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Harm Reduction ⫸INJECTIONS: I.V. FAQs & Info MEGATHREAD⫷

phlebitis Help!
I'm a 15 year user and got told a lump from missing my buggered veins is phlebitis. I'm ready to write a will I'm so scared. Er says will be fine says no infection but take keflex gp had prescribed. I'm so upset wtf? I am sure about one thing. Never ever want to risk this again. I don't think I could use. I would so appreciate advice on how to help this? Im due to have it checked again in a week (unless I start getting worse). Pls help. 1st post. Also on 40mg methadone been tapering off 120mg last 2years ago and relapsed. Would caterpres help thin the blood?
Thanks
 
So my last shot has me confused. My veins were tight and I was having particular trouble getting in a vein. I did register before and after definitely drawing blood each time, but my hand now has a lump at the site like I miss... I'm wondering how that is possible?

Maybe it's blood from having difficulty getting in the vein, but I don't know. It's not serious I'm just wondering if/how a successful register before and after could lead to a miss.
Hey, this is exactly what happened to me last shot. Sure I didn't miss (finally after a week of missing) I awoke to a hard lump in the side of my right bicep above the crook.
May I ask how your situation is? I'm on keflex for precaution and watching. They called it superficial phlebitis. They really reassured me I'd be ok it would resolve (Gp then er) advised of what to watch for. What was your result, are you better now?
 
It was a small miss the bump went away by the day's end, but it definitely came out as a miss after I registered before and after while putting pressure on to clot it. It makes no sense I missed
 
Thanks for your reply. Glad it went away. I have so many "false friend" veins I just can't rely on them, no matter if I draw back blood. I hate I've missed so much and fucked myadkf up like this. Bloody nightmare. You must be so happy yours went. I've never felt anything like this, it's like a pea in the bicep, doesn't feel like it's going anywhere fast :-/
 
All the ladies in the house, help! My chest is all I have left to shoot, I went from dope to coke and dope over a 8 year period, now I'vee got abscess' and can only see the veins if I miss. Will I ever look decent again? Can i heal the abscess and total miss's....?
 
Pretty sure you have to go to the doctor to heal those abscesses, like ASAP, as they really aren't anything to mess around with. I have never had one but from what I've read that maybe your only hope.

You should rely on touch instead of sight to find veins... For me, I can see veins but cant hit them... I can feel veins that cant be seen and have no issue hitting them.

Are you talking breast for a last spot? If you have a tendency for missed shots... I would think that is not going to tickle when it happens. I would defiantly suggest looking into that before jumping in.
 
Hey, dont know if this is the right place to ask , mods feel free to move if neccesary.
Why injecting the same amount of 4-fa, the same amount of water, on the right arm I dont feel it, but on the left it feels like it burns inside for a couple of seconds... does this happen to everybody?
 
More than likely you are injecting below a place in your vein that leaks. I notice that when I inject below a previous injection site, I will get a small welt ?upstream? from where I shot. It burns because the dope is leaking out of a hole in your vein from an earlier shot. This puzzled me too until I did some research, then it made sense. Always inject ?up? from the last sitr, and rotate sites to give the places time to heal.
 
More than likely you are injecting below a place in your vein that leaks. I notice that when I inject below a previous injection site, I will get a small welt ?upstream? from where I shot. It burns because the dope is leaking out of a hole in your vein from an earlier shot. This puzzled me too until I did some research, then it made sense. Always inject ?up? from the last sitr, and rotate sites to give the places time to heal.

That's not how it works whatsoever. The hole made by a hypodermic needle closes back up in seconds..

If it didn't you'd die from internal bleeding as (obviously) if the drug could somehow "leak out" of a hole made by a previous injection so could blood..

Not sure how that's not obvious really....

Intravenous injections should always be upstream from a valve in the vein...but that's for different reasons entirely...
 
Draggon vein... On forearm do some curls put a hot towel around your arm flex a lot tie off and getting good light in you should see it beautifully just remember to inject towards heart. Draggon was my go to for long time
 
Just a 30 minutes ago I was taking cocaine IV. I have cleaned the cocaine completely resulting in a purity of 99%. I have done the cleaning process several times now and the first time I had the cocaine tested in EnergyControl in Spain. Their test confirmed that the cleaned cocaine was 99% pure. (See a short description of the cleaning process there http://bluelight.org/vb/threads/834630-How-high-are-YOU-v-winter-has-come!-time-to-face-the-white-powders-eh-walkers*?p=14286276&viewfull=1#post14286276)?

The purity of the cocaine means that no cutting chemicals is being injected together with the cocaine. But still, I use a micro filter. I injected around 1,5 ml sterile water mixed with the cocaine. The most of the 1,5 ml was injected in the vein - i know this due to the rush - however, I think that I might have pulled the needle out of the vein during the injection or injected too much too fast (I forgot to lessen the tourniquet which was still on during the injection). I got a swollen spot on the arm and my hand became numb and I couldn't really use my fingers. I put the injection site on my arm under warm water and kinda used the other hand to role over the spot again and again. After a while the swelling disappared and so did the numbness. However, the injection site is sore now. The injection site do not show any strange colors.

