time. Love that turned to hate. I have experienced divorces, after love turned to destructive obsession. I know what it is to love drugs. I know the heartache of divorce. The empty lonely hole that's left in it's place. I know how painful is the loss of a loved one. The tears, the begging and pleading, the sorrow, the sacrifice. The long struggle to somehow move on alone, without looking back.
I did not just say no. But eventually I did say no. To be honest, I wished I had just said no.

Best wishes

 

[down508]

one of my veins feels hardened. I've had it a couple years ago and after a while i regained use of it. is this vein done for good or will it come back? it is still there and clearly visible when other veins aren't but it feels more like a tendon. it is the inside of elbow vein the one closest to my body. I haven't tried using it because I have plenty others, but interestingly enough I used my cephalic vein earlier and it worked fine so I think blood is still flowing through it. any thoughts?

and I posted a few weeks ago about the case of cellulitis I got. I took the 10 day cycle of cephalexin and the infection is gone but there is still a lump about an inch in diameter, I can tell it is solid feeling which makes me think it is either a build up of white blood cells produced by the infection or the remnants of what I injected. any advice?

I just read this thread. Thank you all for sharing your concerns, advice and insights. Your experiences. After reading this, I feel strong emotions. Like taking a new and exotic drug. Thank you. I will not "just say no" to injecting myself. No need to. I know why I say no now. In the past I've just said yes. Like others here seem to be saying yes...just like that. Me too. Only not to this one. I have you to thank for this. I'm just like you. I kept seeing myself in your situations, feeling a little of what you may have been feeling. I can see myself in your place. As if I belong there.

JUST SAY NO...I hate the war on drugs...I hate the idea of others dictating to me what I may or may not put into my body...yea sure. I have felt passionate repulsion for the anti-drug propaganda. I have loved drugs in my time. Love that turned to hate. I have experienced divorces, after love turned to destructive obsession. I know what it is to love drugs. I know the heartache of divorce. The empty lonely hole that's left in it's place. I know how painful is the loss of a loved one. The tears, the begging and pleading, the sorrow, the sacrifice. The long struggle to somehow move on alone, without looking back.
I did not just say no. But eventually I did say no. To be honest, I wished I had just said no.

Best wishes

just say no is a great way to approach injecting, but if one day you find yourself i.v.'ing drugs (I knew I would never shoot up until the day I did it) then places like this are gold mines of information that save lives. people change, if you never inject your life will be much less painful, but I don't think anyone in this thread ever thought they would be injecting drugs, so I don't mean to kill your buzz so to speak but telling yourself you will never inject does not mean you never will. I hope for your sake you don't I wish I never did, but the point you make about the "just say no" abstinence based approach is rarely effective. so hopefully what you read in this thread has helped you, but you should understand that a drug is a drug. "well atleast I'm not shooting dope" is a line I've heard come out of the mouth of an opiate addict dozens of times, and it's usually a short time before they turn to the needle. you can be just as badly addicted via other roa's if you let it get like that. this thread informs people of the risks and how to deal with complications if they arise but demonizing I.V. drug uses (or even worse, I.V. drug users) can be a way to take the attention away from ones own problems.

I don't know your story or anything about you so I'm not trying to assume anything. the point I'm trying to make is that drug use can be unspeakably destructive no matter how the drugs are used. so even if you never shoot up in your life that doesn't mean you are immune to addiction, so be careful about what you ingest and how frequently you do it. what you think about i.v.'ing may change depending on how your life goes, so remember what you read here not only as cautionary but as information you or someone you know may find useful down the road.

 

[Derschieber]

down508 greetings. Thank you for your kind words. Very well said.
It's easy for me to see myself in these same circumstances...too easy...as if I belong there. Especially when I look back into my past. Here and now I am convinced beyond a doubt that you are right. On all points. My past addiction became unspeakably destructive. Sure it did.
14 years later I still feel the shame from some of the things I am responsible for.
Didn't mean to go off-topic...anyhow, best wishes...

 

[laCster]

one of my veins feels hardened. I've had it a couple years ago and after a while i regained use of it. is this vein done for good or will it come back? it is still there and clearly visible when other veins aren't but it feels more like a tendon. it is the inside of elbow vein the one closest to my body. I haven't tried using it because I have plenty others, but interestingly enough I used my cephalic vein earlier and it worked fine so I think blood is still flowing through it. any thoughts?

you probably didnt "kill or collapse" your vein. phlebitis, which causes veins to feel hard and "cord-like", is usually only temporary (depending on how bad you really fucked your vein) inflammation. scarring, swelling, and redness are also common symptoms of phlebitis.. usually the vein will be good to go in 3-5 weeks, IME.

depends what vein really and where on the body. over the years i've read plenty of peoples accounts of missing a single shot in a particular vein and it disappearing never to return.

@mister cunty - duke of the tramtram family.
wierd!!! i know this 27 y/o girl who has been using needles since 19 and she says she does not have any collapsed veins. i bet you dont have any collapsed ones either because you got veins of steel!! idk, i bet if you used a 22 gauge needle you would blow the fuck out of your vein in the first shot hahahah. or if you just have really really shitty technique and use dull as needles. i had her shoot me up a couple of weeks back because i blew out my medial antebrachial veins on both arms, and she literally wasnt even looking when she hit me in the wrists. she did flush the barrel (never seen someone "boot the barrel" before) after hitting me though. i found that a bit over-zealous.

