Harm Reduction Injection Complications FAQ and Mega Thread

[Bell Ringer]

Just make sure

Sometimes discoloration and inflammation can take several days to go away.

It is normal to be slightly sore after missing. However, you shouldn't have to "poke around". If you cannot see your veins to the point where you know how you need to align the needle, use a tourniquet to help, but untie it before injecting.

What helps most is having a friend to help. A second set of hands can make the difference between making a shot and missing it.

That the friend know his shit. I would suggest taking a class in phlebotomy, some are cheap and if you don't care about qulifacations than you need only attend a few classes. Mine were once a week.

Every time I see a nurse/doc/phlebot... They are amazed at how good the codition of my veins are, and I may be BD's best customer Been shooting since ~17. I am 26 now.

Be careful

 

[Bell Ringer]

valves

Veins have valves. Don't shoot too close to one or pierce one. You can see indications of where they are with experience. But you need to feel for them with your fingers. If you gently (not with your thumb) feel your veins, you will notice feel something a little harder. Press down softly and they bloodflow will be restricted by the valve. Sounds hard but really it is easy

 

[Captain.Heroin]

so i missed a shot of dilaudid today and it's been about 30 mins but it is going down. luckily i realized i was missing the vein before i shot the entire rig. but since dillies dissolve so well is there any less of a chance of complications? i'm still feeling high from it so it must still get absorbed by IM but i'm a new shooter and this scared me.

but anyway, is it as dangerous as missing with other pills that aren't as water soluble?

You didn't hit the muscle (if you did that's god awful technique) - it's more than likely that you accidentally injected in the subcutaneous area.

It can be as dangerous as missing with other pills (however if they aren't water soluble - you can't really shoot it to effect...), but if you have used a heat compress, and knew to stop injecting the whole rig, then it sounds like you have a better chance of being OK.

Overall, if it gets better in a few hours (after applying a heat compress) you should likely be fine, but you will want to check up on it regularly - and if it looks worse over time and becomes much more painful/inflamed, you might want to seek medical attention.

Veins have valves. Don't shoot too close to one or pierce one. You can see indications of where they are with experience. But you need to feel for them with your fingers. If you gently (not with your thumb) feel your veins, you will notice feel something a little harder. Press down softly and they bloodflow will be restricted by the valve. Sounds hard but really it is easy

I have a valve near where I inject sometimes, and so I like to stay a good bit away from it. I hear once you damage a valve it isn't coming back (unlike simply overusing a vein but letting it recover/heal after could yield recovery).

You should be able to see them (when it looks like your vein is splitting off like a fork in the road).

 

[CloudyHazeD]

Missing a shot of oxymorphone. Will it burn?

This may be a stupid question.........but if you miss with a shot of oxymorphone (from the pink/red 10mg pills) will it still burn/hurt like a missed dope shot?

Just curious. Been messing with these opana for the last couple days and after running out of short needles I was using the long version. Was allot harder to register, for some reason.

Thought I may have missed my last shot the other night. But no burning, and no lump formed. Hell, don't even have a bruise. So, suppose it made it.

 

[ugly_pickle]

It may or may not, but more then likely it won't at least not at first.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Sounds like you didn't miss.

It will burn though - worse than heroin. Missing a shot of any sort of pill is a lot more painful than missing some heroin (in general - there might be exceptions? I don't know).

It's similar though - all missed shots are painful.

Anyways, this fits better in the IV Complications Mega Thread, so I'm going to merge it in there.

 

[CloudyHazeD]

Thanks.

 

[Bell Ringer]

If I Get What you are saying

^^^

i've got several hard knots in my arms that have neither grown nor diminished in size since December. They aren't painful, but they do prevent me from stretching my arms. the gross thing is when is perforate them with an empty syringe and pull back a bunch a grey matter registers, filling up the outfit. it looks like days old heroin, blood and pus. a more desperate me would have re-shot it back in my "blowing dudes for tar' days

Look man,
Don't fuck with them (or see a doctor). Every time you stick them you just make it worse. Leave them alone and they will heal over time (well not heal) every time you penitrate a vein scare tissue forms. Just let it be. It will take awile but thoses knots will fade away. A heat wrap, the kind with a cuff that is microwave safe will help them fade faster, so will apap. IMO apap is the best NSAID (normally I would never recommend apap but in such cases it is effective).

