Harm Reduction ⫸CASE STUDIES - It could happen to YOU!⫷

[JonnyDeath]

There's a huge problem with this thread.
Intravenous drug users aren't concerned about sterility and IMO have no prior, relative experience to keep them sensible and concerned of risks granted this exact type of event may in fact be what leads to the practice for some.

These are people who aren't even concerned about washing their hands with soap and water after urinating let alone frequently replacing needles and regularly sterilizing those they reuse.
After 10, 20 and 30 years of this shit they have a lot of foreign debris floating around in their bodies and an abscess, blood infection or tissue necrosis can occur after degeneration occurs over a massive chronological duration and it will set in within a few short hours reaching the most critical level in that short time.

Anyone who is already an intravenous drug user will pay this thread no attention but fortunately it might dismay those considering it but I still doubt it.
I think it's an act of falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, also desperation, and the motivation behind the decision to take that chaotic leap is undefinable. Of course from what I've seen spend your life working, partying and going to music festivals every single time they're around and yeah I bet you end up on the needle. When I indulged in the most intense of drug culture I finally understood how it happens.
For most they just want to get higher with zero concerns otherwise.

For others it's absolute misery escalating with other forms of drug use until it turns into pinning.

I went to a couple drug based festivals and honestly 99% of the people there were lost in the quagmire of drug use and you're surrounded by 5,000 people.
Talking about horror stories is only 1 step in the right direction.
Addressing what leads to pinning drugs is just as important.

Ultimately this thread should be AT THOSE FESTIVALS apart from frequently shown in high school and you know where else?
Public fucking service announcements in video games, movies, magazines an any other popular media format popular with youth!

 

[Phobicgadfly]

Infective endocarditis secondary to intravenous Subutex abuse
Chong E, Poh K K, Shen L, Yeh I B, Chai P -- Singapore Med 2009; 50 (1) : 34

The synopses of 12 cases of Subutex endocarditis are summarised in Table I. Patient 1 was a 28-year-old woman who had been abusing Subutex and Dormicum for three months. She presented with pneumonia and septic shock. She developed multiple pulmonary septic emboli (Fig. 1). Echocardiogram showed large tricuspid vegetation. Blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus. She was treated with two weeks of intravenous (IV) gentamycin and eight weeks of IV cloxacillin. Despite completing the antibiotic regimen, she continued to experience septic symptoms. Repeat echocardiogram showed an impaired left ventricular systolic function, persistent vegetation and severe tricuspid valve destruction with resultant severe regurgitation. She underwent surgical vegetation excision and tricuspid valve replacement. She recovered after three months of hospitalisation.

Patient 2 was a 45-year-old man who had been abusing Subutex for six months. He injected Subutex powder into his arm veins in order to seek "a high". He was admitted to the vascular surgery unit for acute left arm ischaemia secondary to brachial artery thrombosis after Subutex injection (Fig. 2). He was found to have heart murmur and persistent fever for one week. Echocardiogram showed tricuspid valve vegetation. Blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus. He was treated with two weeks of low molecular weight heparin (Clexane) for the upper limb ischaemia and six weeks of IV cloxacillin. He recovered from the illness without surgical intervention for the arm ischaemia.

Patient 3 was a 36-year-old man who had been injecting Subutex, and occasionally Dormicum, for one year. He presented with symptoms of fever, chills, rigors and weight loss for one month. A diagnosis of pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO) was made. Blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus. Echocardiogram showed tricuspid valve vegetation. He was treated with IV cloxacillin and gentamycin for two weeks and further cloxacillin for a total of six weeks. He absconded from the hospital after being found guilty for injecting diazepam (Valium) powder in the ward.

Patient 4 was a 30-year-old man who bought and sold Subutex on the black market. This trade brought him extra money. He had been abusing Subutex for two years. He cut the 8 mg Subutex tablet into four portions and injected the crushed powder intravenously after mixing it with water. He was admitted for sepsis. He developed infective endocarditis involving both the mitral and tricuspid valves (Figs. 3a&c). There was no patent foramen ovale demonstrated in the echocardiogram. He had pulmonary septic emboli and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIVC). He was treated with IV cloxacillin and IV gentamicin. Concurrently, he developed hepatitis C glomerulonephritis. He underwent a total of 60 days of IV antibiotic treatment in the hospital. He recovered from infective endocarditis, with residual tricuspid valve perforation and severe regurgitation.

