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Signs of a Collapsed Vein

BackSeatSuicide

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 13, 2009
Messages
123
How to you tell if a vein is collapsed. If it is collapsed, dose that mean the whole vein is collapsed or does it just collapse in one spot. For example. I was having a really hard time getting the needle into the vein a lil while ago, so i pulled it out, and moved up a lil bit on my arm, but it was the same vein, and i got it in first try, but now the area i was trying first, the skin there is bruised. Is that just from poking around trying to get the needle in, and it caused irritation and bruising ? , or does that mean its collapsed. The only sign i've been told of is bruising, but like i said, i moved up on my arm a lil bit, and got the needle in, but it was still the same vein, just a inch or two farther up my arm. So i dont think it is, but just wanted to hear some opinions, and also find out what the signs are, and how to tell if you the vein is collapsed. Also, if a vein does collapse, will it heal ?
 
you might wanna try searching around and see if OD has any old threads on the topic. i can only imagine they do.

and

BDD ---> OD


hope you get it figured out.
 
From my experience it collapses at one spot then the blood flow is rerouted to another branch of the venous(sic) network.
 
I had another question related to IV use. I just recently started IV'ing, about 2 weeks ago. I am very clean and careful, take my time, use rubbing alcohol, fresh needles (tho tonight i reused a needle, but it had only been used one time, tho i still kno thats not ideal, it was the last needle i had to use til i get more tomorrow). But anyways, like i said, I am very clean, and careful, dont share needles. Make sure everything is clean and sterile. I clean the injection site with Rubbing Alcohol, and I always heat up the water i use regardless of needing to for whatever drug, cause heating the water up before mixing the drug in it and sucking it up, helps get rid of any bacteria in the water. And I always use water from a water bottle, just cause it seems cleaner then using tap water (that part is probably not true, just my preference tho) So i pretty much got good IV technique down. But What I was wondering is, do you take the turniquet off before or after you push down on the plunger to inject the drug. I was taught that you keep it on, and then once you finish injecting the drug, you take it off, then pull the needle out. But i've heard mixed things, from people saying to take it off as soon as you get the needle in the vein, before you inject the drug, and someone people say not to take it off til after injecting the drug. So which one is true, and the best/safest method ?
 
You take the torniquet off before pushing on the plunger to avoid blowing out the vein
 
well i found this site, which i'm sure most of you heard of - www.harmreduction.org and I found a bunch of info on safer injection practices and techniques. Seems like I've been doing everything right except for two things. 1.) Once you get the needle in the vein, and pullback, and blood comes in, you need to then take the tourniquet off before pushing on the plunger, injecting the drug. Apparently it can cause a vein to collapse. So now that i know, that, i am going to make sure i do that lol. 2.) If at first you dont get the needle in the vein, dont keep poking around, pull it out, and try it in a different spot. I kept doing this when i wouldn't get it in, and it has caused some bruising, no swelling or anything, just some bruising and tenderness. oh and there's one more thing i've been doing, that i shoulda know better, but didn't think about. Dont try and slam in the same spot everytime, which i have been donig, which is why i am having bruising there as well. Gotta switch that shit up lol. Anyways, I am sure most of you IV veterans already know this, but i hope this helps any new IV users out there who happen to read this. The link to the Harm Reduction site, is awesome, and has a lot of great material. So check it out if you already haven't !
 
One thing, OP.

You said that you ALWAYS heat up the substance, regardless of whether you need to. Well, I don't know what your banging, but if you EVER INJECT PILLS then NEVER HEAT THE WATER. With most pills, the drug itself is water soluble, but not the fillers. Meaning if you simply mix in cold water, the drug you want in your veins(as sick as that sounds) will dissolve, allowing you to draw through a filter, getting the desired substance. But heating causes the filler to bind to the drug, ultimately increasing chances you shoot harmful material form pills.

But you may never end up shooting a pill, in which case I just wasted 2 minutes of your life LOL
 
BTW if anyone knows...

