Alternative Injecting Sites - Ideas/Suggestions Please

[RocketBoy89]

Hello all,

First off I hope everyone's as well as can be expected; over the years I frequented these forums out of curiosity and to look up various pieces of information but I've never got around to registering - so today I bit the bullet and gone ahead!

So a brief personal history of me: 25 Year old male. In my teens I experimented with most drugs and inevitably ended up at the end of the road and addicted to heroin and crack. I've been physically hooked on the gear for about 6 years now, been injecting around 4 years. I've only ever injected in arms and hands and wants to avoid using any sites from groin level and below. A combination of things may have caused a lot of his sites to become unviable - poor injecting technique (especially in the beginning), injecting heroin with other pills (couple of years since I've done that - NEVER AGAIN) and I mainly inject heroin and crack together nowadays and had done for most of his injecting career.

So my main query is, the other day I noticed a decent size vein between his shoulder and neck bone (on the upper chest) which appears symmetrically on both sides of his upper chest - Does anyone know of anyone with experience of using these veins?

Also if the potential risks of using sites had to be weighed up and compared - would you reckon the site I mentioned above would be any less dangerous than using the groin or legs?

I understand IVing drugs is a risky business to say the least so doesn't need to be warned but just wants some straight up advice on where people would say to go from here (sites wise) and any personal experience people have to contribute.

Much appreciated and I look forward to any responses.

Rocketboy89

 

[RocketBoy89]

Just noticed wezface edited my post to remove someone who I know. Cheers for that, I got it twisted with the rules and thought it specified to always use those terms

Arghhh crap just read forum rules about not "bumping threads" - apologies I didn't realise, won't do it again!

Newbie errors eh :D

 

[Ruby Slippers]

Well just think about it...if you had any sort of complications from injecting in you neck they can't cut your head off. If your veins are shot in your arms maybe it is time to quit. And l would suggest using a vein in the lower extremities before you mess with the veins you are suggesting. Oh and Google a map of the veinous system..

 

[Keif' Richards]

There's always the jugular vein if you happen to be that hardcore. The only problem is that the neck is a nexus of nerves, arteries and veins. I've seen people do it, but I think you're playing with fire going this route.

I've said this before, but I have really great veins on my feet. I have four large ones and they don't roll like some other people's. If you really can't find a vein, I think you're better off going the intramuscular route if you must inject. I wouldn't make this a permanent route, as there are risks of abscess and hardening of the muscles. You can IM while you wait for some of your veins to heal. It's just my opinion, I've never had any issues with going IM, but I follow a pretty strict regimen of clean/safe preparation.

 

[Bearlove]

Subclavian vien ? Dont go poking about in that.

Even if your arm veins have collapsed you do not need to go digging into your neck / shoulder etc. Knees, toes etc before digging about in your neck

 

[RocketBoy89]

Thanks for your responses guys. Tbh the fact I don't know anyone who has used that vein (subclavian vein - cheers Bearlove!) should of told me it's not a good idea. I guess I was just hoping that it would be fine, easy and what not. From what I've heard and seen of others it seems most get away with pinning up in their arms and hands without any major complications, loss of limbs etc (by no means am I saying it's 100% safe) and when they end up using the lower body (legs, feet, groin) then they seem to experience more health issues like cellulitis (I think that's the right one), DVT's and worse case having to have a leg amputated...

So I have been trying to avoid using my lower body for a while, if I'm honest I said a couple of years ago - "if I ever get to the point where I need to start pinning up in my legs, I'll stop" but the goalposts change and sadly what becomes acceptable seems to get worse and worse and worse. I mean when I first started smoking H & W I always looked at "pinheads" and thought how could you be stupid enough to end up doing that, I'll never use a needle. Famous last words eh?!

I imagine no one starts out planning to play around with pins though do they?

Well I'm going to run myself a hot bath and have a proper look at my legs to see what I can see, my veins on my legs are not pronounced at all so I think it'll take some work and practice for me to use them successfully.

Take care all,

Rocketboy89

P.s. Keif' Richards and anyone else who may know - In regards to IM-ing is there a certain way to go about this to reduce risk as much as possible? It's just in my experience if I miss a shot in my vein sometimes that causes issues or is this down to the fact that it's not in a big muscle? I used to IM Ketamine in the past mainly by just jabbing a 2ml in my arse and pumping it in and I never had any issues arise from that...

 

[Keif' Richards]

Rocket,

A medical professional is 9 times out of 10 going to give an intramuscular shot in the Deltoid muscle of the shoulder. The process involves grabbing your deltoid, pulling it taught as if you're holding you're entire delt in your hand, then stick yourself and inject.

The gluteus muscles aren't a bad idea either, but when I IM, I tend to just go for my bicep, because it's easier to grab and feel the muscle. Also, the quadriceps are large muscle systems which should be able to stand a few injections. Just like IV use, you must rotate sites to avoid damage/hardening. I read in a non-fiction civil war book, that morphine was commonly administered in the "upper leg" (quadricep I imagine). IV use was pretty uncommon apparently. Those addicted to morphine - The Soldier's Disease - were easily identified by the pockmarks on their legs/body. The appearance of such marks was similar to those marks seen on syphillis patients.

Just pick whatever muscle is easiest for you to identify and go for it. You should not exceed more than 2ml of volume per injection and always use aseptic technique. Safe injection practices will keep your injection sites healthier longer.

 

[RocketBoy89]

Cheers for the response Keif' Richards. If I'm honest I think a big part of my addiction is to the instantaneous rush of IVing but I feel better prepared for the scenario of me being sick and being unable to get a vein and having to go the IM route.

I did have a go with my foot earlier today but found the juiciest looking veins were rollers, as I know many peoples are. I think instead of rigidly trying to stick to arms and hands and avoid all of my lower body - I'm going to have a go at rotating between different sites all over my body i.e. arms, hands (when I can get a spot there) to feet, legs and the occasional IM. I'm constantly bombarded with the message of rotate, rotate, rotate by the various services I currently engage with so that's what I'm going to try over the next few weeks on a bigger scale.

In fact I'd be interested to know how many people rotate from completely different parts of the body and between different limbs? Because I have to admit with me, I have rotated between sites but my rotations have always been limited to my two arms and hands...

Take care out there all of y'all,

Rocketboy89