What are some good veins to hit besides your arms?

[Captain.Heroin]

I have great veins, I can hit mine on the first try w/o a tourniquet. Plus, it's almost impossible for me to miss.

There are 6 different veins I typically cycle with. On a given day I typically only use 3 to 4 of the sites, letting 2 or 3 heal.

 

[Shambles]

I have great veins, I can hit mine on the first try w/o a tourniquet.

Why not just rub that in a lil more for good measure?

On the subject of veins to avoid, I've done the one in the temple before - deeply unpleasant and undoubtedly very dangerous. I've also shot up a friend in both the neck and penis. Oh yeah. Shooting smack is that kool, kiddies

As far as painful veins go, the palms and soles of the feet are about as bad as it gets, in my experience. I strongly advise nobody to attempt either cos they really fuckin' hurt and I suspect you could lose the use of your appendages by trying it too

Between the fingers is a bit of a classic spot for the hard of digging. Deeply unsafe - fingers are kinda handy so good to keep them functioning ideally - but I must admit to using them often. Also on the inside and outside of the knuckles.

To be honest, I'd struggle to think of any truly good spots other than the classic ones on the arms. Most other places are dangerous, painful, a lot of hard work, or usually some combo of the above

 

[phoenix_risin]

I am sorry some of you all can't see your veins...I can still see all of mine and am kinda scared about that, is it from merely using a few times a day for a while? Or do you have to shoot something like coke 20x a day or more? I'm not sure what kind of frequency/conditions are required for a person to lose sight of their veins as such.

And, as for the maps, there is a vein on the side of my arm that is not on the map - I think I see the 2 that are listed there and I hit those as well, but the 3rd one is on the side, it's somewhat prominent now that I haven't used it for a while.

Anyone have better more in depth charts?



Mine tends to pop out naturally but I don't use it. I've considered using it, but I don't think I want to.

Well where in heck was you about 20 years ago to tell me that.
Darn and here i thought that coke was a good thing. :D

I have not had a needle near any part of my body well except the doctors(real ones) and labs etc. and believe me i still can not se mine. They try to find them with no luck.


Shambles I remember back in the day a friend doing the vein down the center of the forehead. YIKES that had to hurt i did the ones in the neck when I had someone Now days i think back and think WTH was i thinking 8)

Another painful spot those ones right on the ball of your hand and on the back of your wrist. Yowza.
Never messed with my fingers but know plenty who did and to this day they have swollen fingers Well those still alive to tell the tales.

 

[Eight0Eight]

I've also *never* been able to hit without using a tourniquet - they weren't even visible without one.

I made the mistake of not rotating properly, and just bashing the shit out of one or two spots until the vein collapsed. Hence the shitty situation I was in for the last 2/3 years - and having to hit my femoral. I just hope the scars aren't permenant.

 

[smokeymcpot42088]

I really only use the crook of my arm, than maybe one or two more shots further up along the same vein. Than switch to the other arm and repeat.

Than I wait 23 days for them to heal and have another 6 shot weekend. The other 23 days are suboxone, 1 mg a day.

That paired with fresh sets and proper technique have left my veins looking and functioning completely virginal after a couple years of IV use.

I have never seen anyone able to sustain multi shot a day habits without blowing veins rather quickly, your just not meant to have injections everyday.

 

[Binge Artist]

It's largely a matter of "leanness"

If your body fat % is in the ~10-12 range, you can usually get a few leg veins to pop by flexing.

If you're in the 8-10 range, you can even pop ab veins.

But there's a good reason to go for the arms. Unless you're particularly obese ( +25% ), you can usually get an arm vein to pop by repeated flexing & then tying off.

 

[Carsick]

veins that pump blood between your brain and your heart. I would highly not recommend it.

Veins don't pump blood, arteries do.

 

[Shambles]

^ No they don't - hearts pump blood, Mr Sicky

Another painful spot those ones right on the ball of your hand and on the back of your wrist. Yowza.

Yowsers indeed, Phoenix. I used the veins in the ball of the hand a few times too and they hurt like a bitch. The ones slightly further down on the inside of the wrist I have also used successfully many times but the risk of shooting there must be pretty big and there are so many tendons, arteries and other delicate structures around there that you really don't want to fuck about with the inner wrist veins. I don't find the back of the wrist too sore myself and still use it sometimes as it's one I never used to use much in my time of heavy IV use so is still functioning.