Patient 5 was a 35-year-old man who was admitted to medical intensive care unit (MICU) for severe septic shock secondary to pneumonia and empyema. He had severe jaundice and was found positive for hepatitis C serology. Echocardiography showed vegetation in the tricuspid valves. Blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus. He was treated with IV gentamicin and cloxacillin. Oral rifampicin was added on two weeks later. He required chest tube insertion for empyema drainage. He complained of severe low back pain. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the spine showed discitis secondary to septic emboli (Fig. 4). He developed a few delirium episodes secondary to drug abuse in the ward. He received IV antibiotics for a total of 88 days and recovered from the illness.

Patient 6 was a 49-year-old man who had been abusing Subutex and Dormicum for two years. He was admitted for sepsis with PUO. Echocardiogram showed large tricuspid valve vegetation (Figs. 5a&c). Blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus. He continued to have fever and chills. Subsequent blood culture grew Methicillin-resistant Staphalococcus aureus (MRSA). After interrogation, he admitted injecting Subutex in the ward. He developed hospital-acquired MRSA septicaemia. He was treated with four weeks of IV vancomycin and oral rifampicin but without success. He underwent tricuspid valve excision and bioprosthetic valve replacement. He was also a hepatitis C carrier. He continued to abuse Subutex post discharge. Two months later, he was admitted to the orthopaedic unit presenting with severe low back pain. MR imaging of the spine showed discitis. Blood culture grew MRSA colony. Repeat echocardiogram showed very large vegetation on the prosthetic tricuspid valves with significant obstruction. He was given another course of IV vancomycin, gentamycin, clindamycin and oral rifampicin. He failed to respond to the medical therapy and developed heart failure and septic shock. He underwent open heart vegetation excision (Figs. 5d&f), and died two days postoperation.

Patient 7 was a 31-year-old man who had been abusing Subutex and Dormicum for two years. He presented with an altered mental status. He was diagnosed to have septic encephalopathy secondary to multiple brain septic emboli (Fig. 6). His blood culture grew group G Streptococcus viridans. His long line tip culture grew Acinetobacter baumanii. He had positive toxoplasmosis antibodies and positive hepatitis C serology. Echocardiogram showed tricuspid valve vegetations and large abscess cavity. He developed septic shock with DIVC. He required inotropic support, and was treated with IV penicillin and gentamycin for four weeks. The patient then absconded from the hospital, and returned eight months later, presenting with persistent fever and chills. He continued to inject himself with Subutex and shared needles with other addicts. He had recurrent tricuspid valve endocarditis with multiple organisms isolated from the blood cultures that included Streptococcus mitis, Prevotella spp. and Acinetobacter spp. He was found stealing needles and injecting himself in the ward. He absconded from hospital after five weeks of antibiotics treatment.

Patient 8 was a 25-year-old man who abused Subutex for a few months. He presented with fever, breathlessness and lower limb swelling. Blood culture grew Pseudomonas spp. and Staphylococcus aureus. Echocardiogram showed mitral valve and tricuspid valve vegetations. Computed tomography of the thorax showed multiple pulmonary septic emboli. He was treated with IV cloxacillin, gentamycin and rifampicin. He failed to improve after antibiotic therapy and developed haemodynamic compromise after development of acute severe mitral regurgitation due to chordal rupture. He underwent emergency mitral valve replacement surgery and tricuspid vegetation debridement. He was treated with a prolonged course of IV antibiotics and stayed in hospital for six months. He recovered after surgery. Unfortunately, he was readmitted 12 months later for severe spontaneous intracranial haemorrhage due to warfarin overanticoagulation. He died during that admission.

Patient 9 was a 22-year-old man who abused both Subutex and Dormicum. He presented with prolonged fever. Echocardiogram showed large tricuspid valve vegetation. He was treated with IV cloxacillin after identification of positive Staphylococcus aureus growth on blood culture. He was non-compliant with treatment. He discharged himself against medical advice three times during the entire treatment period. His condition deteriorated. Echocardiogram one month later showed multiple enlarging tricuspid valve vegetations, severe tricuspid regurgitation, and impaired left ventricular ejection fraction from 65% to 45%. He developed pulmonary septic embolic, septic shock, brain abscess, seizures and kidney abscess. He was infected with hepatitis C, and developed hepatitis C-associated mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis. Patient died from septic shock and multiorgan failure.

