Harm Reduction Injection Complications FAQ and Mega Thread

[Jabberwocky]

mine just appears for about thirty minutes after i hit a small stretch of vein in my left arm, it doesnt hurt at all kinda itches a little but not significantly

that has me thinking hisamine reaction, maybe, im not 100% sure obviously. its painless and tends to disappear after youre high?

 

[chicagolove]

hey leftwing, looks like you posted just a minute ago, so maybe you could help me out with this problem... shot in my hand less than an hour ago. got a good vein, registered blood, had the tourniquet in my mouth, and as i was in the middle of pulling the slipnot loose, i noticed the needle slip back, im pretty sure out of the vein, because the area around the injection point under the skin started to fill with blood. this has happenned a couple times where after i register blood, i cant seem to get the tourney off quick enough and the needle slips around. maybe i have it too tight? anyways i pushed it back in a little and went for it. pulled out, and started massaging the blood bubble with a cloth pad. i dont think i missed the shot, but maybe i partially did, bc my hand went a little numb surrounding the injection point (im pretty sure the dope im getting is cut with coke). could it have been partial miss because i had to go back in the vein? should i just have chosen another site once it started to fill with blood? well after massaging, the blood bubble was gone, but the area became a bit swollen, so i iced it for 15 minutes and took a couple ibuprofen, and then ran it under hot water for ten minutes. did i go about taking care of that right? im kinda worried about having a bad bruise on my hand, thats why i iced first. its not horribly swollen or anything, just a little. im starting to think maybe i should just use the tourniquest to get the veins to pop and then before i even go to stick it and register maybe take it off? i cant get it down taking it off before without the needle slipping around.
what do you think about the matter? should i ice or heat or one then the other tomorrow? thanks

 

[Jabberwocky]

you did everything right i would just keep up the hot compress over the next day. the bruising should be minimal with the care youve attended to it. it is likely that youve missed a partial shot if youve slipped out and just put it back in at a guess and kept on injecting. sometimes you dont feel it missing but you notice the area rising like you descripted. you could have taken it out and reregistered in another area but you dont really need to.

i never wear a tourniquet myself because i have good veins and never find a need to unless its extremely cold and im in a rush and cant do any arm pumps or access a hot water tap to help get them up. if i were you i would still use the tourniquet if you need to but try tying it a little more loose, practice with it before you actually go the shot. maybe even have a friend on hand who can help you out by tying and untying for you.

too tight off a tourniquet can make it impossible for the shot to make it up your arm as well and can blow out veins and bust them. maybe you had it too tight and it wasnt able to travel up the vein toward your heart. ive accidentally had one tied too tight one time and this happened.

 

[Eight0Eight]

dude, please get some help. stop using needles temporarily at lease. try plugging your doses. you really need to consider ORT

thats really sad to hear that, especially the stuff coming form the hospital. i really hope you find what you need.

I'm on Subutex.

 

[GreenMachine]

that has me thinking hisamine reaction, maybe, im not 100% sure obviously. its painless and tends to disappear after youre high?

yeah thats basically how it goes, and my family has a history of strange allergies so i wouldn't be suprised, its usually gone half an hour after getting high.

 

[Cheech73]

hmm, well nobody responded to my nervous questions from last night, maybe thats because i was worrying too much about nothing. i was just trying to be as responsible as possible and fucked up on cleaning my arm, so i got really worried. but i called a local needle exchange today, basically just a grassroots one where its a guys cell phone you can call anytime. we talked for a good half hour about a lot of things concerning responsible iving and tips and tricks. he said i shouldnt be too worried about my dirty shot, since everything else was sterile, and that its reusing needles and getting in contact with others blood, or just the chronicity of dirty shots/ irresponsible prep that usually causes infection or disease. what a great guy. huge asset to the city of chicago. he was willing to talk for as long as i needed (at five oclock on a saturday) and give me all the advice he could about responsible use. his hours for exchange are by appointment, just call him up and he'll meet you and give you whatever you need, cottons, tins, needles, tourniquets, alcohol swabs, and naloxone. there are good people in this world. as far as the numbness, he said that it could be that the dope was cut with coke, that its common practice in chicago and is the number one cause of overdose here.

Yeah man, that is interesting that the guy hands out naloxone as well as the other goods... I've had the same problem too (the rash) occassionally. I think it occurs sometimes from "the cut", like you said...

 

[Eight0Eight]

hmm, well nobody responded to my nervous questions from last night, maybe thats because i was worrying too much about nothing. i was just trying to be as responsible as possible and fucked up on cleaning my arm, so i got really worried. but i called a local needle exchange today, basically just a grassroots one where its a guys cell phone you can call anytime. we talked for a good half hour about a lot of things concerning responsible iving and tips and tricks. he said i shouldnt be too worried about my dirty shot, since everything else was sterile, and that its reusing needles and getting in contact with others blood, or just the chronicity of dirty shots/ irresponsible prep that usually causes infection or disease. what a great guy. huge asset to the city of chicago. he was willing to talk for as long as i needed (at five oclock on a saturday) and give me all the advice he could about responsible use. his hours for exchange are by appointment, just call him up and he'll meet you and give you whatever you need, cottons, tins, needles, tourniquets, alcohol swabs, and naloxone. there are good people in this world. as far as the numbness, he said that it could be that the dope was cut with coke, that its common practice in chicago and is the number one cause of overdose here.