There's one that runs along the outside of the hand/wrist/arm that's easy to hit and pretty fat. Mine hurt like hell if I put a needle anywhere near them these days but they lasted for a long time before that.

I think a lot of the damage I did to my veins is probably down to overuse of citric acid and vitamin C powder for breaking down crack and European brown heroin. That stuff plays havoc with your veins - lesson of the story is to use the absolute bare minimum amount of acid to break down your gear cos you don't feel it at first but that damage builds up over the years to the point that even if you can find a vein the pain of shooting up can be too overwhelming to make much use of it

 

[xxl]

If you're going to shoot a lot within a session and over, say the next few weeks, a good thing is to have a plan. Within a session, you have to shoot downstreams from previous shots. Therefore you need to start on extremities, working your way up the limb towards the trunk (fingers > hands > lower arm > upper arm).

People say don't use hand veins but if you need a lot of sites to rotate, there's nothing for it but to exploit all possible sites. Plus in the beginning of your sessions you will be more sober, so more able to register properly in tiny veins. When shooting into the top of your hand, bend your hand down to 90° to stretch the skin: this will make the veins look smaller, which you don't want, but taunt skin will work marvels to minimize dammage and puncture hole size. Before shooting, let your hand fill with blood by letting it hang down to near-ground level in gorilla fashion. Do not tie up if your veins are visible.

Feet are trickier than hands if you ask me. That may be because they're somewhat out of reach unless your body is very flexible. I remember shooting up into a rather chunky vein on my ankle and the shot misfired although strictly speaking I hadn't missed, it just seemed to pool there. Also, lots of blobs around the feet/ankles that feel like veins, look like veins but are something else.

To exploit the hidden face of the upper arms it may be useful to practice shooting before a mirror.

Shambles writes "I think a lot of the damage I did to my veins is probably down to overuse of citric acid and vitamin C powder for breaking down crack and European brown heroin." Thank you for pointing that out! The worst dammage I ever inflicted to my veins was in this way. I was naive enough to thing that since vitamin C was a natural food ingredient, it couldn't do any dammage, and I used plenty. The result was dammage all along the veins, not just at shooting spots. Dammage on an incomparable scale, whole veins feeling leathery and hard for months. I now rate this hasard as bad enough to recommend shooting C as blow rather than as acidified crack.

 

[Shambles]

Yup. Citric/Vit C absolutely murders veins when used in excess. I really wish that information was given out with the free sachets of citric/Vit C they give you at the needle exchanges in the UK. The amount of the stuff they put in those sachets is ridiculous and most folks here just assume you should put the lot in. There's probably enough in each sachet for 20+ shots

Vit C is far easier on the veins than citric but still bad enough. Absolute minimum needed to break down the crack/smack is all you want. With citric that's literally a couple of grains for an average 200mg bag/rock. A tiny pinch of Vit C powder does the same job but seems far less harsh. Acid and veins = not such a good combo

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I have never seen anyone able to sustain multi shot a day habits without blowing veins rather quickly, your just not meant to have injections everyday.

I guess I'm just talented and blessed in that way? %)

What blows veins rather quickly IMO is reusing dull needles, not cycling sites, and shooting something corrosive (methadose for example).

It's very possible to shoot 4x a day and still have totally functioning veins. You just have to be very responsible about it I guess.

It's largely a matter of "leanness"

If your body fat % is in the ~10-12 range, you can usually get a few leg veins to pop by flexing.

If you're in the 8-10 range, you can even pop ab veins.

But there's a good reason to go for the arms. Unless you're particularly obese ( +25% ), you can usually get an arm vein to pop by repeated flexing & then tying off.

LOL ab veins? I even do 200 crunches pretty regularly...never seen my ab veins...maybe I'm not looking close enough & digging with a needle trying to hit them.

I don't know my body fat percentage, but I'd assume it's < 10% - I have lost a lot of weight over the last year (I wasn't overweight at all - just toning up basically).

I have noticed before that I have chest veins that pop through pretty easily, especially after I do some push ups or chin ups...but I don't think I'd ever want to use them.

However, I have seen people hit leg veins really easily who had > 12% body fat (probably closer to 15-18% ) - I was always amazed at that.

