I managed to do all sorts of drugs for over 15 years without resorting to needles, and then somewhat recently decided to try IV. I was awfully paranoid about it which turned out pretty well. Watched people do the deed many times and I knew I could do better if I paid attention to Bluelight and other reliable information sources. So, once I got my kit together (sterile water, filters, sterile mixing cups, compresses, homemade tourniquet, flexible bandages, isopropyl alcohol in both swabs and a bottle, etc.) I finally gave it a go.
The first few times were pretty much fumbling in the dark, aiming for the most prominent veins in my arms and missing a lot. At worst, the whole area around the inside of my elbow was bright red due to all the alcohol wasted to germ phobia, and bruised because of not applying pressure afterwards. Since then, my technique has somewhat improved. I still refuse to IV anything that hasn't gone through at least a Sterifilt-grade filter and not even that is enough sometimes. Nowadays I'm a somewhat full time IV user. Most of my forearm veins are quite invisible and I've been looking for ways to locate them, as some of the more common ones have clearly suffered damage. It's like sticking the needle through a sheet of paper both when piercing the skin and when finally landing in the vein. There's a barely audible *snap* sound when the needle passes through. And this is only after less than a year.
But thanks to HR, I have a very sterile process. I use a different needle for drawing water from an ampule (which I swipe with alcohol every time) than I do for injecting. I waste a lot of needles and syringes, but I don't really care since that gives me a 99% assurance that they are clean. Besides, both combined cost in the region of 10-20e/100pcs. Not to mention the needle exchange gives me new ones for those. I use 30g needles when possible, but those can't be replaced at the exchange. Smallest they have is 29g, which is just fine. 30g causes a lot of friction in the plunger, but you get used to it.
I've never had an abscess, nor an infection as far as I can tell. The only damage I have sustained from IV use is tough skin around popular injection sites. So, thanks for all the guides and responses to my silly questions. I am in far better health now had it not been for the availability of good HR information.
Something I've found very useful is Aqualan-A - it's a moisturizing lotion. It seems to get rid of the skin damage caused by alcohol when applied to injection sites.
If there was another RoA with even nearly the same bio-availability and fast onset, I might switch over. For now, I don't see any huge harm in needles. I smoke, after all. That feels more dangerous.
The first few times were pretty much fumbling in the dark, aiming for the most prominent veins in my arms and missing a lot. At worst, the whole area around the inside of my elbow was bright red due to all the alcohol wasted to germ phobia, and bruised because of not applying pressure afterwards. Since then, my technique has somewhat improved. I still refuse to IV anything that hasn't gone through at least a Sterifilt-grade filter and not even that is enough sometimes. Nowadays I'm a somewhat full time IV user. Most of my forearm veins are quite invisible and I've been looking for ways to locate them, as some of the more common ones have clearly suffered damage. It's like sticking the needle through a sheet of paper both when piercing the skin and when finally landing in the vein. There's a barely audible *snap* sound when the needle passes through. And this is only after less than a year.
But thanks to HR, I have a very sterile process. I use a different needle for drawing water from an ampule (which I swipe with alcohol every time) than I do for injecting. I waste a lot of needles and syringes, but I don't really care since that gives me a 99% assurance that they are clean. Besides, both combined cost in the region of 10-20e/100pcs. Not to mention the needle exchange gives me new ones for those. I use 30g needles when possible, but those can't be replaced at the exchange. Smallest they have is 29g, which is just fine. 30g causes a lot of friction in the plunger, but you get used to it.
I've never had an abscess, nor an infection as far as I can tell. The only damage I have sustained from IV use is tough skin around popular injection sites. So, thanks for all the guides and responses to my silly questions. I am in far better health now had it not been for the availability of good HR information.
Something I've found very useful is Aqualan-A - it's a moisturizing lotion. It seems to get rid of the skin damage caused by alcohol when applied to injection sites.
If there was another RoA with even nearly the same bio-availability and fast onset, I might switch over. For now, I don't see any huge harm in needles. I smoke, after all. That feels more dangerous.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