Stay safe

Also you may want to brush up on your technique.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Look man,
Don't fuck with them (or see a doctor). Every time you stick them you just make it worse. Leave them alone and they will heal over time (well not heal) every time you penitrate a vein scare tissue forms. Just let it be. It will take awile but thoses knots will fade away. A heat wrap, the kind with a cuff that is microwave safe will help them fade faster, so will apap. IMO apap is the best NSAID (normally I would never recommend apap but in such cases it is effective).

Stay safe

Also you may want to brush up on your technique.

Yeah...

and um...don't blow dudes for tar. If you can't get powder heroin it's not worth oral copulation.

(For the record: that's a joke, I don't care what you do - I obviously would never degrade myself as such.)

 

[Bell Ringer]

what if the girl/guy is really hot?

Yeah...

and um...don't blow dudes for tar. If you can't get powder heroin it's not worth oral copulation.

(For the record: that's a joke, I don't care what you do - I obviously would never degrade myself as such.)

What about really hot girls/guys (whichever you may prefer). Would you eat them out for A+ #4?

I just realized that I assumed that you are heterosexual, no disrespect intended.

 

[Bell Ringer]

Sorry to say

Okay so I gotta see my bf in the morning and i IVed a bunch of coke tonight. He is really paranoid and always checks my arms

Heres what ive done so far

Put tanning lotion on my entire arms,
Ice the shit outta them
use triple antibiotic ointment
and pure vitamin E extract.

I am gonna use some makeup but im afraid that will make them more obvious bc sometimes it does. What do I do?

Yeah your fucked (pun inteded), not enough time but a shower will help some.

I don't know your man but he sounds a little controlling, maybe you should consider moving on? Just my opinion.

 

[Bell Ringer]

To proove that you do not know what you are doing...

What's the point of drawing in blood and shooting it?

To further damage one's veins and risk an infection which may become systemic. I can list more but I think I made my point.

 

[jazzyhope]

Worried but very dope sick and desperate...shaking hands made me kept missing & messing my veins. When I tried to inject the rig would fill with blood but then the vein collapsed so I couldn't hit it. My veins are shot and cant get new needles for two days. I've kept the dope mixed with blood all day. I gotta have something. If the bloody mix is not clotted & I can find a vein can I still inject it? Sorry this is a such a gross first post. Surely this has happened to someone else here. Too tired to read so help?

 

[Bell Ringer]

PLZ Just Hold Off a Bit

Worried but very dope sick and desperate...shaking hands made me kept missing & messing my veins. When I tried to inject the rig would fill with blood but then the vein collapsed so I couldn't hit it. My veins are shot and cant get new needles for two days. I've kept the dope mixed with blood all day. I gotta have something. If the bloody mix is not clotted & I can find a vein can I still inject it? Sorry this is a such a gross first post. Surely this has happened to someone else here. Too tired to read so help?

I am working on a response with multiple methods you could use.

listed from most risky to "safer".

I hope you realize that this could kill you.
I promise I will get back to you ASAP (today) but am very busy ATM.

 

[Bell Ringer]

Try to refrain but if not than do this

Worried but very dope sick and desperate...shaking hands made me kept missing & messing my veins. When I tried to inject the rig would fill with blood but then the vein collapsed so I couldn't hit it. My veins are shot and cant get new needles for two days. I've kept the dope mixed with blood all day. I gotta have something. If the bloody mix is not clotted & I can find a vein can I still inject it? Sorry this is a such a gross first post. Surely this has happened to someone else here. Too tired to read so help?

I assume you will try regardless of the fact that doing so may kill you.

If you can keep the blood from clotting it will be easier to IV. There are a few ways to handle this. I will start with the simplest but most risky. Always try to consider risk/reward.

Note that I was a dope addict (IV) for many year that is why I posted this even though the format is messed up and only one method is given. I will try to edit it and add more but I wanted to get the info to you ASAP. You already shot or tried to shot it though, right. I was very busy but so I could not help you right away.