 

[Shambles]

Hehe. It's more the mega-multi-shot a day habit that you get from shooting coke or a heavy heroin habit that does it, CH. 4x a day is feasible if you use all the correct procedures and precautions. The chances of maintaining those same correct procedures and precautions if you're shooting up 10, 20, 30+ times a day (very easy if you shoot a lotta coke ) are pretty remote and nobody's veins are gonna stand for it. Not oven yours, Mr Superveinman

Vein envy? Moi? Surely some mistake :D

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Hehe. It's more the mega-multi-shot a day habit that you get from shooting coke or a heavy heroin habit that does it, CH. 4x a day is feasible if you use all the correct procedures and precautions. The chances of maintaining those same correct procedures and precautions if you're shooting up 10, 20, 30+ times a day (very easy if you shoot a lotta coke ) are pretty remote and nobody's veins are gonna stand for it. Not oven yours, Mr Superveinman

That is true, even 10 shots a day is really pushing it.

I used to shoot more than I do now. Plus, I initially was reusing needles X) and not cycling sites properly. Since then I have switched to doing so - there's a major difference. I believe there's only one vein of mine I may have to lay off of more often than not now, but it's seemingly recovered and I can still hit it at least once a day or so. It doesn't bother me at all now I know how to keep everything in good working order.

4 times a day though isn't too much of a struggle, I can still get away with 6 times some days (when a little K is in order %)). What I find to be useful is to stick to 6 main sites - one I save as backup (the one I used to overuse but is now back to normal), another rolls kind of a bit and is an alternate backup, the other four I regularly use. There's a range I normally use, and then every now and then I'll work above or below it - depending on how used the normal range is. If that makes sense at all. The normal range is a good half inch, and I can still work above or below for another inch on the other 3, whereas the fourth has a split (so I can only work above it; working below would risk hitting a valve, which from what I hear, cannot repair if you F them up).

So basically on any given day/shot, I have one or two areas recovering, one or two areas recovered for use, two back up areas, and then areas above and below the normal ones (minus below the 4th one which is a valve) for back up.

This way, along with using only brand new 31G's and using triple antibiotic, have really gone a long way for me. There are still veins on the top of my arm and parts of the veins I do use that I haven't even begun to touch at all - merely because I haven't needed to.

Vein envy? Moi? Surely some mistake :D

No need to be envious - you can borrow mine. I have a very portable cardiovascular system.

 

[Binge Artist]

LOL ab veins? I even do 200 crunches pretty regularly...never seen my ab veins...maybe I'm not looking close enough & digging with a needle trying to hit them.

I don't know my body fat percentage, but I'd assume it's < 10% - I have lost a lot of weight over the last year (I wasn't overweight at all - just toning up basically).

I have noticed before that I have chest veins that pop through pretty easily, especially after I do some push ups or chin ups...but I don't think I'd ever want to use them.

However, I have seen people hit leg veins really easily who had > 12% body fat (probably closer to 15-18% ) - I was always amazed at that. [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

Lol, well, these are just "ball park" numbers. But generally, if your body fat is around 8%, you get vascularity around the obliques/pelvis. But, 8% is pretty fucking lean--almost unhealthy. As a general rule, the only way I could see someone @ 15% hitting leg veins easily would be if they had really thin skin (like old people), had VERY "andro" fat distribution (ie, all fat in the belly, none in arms or legs), or were just VERY adept at shooting up (as we would expect the leg veins to be well under the skin at +15% ).

 

[Binge Artist]

I have noticed before that I have chest veins that pop through pretty easily, especially after I do some push ups or chin ups...but I don't think I'd ever want to use them.

Me too, especially where the chest connects to the shoulders. Tempting, but...no. Don't got the balls to fuck with that shit.

 

[smokeymcpot42088]

captain heroin - you are talented and blessed in that way.

your blessed with the intelligence to not resuse rigs, to cycle, to use proper technique...and blessed with good veins I would guess.

your talented enough to not miss or blow your veins in the many many ways you can.

Your an exception if you have been shooting a few times a day for more than a year or two. Or perhaps around here people are just horrible needle users so my experience is jaded. But for some reason I think its almost across the board.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

captain heroin - you are talented and blessed in that way.

your blessed with the intelligence to not resuse rigs, to cycle, to use proper technique...and blessed with good veins I would guess.

your talented enough to not miss or blow your veins in the many many ways you can.

Your an exception if you have been shooting a few times a day for more than a year or two. Or perhaps around here people are just horrible needle users so my experience is jaded. But for some reason I think its almost across the board.

