Harm Reduction WHY is injecting into an artery dangerous? How does it work?

[BigG]

Sorry if this has allready been said but I haven't read every post.....

The dangers of injecting into an artery are manyfold but mainly due to the fact that veins take the blood back to the heart which is then pumped via the arteries around into systemic circulation to the organs , brain etc... Arteries in the arm or leg take the blood down to the extremities where the vessels get smaller and smaller cumulating in small capillaries. If for example you injected in to the brachial artery in the arm the susbstance would get trapped in the capillaries of the hand necessitating the amputation of the affected hand in extreme cases....

Injecting into an artery deliberately makes no sense since the goal is to get the drug into systemic circulation and to the brain and going into an artery is like heading the wrong way down the freeway

 

[sm0kestack]

I started reading this thread, but noticed after a minute that the thread is over 4 years old. Heh. But yeah, artery shots are no good and can result in ghastly complications for exactly the reason englandz posted above.

The substance travels to smaller and smaller vessels away from the heart. There is especially danger when injecting pills that are not filtered all the way, like thru a micron filter, since they have binders and fillers in them that are not actually water soluble, and can clog up the capillaries, thus leading to gangrene. Basically the tissue suffocates and dies, cuz blood can't flow to the said area cuz circulation is cut off. Kind of like how if you wrap a string around your finger, it turns all red and blue and gets cold. Same kind of deal.

It indeed would baffle me why someone would deliberately shoot into an artery, and I have heard reports of people actually doing it too. The time I accidentally did it was terrible enough experience to always check to make sure I am nowhere near an artery when injecting. I always check to. Amen sure there is no pulse near where I am injecting, since arteries have a pulse, and I check to make sure the color, and texture of the blood is not bright red and foamy, and I check the pressure and speed of the blood flowing into the syringe. Arteries have high pressure, and the blood flows very fast into the syringe. Venous blood is low pressure and a slow flow.

I know this thread is pretty old, but if someone stumbles upon this recently, I hope what I said helps someone tell the difference between hitting arteries and veins.

 

[BigG]

Yup exactly correct what [MENTION=384976]sm0kestack[/MENTION] just posted....

Even if it is an old thread as he says it might help someone stumbling upon it.

Moral of tale.......don't inject into arteries

 

[mBaby]

I'm really glad someone did reply to this because Today I confirmed a horrible suspicion that iv been mauling over a couple weeks now.

So today I realized that I have been hitting arteries for just about 2 years. The odd time I would get a vein and I thought something was wrong because the blood was dark.

It's so weird because I never had any pain or swelling or anything at all.... I was shooting powder fent.

The past two weeks I began shooting coke and I continued the way I always had and still no problems except maybe numbness the odd time but I thought that was the coke.
I went pretty hard been using about a g a day so after the first few days I started feeling the coke go straight to my hand. It would get a little blotchy and red and that's it. It's slowly been getting worse, starting off okay in the morning after I'd sleep therefore stop shooting, and by the end of the day I would notice the symptoms more and more. I've been searching and searching for answers as to what's going on and if I'm hitting arteries why do I feel no pain?
So I figured it can't be arteries but even after posting here and being reassured and being convinced for a very short time, I still had this nagging feeling that something was wrong.

Today I noticed my hand swell up a little bit. I don't know if it never happened before or I didn't notice because it's very subtle and I would always heat it and elevate it because I thought it was just bad vasoconstriction and I didn't want the circulation to stop in my hands. But I noticed my hand looked funny this time, almost like it was backwards. I finally realized that my fears and worries were right on point.

I don't understand how I could be shooting fentanyl powder off the street with NO negative effects!? It was only after a very heavy coke binge did some minor symptoms start coming up...
Does anyone have any idea..?

Also should I be concerned about the well being of my hands now? All symptoms would always go away but the last few days my finger tips have been purple and a little bit of pain but it gets better if I give it a break. Should I be worried and go see a doc or am I okay if my hands keep looking better?

Also, this worries me about my veins... I don't think I hit them very much so they can't be too damaged... but why have I never been able to successfully get them? I can see and feel them but I always get the lighter blood even when I go right for it... It was never pink and frothy so I thought maybe it could be from a vein...

