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Harm Reduction I think I shot heroin into an artery

thread.post

Greenlighter
Joined
Oct 29, 2006
Messages
15
I'm really freaked out right now, its been about 20 minutes and my hand is swollen up.
Should I ice it? Do I need to go to the ER? FUCK. it burned in my hand as I shot into my wrist and instantly got swollen. It has stayed at about the same level of swelling as about 2 minutes after I shot.
What should I look for as time goes on? How will I know if I need to go to the ER?
Thanks in advance!
 
Oh boy. The wrist? Sounds like an artery shot to me. Read http://www.annals.edu.sg/pdf/34VolNo9200510/V34N9p575.pdf and see what happen to the wrist shots. Due to incomplete blood districbution by the palmar aortic arch only some of the fingers will be effected, but in the case of the aforementioned journal article the buprenorphine got lodged in the index, middle and ring finers (little finger gets most of its arterial blood from a different artery going thru the wrist BTW so little finger wont be affected, and if it is the conversely the ring, middle and index finger will not be effected)
Go to ER now or the chance of losing your fingers[/u] increases. Just go man, dont wait for any more opinions to make you reconsder. You got the opinion of a registered pharmacist and partially qualified doctor here, so just do it. They probably thin the blood before real damage is done. Be 100% honest too. I hope it all works out
 
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Get someone or do it yourself and get rid of all your drugs and paraphanelia and go to the ER................
 
djsim, you may need to fix your link up to get it working right, it's got a little extra bit in it that is making it not work. I changed the URL in my browser and am reading the case right now.

OP: You heard the man. Get to the ER. Good luck, and I hope that they get to it before any serious complications present.
 
Does shooting into an artery get better with time? It almost sounds like the real damage doesnt really happen until quite a bit later. I just spoke to my family doc, I was totally honest with him, he said it was sorta 50/50 but that I should def come by his office tomorrow to get looked at.
I'm just worried that from what I'm reading it just gets worse with time. Right now, its about the same amount of swelling as when it first appeared, maybe slightly less. The majority of the swelling is in the thumb and index finger and top of my hand, there isn't any swelling to speak of in my pinkie, ring or middle finger.
What would be the worst that could happen were I to wait another 12 hours to go to my regular doc? I mean of course if it gets worse through the night, I'll just go to the ER, but lets say it stays pretty much the same as it is right now, would that be doing more damage that I dont know about?
I'm just worried about the whole insurance thing, and what happens if they call the cops or some shit? What happens if I have this recorded on my record and then the cops have my and my address marked from now on?
I'm a fucking idiot.
 
Does shooting into an artery get better with time? It almost sounds like the real damage doesnt really happen until quite a bit later. I just spoke to my family doc, I was totally honest with him, he said it was sorta 50/50 but that I should def come by his office tomorrow to get looked at.
I'm just worried that from what I'm reading it just gets worse with time. Right now, its about the same amount of swelling as when it first appeared, maybe slightly less. The majority of the swelling is in the thumb and index finger and top of my hand, there isn't any swelling to speak of in my pinkie, ring or middle finger.
What would be the worst that could happen were I to wait another 12 hours to go to my regular doc? I mean of course if it gets worse through the night, I'll just go to the ER, but lets say it stays pretty much the same as it is right now, would that be doing more damage that I dont know about?
I'm just worried about the whole insurance thing, and what happens if they call the cops or some shit? What happens if I have this recorded on my record and then the cops have my and my address marked from now on?
I'm a fucking idiot.

I guess you didnt read the pdf that was posted above - that horrible damage occurred 12 hours after an injection!

If you value the further use of your hand, go to the ER now.
 
^ Agreed. I don't know why your doctor told you to come by tomorrow, maybe he thought you were just having a panic attack or something.

The OP is offline now, I hope he is making a beeline for the ER.
 