Thank you, I appreciate the compliment.

I've been IVing for around a year, but probably only around 9 months for "at least 4x a day". However, I am in the same condition I was back then, so I do think I will be OK for some time to come.

One last piece of advice for people who shoot daily or even every now and then: when you get a box (100 ct) or just a pack (10 ct) - before you use a needle, make sure it's not already lipped. I have found 4 thus far (in the last 200 I have used) that were bent more than 15°, or the tip was lipped and would be extremely painful to try to use.

These came in sealed packs too so I know no one fucked with it (also evidenced by the cap being sealed) - so what I like to do is send them back to the manufacturer to get a free 100ct box. Even if it's just 1 messed up one, they will give you a coupon for a free 100ct box! So I set them aside, I don't even use them for anything (so that theyre still "brand new") and then send them back.

I really like such a policy because it allows you to get the most out of your needles. Plus, avoiding using the ones which aren't "top quality" helps keep your skin looking better (some of the nastier track marks come from used needles or ones that aren't good quality) - plus you get a whole bunch of free ones for alerting the company of the manufacturing error.

Most people wouldn't know they could do such a thing (I guess some companies may have different policies, but BD does not mind helping out a customer so they stick with their products), so I thought I'd mention this here.

Lol, well, these are just "ball park" numbers. But generally, if your body fat is around 8%, you get vascularity around the obliques/pelvis. But, 8% is pretty fucking lean--almost unhealthy. As a general rule, the only way I could see someone @ 15% hitting leg veins easily would be if they had really thin skin (like old people), had VERY "andro" fat distribution (ie, all fat in the belly, none in arms or legs), or were just VERY adept at shooting up (as we would expect the leg veins to be well under the skin at +15% ).

I guess it had to do w/ the "very adept at shooting up" part.

I'm kind of amazed too to be honest, because I look at my leg veins and I'm pretty sure they'd be fairly difficult to hit. They just seem so, so, so thin.

 

[xxl]

The chances of maintaining those same correct procedures and precautions if you're shooting up 10, 20, 30+ times a day (very easy if you shoot a lotta coke ) are pretty remote and nobody's veins are gonna stand for it.

Indeed. You start with a few clean shots on fresh-looking veins. The second shot is already more difficult that the first because you've got the shakes. Soon you start messing up little by little. By the 5th shot your veins have become sluggish and you end up missing one half, then two thirds of the time. Eventually you start injecting in between previous injecting sites. Accumulated dammage further obscures vein visibility. By this time all your time between shots is spent with the syringe in hand poking and pricking and trying to find "the last" spot for "the last" shot.

At this game, even once a week is too much for vein conservation.

Regarding needle integrity, note that needle tips can easily become blunted when they touch the bottom of the solution container/spoon.

 

[HKSpowered]

femoral is a great choice to use for a month or so to give your arms time to recover, a friend of mine read the "guide to femoral injecting" on here and said it really helped him to understand how to properly use it. he tells me that he rotates between both legs, and has been using the femoral option for almost 3 months now in order to give his arms a much needed break since this kids arms were like a warzone lol....

he started using it after not being able to hit anything in his arms and like 3 people and myself all noticed his arms at a diner. after 3 months i cant even tell this kid does drugs anymore.

if you do decide to go the femoral route PM captin H or any mod or use the search function to find the "guide to femoral injecting" to help you do it the RIGHT way, and if using the femoral do yourself a favor and always use a clean works and never just jab around..... its a very very important vein so as long as you respect it you will be alright, but if you treat it like your arms and re-use pins or jab around if you cant find the vein you can risk loosing a limb in the longrun.

 

[alkap555]

careful near cephalic vein..radial artery

In that diagram, the cephalic vein runs dangerously close to the radial artery--where you can feel a strong pulse on the thumb side of your inner wrist. Be CAREFUL in that region b/c you could easily poke the artery which is a bad bad thing.

Veins on the back of the hand are easily accessible. Tie the tourniquet somewhere on your forearm, as long as it is proximal to the shot location. Feet work also, like back of hands.

Use small gauge needles and go slowly and be careful b/c these veins are small and delicate, and cannot take the abuse of larger veins.

If you are really hardcore just place a central venous catheter in subclavian vein and leave it there with a port. That way you can just pop it open and shoot... porblem solved no more hose hunting.