Jesus.

What sort of area does this one guy cover?!

You don't have a walk in centre at ALL?

If not, then isn't it best you DON'T stay on the phone to him for 1/2 hour? - he must be getting constantly bombarded with calls from sick desperate junkies :D

Good that you have access to naloxone - every exchange/clinic should be handing it out imo..

 

[OnToNeverland]

^is there any pain at all? and are you sure its puss?

There is only a small amount of tenderness around the effected area and I'm pretty sure it was puss. I slept with a hot compress on it last night along with more antibiotic creme and it seems to be looking much better this morning. The area is still a little red, but it doesn't seem to be growing in size and the puss pocket is no longer visible. I think I was just over reacting a little and hopefully it's nothing serious. Thanks for the response!

 

[Princess_Poppy]

hey leftwing, looks like you posted just a minute ago, so maybe you could help me out with this problem... shot in my hand less than an hour ago. got a good vein, registered blood, had the tourniquet in my mouth, and as i was in the middle of pulling the slipnot loose, i noticed the needle slip back, im pretty sure out of the vein, because the area around the injection point under the skin started to fill with blood. this has happenned a couple times where after i register blood, i cant seem to get the tourney off quick enough and the needle slips around. maybe i have it too tight? anyways i pushed it back in a little and went for it. pulled out, and started massaging the blood bubble with a cloth pad. i dont think i missed the shot, but maybe i partially did, bc my hand went a little numb surrounding the injection point (im pretty sure the dope im getting is cut with coke). could it have been partial miss because i had to go back in the vein? should i just have chosen another site once it started to fill with blood? well after massaging, the blood bubble was gone, but the area became a bit swollen, so i iced it for 15 minutes and took a couple ibuprofen, and then ran it under hot water for ten minutes. did i go about taking care of that right? im kinda worried about having a bad bruise on my hand, thats why i iced first. its not horribly swollen or anything, just a little. im starting to think maybe i should just use the tourniquest to get the veins to pop and then before i even go to stick it and register maybe take it off? i cant get it down taking it off before without the needle slipping around.
what do you think about the matter? should i ice or heat or one then the other tomorrow? thanks

i have had this tourniquet problem before- what you should do is be very careful that you do not pull your skin to the point that it move when you release it. this will prevent you slipping out when you release it. i hope that makes sense, i didn't know how to word it. not pulling the tourniquet too tight will help too. tighten it as little as possible, this will prevent movement. finally don't release it too quickly. i try and move my face closer to my arm and let go very slowly.

about the heat/ice- i have never heard of ice helping. i have always used heat if i had problems and it works wonders. heat get the blood moving away from the site which is what you want. heat helps prevent bruising in this way also.

 

[tinylightsbelow]

For all the people missing shots and applying heat to their arms...

You definitely don't want to run the wound under hot water when it's still open. Tap water is not the most sterile thing around, and you could be making it worse. Instead, what I do is put a sock or a pair of boxers in a ziploc bag, then fill it with hot water. I then put a band-aid over the wound and apply the bag.

 

[runduderun]

IM issues

Hi there!

Is it normal to have a little skin color change, and a little pain a day after IM a substance? Like I've got a punch or something? Im talking about a minimum thing here.

A couple days ago i IM ketamine for the first time. I never injected anything before. I injected ketamine straight out of the bottle, but eighter the needle or my shoulder were clean (i forgot to clean it up with alcohol). the thing is it was my first time, i was alone, and a little waisted. Im not even sure if it was IM or Intracutaneous (because i inserted the needle only a few millimeters, the minimum needed to inject the substance).

The next day i was feeling like my shoulder got beaten or something (minimum pain, only when i pressed it hard). And by night i got a very discreet hematoma.

Im "alert" to any change and ready to call a doctor if needed. I just want to know if im overreacting here.

I would post a picture of it, but im doubt it's a visible thing on a picture (what may get you the idea of how minimum this thing is).

Thanks!!!

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Hi there!

Is it normal to have a little skin color change, and a little pain a day after IM a substance? Like I've got a punch or something? Im talking about a minimum thing here.

A couple days ago i IM ketamine for the first time. I never injected anything before. I injected ketamine straight out of the bottle, but eighter the needle or my shoulder were clean (i forgot to clean it up with alcohol). the thing is it was my first time, i was alone, and a little waisted. Im not even sure if it was IM or Intracutaneous (because i inserted the needle only a few millimeters, the minimum needed to inject the substance).

The next day i was feeling like my shoulder got beaten or something (minimum pain, only when i pressed it hard). And by night i got a very discreet hematoma.

Im "alert" to any change and ready to call a doctor if needed. I just want to know if im overreacting here.

I would post a picture of it, but im doubt it's a visible thing on a picture (what may get you the idea of how minimum this thing is).

