Swollen hand - artery shot

[spasoz]

(WHen i say shot i mean shot of heroin-black tar cut with lactose i guesss. whatever we get in southern ca. we call them beebs)

i believe i hit an artery that is right by my veins on my left elbow bend.

Luckily i decided i didnt want to do the whole shot in the first place and had only 50 units in my rig. even more luckily i read on here enough to realize that the burning instantly happening in my hand is not right and pulled out right away, meaning i shot up less than half of my shot.

Anyways my hand got all swollen so i figure d it was an artery shot. i freaked out tried calling hospital to see what to do, cant assess over phone. read on here, took some benadryl to help swelling. well since i took a low dose my hand is feeling almost normal again after 30 mins.

It was strange because i shot up in the vein i was aiming for times before. and when i registered everything seemed normal. i just got an extremely hot sensation in my hand and pulled out

but what i want to know is does icing help? does benadryl help? or should i take ibuprofen?

any help is good. i seriously doubt i need to go to the ER anymore (i was definitely contemplating it)

thanks for any help

 

[leigh12]

maybe it was cut with something different and not an artery that u hit

i duno , just a guess , im not an iv user or exp with tar heroin

 

[carl]

You should be fine. This is from Getting Off Right, A Safety Manual for Injection Drug Users

What to do if you hit an artery:
• Untie your tourniquet and pull your needle out immediately.
• Raise the limb above your head to stop the bleeding,
if possible.
• Apply firm pressure to the wound for at least 10 minutes.
• If bleeding continues, apply a bandage or cloth wrapped
very tightly around the wound and seek medical attention
immediately. The loss of blood from hitting an artery can
be life-threatening if it’s not stopped.

From what you wrote, you will probably be just fine, but if you are really concerned there are some steps you can take before going to the ER. Avoid taking any more antihistamines or anti-inflamatories for about 12 hours from the time you took your benadryl (the half-life is 2.4-9.3 hrs) to allow your body to show any signs of inflammation that may be lingering. You can use a felt tip pen or marker to draw a circle around the swollen area, and continue to monitor this. If the swelling continues to increase, and it becomes painful, seek some medical attention.

 

[Jabberwocky]

^great tips there carl.

if things get worse seek medical attention ASAP. the severity of artery shots are a lot worse than that of a typical missed shot

 

[spasoz]

Thanks for the tips. Swim felt no pain when injecting or anything, just a rushing hot sensation down my arm to my hand. Swim know what a missed shot feels and looks like and this was not the case. Swims hand swelled up, not the injection site; although a few hives did pop up around the injection site at one point or another.Swim also know a registered shot when Swim see one, and this one registered and seemed same color blood as usual. Swim registered it myself and it was not pulsing or anything. Perhaps Swim was partially in an artery or something.

Thank the lord that Swim did not inject very much before feeling the burn rush down to the hand, or this couldve ended very badly.

As for the dope, swim gets it from the same swimmer as often as possible for it's the best and cheapest. Potency and cut is almost always the exact same. They get the "pure" tar - not the super shit that costs 30-40 a gram. This stuff costs a 100 a gram and goes down to like 70 a g when bought in bulk. (swim thinks, swim doesn't have the hook but his friend does). But he uses one gram of pure and cuts it with one gram of powdered lactose. Basically they measure everything out so it's usually all the same. It's not like it's the powder and they just throw in baking soda or something. Instead everything is weighed out and then mixed using a coffee grinder and then heated with an iron making a "beeb" or ball of heroin placed in a balloon. So the cut/purity had nothing to do with it, especially cuz Swim used plenty from the same pack and had no problems.

Sorry for my ranting. Swim hopes he's on topic. He's typing on his iPhone and just did a shot so work with him

 

[Trigeminal]

Dude you used 1st person in the first post -- why did you start doing that stupid SWIM shit? And you said "my" in your second post, basically negating the 900 swims you wrote. Jesus.

 

[spasoz]

Calm down bro-man.

I forgot were supposed to put swim until I finishe my 2nd post and then I went through and fixed it but I was over fixing the my parts cuz I was on my iPhone.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

We DON"T use SWIM here .
Follow carl's advice and you should be good.

