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Harm Reduction Track Marks MEGA Thread v 1:Human Pin Cushion

AtxBigBallin

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 12, 2003
Messages
554
Track Marks

I have been getting killer bruising from IV coke use. I was curious if there are more conspicuous places to poke myself that will be comparable to the arm. I know its best to stay as close to the heart as possible but the bruises really are a pain to have to cover up.

Ideas anyone?

Peace
 
Yeah, ive got some pretty bad track marks all over my arms.. and nothing makes them go away any faster, and it sometimes can be tricky to cover them up.

If you can, you can try your feet/ankles.. but thats much more painful, harder to hit a vein because they roll.. but it does work.

If you decide to look around your body for a decent vein, be careful where you spike yourself.. you can hit an artery pretty easy in certian places.

I gave up on searching for a vein anywhere besides my arms.. i just got for longsleves and noone notices.
 
the big vein on top of the biceps brachi...
i dunno... that place on me seems to bruise the most. Well, almost the most.. the veins on the inside of my bicep are capable of making bruises the size of tennisballs (maybe a slight exaggeration)

If you're bruising a lot, you may be doing something wrong.
not necesssarily... with cocaine, the tendency is to do a shot every few minutes... i don't even enjoy IV coke, but once I must've given myself at least 20 injections in less than 2 hours.

not sure if this is possible, but if you could manage to get ahold of one of those IV ports they use in hospitals, that would be FUCKING AWESOME. I have a friend that works as a phlebotomist. I'll ask her if she could gank some. Not that I'm hinting that I'd do a BLer a favor and give it away as a gift. That might be against forum policies.

I'm kind of jealous of you because you enjoy the rush of IV coke. Coke doesn't provide the some euphoria for me as it does for most. After a shot, I'll ring, then maybe puke (50/50). Then I'll ponder as to why that rush is so good to some people that they'll spend their money on cocaine rather than buy their boyfriend, who they claim to love a birthday present (fuck you Theresa, I hope your 33 year old new boyfriend has a heart attack while he's sticking it to you). But a lil bit of coke mixed with some H... that's blissful.

Try to be good to your veins. Coke is really really bad for them.. it's so deceiving too, because obviously, they don't hurt when you're tearing them up.

I'm guessing you're reusing the same needle over and over again too. Unless you buy them by the 100, using a new needle everytime is probably impossible if you're really binging. I should be the last one to reprimand someone about reusing spikes, but I'm guessing that some of your problem comes from that.

Get a port or buy in bulk. purifying your coke would def be helpful too since you won't be shooting like 70% of god knows what they use to cut it with. Or just stop banging coke... I'd choose the latter, but I'm biased
 
Don't shoot into your feet, if you can help it. The circulation's bad, the veins are small and collapse easily, and there's more bacteria and fugal shit around increasing the chances of infection.

Coke is pretty irritating to your veins, like other people have said. I think bruising is hard to avoid in this case. Can you use veins further up your arm that you can cover with a t shirt sleeve? If you can't see veins there, learn to feel for them.
 
A port for constant IV use... damn that sounds awesome, but it would look VERY sick to an outside observer :)
 
one thing i have learned too though is to keep away from the bruises that do show up....the purity of our shit these days is awesome...thanks for the suggestions but i am getting the hang of it...practice and all...top of the arm is def. a good spot for me and using fresh needles every other time makes things a lot better
 
For the worst bruises you may try a vitamin E cream. Wait awhile after you boot up to use it though. I'll ask my friend what he does for the IV coke bruises. He has been it for a long time up until recently. I hope you have good technique if not brush up and always try to improve. Oh, and you should never reuse, you would be amazed at how much fresh needles and good technique reduce the bruising. Aside from the bruising there is infection to worry about. I just break the needle off and that stops me from even thinking about reuse.

