SunflowerCake
Greenlighter
Alright, so before anyone asks, YES I have already been to the ER. This happened earlier today.
I've injected into an artery on accident once before, a couple years ago, and it was a normal situation (swollen hand, went away in 24 hours, pretty average). But this time, something insane happened and I've been searching google for answers with no luck, and even the ER docs couldn't tell me why this particular reaction occurred.
But basically, earlier today I was in the car with my boyfriend and we were each about to do a shot of dope. I only mixed prepped one cap, which is a very small amount. It's about one point. And I'm always preaching about how to tell the difference between an artery and a vein-- the difference in color, pressure, etc, so I'm usually pretty sure of myself.
I had the rig in, I pulled the plunger back, and the blood was NOT bright red or pink. It wasn't foamy or frothy. And it wasn't filling up the rig super fast, so I assumed I was in a vein. I push the plunger down, and in about three seconds I'm holding my head in pain because it felt like my head and face were tingly and on fire. Bad sign. I feel it spread through my body, and both hands swell up, but it's my hand on the OTHER arm (as in, not the hand of the arm I had just shot into) that is swelling up majorly fast, and it's going numb-- the other hand on the same arm is only mildly swelling and numb. By this point, I know for a fact I fucked up. Average experience thus far, right? But then the numbness happens in my face. My lips in particular are 100% numb. Kinda strange, even for an accidental arterial shot...
(And this next part is the "crazy insane" part I've been building up to
After about 60 seconds, I look in the mirror, and my face is beginning to form fucking wrinkles right before my very eyes.
I'm only 23, I have no wrinkles on my face. Yet I'm staring in the mirror, and I'm getting all these wrinkles and creases forming at a fast rate all over my face, ESPECIALLY around my eyes. To quote my boyfriend, "it was as if I had aged 20 years in a matter of 30 seconds." At this point, I realize this isn't the average arterial accident, and we speed off to a local hospital down the street.
As I continue to look in the mirror, my skin is abnormally dry. My pores are huge and dry. And with the wrinkles, it's almost as if my face was shriveling up on my skull. The parts of my skin that aren't wrinkled are now very bumpy, and almost like a gray color. The slight dark circles that I naturally have under my eyes now turning a deep, dark purple. Fucking creepy.
Oddly enough, by the time I get into the ER parking lot, my face is back to normal. No wrinkles, no bumps, no discoloration, no dryness. But my hand is still swollen, and my lips are still numb, so I still check into the ER. They were nice to me, but all they really did was listen to my lungs as I did a few deep breaths, and then hook me up to a monitor. They kept me for about 1.5 hours hooked up to a machine that took my vital signs every 30 minutes, so they could see if there was anything out of the ordinary. They didn't see anything, so they sent me home. The only explanation they gave me was "Yep, you probably shot into an artery. I have no idea why your face suddenly aged 20 years for about 5 minutes, though. That's weird."
So my question is... has this happened to anyone else? Or does anyone know why these strange out-of-the-ordinary reactions occurred? Any educated guesses are also appreciated. The only thing I can think is that the wrinkles may have occurred as a result of the surround capillaries around my eyes that were deprived of oxygen and/or blood. But really, I have no clue. So... what the fuck?
Thanks in advance for any replies. Hope this post isn't too long-- I know I'm kinda wordy.
I've injected into an artery on accident once before, a couple years ago, and it was a normal situation (swollen hand, went away in 24 hours, pretty average). But this time, something insane happened and I've been searching google for answers with no luck, and even the ER docs couldn't tell me why this particular reaction occurred.
But basically, earlier today I was in the car with my boyfriend and we were each about to do a shot of dope. I only mixed prepped one cap, which is a very small amount. It's about one point. And I'm always preaching about how to tell the difference between an artery and a vein-- the difference in color, pressure, etc, so I'm usually pretty sure of myself.
I had the rig in, I pulled the plunger back, and the blood was NOT bright red or pink. It wasn't foamy or frothy. And it wasn't filling up the rig super fast, so I assumed I was in a vein. I push the plunger down, and in about three seconds I'm holding my head in pain because it felt like my head and face were tingly and on fire. Bad sign. I feel it spread through my body, and both hands swell up, but it's my hand on the OTHER arm (as in, not the hand of the arm I had just shot into) that is swelling up majorly fast, and it's going numb-- the other hand on the same arm is only mildly swelling and numb. By this point, I know for a fact I fucked up. Average experience thus far, right? But then the numbness happens in my face. My lips in particular are 100% numb. Kinda strange, even for an accidental arterial shot...
(And this next part is the "crazy insane" part I've been building up to
After about 60 seconds, I look in the mirror, and my face is beginning to form fucking wrinkles right before my very eyes.
I'm only 23, I have no wrinkles on my face. Yet I'm staring in the mirror, and I'm getting all these wrinkles and creases forming at a fast rate all over my face, ESPECIALLY around my eyes. To quote my boyfriend, "it was as if I had aged 20 years in a matter of 30 seconds." At this point, I realize this isn't the average arterial accident, and we speed off to a local hospital down the street.
As I continue to look in the mirror, my skin is abnormally dry. My pores are huge and dry. And with the wrinkles, it's almost as if my face was shriveling up on my skull. The parts of my skin that aren't wrinkled are now very bumpy, and almost like a gray color. The slight dark circles that I naturally have under my eyes now turning a deep, dark purple. Fucking creepy.
Oddly enough, by the time I get into the ER parking lot, my face is back to normal. No wrinkles, no bumps, no discoloration, no dryness. But my hand is still swollen, and my lips are still numb, so I still check into the ER. They were nice to me, but all they really did was listen to my lungs as I did a few deep breaths, and then hook me up to a monitor. They kept me for about 1.5 hours hooked up to a machine that took my vital signs every 30 minutes, so they could see if there was anything out of the ordinary. They didn't see anything, so they sent me home. The only explanation they gave me was "Yep, you probably shot into an artery. I have no idea why your face suddenly aged 20 years for about 5 minutes, though. That's weird."
So my question is... has this happened to anyone else? Or does anyone know why these strange out-of-the-ordinary reactions occurred? Any educated guesses are also appreciated. The only thing I can think is that the wrinkles may have occurred as a result of the surround capillaries around my eyes that were deprived of oxygen and/or blood. But really, I have no clue. So... what the fuck?
Thanks in advance for any replies. Hope this post isn't too long-- I know I'm kinda wordy.