 

[down508]

down508 greetings. Thank you for your kind words. Very well said.
It's easy for me to see myself in these same circumstances...too easy...as if I belong there. Especially when I look back into my past. Here and now I am convinced beyond a doubt that you are right. On all points. My past addiction became unspeakably destructive. Sure it did.
14 years later I still feel the shame from some of the things I am responsible for.
Didn't mean to go off-topic...anyhow, best wishes...

thanks man. you too. It sounds like you are pretty self aware which can be a blessing or a curse in this game. try your best not to let things get out of hand with drugs, i.v. or not. that's the best you can do.

 

[simplgrl77]

Great link to understanding veinshttp://www.druglibrary.eu/library/books/needle/veinm.html

 

[ColdNorth]

Hi guys. Someone in another thread suggested posting images of vein maps here as well. I think it's best just to link to the thread in question. Click here to go to the thread.

Also I would like to offer thanks to especially this thread. I spent the last couple of weeks writing out an injection safety guide that I wished the local needle exchange would distribute. As it turns out, under very recently changed Finnish law, spreading such HR information can be considered a crime. Something like "facilitating a drug crime". Pardon my English, that's the best translation I could make. Anyway, the information in the "guide" has come mainly from BL and personal experience, and this thread has been a great help.

Anyways, you can find some nice vein maps in that thread, and tips on how to make your veins more visible if you are like me and most of your veins are nearly invisible.

 

[laCster]

^15 mins 4-5 times a day. do you have any neosporin or antibacterial cream? that would be good to put on it. i'd use warm water and massage your arm to increase blood flow!

i have no clue what you mean about your blood traveling to your ass though lol. did you miss a shot, or did it just blow from dull shit and bad technique?

 

[laCster]

Probably. Does it feel warm to the touch? Do you feel a little tenderness or pain at the site of injection? Blowing a vein isn't that dangerous. The human body has amazing plasticity, when something gets broken, the function is taken on by other parts of the body. In this case, blood flow will be rerouted to another vein. The only thong you need to worry about is abscesses.

Signs of abscesses include warmness when arm is raised above the head, pruritis at the site of injection, loss of feeling, ect...

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

shitshitshit.
blew my cephalic vein real bad at the bicep. was quite swollen with blood, I've put an ice pack and compression on it and it seems to have stabilised... anything else I should do for it? how long should I keep up the ice pack and compression for?

Expect a nice bruise to develop and hang around for a while if you did in fact blow a vein. Not fun.

 

[laCster]

^ vitamin E oil really helps with scars dood, i bet you are going to have a huge ass track mark/scar like i do now :/..

i buy the vitamin E capsules, break them open with a knife and rub them on my track marks. as a result, my mark is 75% less visible than before. there is a still a visible scar going up my antebrachial vein and up my bicep on my right arm, but now it "could pass" as a normal scar from somethig else lol. i guess you could swallow vit E suplements, but the capsule with the oil in it is concentrated and works really well! after using it 4-5 times a day for 2 weeks the scar is almost gone!!

make sure you are using new needles bro. i just injected with a dull ass shit and it hurt like a bitch. after i was down i through it away, but there is a pretty big scar.. ugh the life of a junkie i guess..

 

[laurengitus]

Hot, painful lump at missed injection site?

3 days ago I missed a shot in my hand. (heroin) The first 2 days it was extremely painful, like way more painful than normal and I've missed plenty of times before. It's less painful today, still definitely quite tender though. But the lump is not getting smaller like usual, maybee even bigger. (can't tell for sure.. it's definitely at least the same size though..) it's also reddish. but what's really got me worried is that its hot. I can feel heat in the part of my hand where the lump is all the time, and if I touch the lump it is noticeably hotter than the skin around it. also when I touch it I can feel a pulse. not sure what that means. but I know heat means infection. what should I do? and please don't just tell me 'see a doctor' unless you really think it truely is that serious.. which if it is, of course I will see a doctor. but if this is something that I can most likely take care of myself, or can at least try to take care of myself and see if it gets better before seeing a doctor, I would obviously prefer doing that. I don't need this on record, I already have legal issues. :/

 

[Bambooshoot]

Okay I am 99% sure you have developed an abcess. Missed shots normally go down within the first 24hrs. Also the fact that it's hot to the touch is a sure sign. I amgoing to tell you to go to the doctor because you must. There is nothing you can do yourself with an abcess, you need antibiotics ASAP! In the meantime use a hot compress. But please don't put off going to the doctor. If you ignore it, worst case scenario you could die from blood poisoning (septicemia) or loose your hand. I am not being over dramatic I'm just trying to tell you realistically the dangers of ignoring it. But don't worry a course of antibiotics from the doctor will clear it up.

 

[The Dope Man]

sounds like an abcess. the longer you wait the worse it will get. I would go to the doctor ASAP but you said its less painfull than the previous days. You could keep a close eye on it for the next 36 hours and if its not getting much better by then than its time to see the doctor.