 

[triiper]

ok what if he injected in his artery and didn't just hit it then its way worse than what your describing in the tips. you need to go to ER right away cause you might need treatment and surgery, and the sooner you can get that the less damage you'll get. hitting it is not a problem, when you notice the blood flow is fucked, and you pull out immediately.

 

[Mr Blonde]

How deep do you have to get in the left elbow to hit an artery? I thought it was pretty safe there.

 

[thepiston]

My hand just swelled today

I shot a bunch of remnant bags, was pissed at last minute estranged family invite for christmas, didn't expect to get off but wanted to just shoot for the hell of it.

Immediately after flagging normal and shooting in wrist spot that normally works, my hand felt like fire, I tasted a coppery or tinny taste in my mouth, and my hand swelled up like a balloon til I couldnt close it. Went to emerg, they made me wait so long my hand started to loosen up so I left. Went to doctor later, he said it was neuro-vascular reaction, and that my blood vessels opened all at once from hitting near a nerve, but it sounds more like an artery shot.

I am still experiencing tingling, but the swelling is almost gone, it's now 9PM and it happened at like 11AM.

I dont feel bad or sick or anything, how long did your swelling last? and did you get a weird taste?

 

[issokay]

Need answers: Harm reduction questions - Artery shots, & running out of veins…

Swelling occurs with me occasionally, usually it goes away within a week +/- a few days.went to the ER about it once, not telling the doc how it happened, surprisingly, he didn't ask, either. So with no knowledge about all that, he dx it as cellulitis, which basically means inflammation of the cells, & cellulitis can be caused by bacteria making its way into/under the skin, in a localized area. He Rx’d me some antibiotic called “Bacterim” (sp?).

I have some 2.5 year old doxycycline that I’ll take if I ever have any swelling, or if I think it’s possible I may swell up. My antibiotic may not exactly be the one best suited for such a situation, but I just happen to have quite a lot of it left over from an extensive vacation in several areas in/countries of S.E. Asia, India, China, & Japan… I took that Rx w/me as an anti-malarial prophylactic.

My search about why exactly an artery shot is dangerous has left me with more questions, how likely is it to have a really bad outcome?
Why does it tend to make the wrist/hand swell. I like to know specifics rather than speculations.
It's becoming close to impossible to hit a vein anymore. How long can it take before these trouble areas/veins that have even become swollen/hardened, possibly due to injecting extended release dilaudid?
Would be nice to know if my veins will heal well enough to be able to ‘use’ them again…
Thanks, I eagerly await
Your answers, not trash talk about how stupid it was to do (blank)…

Thanks!

I shot a bunch of remnant bags, was pissed at last minute estranged family invite for christmas, didn't expect to get off but wanted to just shoot for the hell of it.

Immediately after flagging normal and shooting in wrist spot that normally works, my hand felt like fire, I tasted a coppery or tinny taste in my mouth, and my hand swelled up like a balloon til I couldnt close it. Went to emerg, they made me wait so long my hand started to loosen up so I left. Went to doctor later, he said it was neuro-vascular reaction, and that my blood vessels opened all at once from hitting near a nerve, but it sounds more like an artery shot.

I am still experiencing tingling, but the swelling is almost gone, it's now 9PM and it happened at like 11AM.

I dont feel bad or sick or anything, how long did your swelling last? and did you get a weird taste?

 

[Addictedgamer]

Hi, I'm an I.v heroin user that has used for many years and hit many arteries! About an hour ago i pushed in the whole 1ml needle full of gear before I felt that horrible burning sensation! I think the belt I had around my shoulder was too tight to feel the pain until it was too late! I injected into my blood bank under the arm pit and my hand and fingers have swelled up to 3 times the normal size! IV had this many times but only pushed in a couple mls before stopping and pulling it out! However on this occasion there was no blood rushing out as normal but it was definitely an artery and my hand is swollen big time!

im worried now, what do I do? IV used ice on my hand but have pain in the part of my arm that bends at the elbow!

Any my info would be greatly appreciated??

many thanks.