If I need to use and needles aren't around then I get fresh ones fast or snort my drugs.;)
 
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i've always found that the lower down my arm i go from otherside of elbow - the more bruising will occur. The rolling veins are the worst for bruises. I go for the ones at the side of my elbow-crook - these never bruise on me, neither do any of the non-visible, deeper veins. Also, i always use a 28g at a 45 degree or lower angle.
 
i know its old, but its exactly what im lookin for, wondering if an ice pack or anything right after the shot would help??
 
Actually what might help is appling pressure to the injection site for at least 30 seconds. That's what I do and I rarely get bruises. But then again, I'm not sticking myself 20 times in rapid succession (I use opiates...but have been a coke user in the past). The frequency of injections and the sharpness of the needle, as well as technique are what makes the biggest difference IMO.

I realize that one may not have the same ability or desire when on a coke binge.

But you have to realize that a bruise is simply blood that has leaked from your vein and pooled under your skin. Keeping the 'hole' as small as possible and applying pressure to prevent blood leakage is what will help with the bruising. Good luck.;)
 
ask to see my track mark pix

My arms are so badly scarred that i would love to know not only a better place to spike, but some methods on how to lighten these scars!!! I have pix of them, cause when i told someone how bad they were, they said its physically impossible and i had to prove them wrong. Seriously...if you saw me, and then saw my arms you would never ever think that they were mine.

The scars are from speedballing...coke seems to scar more then dope...

and yeah the biceps ( on me at least) bruise like a fuckin peach....
 
^^^ a cream called hirudoid cream is what helped me lighten my scars, i found that it worked very well. That and just plain old time without going near a needle. Vitamin E cream or oil can help reduce scars too.
 
Hirudoid is fantastic. It also softens the veins as well as gets rid of bruises and scars impressively well.
 
Your hands heal up the quickest I've noticed if you're going to IV anything. You HAVE to have be careful though as these veins are very fragile so you'll have to go slow. Then again if you're shooting up coke every 15mins then this can become a problem..but if you have good opiates you can use, they will stop the cravings completely.

And make sure to use NEW needles everytime. The smaller the gauge the better (ie 29-31 gauge). The more times you use the same needle, the more scarring you will create. Rotate shooting areas. Don't use the same one too often. Use Neosporin as well as Vitamin E cream/oil as one poster already recommended.

If the scar has been there for a while and doesn't seem to go away, it won't..ever. There are a few procedures on how you can get rid of permanent scars..one of them involves laser surgery. But either way, it can be done.

~caldoche1
 
XChaoticxKittenX said:
My arms are so badly scarred that i would love to know not only a better place to spike, but some methods on how to lighten these scars!!! I have pix of them, cause when i told someone how bad they were, they said its physically impossible and i had to prove them wrong. Seriously...if you saw me, and then saw my arms you would never ever think that they were mine.

The scars are from speedballing...coke seems to scar more then dope...

and yeah the biceps ( on me at least) bruise like a fuckin peach....


coke definately scars more than dope...
 
caldoche1 said:
Rotate shooting areas.
This is nice in theory. But I've only got one site (inner left elbow) where I can actually get a proper hit - I have absolutely atrocious veins. Even that one site there's only three small and shallow veins I can use, and it's pretty hit and miss getting those. Which means I'm fucking those up faster than most people and once they fail, I dunno wtf I'm going to do. :(
 
Ketamike said:
i dunno... that place on me seems to bruise the most. Well, almost the most.. the veins on the inside of my bicep are capable of making bruises the size of tennisballs (maybe a slight exaggeration)


I agree that "top of the biceps brachi" spot is an instant huge bruise for me.
 
funkee said:
If you're bruising a lot, you may be doing something wrong.


I would also agree with ketamike and say "not necessarily." One can do everything properly, be as precise as a surgeon, and still bruise. Some people simply bruise easily and have very sensitive skin. I have gotten bruises from shots/ having blood drawn by doctors and nurses plenty of times, and I'm pretty sure that most of them knew what they were doing..
 
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