Patient 10 was a 35-year-old man who had a history of congenital bicuspid aortic valve with moderate aortic regurgitation. He had been abusing Subutex for months, despite warnings given by doctors regarding the high risk of infective endocarditis. He presented with fever, confusion and right hemiparesis for three days. He developed severe septic shock with multiple brain septic emboli. He was intubated and managed in the intensive care unit. He developed acute heart and renal failures. Transoesophageal echocardiogram revealed large aortic valve vegetations with severe aortic regurgitation (Figs. 7a&c). Blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus and Corynebacterium spp. He underwent emergency aortic valve excision and replacement (Fig. 7d). He recovered from the infection, and had a fairly good functional return after two months of outpatient rehabilitation. Unfortunately, he continued to abuse Subutex and was readmitted 18 months later for prosthetic valve endocarditis and septic shock. He underwent prosthetic valve excision and died during the admission.

Patient 11 was a 24-year-old man who had been abusing Subutex for three months. He developed prolonged fever and chills for one month. He did not seek medical treatment. He was found collapsed at home by family members. He was intubated at the emegency department and transferred to the MICU. He presented with severe septic shock. His temperature was 41°C and blood pressure was 80/60 mmHg. Clinical examination revealed Osler’s nodes, splinter haemorrhage and a loud pansystolic murmur. Echocardiogram revealed large tricuspid valve vegetations. Blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus. He was treated with IV cloxacillin and gentamycin, and later on converted to vancomycin and imipenum. He was given inotropic support with an intraaortic balloon counterpulsation pump. Despite intensive treatment, he continued to deteriorate and died on the fourth day after admission.

Patient 12 was a 23-year-old woman who had learnt to inject Subutex from her friends and had been abusing Subutex for three months. She presented with fever, chills and rigors for three weeks’ duration. Chest radiograph showed multiple pulmonary consolidations and abscess cavities. Echocardiogram showed tricuspid valve vegetation. Blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus. She recovered after treatment with six weeks of IV cloxacillin.

We interviewed the patients and identified some of the reasons for abusing Subutex via IV injection:

(1) More rapid onset of action: euphoric response within 30 seconds with the IV route, compared to 10-20 minutes with the sublingual route.
(2) False belief that IV Subutex can enhance erection and sexual function.
(3) Combination usage with benzodiazepines, especially Dormicum and Erimin (Nimetazepam) in order to enhance euphoric effect.
(4) Psychological addiction to the habit of injecting drugs: habitual injection abuser.
(5) Peer pressure: especially among the Malay drug abusers. They tend to group together to inject drugs and share needles.
(6) To reduce cost: injection route often requires a smaller dosage compared to the sublingual route. Subutex tablets can be crushed into powder and dissolved in hot water. The insulin needle was used to inject the suspension into the veins of upper limbs. Occasionally, the patients injected blood vessels in the groin (femoral arteries was referred as "the highway") and neck. Few patients would clean the injection sites with soap and water.



Fig. 2 Photograph shows the gangrenous left hand secondary to acute ischaemia in a 45-year-old man (patient 2) who developed acute left brachial artery thrombosis at the injection site .

Fig. 4 Sagittal T2-W (left) and STIR (right) MR images show spinal abscess/discitis (arrows) in a 35-year-old man (patient 5) who presented with back pain.

Fig. 5(d) Photograph shows the excised tricuspid valve vegetation measuring 35 mm ×19 mm.
Fig. 5(e) Photograph shows the infected prosthetic tricuspid valve ring with abscess.
Fig. 5(f) Photograph shows the excised prosthetic tricuspid valve and large vegetation.

This one is particularly heartbreaking and tragic to me because they were so young, and had been abusing drugs for such a short amount of time..
It's one thing if you've been using for decades, have ran out of veins, and decide to inject drugs cooked with dirty puddle water and end up kicking the bucket. Another if you're fresh out of highschool, blithely doing what your friends are doing, and happen to have not known any better.

 

[plague66]

Fuck dude, that last quote made my heart sank. I am currently IV-ing Suboxone 2mg daily filtering with Q-tips, I have yeast infection below waist, use one rig 2 times, have stomach pains in the left and right corners and tested positive for mononucleosis. Need to stop fast although I don't really give a flying fuck about dying its just the thing that my family thinks I'm finally clean and all that shit. Don't want to put that burden on em.

 

[ABetterWay]

Fuck dude, that last quote made my heart sank. I am currently IV-ing Suboxone 2mg daily filtering with Q-tips, I have yeast infection below waist, use one rig 2 times, have stomach pains in the left and right corners and tested positive for mononucleosis. Need to stop fast although I don't really give a flying fuck about dying its just the thing that my family thinks I'm finally clean and all that shit. Don't want to put that burden on em.

Dying from drug abuse would be the biggest burden you could possibly put on them, honey.