I have always wondered, wouldn't mixing H with bacteriostatic water pretty much sterilize it anyway? I just wonder cause it might be the best way of getting the most out of your do...er, "medicine" while still maintaining sterility. For that matter, just mixing a bit of alcohol(benzly?) might do the trick. But I dunno, just shooting in the dark here, I've never had any ill effects...
 
I never use a tourniquet myself. I just rely on knowing how far a given needle length has to penetrate into which vein, although lately found that a decent way to get a vein to stand to attention, so to speak, is to use an elastic hairband. Never blown a vein, but it can't quickly be taken off when IVing.

Always push the plunger slow and steady, depending what you are injecting that could save you from an OD, if doing so you realise you prepared in excess of what you wanted, in addition to being less likely to damage a vein. The former being less important to me personally, as I shoot methoxetamine, rather than H and the dose is not nearly so critical as it is with heroin in terms of 'oh shit I just died' capacity.

Best angle I've found out is a bit short of 45 degrees (I think thats right, I am AWFUL at anything involving math, dyscalculic, gah, but I raise the syringe around an inch and a quarter high from a position parallel to the arm at a distance away from the needle entry point roughly equal to the length of the distance from forefinger tip to knuckle), sometimes steeper just to allow easier penetration and as soon as it does so, then immediately make the angle shallower to avoid going through a vein.

Bruises themselves are nothing to worry about, a perfectly safe (well, at least in as far as IVs go) shot that goes in a vein as it should can still bruise. Bring poked with a long, sharp stick can do that;)

I find that a 30g needle is MUCH less likely to bruise. Only got a few of them left, and they are not easy at all to hit deeper veins with, as mine are only 0.5 inch, very little bruising compared to my one inch 25g needles, although its easier to slip out if one's hand is unsteady, with a 30g, and not as easy to register. I do prefer 30s though. Its just a matter of skill in IVing as to which is best. If you are good enough to hit and stay there with a 30, use them, they are less painful, leave less track marks and are kinder to veins) I think I might get myself some 28g longs next time I purchase needles.

Sometimes its hard to register with a 30, due to increased difficulty sucking up solution, or by extension, blood through the narrow bore, presumably more so since I take tizanidine, a clonidine relative, and that, like clonidine, is a hypotensive agent, meaning I have low blood pressure.

I suggest also, Mr.suicide, in investing in a few things, 0.2 micron filters (exchangesupplies.org do single use filters cheaper than I have ever seen anywhere else, very, very cheap, a low-deadspace model too which is even better), for keeping both particulate shite, and bacteria out of the shot, always use a fresh, sterile needle and syringe for every shot (only time I reuse a needle is to shoot, then to shoot again immediately afterwards, without delay of more than a couple of minutes or so while the remainder of the solution that would not fit, or a second shot is prepared and filtered, that I consider excusable, I see no need to replace the syringe and needle for use no.2 of a given needle, if it is for IMMEDIATE use then and there without delay)

Also, sterile water amps, they do 2ml ones cheap as well as little sterile water plastic pods. And, last but not least, an amp cracker. I do not need one, but they give them free with every order of 10 ampoules of water, basically little plastic foldable gizmo that fits the body of an ampoule in one half, and the head of it in the other, a quick, sharp snapping motion breaks it neatly and cleanly across the neck of the amp without the risk of a glass cut.

I'm practised enough at doing it myself and never cutting myself, but they ARE handy.

Edit-bacteriostatic water is NOT bactericidal. It prevents growth of bacteria but does not kill those present. Do not inject bacteriostatic H2O by itself, this can cause vein injury. Only needed for storage, not for preparing and using single shots or for those used rapidly.

H will hydrolyse to morphine (and afaik monoacetylmorphine) in water, so is best not stored long btw.
 
Thanks for all the info bro. I agree with pretty much everything you said. I am planning on getting a decent Micron Filter here pretty soon, since I mostly IV Pills, its kind of a must, but for now, I just double filter through cotton, and I always come out with a nice, crystal clear, solution. I have been using 29gauge needles myself, they seem to work perfect for me, tho sometimes it would be nice to have a lil extra room in the barrel. I use 29g U-100 1cc Insulin needles, that I get from WalGreens, for 19$ per box of 100, which is a pretty good deal. But like I said, sometime i wish i had like and extra .5cc or so in the barrel.