Should I be worried? I know the question have been asked 100 times. But I would like to get feedback on what actually happened.
Did I inject too fast and combined with me forgetting to remove the tourniquet and thus creating the swollen spot and the numbness I my arm? Due to the numbness I am inclined to say that this was the reason. Do You agree?
Or did I pull the needle out of the vein and thus injecting outside of the vein? Could this create numbness? I doubt that, but I don't know.
 
Leaving the tourniquet on while injecting probably caused a dense concentration of a heavy vasoconstrictor (pure coke) to partially extravasate around the area. But you know that internet diagnostics is poor science and pure speculation. Still I'm glad you're okay. Not that you shouldn't keep an eye on it for a few days and if it gets bad again tonight... well you know the drill.
 
Leaving the tourniquet on while injecting probably caused a dense concentration of a heavy vasoconstrictor (pure coke) to partially extravasate around the area. But you know that internet diagnostics is poor science and pure speculation. Still I'm glad you're okay. Not that you shouldn't keep an eye on it for a few days and if it gets bad again tonight... well you know the drill.

Yeah I know using the internet as a dignostic source isn't exactly science. I might be better off going to someone that can heal with their hands? :p

But nonetheless I appreciate your input. I am not sore today and the swelling is gone. I will keep an eye of for complications. But considering the intensity of the euphoria I simply cannot believe that any of it missed the vein. I think it was just the stupidity of forgetting the tourniquet that was the cause. Even though I have done it alot of times, I cannot help but get nervous and therefore inputs from others is always appreciated. My doctor knows all about my addiction and IV use so the next time I see him I will tell him about the experience and then he can decide if further actions is needed.

Again, thanks for your input
 
Sounds like you missed some causing the coke to numb it then when it wore off it was soar
 
take it from someone who used to shoot into their fem multiple times a day for 2 years, you definitely hit the artery. With big arteries, IME the shots aren't always really painful, but there is always a sensation of numbing or burning that shoots down your leg, or sometimes down your dick. Sometimes this will result in swelling, limping, etc. It could also be much more serious. There's also a chance you got a false register. Those veins and arteries are so big that if you nick them, it can sometimes cause enough bleeding that you'll get what looks like a register, but really if it's accompanied by the numbness it's probably an arterial shot. IDK what to really tell you other than if you're really concerned about it you should go to a hospital because it's not a place where you want to miss a shot. What gauge of needle did you use, a 27 long I hope? With the regular sized needles the only way to hit the vein (even if you're super thin like me) is if you go lower down on the groin almost to where your thigh meets, and it's really better not to do that (I've found that I was way more likely to hit the artery lower down then higher up). I'm going to transfer this to the IV complications thread.

You hit a nerve and the stuff went down is my theory.

JJ
 
So, I've had a weird thing happen today. On my way to work, I decided to take the stairs (5th floor) to get some move on. I ran up sweaty as hell, sat down at my desk and suddenly my left arm (at the crook of my elbow) started stinging and itching like a motherf***er and the entire area was covered with a red rash. At first I thought I had to touch some pollen or something and it was just an allergic reaction, but then the weirdest thing happened.

I pressed on the site with my other hand and suddenly I felt that taste in the back of my throat, the same taste I get after injecting meth, and I felt a very weak but still noticeable rush. Okay, so where's the weird part? Well, the weird part is that I haven't injected anything since last Wednesday (last week.) I remember because it was the first time in 3 months. Last week I bought three syringes and injected on Monday into my left arm (the same spot that got red today) and then on Tuesday and Wednesday in my right arm, because on Monday I could feel that my left elbow crook still wasn't completely healed as there was almost no rush and the vein just felt wrong.

Some background - I have abused that right elbow-crook vein a lot since it was the only spot I could reliably hit since I first tried IV, and stopped injecting completely aside from few occasions always couple of months apart. The last time I did it in that spot I felt that the vein really needed some break, so I haven't touched it in 6 months. I thought that would be enough time, but apparently it wasn't, but I have never ever got this kind of reaction.

How is this possible? Did I really got a delayed reaction a week after the injection? I tried googling it, but found only couple of relevant studies/research papers that even mentioned delayed injection reactions (nothing mentioning it in connection with illicit substances, let alone meth specifically.) Is it even possible? If yes, how? And if no, what could then explain the reaction I got? Thanks!
 
i got something i've been wondering about. Even as a child getting an iv line into me was a painful drawn out affair with multiple doctors/nurses coming into the room to give it a try. Now add decades of IV use and I haven't even tried to IV in a couple years, micron filter and IM is my ROA. I DO have some veins that are isible that I'd be bale to hit no problem if not for he fact thy're on my upper arm, on front of shoulder so the angle n location plus need of mirror makes it impossible to self hit. I was thinking what if i get an IV kit and have someone get an IV line into me. I assume i'd get 24-72 hrs of use out of it. Just screw in the barrell intoluer lock n inject. Easy peasey. Any thoughts or experiences with this?
 
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