Please, get help. Stick around. Listen to your heart, find your mission in life, and give the world all of the good inside of you.

You are needed here.

Peace. :-*

 

[JessFR]

There's a huge problem with this thread.
Intravenous drug users aren't concerned about sterility and IMO have no prior, relative experience to keep them sensible and concerned of risks granted this exact type of event may in fact be what leads to the practice for some.

These are people who aren't even concerned about washing their hands with soap and water after urinating let alone frequently replacing needles and regularly sterilizing those they reuse.
After 10, 20 and 30 years of this shit they have a lot of foreign debris floating around in their bodies and an abscess, blood infection or tissue necrosis can occur after degeneration occurs over a massive chronological duration and it will set in within a few short hours reaching the most critical level in that short time.

Anyone who is already an intravenous drug user will pay this thread no attention but fortunately it might dismay those considering it but I still doubt it.
I think it's an act of falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, also desperation, and the motivation behind the decision to take that chaotic leap is undefinable. Of course from what I've seen spend your life working, partying and going to music festivals every single time they're around and yeah I bet you end up on the needle. When I indulged in the most intense of drug culture I finally understood how it happens.
For most they just want to get higher with zero concerns otherwise.

For others it's absolute misery escalating with other forms of drug use until it turns into pinning.

I went to a couple drug based festivals and honestly 99% of the people there were lost in the quagmire of drug use and you're surrounded by 5,000 people.
Talking about horror stories is only 1 step in the right direction.
Addressing what leads to pinning drugs is just as important.

Ultimately this thread should be AT THOSE FESTIVALS apart from frequently shown in high school and you know where else?
Public fucking service announcements in video games, movies, magazines an any other popular media format popular with youth!

I'm an intravenous drug user, I'm paying attention. I also use sterile needles and don't share them. If all intravenous drug users were as you say, harm reduction programs wouldn't be so effective.

I appreciate your intent, but id be concerned about your suggestion of putting information like this thread everywhere youth hang out. There have been a lot of failures with approaches like that in the past. In some cases like with fucking DARE it's resulted in increasing drug use. I don't think the scare tactic works.

In my experience, the people who get to this level of desperation and self harm are pretty much working on the assumption that they'll die very soon anyway, so it doesn't matter. It's horrible sad, but it happens, and often drugs aren't the sole problem. When I started using drugs it was because I truly didn't care if I wound up dead, I assumed id have a relatively short life regardless. Of course I wasn't and to this day haven't reached anything like the level of self destruction you see in these case studies. But the point is, people in that state aren't going to be very dissuaded by PSA's

You know some evidence suggests just talking nonstop about drug use can increase drug use.

 

[WhiteCat9Lives]

Excellent thread , tnx for all the info guys

 

[sm0kestack]

Good spot for information. Thanks. The other day I had injected a 40unit solution of about 1/8th of an 8mg suboxone strip. I had accidentally shot into my radial artery on my right arm about halfway between my wrist and my elbow. After injecting, and pulling the rig out, I immediately felt a very hot burning sensation in my hand, and a very sharp pain in the joint area of my thumb. Oh man did it hurt. So panic stricken, instead of calling 911 like I should have immediately, I got on my phone and looked up what happens if you accidentally shoot into an artery, most of my findings were bad news... So about 20mins goes by of me frantically trying to find solace on the internet that I will be OK (I found none), I go downstairs and tell my friend what happened, he said did had accidentally hit an artery before as well and said it hurt him bad as fuck too. So I asked what I should do. He looked at my hand and we saw that the swelling wasn't too bad, and told me I should be alright. So I continued to look on the internet for answers, and still found more bad stories than good. Now a couple hours have gone by. So having read the net, all fingers pointed that I should go to the ER IMMEDIATELY. So having sucked up my pride and got over the fear of possibly being arrested for it, or having my sub doc find out I was shooting them, I asked my buddy to drive me to the hospital. He decided to be a dick and say... dude you're fine, I don't feel like driving there... Right then and there I should have called 911 anyway, but I decided to read more on the internet, and see how it would look in the morning. So I stayed up on the internet that night for a few hours reading up on it, still not finding much comfort, then eventually dozed off....

The next day, I woke up, my hand still being sore (the area of where the arc from your index finger down past your thumb, to the area where your wrist meets your hand) and slightly swollen. Everything else felt fine except that area. Still worried, I decided it was time to go to the ER....