The way the blood squirted in and the way it wasn't really dark made me second guess myself but because I never felt anything wrong so I just shrugged it off. But when I realized today what i've been doing it actually made me sick, I don't know how I'm still in one piece but I'm really fucking grateful for it.

Small detail I wanna add, not too important but I just remembered I would get pain but only on the back of my forearm and it was only when putting the rig in so I thought it was just pain from poking myself. Didn't feel any pain when actually pushing down the plunger but I would get the redness and and white blotchy bump things so I thought I was missing even though I made sure to flag before and a few times during the actual injection.

 

[sm0kestack]

I would MOST CERTAINLY GO TO THE ER if your fingers are turning blue/purple. That means there is clogged up blood vessels like I was saying in my post above mBaby. Your finger tips are not getting any oxygen rich blood, and this could be a sign of gangrene setting in. It is no joke! GO TO THE ER ASAP!!

As for why you were able to shoot the street fentanyl into your arteries without complications is basically luckcif you ask me. Perhaps everything in it just happens to be all water soluble, and by the time the substance got to your extremities it was fully dissolved and able to move through your cappilaries. Now the coke may have some not so water soluble cut and ingredients, so now that stuff is clogging up your capillaries!

Shooting ANY substance into an artery is extremely dangerous!! Go get yourself looked at now dude, you may be in store for losing limbs!

 

[BigG]

Definately to to the ER ASAP...

As said above the hand swelling is a very bad sign and may be indicative of the substance collecting in the capillaries of the hand which is exactly the scenario myself and [MENTION=384976]sm0kestack[/MENTION] mentioned above....

Please don't ignore this or you could lose your arm.....

This is very worrying...

 

[hbardividedby2pi]

I had a question regarding injecting into an artery. I just figured I'd ask in an existing thread instead of making my own. My question is, is it possible to inject near an artery and it have the same effect? I was injecting into to crook of my right elbow into the vein that's in between the cubital fossa and the basilica vein (I forgot the name). Anyways, I have injected into this vein on and off for the last ten years and never had a problem. And just a minute ago I went to shoot up some h and all went as routine. I stick myself, got the flashback, untied and I got in a couple of units before I got this weird burning feeling. And I got some swelling from the injection sight down to my hand. I don't think I was in an artery. My question is, is it at all possible to miss some of the shot near an artery and still have the same effect as injecting in an artery? The vein I was injecting in runs parallel to an artery and I was wondering if may be I accidentally poked through the bottom of my vein and some leaked around the artery? I know for a fact i didn't have the needle directly in my artery. Has anyone else had this problem or know anything about it? I have always practiced safe and clean I.v. drug use and at the moment am on a heroin taper schedule i came up with and have had success and this incident freaks me the hell out. Thanks to anyone who listened to me rant on in advanced.
Steve

 

[Han-Raa]

Veins tend to be closer to the surface the poster who said they always hit an artery may be going too deep? Veins best accessed using a 35 degree angle and you should always always use a sharp pin otherwise you just make the job much harder for yourself there are actually videos on you tube for anyone struggling

 

[dickandjane]

I used the same vein in the crook of my right arm for years. One day i had the alful pain shoot down my arm to my fingers. Felt like fire. I did follow up with Dr who told me from repeated use of vein in had attached itself to an artery. I had to have vascular surgery to repair this. Im now longer an IV drug user or drug user at all except for weed.

 

[K8EK]

U know, this is odd because while i know this is true about bright blood being oxygen enriched and dark blood being oxygen lacking, i have injected into the same vein more than once (99% sure its a vein) and usually it is dark blood but one time it was very broght. It was weird. I guess its just a perfect example of how theoretical vs experimental data doesnt always add up

I have noticed that when I move my rig over slightly if I hit a artery there is usually a vein right next to it. So maybe you were just even the smallest amount over and hit the artery.

 

[KSpharmacologyBoy]

Completely lost access and memory of my username as well as the email under which I was registered. But I will respond to hbar's post since no one really has.

is it possible to inject near an artery and it have the same effect? I was injecting into to crook of my right elbow into the vein that's in between the cubital fossa and the basilica vein (I forgot the name)...is it at all possible to miss some of the shot near an artery and still have the same effect as injecting in an artery?