The first time I cooked H a couple weeks ago, i added too much water lol and I only put down .1grams of H, (<snip>)and so I ended up with 3 of my syringes full hahaha. so i ended up having to bang 3 shots, right after the other, as fast as I could, to still get a good rush. But its experiences like that, that make us better, smarter drug users.

One other question I had, concerning dosages with MS Contin. I've been slamming, 2 or 3 (3 for the last two days) of the 60mg MS Contins, a day, plus snorting or IV'ing a couple 30mg Oxycodones. And I also am prescribed 2 x 60mg Morphine Kadians per day, that I take orally, so I have a pretty nice tolerance, but since I am still new to IV use, I've been hesitate to try slamming two or even just 1 and a half, of the MS Contins, at the same time. Based on the info i described on my daily dosages, oh and I've been an opiate user for the last 4yrs, and had a naturally high tolerance to begin with....So like I said, based on all that info, do you think I would be alright slamming two MSContin 60's at once ? I kno there is no definitive answer to that, and its all based on the individual person, but I just wanted to hear some opinions on it based on the info i gave about my use and history/tolerance. Thanks in advance for all the helpful replies, this forum has been nothing but super helpful since i joined last year.

mod note: no drug prices
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BDD is Basic Drug Discussion, where you first posted your query. This is Other Drugs (OD), which covers slightly more advanced or complicated topics and has a lot of information on IVing. Take a look at the forum guidelines of each :)

MSContins aren't a good pill to shoot as they contain a lot of waxy binder. Definitely do not heat them, and please wait til you get a micron filter!

You said you'd already been shooting 2 at once? So you know if it's okay or not?

I've linked you up with info on micron filters in your other thread, here's some more reading:

Opioid conversion chart in my sig.
Injection complications megathread
Morphine megathread
Hierarchy of water for injection

Make sure you rotate your vein sites as well as using a good technique.
 
For the record, heating your solution is absolutely NOT necessary. With pills especially, all it does it cause more insoluble binders/fillers to dissolve, and then precipitate back out once cooled. In regards to bacteria, it does nothing. You need to boil water for a solid 20 minutes AT LEAST in order to kill off any substantial amount of bacteria. So, in this case you should use distilled or bacteriostatic water, or tap water that has been boiled. (BUT COOLED FIRST) before prepping your shot. Opiates are water soluble, meaning they dissolve readily in room temperature or cold water. In all my years of injecting powdered heroin I have never NEVER! heated a solution.

But ideally you want micron filters, check out the micron filtering mega thread. Those, coupled with new, sterile syringes and quality IV techniques, you should be golden.
 
MSContins aren't a good pill to shoot as they contain a lot of waxy binder. Definitely do not heat them, and please wait til you get a micron filter!

You said you'd already been shooting 2 at once? So you know if it's okay or not?
.

Pills in general aren't the best thing for shooting, but if you do it right and are careful, they work just fine. I learned how to properly prep MS Contins, from a couple member on this site, and it works great. And tho I dont have a micron filter as of yet (am ordering one when I get a chance, tho I just wish I could find a place that wasn't online to buy one so I didn't have to wait for it) i do Double filter my shots, and they always come out crystal clear. I am really OCD about being clean and sterile, and I would definitely not shoot anything that wasn't filtered and clean. Tho, no matter what you do, even with a micron filter, there is still always a chance, but thats the risk we all take as drug users, regardless of what drug or the ROA (except weed, no danger there, except from getting too fat from the munchies hahaha).

And to answer your other question. What i meant when i was talking about shooting up 2 or 3 MScontins a day, was that i do one 60mg MS contin, 2 to 3 times throughout the day. I've never done more then one at once. Tho I think I would be fine, cause i am starting to not feel the high as much or as long, from just shooting one at a time. And even when I banged 2x30mg Oxycodone IR's the other day, it barely felt it, which was disappointing, cause I IV'd those, because I wanted something that would last, and from I am told, Morphine has a good rush, but also has a high that last awhile, and Oxycodone, has no rush, but a nice, and lasting high. But I have done so many of those things, up til a couple weeks ago, i was snorting like 3 or 4 of the 30mg Oxy IR's a day, so I guess I just need a lil more.