So now it's about 18 hours since I had injected that stuff into my radial artery on accident, I finally arrive to the hospital. They admitted me, took my blood, and had me submit a urine sample. So I waited in one of the rooms inside the ER for about an hour for the lab results, and hear what the doctor had to say. They said that they were going to discharge me, they tested my blood and found no signs of infection, and said there wasn't any sign of clotting, because my hand would look a lot more swollen and changing colors if there was. So they told me to keep an eye on it, and take an anti-inflammatory, for pain and the little swelling that was still present. Then I left.

So anyway, it's been 2 days now, and my hand is still stiff and hurts quite a bit, but I feel A LOT more comfortable now that I took myself to the hospital and got it looked at and tested.

So anyone out there looking for help because they have done this, please just take yourself to the hospital. You are going to find a lot more relief doing that , and possibly, and more likely save yourself from something terrible happening to you. You will find yourself sitting for hours and hours, wasting precious time just looking on the net for answers.

So remember all, it IS, always better safe than sorry. Ok? Thanks for creating this thread. I hope I helped someone out there.

 

[cj]

Shooting subs is bad news.

 

[dirzted]

Good spot for information. Thanks. The other day I had injected a 40unit solution of about 1/8th of an 8mg suboxone strip. I had accidentally shot into my radial artery on my right arm about halfway between my wrist and my elbow. After injecting, and pulling the rig out, I immediately felt a very hot burning sensation in my hand, and a very sharp pain in the joint area of my thumb. Oh man did it hurt. So panic stricken, instead of calling 911 like I should have immediately, I got on my phone and looked up what happens if you accidentally shoot into an artery, most of my findings were bad news... So about 20mins goes by of me frantically trying to find solace on the internet that I will be OK (I found none), I go downstairs and tell my friend what happened, he said did had accidentally hit an artery before as well and said it hurt him bad as fuck too. So I asked what I should do. He looked at my hand and we saw that the swelling wasn't too bad, and told me I should be alright. So I continued to look on the internet for answers, and still found more bad stories than good. Now a couple hours have gone by. So having read the net, all fingers pointed that I should go to the ER IMMEDIATELY. So having sucked up my pride and got over the fear of possibly being arrested for it, or having my sub doc find out I was shooting them, I asked my buddy to drive me to the hospital. He decided to be a dick and say... dude you're fine, I don't feel like driving there... Right then and there I should have called 911 anyway, but I decided to read more on the internet, and see how it would look in the morning. So I stayed up on the internet that night for a few hours reading up on it, still not finding much comfort, then eventually dozed off....

The next day, I woke up, my hand still being sore (the area of where the arc from your index finger down past your thumb, to the area where your wrist meets your hand) and slightly swollen. Everything else felt fine except that area. Still worried, I decided it was time to go to the ER....

So now it's about 18 hours since I had injected that stuff into my radial artery on accident, I finally arrive to the hospital. They admitted me, took my blood, and had me submit a urine sample. So I waited in one of the rooms inside the ER for about an hour for the lab results, and hear what the doctor had to say. They said that they were going to discharge me, they tested my blood and found no signs of infection, and said there wasn't any sign of clotting, because my hand would look a lot more swollen and changing colors if there was. So they told me to keep an eye on it, and take an anti-inflammatory, for pain and the little swelling that was still present. Then I left.

So anyway, it's been 2 days now, and my hand is still stiff and hurts quite a bit, but I feel A LOT more comfortable now that I took myself to the hospital and got it looked at and tested.

So anyone out there looking for help because they have done this, please just take yourself to the hospital. You are going to find a lot more relief doing that , and possibly, and more likely save yourself from something terrible happening to you. You will find yourself sitting for hours and hours, wasting precious time just looking on the net for answers.

So remember all, it IS, always better safe than sorry. Ok? Thanks for creating this thread. I hope I helped someone out there.

thanks for sharing

 

[In4cash]

This really opened my eyes, I abuse fent often, will be more careful.

 

[sm0kestack]

This happened to me one time, a syringe broke off in my arm while I was digging around for the vein. I went to the hospital twice, about a month apart each, and both times they said it will make it out on it's own. They said if it was a smaller foreign body, then they would be more concerned, because it could travel inside the vein to the heart. Good thing it was a long tipped syringe!

One day I noticed it started forming heads of pus at the injection site, like pimples. I popped it repeatedly for like a week or two, it kept forming those heads. It was deep I guess.

So I kept popping those heads and squeezing it, hoping the needle would come out , and kept failing. But one day, after I got out of the shower and was drying off, I noticed something there. I thought it was just some dead skin or something. But no, there it was! Poking out ever so slightly. So I pulled it out, and was so relieved. It was in there for 3 months!