Thanks!!!

You need to use an alcohol pad before injecting - it is ESSENTIAL when you are injecting anywhere, but ESPECIALLY so when IMing or skin popping.

It sounds like you had a subcutaneous injection and not an intramuscular one.

You should feel the needle "pop" through the muscle before IMing. Plus, you should pull back and check to see only air comes back & disappears before plunging.

Finally, don't shoot when drunk - only bad things typically happen that way.

 

[loveanda45]

You can bruise easily if you've used a dull needle (and/or injected yourself with a lot of force), but the discoloration should go away within a few days. You may have hit a small vein, which would be responsible for the hematoma. That should also clear up within a couple days.

Avoiding shooting while you are drunk/super fucked up can prevent a myriad of problems... I would read up on the basics of IM injection before venturing any further down this path. At the very least, go buy a generous supply of alcohol pads and fresh 29g 1cc 1/2" needles! They are cheap, they are your friend, and you will thank yourself for it later.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I personally find 31G and 30G needles to work perfectly for IMing, and I prefer 5/16 tips (1/2" is a huge needle and I don't even need that much when IMing - though for some people 5/16 might not be enough, especially for those with limited muscle mass and/or overweight)

 

[runduderun]

Thank you very much !!

I feel more relief now

 

[Jimston]

May have finally had a dirty hit.

So I've been IV'ing various opiates for some years now, and i've yet to experience a dirty hit, until a few days ago.

The first thing i noticed, was that my vision went a bit blurred, and i felt cross eyed. I just felt wierd as if i had definitively added something to my bloodstream that just wasn't meant to be there.

I generally felt sick throughout the rest of the day, as if i had quickly caught some foreign sickness that i wasn't familiar with. I'm always very clean and careful throughout my IV use, always have been.

But i made a mistake this time around. I accidentally switched one cotton swab for another, by mistake might i add. I had a clean cotton all ready to go as usual, as sterile as i could possible make it, then i somehow grab an old Qui-tip from my dresser in place of the brand new one.

Anyways, when i decided to compare cotton's, i noticed the one that i grabbed had came from a pile of dirty qu-tips that were not meant for IV use. They were all covered with a film of dust and dirt hardly noticeable to the eyes.

Moral of the story, double check you're cotton, make sure you didn't grab an old one collecting dust. I really felt like crap, though it would've been worse.

Or maybe it was just COTTON FEVER? Who knows.

 

[brutus]

Your best bet is going to the doctor.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

-> IV Complications Mega Thread

Plus, go to an exchange so you can get little baggies filled full of clean, sterile cottons. That way when you use them you can just throw them away.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I managed to hit my Femoral artery twice last week - one after the fucking other !!

After the swelling in my legs went down, I noticed the injection sites both looked angry and puffy, so off to A&E I went.

Suprisingly, they didn't seem to think it was an issue at all - and where slightly bemused as to why I was even there wasting their time.

They said if there is a next time, to wait a couple more days until coming in and even then try and see my G.P first instead! They just gave me a couple ibuprofen then sent me home.

OMG

808 don't listen to those retards. Go into the A&E (we call it ER here) whenever you hit an artery!

Waiting "a couple of days" is how you get into the Case Studies thread.

I'm glad you're OK though man. I'm sorry to hear that you have to use the femoral vein though.

can someone tell me if this looks normal? i get this weird bubbled up rash kinda thing on my inner arm whenever hitting in a specific spot in my left cephalic vein...i definitely havent missed any shots but it makes me slightly concerned. if this is against the rules at all feel free to take it down.

NSFW:

Yeah...it looks like you missed your shot. If you didn't miss it...then...wow what were you injecting? Is it painful/hard? It's pretty large.

and naloxone.

For real?

Damn. Our exchange doesn't give out naloxone. Consider yourself lucky.

you really need to consider ORT

Do you read the Suboxone Mega Thread much?

He's on ORT already.

As this was my first time shooting sub and knowing the dangers of injecting pills, I was skeptical anyway.

Without a low/zero opiate tolerance, IV buprenorphine will not be that great of an experience. How much did you use by the way?

=+=+=+=+=+=+=

As to whoever mentioned ice - NO! You want to use a heat compress. Lukewarm water on a towel will do. The site will heal quicker in a wet environment over a dry one as well. Triple antibiotic ointment is nice for this very reason.

 

[Jimston]

-> IV Complications Mega Thread

Plus, go to an exchange so you can get little baggies filled full of clean, sterile cottons. That way when you use them you can just throw them away.

Probably a good idea, though i'm not really a full time IV user. I have access to clean Rigs 24/7, which is nice, but as far as Wheel filters, i have none.

I'd prefer to pop my pills any day of the week, but every once in a while i go on a Dilaudid Binge, w/ H every once in a blue moon as well.

Really, it depends on availability, though. The dirty hit i had the other day has deterred me from IV use for now. Usually if something significant happens, like a dirty hit, it will deter me for a while, if not hopefully forever.

Thanks though, i may check to see if i have an exchange around here.