For the record, heating your solution is absolutely NOT necessary. With pills especially, all it does it cause more insoluble binders/fillers to dissolve, and then precipitate back out once cooled. In regards to bacteria, it does nothing. You need to boil water for a solid 20 minutes AT LEAST in order to kill off any substantial amount of bacteria. So, in this case you should use distilled or bacteriostatic water, or tap water that has been boiled. (BUT COOLED FIRST) before prepping your shot. Opiates are water soluble, meaning they dissolve readily in room temperature or cold water. In all my years of injecting powdered heroin I have never NEVER! heated a solution.

But ideally you want micron filters, check out the micron filtering mega thread. Those, coupled with new, sterile syringes and quality IV techniques, you should be golden.

I know its not necessary, I just prefer to. But I let the water cooldown before adding the crushed up pill. The only thing I heat up with it already in there, is H and Dilaudid. But with the MS Contins, I heat up 150units of water, til it boils for a lil bit, then i drop the finely, crushed powder, and I stir it for a few seconds, then drop my cotton in there, and suck the solution up. You have to do it all pretty fast, otherwise, the binders that our left on the spoon gel up when they cooldown, and when that happens, whatever liquid is left gets absorbed into the gel, and not into the cotton, therefore not allowing you to suck anything up into the syringe. But when done, fast and properly, you end up with a nice, crystal clear, morphine solution in your syringe, which i then, empty out onto another, clean spoon, and filter it once more, just to be safe, and then i hit it and enjoy the ride :)

Unfortuantely, I just missed my Shot of MS Contin, was going to try doing two shots, 60mg each, one right after the other, but my first shot missed, which i am pissed at myself, cause I thought i felt it go through the other side of the vein, cause i got it in, but I wasn't sure, so i injected anyways, and I didn't notice the bump/swelling start forming til it was too late. so now i am sitting here with lots of heat on it. Thank god i am uber ontop of, keeping all my equipment clean and sterile as well as my injection site and using clean, fresh needles everytime. So i shouldn't have to worry about any infection/Abscess. This is my 2nd time missing since i started going with the IV ROA, and the first time it was a lot more liquid that i missed with, but I just kept alternating putting heat and cold (kept the heat on it for the first hour straight, then started switching between the two) on it for the rest of the night, and when i woke up, the swelling and what not was gone, and the only reminder that it happened, was a lil tenderness.
 
BSS I've closed your thread about missed shots here as you've asked the same thing in two different forums, and OD is probably more suitable. You got some advice from disposition and myself in the other thread before it was closed, however.

Have a look in the OD directory, there's information there on injection complications etc.

Trust me, heating the water for that long is pointless. You say you wait for it to cool down, then you say you just add the pill after heating it - I'd be really worried about unwanted things dissolving, especially if you're not using a micron filter at the mo.. just because a solution looks crystal clear doesn't mean it's safe (although it is a good starting point).
 
if you're heating your solution, as brokedownpalace pointed out, the insolubles are going to precipitate back into the solution once cooled then ultimately into your bloodstream. do not add heat.

also as a reference point morphine sulphate has a solubility of around 40mg/mL water.

inactives in mscontins -cetostearyl alcohol, hydroxyethyl cellulose, hypromellose, magnesium stearate, polyethylene glycol, talc and titanium dioxide.
 