Now there is a scar there, I'm sure just from all the times I popped it caused a little loss of tissue. So was it my body just treating the needle itself as an infection, and the whitish yellow pus just the white blood cells attacking it ? Or was there actually some kind of infection there? I have been to hospitals for unrelated issues since and have had blood drawn since, and they said no signs of infections.

I know this thread, or section of it is very old, feel free to relocate this mods to somewhere more suitable. Thanks

 

[GingerCrock]

A great subject! U should continue doing this!

 

[sm0kestack]

Hey guys. I hope someone can tell me what happened here , or what this is...

Well earlier I shot up into the vein that runs along the bottom/back of my forearm. I have been using this vein quite frequently, I mean to rotate, and try to , but its the quickest and easiest spot.

Anyway, after injection was over, I took a piece of tissue quickly, as I would do normally to stop any bleeding and bruising or whatever , and applied pressure. When I removed the tissue, instead of it being red from blood, there was a like clearer type fluid absorbed into the tissue. I have seen this kind of fluid on tissue on TP, when my hemhorroids tend to bleed and I stop the bleeding. Buy never after injecting...

The area doesn't look infected, not hot to the touch or really red or streaking, but I have noticed a slight cramping pain, or arthritic pain perhaps, which does seem to travel down to my hand. But the injection process was normal. I did some reading, some sites said it could be plasma, some say it could be pus. The pus thing is was kind of worries me, because pus is associated with infection. And I have noticed the same clear fluid after squeezing pimples out before. But the area just does not look like it's pus filled... It doesn't look too swollen or inflamed maybe a little from poking it a lot.

Any ideas of what happened here? Thanks y'all.

P.S. I tried making this its own thread, but I keep getting the error about making the thread prefix?? I am posting from an android mobile device.

 

[sm0kestack]

If you're a mod, please feel free to throw that post in the right spot. Thanks again

 

[Zeddii]

Wow...some people are incredibly desperate.

It's called addiction.

 

[Bonch]

Sad to say I have injected subutex and suboxone. This was the worst it ever got for me. Don't pick up the needle. You can never get it out of your head. If you are going to bang things please use a micron filter

 

[Speetz]

So before I post a long winded post about my own IV induced issues, including nearly losing my leg, 2 cases of endocarditis, one of which was in the BMJ (seriously... Someone at Lyola University did a paper on my case) and open heart surgery, would this be a good place to post the details to show that the risk is real?

There is even evidence that it was from doing certain things looong before I got my first case of Endo.

 

[ABetterWay]

P.S. I tried making this its own thread, but I keep getting the error about making the thread prefix?? I am posting from an android mobile device.

I can help you with this issue. It happened to me, too, and others came to my rescue

(I really love how everyone here helps each other, man )

So that is happening because you are on a mobile device. For some reason, it does not show/give you the option to choose a thread prefix in mobile view.

There are two things you can do:

1.) Post your thread in the "Homeless" section/forum, and a mod can move it for you. This obviously creates work on the part of admin, however.

or

2.) You can switch to PC/Full site view. Then, you will be able to see and access the option to choose a prefix. You can switch from mobile to PC/Full site by visiting the following thread, and clicking the link (likewise, you can use that same thread and links provided to switch back to mobile view):


http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads...le-(With-Links-to-Both-Mobile-and-Full-Site!)

Hope this helps.

Peace.

 

[ABetterWay]

So before I post a long winded post about my own IV induced issues, including nearly losing my leg, 2 cases of endocarditis, one of which was in the BMJ (seriously... Someone at Lyola University did a paper on my case) and open heart surgery, would this be a good place to post the details to show that the risk is real?

There is even evidence that it was from doing certain things looong before I got my first case of Endo.

Yep! That is what this thread is for, to bring the real risks and dangers assiciated with drug use and abuse to light.

I feel like people who are in dangerous situations of a drug nature are probably more likely to heed a warning from someone who has BEEN THERE, including all of the feelings and the desperation and compulsion and inability to "just stop", then they are to listen to others who, while they might have plenty of technical knowledge and chemical/biological knowledge, don't "get it" on that level.

Of course, people have to WANT to stop, for themselves.

But anyone on the path to quitting has to start somewhere, and this will be a good place for some of them to start. Everyone's path is different, and different things work for different people.

So, to those who will read this on their journey, this is a good place and opportunity for you to warn others about the dangers, the reality.... the fact that they may think tghese types of things only happen to "other people" and not them....this is a good place to show that those so-called "other" people have to be SOMEone....

