2 scary injection issues - insight appreciatedh

[John_Burrows]

So last week I had two kinda scary injection moments and I'd like to know if anyone can explain them:

- I pulled back to register, blood entered the syringe (it didn't shoot in as it sometimes does, but sort of "drifted in") but I must have moved out of the vein since when I pressed down it was obvious I was missing the shot. I'm good at knowing when this happens, and can tell within 1 or 2 units max, so I stopped and tried to re register. When I did, I couldn't push down the plunger, it's like it was stuck. Well I discovered that the blood which entered the syringe from the first attempt HAD HARDENED. That small glob of blood in just a minute or so turned to something like plastic. WTF?? It's never happened before or since and was pretty scary. I have no idea how or why this happened.

- yesterday same thing - I thought I was in a vein but after just 1 unit it was clear that I wasn't. But this time it was different - the shot burned like hell, and when I pulled out the area swelled up very fast, to the size of the proverbial golf ball. And the skin hardened pretty fast. It was a scary moment, since a missed shot never burned before, and the size of the swelling was always equal to how much liquid I had "missed." Even when I've missed half a shot, the swelling was small and the bump not too bad. But this time, just one unit caused a huge bump. And it burned!

Strangely (but glad), within a few hours the swelling went way down, it didn't hurt and the skin showed no discolration. 24 hours later, there is hardly any trace of it.

Anyone have any ideas?

I'm shooting dilaudid filtered through cotton. I'm very clean and always use fresh needles.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Sounds like you might have burst a vein spilling blood into the surrounding area, hence the golf ball.
Yeah and blood coagulates really fast. Unless your hemophilic.

 

[Korn3x]

sounds like a regular missed shot to me. one time i missed a very tiny amount of benadryl (don't ask..) and i had thought i was in the vein, but when i pushed down a little bit it started to burn. it was definitely only about 1/2 a unit that i missed, but nevertheless that shit burned. soon after i had a very large lump forming on my arm.

to combat the situation, all i did was run my arm under hot water for like 30 mins. the area on my arm would hurt really bad whenever i put pressure on it, or if i rotated my arm a certain way that would put pressure on the site as well. luckily the next day the swelling went down, which i attribute to the amount of time i kept it warm to help dissolve any particles that came about from my missed shot.

in order to prevent blood from clogging up your syringe, i recommend taking aspirin 30 mins before to thin your blood. even advil has some blood-thinning properties as well. staying really hydrated also helps if you know you won't have access to aspirin or advil.

 

[John_Burrows]

Thanks for the insight, guys, glad to know what happened to me isn't out of the ordinary.

I agree, when you miss a shot run warm water over the site for a while. I also gently massage the swelled area while the water is running over it, I find this also noticably helps with the swelling.

 

[Korn3x]

no problem. and also give the aspirin a try. from experience, blood clogging up the syringe is an easy way to mess ur shot up.

 

[digital_phreedom]

I recall reading somewhere that when only a small amount of dark blood enters the syringe, that can indicate that you're either in, or very close to an artery, rather than a vein. And injecting into an artery can be very, very dangerous.

Running a missed shot under hot/warm water for a while, and massaging the surrounding area is a good idea.

And having a rig clog like that is not uncommon at all.

 

[Flexistentialist]

^ If you hit an artery the blood with shoot under under pressure and it's lighter red, sometimes almost frothy in the syringe. What the OP is describing does not sound like s/he is hitting an artery.

 

[John_Burrows]

But that doesn't make sense, when I shoot in my hands the blood generally shoots into the syringe with some pressure and seems to be a lighter red, but I doubt there is an artery in the top of my hands!

It really does seem random though, sometimes the blood out of the same vein is light or dark and sometimes it shoots in, other times just sort of drifts in.

I wonder if the health of the vein has anything to do with it?

Also, how come sometimes the vein is right at the surface and nice and spongy, and sometimes (usually in the morning), it's deep down in the arm (or hands) and a real challenge to find?

 

[Korn3x]

^^
u gotta get that blood moving in order to make your veins more accessible. before i inject (which hasn't been anything in months btw), i always stay very hydrated, take a warm shower beforehand (this helps make ur veins more visible as well), and also get a good arm workout with some dumbells in or something. just do a bunch of curls and you'll start to see your veins pop out more.

the hardest time to find a vein is probably when you just wake up, since your heartrate is so slow and your blood isn't moving too fast through your veins.

 

[John_Burrows]

Ok what I don't get is Ive missed plenty of shots before - so why did THIS one burn and create such a huge swell, when none of the others have done that?

Usually when I miss a shot, it doesn't feel any different and barely swells - in fact I often don't even know I missed until I pull out and see the really diluted drop of blood come out - a sign that it's mixed with solution that didn't find it's way into a vein. The I touch the skin and feel the slight bump and thats how I know it missed. Usually it results in a minor bump, but the area under the skin where I missed hardens up and I have to leave it alone for a week or two before I use it again.

But the burning, super swell of a miss, which happened just 3 days ago, is already back to normal.

What gives?

And sorry, Korn, you ain't getting out of it so easily - why the hell were you injecting benadryl??

 

[Tina Dopemau5]

Perhaps you didn't filter out all the binders and impurities this time and that caused excessive irritation under the skin leading to more swelling? Just a thought.

Also I find push-ups or a cardio workout just prior to injecting helps get the veins popping out. If I'm having trouble finding veins I'll hop on the exercise bike for 15 minutes to get the blood pumping, followed by 10 push-ups, then I'll do my shot.

 

[John_Burrows]

Good idea about the impurities, but I do make sure my shits are "clear." Naturally a few particles probably find their way in, but I doubt anything significant.

The workout idea is a good one, I just don't always have time for that prior to a shot.

This missing thing is getting old. I use to rarely miss now its happening more often. Is something going on beneath the surface that might account for this?

Are the veins shrinking? I heard this can happen...

 

[Korn3x]

Ok what I don't get is Ive missed plenty of shots before - so why did THIS one burn and create such a huge swell, when none of the others have done that?

Usually when I miss a shot, it doesn't feel any different and barely swells - in fact I often don't even know I missed until I pull out and see the really diluted drop of blood come out - a sign that it's mixed with solution that didn't find it's way into a vein. The I touch the skin and feel the slight bump and thats how I know it missed. Usually it results in a minor bump, but the area under the skin where I missed hardens up and I have to leave it alone for a week or two before I use it again.

But the burning, super swell of a miss, which happened just 3 days ago, is already back to normal.

What gives?

And sorry, Korn, you ain't getting out of it so easily - why the hell were you injecting benadryl??

lmao i'm laughing so hard right now lol.

i read online that it produces a rush (which it does, a nice sedating rush, but dont expect it to feel like a shot of D's lol). it's actually pretty decent if you have nothing to do or nothing left to shoot, or wanna get some diphenhydramine in quick before you take your opiates lol.