Wash you hands

Get all air of of your syringe and sharp. This mean push gently unlil a little of your blood/water/dope suspension trickles out. make sure to get all the air out that you can, even if it means losing a little product. Make sure to push gently. Don't use force

If nothing comes out then boil a cup or two of water for 10 min.
Then let the water cool a little so as not to damage your gear (but make sure it is still hot). Don't worry about your dope as diacetylmorphine is very resistant to heat. The goal hear is to not damage the syringe but have the water as hot as possible.


try to draw it in the syringe. Be carefuful not to further damage the luman (sharp). So either use a lot of water or use a filter as a buffer (both would be best)

If you have more than one syringe/needle you need to make a choice. Go with the sharpest one as to do the least damage, or the one with the smallest gauge so it won't block. If you followed my instructions go with the smallest sharp (largest gauge) it should not block.

If you have more than one sharp than bleach it and wash with water. Do it right, no short cuts.

If you only have one than find something clean and gentley clean sharp with alcohol.

wait until the the solution is not to hot but still a tad warm

very carefully find a good vein, the more you stick yourself the duller the sharp will get so take your time and use a tourniquet.

always remove the tourniquet after you register so as not to further damnage your veins. not just in the case but always
I think that you know what to do from here.

But...

If you are not going to do this right away use 1 part beach 10 parts water to clean a container you can seal. The smaller the container the better

dry it off

put syringe in the container in a manner that will not damage the sharp. Do not attempt to recap it

Put the container in the refrigerator

then follow the steps listed above

 

[Cap'n Jay]

Okay, waited quite a while to fucking shoot, damn dealer wasn't home..so I had to wait like 2 extra hours. >_< withdrawl was a bitch for the time being, but, I ended up shooting up, but when I woke up just now I realized that I had a huge ass bump on my arm, that looked like it bled. FML, it's just all nasty and purpley, ugh, I don't even wanna touch it...it's that fucking nasty. It's been a while since I've used my arms, I normally I for my feet or on my legs somewhere (easier to hide), but it's gross, and I need it to go away, because I have a ballet recital Friday night (yeah, I know lame right? But I like it) and everyone knows that ballerinas wear tight clothes and it would just stick out like a sore thumb. I don't think I missed either, btw or I would have had to shoot up again..arghh. And it hurts to bend my arm a lot!

Help?

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Okay, waited quite a while to fucking shoot, damn dealer wasn't home..so I had to wait like 2 extra hours. >_< withdrawl was a bitch for the time being, but, I ended up shooting up, but when I woke up just now I realized that I had a huge ass bump on my arm, that looked like it bled. FML, it's just all nasty and purpley, ugh, I don't even wanna touch it...it's that fucking nasty. It's been a while since I've used my arms, I normally I for my feet or on my legs somewhere (easier to hide), but it's gross, and I need it to go away, because I have a ballet recital Friday night (yeah, I know lame right? But I like it) and everyone knows that ballerinas wear tight clothes and it would just stick out like a sore thumb. I don't think I missed either, btw or I would have had to shoot up again..arghh. And it hurts to bend my arm a lot!

Help?

If you don't want to touch it - it sounds like you have something problematic.

I haven't ever had a missed hit look "purple", nor "nasty" - not to the point where I wouldn't touch it. It's not good to touch it excessively, but to feel whether it's a missed hit or something worse (to determine how much pain is present) is useful to get an idea before getting an official diagnosis.

Use a heat compress (take a towel, soak it in lukewarm water - as hot as you can stand on your skin without burning yourself - hold this semi-firmly over the injection site. After 15-30 minutes or longer, the heat from the compress should help the body take care of what's lingering in your subcutaneous area). See if that helps.

If it's too painful to use a heat compress (moderate to extreme heat) please seek medical attention.

If it gets worse, grows in size, etc, seek medical attention.

However, if it's getting less inflamed, smaller, is hurting less over time - it sounds like it's healing.

Only you can tell what's wrong with you (that or a doctor), but if you can't tell, get a 2nd opinion from someone who can.