Well if the binders dissolve in hot water, then if i wait til the water is cold again before adding the pill then it shouldn't be a problem. With MS Contin tho, you have to add it when the water is hot. IF you add it when the water is cold, it just turns to gel. I tried it this way the first time, and wasted the pill. What I've been using as a substitute (which before you say anything, i kno there is no true replacement for a micron filter) for a micron filter, which I learned how to do this from this forum as well, is; I take a empty syringe, break up some pieces of Cotton, and take each small piece and roll them into small lil balls, and i then drop them in the back of the syringe barrel. I put enough in to fill it up to between the 10-20 marks. after I make sure they are packed down, i take whatever solution i want to filter, and put it in the back of the syringe barrel with the cotton packed in front. I then replace the plunger and push the liquid all the way down, so it runs through the cotton and back out the needle on to a clean spoon. And even tho, obviously a Micron Filter would work better, this does still work pretty good. So I filter everything twice, once through the piece of cotton thats on the spoon, when i suck the solution up from the spoon into the syringe, and then again using the homemade syringe filter i just described. And so far it has worked great for me. But Like i said in one of my previous posts. I am going to be ordering some .22 Micron, Filters here pretty soon.

Oh and jsut an update, the missed shot i did last nite, healed just fine, woke up this morning, and it was just a lil tender, which is to be expected, but no swelling, redness, itchiness, etc etc. And now its still a tiny bit tender if i touch the area, but other then that, I cant even tell it ever happened. Thank god, i am OCD about cleanliness and sterilization of my equipment and injection site. Otherwise, that coulda turned out to be an abscess, especially with amount of solution that i missed with. It was almost a whole 1cc syringe.

Another question I had is; When i was taught the process of IV, i was told to inject the solution, and then remove the tourniquet, and I've heard from people on here and other forums that, that is what they do as well. But I've read a couple other places, including the Harm Reduction website, that once you stick the needle in teh vein and get a register (blood goes into the syringe) you should release the tourniquet before injecting, cause you can cause a vein to blowout/collapse. Any one know if this is the case, or have that happen ? Should i follow these instructions and release the Tourniquet before injecting ? I did this when i just IV'd about an hour ago, just cause i wanted to be safe until i found out which one is better to do. Tho it is hard for me to release the tourniquet all the way, cause I am nervous about moving my arm at all when the needle is in my vein, cause I am worried it will cause the needle to push through the vein or slip out of it. I use one of the rubber tourniquets they use as Dr. Offices and Hospitals (snagged it when i was visting my grandma in the hospital the other day) Any suggestions on how to make it easier to release the tourniquet without having to move my arm too much.
 
Well if the binders dissolve in hot water, then if i wait til the water is cold again before adding the pill then it shouldn't be a problem.

no, it is a problem. what is insoluble in room temp/cold water becomes soluble in a heated solution and once it cools down they become particulate matter again.

about your other question : you should release the tourniquet once you've registered. keeping it tied and injecting has the potential to burst the vein, yes. a lot of people complain of the needle slipping out once releasing the tourniquet so a good way avoiding this is re-registering to check you're still in the vein. you're inevitably going to have your arm move a little.

just out of curiosity do you use the old clamp between the teeth and release or under your thigh sitting down? or some other way?
 
I'll say it again, PLEASE FOR YOUR OWN SAKE DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT HEAT THE SOLUTION FOR INJECTING PILLS.

To shrug off simple advice like this which isn't even advice, but a FACT that it is bad for you defeats the purpose of harm reduction, and there is no point asking opinions if you are going to ignore fucking FACTS!!!

Not to sound like an asshole, but come on!

Also, I personally avoid tourniquets, but when I do use one, or alternatively, if someone squeezes my arm for me to help a vein pop out, I will often first register, then LOOSEN, but not completely release, to ensure the needle stays in place without blowing a vein. Or at least I used to.Thing is, I'm a pro now; once you do it every single day long enough, you'll know your in a vein before you register, and can usually tell if it's secure or not.

But what I am wondering is this:
Why do you even need a tourniquet? When I first started IV'ing, it took months to run out of veins before a tourniquet was needed, and once I learned what I was doing, I still rarely needed it, and it's been that way a long time. I think you need to take some time to learn which veins are viable, and make sure your not damaging them too much, so you don't have to worry about sitting on your thigh often or anything. And remember, if you can FEEL it, you should be able to hit it, but seeing can be a bit less reliable.
 
Here is a picture I made a while back. note this is assuming no chemical changes occur.
Picture 1.png
 
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