First, yes it is very much possible, but for more than one possible reason, with certain reasons being more or less likely depending on the site of the injection on the body. The most probable reason for having this "same effect" would be that part of the shot is missing and is entering into the surrounding tissue. This would cause a burning sensation, pain, and swelling to varying degrees, and possibly the development of an infection and/or a cyst or abscess. Alternatively, one could be poking right through a vein and nicking an artery, but ultimately having the tip of the needle not actually inside of one and therefore not registering....when this happens the person would likely move the syringe either deeper or shallower as well as in a different direction in an attempt to "find" a vein. When the vein is found and the plunger pushed, most of the solution would go in the vein but some would seep out the hole, into the interstitial space and then into the hole produced when the artery was nicked. Another possible scenario is that, for whatever reason, the solution is more acidic or much hotter or otherwise caustic than usual, or the solvent is something other than water or saline solution that would cause this kind of effect. Finally, one more common occurrence is a histamine reaction that can appear on the skin often relatively far away from the site of injection. There are many other possible reasons for this happening, and many are very rare and unlikely scenarios, but you get the idea.

Also the vein you are thinking of is the median cubital vein...it's the vein that is the most commonly accessed site for venipuncture. Most IV drug users usually use this vein when they begin using intravenously because it is widely known, even to those who are for all intents and practical purposes possess a total lack of medical and anatomical knowledge, as "THE vein...you know, the one they always draw your blood from?". Most beginning users will use the one on the arm opposite to that on which the dominant hand is, and will switch to the other elbow after that one is all scarred up and unusable.

Hopefully this gave some explanations as to the types of situations in which this type of reaction could occur. Maybe it was one of these, maybe not, but if happened just one time during a decade of IV use and the negative effects resolved spontaneously on their own and their are no lingering causes for concern, then it almost certainly nothing to worry excessively over.

 

[Cccrabbs]

Completely lost access and memory of my username as well as the email under which I was registered. But I will respond to hbar's post since no one really has.



First, yes it is very much possible, but for more than one possible reason, with certain reasons being more or less likely depending on the site of the injection on the body. The most probable reason for having this "same effect" would be that part of the shot is missing and is entering into the surrounding tissue. This would cause a burning sensation, pain, and swelling to varying degrees, and possibly the development of an infection and/or a cyst or abscess. Alternatively, one could be poking right through a vein and nicking an artery, but ultimately having the tip of the needle not actually inside of one and therefore not registering....when this happens the person would likely move the syringe either deeper or shallower as well as in a different direction in an attempt to "find" a vein. When the vein is found and the plunger pushed, most of the solution would go in the vein but some would seep out the hole, into the interstitial space and then into the hole produced when the artery was nicked. Another possible scenario is that, for whatever reason, the solution is more acidic or much hotter or otherwise caustic than usual, or the solvent is something other than water or saline solution that would cause this kind of effect. Finally, one more common occurrence is a histamine reaction that can appear on the skin often relatively far away from the site of injection. There are many other possible reasons for this happening, and many are very rare and unlikely scenarios, but you get the idea.

Also the vein you are thinking of is the median cubital vein...it's the vein that is the most commonly accessed site for venipuncture. Most IV drug users usually use this vein when they begin using intravenously because it is widely known, even to those who are for all intents and practical purposes possess a total lack of medical and anatomical knowledge, as "THE vein...you know, the one they always draw your blood from?". Most beginning users will use the one on the arm opposite to that on which the dominant hand is, and will switch to the other elbow after that one is all scarred up and unusable.

Hopefully this gave some explanations as to the types of situations in which this type of reaction could occur. Maybe it was one of these, maybe not, but if happened just one time during a decade of IV use and the negative effects resolved spontaneously on their own and their are no lingering causes for concern, then it almost certainly nothing to worry excessively over.

Shooting in a artery leads to some nasty stuff never do it. It's easy enough to identify an artery the blood flows much quicker and more powerfully than a vein and is bright red as opposed to dark red or a bluish purple. It causes little to no rush heart palpitations swelling red and white blotches numbness tingling headaches and in severe cases gangrene amputation heart attack stroke and even death. It is usually painful as you inject and burns.