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Heroin Need help with some explination!! IV Content

H

Herdygerdy

Greenlighter
Joined
Apr 10, 2012
Messages
2
Hi, Im new here, but have been a heroin user for almost 6 years. I have been snorting for 5 and have been IV'ing for the past year. I seem to have run out of veins to use. I've been reading some archive stuff, and it all seems helpful, but there are some acronyms that I don't understand... Anyway, I have some questions, I hope you all can help me!

1 - Could someone explain to me the correct way to inject? I've been doing ok for the past year, but it seems from reading that I don't have the proper technique. Is there a step by step process that makes it so you don't f-up your veins so fast? I have been injectng in my hands, arms, and feet, and now can't seem to find a vein. I would tie off, find the vein and just shoot once it registered in the needle, then after shooting, I would untie, and pressure the wound until it stopped bleeding. I'm starting to develope tracks, which is bothering me.. is there a way to not track yourself?? I try to hit in different places everytime I shoot, but now it seems I can see the vein, but can't hit it, no matter how long I dig around. I think I have very tiny veins for a man, which might be half my problem... To the pro's out there, what kind of technique do you use??

2 - I read that if you can't find a vein, you can break the tip off the needle and shoot it up your ass. Does this work?? Do you get a rush afterwards?? How far up your ass do you have to stick the needle??

Any help would be greatly apprechated! I'm tired of wasting $$ on dope when I can't get it in my veins!! The quality of smack I get isn't good enough for smoking, cause I've smoked three 20 bags at once, and didn't feel a thing, yet if I take those same 3 20 bags and shoot it, I feel it... maybe I am smoking it wrong?? It seems you all know your stuff, and I think it's great that there is a site out there to help each other out. Some (noticed I said some, and not all) heroin users get a bad rep. I've never stole, or fucked anyone over, yet the drug is still so taboo, I don' tell anyone my business cause I don't want to be pigeonholed into a certain group of people who fuck it up for everyone else.

Thanks for your help!! My body thanks you too!
 
Ive done this before, but I'm feeling helpful so I'll tell you how I go about it.

1.Do not keep your tourniquet on while injecting.
If you must use one, take it off once you register. I find tie's to be more of a hassle because by the time you take one off, you usually slip out of the vein. What I do is hold my arm down perpendicular to my body and pump my fist. I insert the needle with the beveled edge facing up, and slide it into the vein at a very shallow angle, so that the barrel is almost touching my arm.

2.To avoid tracks:
Obviously rotate your injection sites. Avoid injecting into your feet. There is less fatty tissue there, and slower circulation. This means that a missed shot is more likely to cause an infection, and you will most likely end up with bruising. For your arms and hands, once again, take off the tourniquet before injecting. Keeping it on is adding more strain to your veins and will also cause bruising and tracking.

3.Rollers amd creating a "Vaccum":
Some veins are harder to hit than others, they will roll to the side when you insert the tip of your syringe. Instead insert at an angle at which the vein does not have enough room to roll past the point. This technique is called "spearing". Also, a good way to go about injecting without the aide of a tourniquet, is to pull back on the plunger immediately once your point has pierced your skin. This will create a vacuum, and once you do hit a vein, the blood will rush right up the barrel.

Hope this helps.
 
Why is it necessary to remove the tie before injecting? I tried that once, and the needle slips out of the vein... is it super bad to do it the way I have been doing for almost a year?? My veins are so narrow, and my skin is very thick (i think), the only way I can find a vein is to tie off...
 
^ You can blow a vein out if you don't untie before injecting.
 
Herdygerdy said:
Why is it necessary to remove the tie before injecting? I tried that once, and the needle slips out of the vein... is it super bad to do it the way I have been doing for almost a year?? My veins are so narrow, and my skin is very thick (i think), the only way I can find a vein is to tie off...
Click to expand...

Because when you tie off a vein it is effectively sealed in two places, valves in the vein sealing off the other end. Injecting into a tied vein then increases the pressure within it. You can get away with leaving a large vein tied off, though it's bad practice and never advisable, but injecting into small veins like those in the hands and feet even with 1ml syringes is like blowing up a balloon. They are likely to split.



There's lots of good advice on the IV Complications Megathread. Generally I'd say always use a new needle for every shot, use the narrowest needle possible, no larger than 28 gauge for IV, ( 29 / 30 gauge better ) rotate injection sites giving each vein you go in a good few days to recover where possible.
 
Well, it's a gross story, and to all those reading DONT DO THIS!!! I was 19, had no clue about harm reduction, and taught myself how to shoot drugs:

Basically I had been shooting coke all day, which as we know causes vascular constriction, making it harder and harder to hit the veins. I was using a medical tourniquet (the rubber ties), and after about 20 shots, I could no longer hit my "easier" veins, so I started going for the thinner ones that run across the forearm and end at the wrist towards the side of the pinky.

Like I said, I had never been taught proper IV technique, and knew nothing about harm reduction. The only way O could register at the time and stay in the vein was to keep the tourniquet on. So I register a shot in a small vein, and started to inject (with the tourniquet still on). I pushed down real fast in my plunger, and noticed the vein sort of lumped up (I didn't feel any immediate pain, as cocaine is an anesthetic). Over the next few hours though, I began to have horrible discomfort. Stinging sensations and tenderness all up and down my arm. I was too scared to even look at the damage.

That was the first time I checked muself into the ER...
 
...So the vein basically exploded? Didn't that cause MASSIVE bruising?

I feel for you, man...
 
Znegative, yeah, been there, done exactly that with the same tiny little veins in the wrist, and in the fleshy part of the thumb. I'm sure it was bad enough with Coke, but imagine how painful blowing a vein is when your gear's cooked with Citric!

*winces at the mere thought*

;)
 
i never tie off, i don't think i would bother iv'ing if i had to. I'm not skinny either so i can't see them anyways but i learned by researching on here and other sites. One of the best things to have or memorize is a good diagram of veins and arteries so you'll always have a good idea exactly where they are.
 
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