OMG, the whole reason I quoted that study was so he would realise the urgency!
It's obviuously an artory injection since the palmar aortic arch has distributed the drug to half of the fingers on the hand. These people quoted in the study also looked fine at 12 hrs but even with medical attention lost their fingers to dry gangrene 2 weeks later. If he went to the ER now they could possibly stop the damage. This isn't one of those things where a family friend can take a quick look at the hand at their leisure. Jesus, I wouldnt do that for my car letalone my hand! I honestly don't get it... this is exactly why I said go to the ER now before you find a post that will give you soime solace in waiting another day. I gave you my professional medical opinion, and you still dont think its urgent. I hate to say it but this wont end well. Whats the point in asking the Q if you dont listen to the answer? Drug paraphenalia should be the least of your worries
In the future it would be best if people help promote the urgenmcy in such an arteric injection post, instead of suggesting they hide their needles
 
this actually happened to me a couple times when i first started shooting and it is pretty scary, but to be honest it did heal itself. my hand got all swollen but it subsided after a day or two. just be sure to put presure on the spot and (its probable too late at this point but..) raisimg the limb in question up above your head right after the shot minimizsess the swelling. of course if it keeps getting worse you should seek medical attn.
 
this actually happened to me a couple times when i first started shooting and it is pretty scary, but to be honest it did heal itself. my hand got all swollen but it subsided after a day or two. just be sure to put presure on the spot and (its probable too late at this point but..) raisimg the limb in question up above your head right after the shot minimizsess the swelling. of course if it keeps getting worse you should seek medical attn.

You probably just missed your shots those times, injecting into an artery is a whole different story.
 
You probably just missed your shots those times, injecting into an artery is a whole different story.

Thank you! No shit, people are talking about arterial injections as if they are everyday run of the mill problems. Have you read the link (link)? One guy couldn't find a vein and pruposely shot the drugs into an artery... and 2 weeks later after the swelling subsided and even with ongoing medical care, the patient still lost 4 fingers to dry gangrene. Jesus Christ, I don't understand the problem here... a medically trained person (me) says go to the ER, and OP hangs around saying "maybe it gets worse with time". Maybe? I gave all the info needed - go to the ER. Its certainly not something a passing glance by a doctor the next day will fix. He knows the problem; he quoted it in the thread title for Christ's sake!

Anyway I've emailed OP. It's his problem. I think it does everyone a dis-service by people saying "you'll be fine" when they are not trained to do so. If I was facing losing my fingers (hell, even just the fingernails) I would go straight to the ER, I wouldn't wait for the repolies I want to hear. But in the end whether or not OP loses his fingers; it's all his fault. Though I hope he heeds the advice... some people only learn the hard way though.

PS. china, I rspect your thought but I think in this case your comments make it seem like artery shots are normal, and they are anything but. No disrespect meant
 
this actually happened to me a couple times when i first started shooting and it is pretty scary, but to be honest it did heal itself. my hand got all swollen but it subsided after a day or two. just be sure to put presure on the spot and (its probable too late at this point but..) raisimg the limb in question up above your head right after the shot minimizsess the swelling. of course if it keeps getting worse you should seek medical attn.

Same here - I've hit an artery on several occasion by accident, once in my wrist.

What made it really bad, was the fact that I didn'r realise and just thought I had put too much citric on the mix and thought that was why it was burning:| So I went and did the whole shot.

My hand swelled up but was back to normal a few hours later - the op's situations sounds much worse...
 
Jesus Christ, I don't understand the problem here... a medically trained person (me) says go to the ER, and OP hangs around saying "maybe it gets worse with time". Maybe? I gave all the info needed - go to the ER. Its certainly not something a passing glance by a doctor the next day will fix. He knows the problem; he quoted it in the thread title for Christ's sake!

It never ceases to amaze me that we have medical professionals available on this board devoting their time and energy to watch out for all of us. I indeed appreciate all your effort.

OP - I truly hope you are at the ER. My Gawd take the advice of the medical professionals and be damn glad they are here.

Respect
 
Please let us know how it turned out OP!

You're in my thoughts for sure..
Hope you're alright.
 
there should be a sticky for how to shoot properly without hurting yourself.
 
djsim, where exactly is the palmar aortic arch? I'm guessing on the palm side of the wrist, eh? (Google reveals no results.)

I don't bang anymore, but I used to always hit the vein (at least I thought it was a vein) on the radial edge of my wrists, as well as the big vein on the ulnar edge of my right forearm. These are safe, no?

Christ, I hope the OP got his ass to an ER. Scary.
 
Yeah Im hoping this has been resolved by now, and the guy can still type...

When involved in illegal shit it can be scary to talk to somebody medically speaking.

But you can always say somebody did it for you, and you thought it was something else, or maybe you just did it with others and you dont have anything at home or whatever.

Makes you seem less likely to be doing this type of thing often. May get you by more legally.
 
I don't want to be responsible for damage to your body so if you feel like go to ER but when I started shooting dope I shot in the artery few times (like 5 think) and it heeled by itself and I was fine.
 
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