Good luck on your journey, my friend

Peace.

 

[Speetz]

This one is particularly heartbreaking and tragic to me because they were so young, and had been abusing drugs for such a short amount of time..
It's one thing if you've been using for decades, have ran out of veins, and decide to inject drugs cooked with dirty puddle water and end up kicking the bucket. Another if you're fresh out of highschool, blithely doing what your friends are doing, and happen to have not known any better.

So I am going to post my case study of myself here and in response to your post regarding endocarditis. I have had it. Twice.

My first case was in the BMJ and required open heart surgery. I'll get to the specifics but other than a lot of heroin long before it happened and sub at least more than six months before it happened (IV) can show you how long it can take to build up. Plus I was a clean shooter ever since I got an abscess in the back of my knee from scraping God knows what while on meth and trying to slam it. I legit it alone and it eventually burst while I was sleeping, after weeks of ECRUCIATING pain, and since then I was always sterile for the most part tho I did reuse a bit much, but would clean with alcohol or chlorohexadrine any time I did.

So; I am a male, 23-26 (from first to second case of endo) and weigh about 150 give or take, never been above 165 and that was after an inpatient treatment where I couldn't hardly leave the grounds. Healthy for me is 150-160.

I have a history of childhood epilepsy and mental health issues. Epilepsy has passed, though I have PTSD, GAD, OCD (clinically diagnosed) and some nerve damage. No genetic issues other than teeth problems, which is actually WAY more important than you think.

Ok so I'll give a brief outline of use six to twelve months before each case, the first being in 2012. At this time I had been injecting buperenorphine three to four times a day for quite some time, then once employed and seeing my future sons mother I started only using sublingually, about two to three 1-2 mg pieces a day. This dosage could vary a lot, and during this six month once I stopped objecting regularly I used other pills and such. Amphetamines once, oral/nasal and mushrooms and more all oral or nasal. Two exceptions were a shot of heroin, new needle and prepared very sterily.

The only other incidence was about four or five months before this, around the time of one of the heroin injections, I also tried injecting psilocybin. This was while very intoxicated and basically on a dare; it was done sterily and the endocarditis I got was not fungal or anything. Plus it was some time before.

So, the three to four months leading up to my getting sick was uneventful as my fiancé was pregnant. If I shot at all in the months leading up other than what I mentioned then I don't remember doing so, but by this time I would get brand new tools and such and be very sterile just because I had the means to. (When I was young I shot things scraped out of the inside of a dirty microwave... Yeah, I'll come back to that)

One day, I was at work, came down with a fever. Didn't feel very bad but it was enough to notice and take my temp. Almost 102. So I leave, and proceed to pass the fuck out as soon as I get home.

The rest on out is hazy, but I have context from relatives and my ex.

When I woke up, my mouth was so dry and chapped I could hardly talk. I was completely delirious and was spitting out the ibuprofen my fiancé was trying to give me. At one point I pulled down my pants and tried to sit in my freezer. Funny, except I was dying.

Eventually my mother came (with DayQuil and freeze pops... She always thinks I'm overreacting) and instantly realizes things are wry very bad. Paramedics come, and ask me where I am at et al questions like that. I answer correctly and they try to tell my mom and Fiance its drugs like crack or something and they wont take me. My mother says no, he is just intelligent normally so this sort of thing affects him differently. (I think I was so gone I didn't wanna go to the hospital because I thought I would be fine at home with rest... I get that way only when very sick) they ask again where I am, not two seconds after the first time, and I give them a totally different CITY than the first time, another one near by.

So they take me to the hospital to begin the most ridiculous, confusing and insane 2-3 weeks of my life.

Basically they couldn't figure out what was wrong, and while they were trying to figure it out, I had two TIA (transischemic attacks) which are like strokes with no permanent damage. I remember one that made me delusional and hallucinate that I was on the ceiling and the hospital was from the 1920s. Very scary shit. It wasn't for a couple days that I even started to come to normal, and have my fever down, and they still didn't know what it was; from West Nile to Meningitis to all sorts of shit, comin in with the hazmat suits and everything.

The most glaring symptom other than my hallucinations and delusions (Mom, why is the guy from Pawn Stars on a Pizza Hut commercial working for them...?) were these dots, all over my skin. Especially my limbs, and the closer to my fingers and toes, the more red dots. This is what they took pics of for British Medical, and they fucking HURT! I have never been in more, and by more I mean tangible, mathematical amount, of pain before. Every inch of me hurt beyond description, just a dull feeling like my blood was made of cement, and muscles were never supposed to be moves, like solid bone.