Additionally, this isn't to you Cap'n Jay, but to the person who posted about shooting up their own blood again after drawing it - horrible idea. Bell Ringer basically posted why that's a bad idea (amongst other ones that are less obvious). Thank you, Bell Ringer for contributing to the harm reduction aspect of this thread.

 

[Cap'n Jay]

If you don't want to touch it - it sounds like you have something problematic.

I haven't ever had a missed hit look "purple", nor "nasty" - not to the point where I wouldn't touch it. It's not good to touch it excessively, but to feel whether it's a missed hit or something worse (to determine how much pain is present) is useful to get an idea before getting an official diagnosis.

Use a heat compress (take a towel, soak it in lukewarm water - as hot as you can stand on your skin without burning yourself - hold this semi-firmly over the injection site. After 15-30 minutes or longer, the heat from the compress should help the body take care of what's lingering in your subcutaneous area). See if that helps.

If it's too painful to use a heat compress (moderate to extreme heat) please seek medical attention.

If it gets worse, grows in size, etc, seek medical attention.

However, if it's getting less inflamed, smaller, is hurting less over time - it sounds like it's healing.

Only you can tell what's wrong with you (that or a doctor), but if you can't tell, get a 2nd opinion from someone who can.

Additionally, this isn't to you Cap'n Jay, but to the person who posted about shooting up their own blood again after drawing it - horrible idea. Bell Ringer basically posted why that's a bad idea (amongst other ones that are less obvious). Thank you, Bell Ringer for contributing to the harm reduction aspect of this thread.

Fuck. I'm terrified of doctors. Arghh sweet nibblits.

I did what you said to do, I put a warm towel on it, but it's still nasty looking.

I've never had a miss look like this either. Wait, would that mean that I can cancel out that I did miss? I was shaking like a bitch when I was actually ready to shoot up, so maybe I wiggled the rig around too much? Fuck I have no clue. Damnit.

Thanks,
Cap'n Jay.

 

[Bell Ringer]

I remember the "pop"

The pop sound happens whenever i stick the needle in me ... it doesnt happen every time but id say 75% of the time i IV i hear a pop from the needle going through my skin...

Using 29 1/2 gauge insulin needle... but the sound is from the actually needle penetrating my skin or vein.....

I think im just gonna quit IV i cant even fucking do it i give up and its not worth all the pain and misery of missed shots and sore arms... probably for the better

You have not been IVing for long, right? Long is ~4-6 years or more depending on how many times you shoot up a day, if you rotate veins (not IV sites but do that too). I am mean literally a different vein. This may be confusing because veins have branches, kinda like trees

The sound is the needle, sharp, whatever penetrating your outer vein wall. You can feel it as well. I am pretty damn sure that there is a significant positive correlation between circulation and and the "pop".

The earlier you stop the easier it will be.

but... if you don't stop learn how to IV properly. I am willing to explain in detail if you ask. Also use BDs (a brand) everything else is shoddy, BD is the gold standard.

I can guarantee that you are not use 1/2 inch gauge sharps as they do not exist. 29 gauge I can believe. 1/2 inch refers to the length of the sharp which is affixed to the syringe if you have diabetic rigs. Also the higher the gauge the thinner the sharp the less damage done. but only if you can hit right.

ohh and BTW lumen=bore of the sharp, look at your needle closely and you will see a bevel. Always insert and shoot bevel side up

You sound like you need some education if you choose to continue. It is too easy if you know what you are doing

I am pretty knowledgeable and experienced with this subject so feel free to ask if you decided the risk is worth the reward.

Be careful. Learn then act

 

[Bell Ringer]

Watch out

Fuck. I'm terrified of doctors. Arghh sweet nibblits.
I did what you said to do, I put a warm towel on it, but it's still nasty looking.

I've never had a miss look like this either. Wait, would that mean that I can cancel out that I did miss? I was shaking like a bitch when I was actually ready to shoot up, so maybe I wiggled the rig around too much? Fuck I have no clue. Damnit.

Thanks,
Cap'n Jay.

Heat compress+Apap if you develop a fever or other non localized symptoms go to ER because there is a good chance it has turned systemic and that is Very Serious .