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Opioids Bad injection, air bubble

Krowsnose

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 26, 2006
Messages
401
Location
Richmond va
Being an idiot and desperately trying to get high, I fumbled around with the needle and ended up injecting a bit of air into my vein. Now the whole thing is puffed up and looks kinda nasty. I'm freaking out a bit and would like any advice on what I should do. I don't think I did nearly enough to be very damaging. I pulled it out as soon as I felt a burning sensation. (Not an artery).

Should I go to the hospital?
 
I don't know much about the dangers of Banging drugs, but something I have learned over more than a decade of drug use is that if you are not sure whether you need to go to a hospital as in "really not sure" not just "wondering what to do"; then you should just go. Unless you live in a state or country where they enter you into a database of junkies and being labeled an addict brings stiff penalties or caries a hefty stigma then it will at least give you peace of mind. hth
 
Got a pic? Keep a hot compress or hot water flowin over it, to increase bloodflow
 
Hmm, maybe you missed the vein and injected air under your skin. That or it's an allergic reaction. I guess it'll probably go away eventually. You could take the plunger out of a fresh syringe and poke it until the air blows out backwards through the needle if you're really bothered by it.
 
how sure are you it's air?

was it subcut w/o hitting vein perhaps?

if "possibly" to either, i would reccomend hospital. it sucks i know. thanks for fighting against the public option obama, it makes situations like this easier for people 8)

i don't know much about IV stuff. i'm just being cautious. and can't air in the bloodstream cause problems?
 
Injecting a little bit of air into your vein is not really a problem, it only becomes dangerous when it's quite a bit of air. You probably missed, that's why it stung. Just keep an eye on it and it if don't start getting better go to the hospital.
 
Air is not the problem. Sounds like a miss to me. Use a hot compress, it will help reduce the swelling.

I wouldn't go to the hospital unless I thought I was going to probably get an infection. Stay safe.
 
I think I'm dealing with a blood clot here. There's about a one inch line that seems to be along my vein that is popping out of my arm a bit and feels dense. I'll try to put up a picture.

How dangerous would a blood clot be?
 
I dunno anything about blood clots, but that sounds bad. If a warm compress doesn't do anything after twenty minutes you should just go to the hospital.
 
its not the air..it sounds to me like you missed ...it takes more air then you prob. think to cause an issue. the stinging is a sign of a miss. it should go away in a couple hours if it gets red, bigger, or hot its an infection and you should go to the ER asap. as long as your not having any other symptoms chill a lil and see if it goes down. ive missed a bunch of times and im alive without visiting an ER. im a nursing student as well. if you post a pic we would all be able to give u better info. but ur ur own best judge of what to do...u know ur body better. ...good luck
 
Histamines or missed shot..injecting air wont do anything to you. Post a pic and I can help more.
 
Yea I suppose I just missed the vein. I lied down and slept for about an hour and woke up and it's gone down a lot, it's still a little dense in the area.

I'm going to stop fucking around with needles. I'm still very inexperienced with them and obviously haven't done my homework about the risks. I just remember the thread about that guy who hit the artery in his hand and the horrifying aftermath pictures.
 
You might be mistaken my man. If you introduce a good volume of air into your vein the bubble could lodge inside your heart and block blood flow. Gas embolism. True though, what you're saying is that injecting a small amount of air (which I believe is inevitable) in most cases won't be fatal or even noticed.
 
whenever i do something like that i just keep it under running hot water for the first hour and gently massage it the whole time. The trick is to keep it warm and keep massaging it so it disperses the missed shot better and the heat kills most bacteria.
 
Injecting myths

Strokes from air bubbles

There is a generalised belief amongst injectors and the general population that injecting air is ‘not a good thing.’ Whilst this is true, it tends to be somewhat overstressed in terms of importance when priorities for injecting drug users are being considered. It is possible to observe some injectors taking little or no care about hygiene or cross-infection risks whilst injecting, but exhibiting infinite patience when expelling the minutest of air bubbles from a syringe.

Compared to the size of an air bubble, it takes a gigantic volume of air to cause circulatory problems (the blood would froth in the chambers of the heart). Although it is desirable not to introduce air into the veins, even a few 1 ml syringes completely full of air would be unlikely to cause any problems.

Carefully removing tiny air bubbles from a syringe can be seen as evidence that injectors are concerned about their health and are prepared to act to preserve it. Some injectors simply need more information about more important priorities such as hygiene.
 
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