(Yes, when they pumped me full of waaaaay too much narcan during an OD when I was fifteen, that was the worst feeling I believe the human body can feel. But when I had endocarditis with those embolisms, that was a large sum of extreme pain over every once of my body. I pissed myself once or twice because I couldn't move to do so)

They were umbilicals. All of them. Blood clots, thousands that could have gone to my brain at any moment and cause a stroke (which they half did) or aneurysm or a million other things. If they kept I could have lost limbs and who knows what else. All this while they still can't even figure out what it is, and I am still slipping in and out of sanity, though they don't usually notice. (Even when I was totally dilution all thinking my bed was on the wall I didn't make too big offs deal out of it. I am a pretty intelligent guy and don't like to make a fuss, so I can handle most of that stuff and realize it's not right, which I guess many cant? Plus why bother lol, it's not like meth psychosis... *shivers*)

Then they do a TEE (trans esophageal echo) which SUCK when you have opiate tolerance and sub probably in my system, since the fent they loaded my veins with didn't work and the midazolam I either had a tolerance or they skipped cuz of my kpins. Even with the meds on point it's not fun; they spray this shit that taste like bananas and battery acid down your throat (some kind of cephacain? Can't remember which it is) as a topical analgesic numbing agent and shove a tube down your throat to pic your heart. Works much better than a normal echo.

And voila.

1.7 inches vegetation on mitral valve, 0.7 on tricuspid. (Sorry if sp is off)

Short version of this next story is they rush me to Lyola Hospital in Chicago and decide for surgery or not, and out in a PIC line cuz my veins are shit, then decide to send me off with the PIC and a shit load of IV antibiotics.

Four weeks go by and I come down with a fever. During those four weeks, mind you, I had to haveh Is thing dangling out of my arm with a fanny pack on filled with anti biotic a that made me itch, smell, feel, and look like a walking yeast infection. I had to wrap it with cling wrap to shower, pump it with saline etc.

I was able to use the PIC for my sub, which I never micron filter, which is dumb, don't do it. I don't think it contributed much to the first endocarditis case as the only thing it MAY have done is made the vein walls rougher and easier to catch bacteria to build up, but it WAS the IV use of ANYTHING that made it happen, and it can build up for a long time and only takes on little piece of staph getting stuck on your heart wall.

(Just not really sub in PARTICULAR - meaning more than any other IV drug - would be a culprit for endocarditis - sub IV DOES gives you shit veins, hardened veins, and no rush. Only time it may be justified is with a micron and even then try for only when you are sick as need quick relief. If you ware broke and low on sub micron filter and skin pop - same BA and last longer)

So anyway, I get a fever after four weeks of antibiotic treatment with only a day or two left, and I got it the ER and they tell me it's a systemic Candida infection. So now I am fungally septic after getting done with infectiously septic but still have a mass of infection and damage in my heart, as we find out the day before i was going to leave after the candida was gone.

0.2 on tricuspid and 80% regurgitation on mitral which means 80% is going backwards. Oh, and I have what they thought was an abcess on my heart wall.

So I get rushed back to Loyola (in an ambulance; state insurance so no copter ride, plus I was stable, but it was a trip) in Chicago and they buzz saw my chest open (seriously, it's like a table saw) that night, put me on insane amounts of dilaudid ( which once they went to oral I started just putting in my PIC since they didn't know how high my tolerance was and I didn't have/couldn't take sub) and it was hell. The abcess on my heart was just a perforation they repaired, and they managed to repair my mitral valve with a polyurethane ring (may have been another plastic) so I don't have a full valve replacement, thank shit because I am considered "significantly disabled" by certain workers advocacy groups even now. I don't have to take any warfarin or anything for it, just have to be cautious.

My son was born 7 days later. I had to be going to infusions during the labor, not to mention infusing dilaudid just so I could be there. It's all a blur.

All in all it was disgusting and incredibly painful. I have typed enough so I won't go into the second time I got it that wasn't as bad but still terrifying. Once you get endocarditis once it is way way easier to get it again; just remember I was always generally clean while IVing after my abcess, and this was years and years later, and I still got it, so I wasn't clean enough. They say I may have had a genetical silent murmur that contributed but eh. It's just luck, a slip up on sterility, and the length of time I have been IVing and how often a day, all combined.

I'll re edit mistakes and what not later on down the line and post my second case sometimes, maybe even my abcess crap if people care lol. Thanks for reading and please take heed.

Stay cool, and stay clean: in whichever way you need to.