Myxomatosis
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2010
- Messages
- 80
Hi there, sorry for the discombobulated thread title - I just couldn't come up with a pertinent title to represent the content of this thread. I've got a couple questions regarding IV use of heroin. I'll keep it as short as possible as I'd like to get some input from some people with more experience than me & don't want to deter that from happening.
Firstly, I picked up some rigs from a place that hands them out (they are BD insulin syringes 1cc 28G1/2) on two separate occasions. The second time I just picked up a box of them while the first time I just picked up 15-20. One thing that came to my attention today, is that the rigs I initially picked up are much MUCH harder to pull the plunger back on. Often times I found myself unable to pull the plunger back & this made shooting difficult because it was preventing me from registering properly. They are the same exact rigs (brand and size), but from different boxes. I know that people stumble across some poorly made rigs every so often but I wasn't aware a whole bunch like this could be happen.
I just shot up today with a rig from the box I picked up and there is a night/day difference...it was a ton easier to register and pull back on. I tested one or two more just to make sure I wasn't making things up in my head and sure enough - the plungers all seem to be quite a bit easier to maneuver around. I have only IV'd a total of 5 times now, with the first 4 being from the rigs that I'll refer to as 'bad' rigs (which were difficult to pull back on).
I've got a couple of questions. Prior to the shot I injected today (good rig); when I would register - the blood would come up and disperse pretty freely throughout the H solution already in the barrel of the syringe. Today when I registered, the blood stayed at the bottom of the barrel (pretty visibly separate from the rest of the solution). Is this normal? All of my shots have been pretty small at about 30-40 units. I shoot into the crook of my elbow into two large & visible veins (no tourniquet required). I'm assuming it had something to do with the difference in the rigs..but I'm unsure how normal of an occurrence it is which is why I'm asking.
The next question I've got is about a potential missed shot. It was hard to verify if I was still in a vein (after registering) because of how difficult it was to register in the first place with these rigs (it was pretty hard to keep a steady hand having to try hard to pull back on the plunger). So my approach was to inject slowly after registering and to stop immediately if I noticed any burning or otherwise irregular sensation. The shot itself was painless, but after I withdrew the needle & was putting pressure on the injection site - there was a sharp tingling sensation. I waited 15-20 minutes and kept a warm washcloth on it for an additional 15-20 minutes. There was/is no swelling that I could/can see, but I'm still worried about it since there was no tingling sensation after any of my other shots. Should I keep an eye it or is it relatively safe to assume there's no real cause for concern? I will obviously keep looking over it and I won't take anyone's response as definitive truth - I'm just wanting input.
^^To reiterate: shot was 30 units, there is no pain, there is no swelling that I can see, but there is bruising (although i think it's pretty slight but it's hard for me to tell as I am new to IVing and have nothing to compare it to really).
My approach is to re-register halfway through the shot now that registering is so much easier. I realize now i shouldn't have to try so hard to pull the plunger back when I'm in a vein and I hope my veins haven't suffered too much damage as a result from that. I had no previous experience so I honestly thought everyone struggled in this same way. I really do hope I didn't cause any excessive damage to my veins because of this...not that I was injecting recklessly or anything...just that the needle probably moved more than it should have.
I had more written out but bluelight logged me out and I lost all of the text as a consequence. Hopefully this is written clearly enough to elicit some sort of response. I'll just edit this post later if I can think of what else I had written but those were the main things I wanted to ask about.
edit: Just to be clear - it was like the plunger would be stuck some of the time on the 'bad' rigs. Is this normal? It doesn't seem like it should be but maybe it is. I mean my sample size isn't that large so perhaps I may have just gotten a couple syringes that work significantly better than the first few I had or I'm just overlooking something
Firstly, I picked up some rigs from a place that hands them out (they are BD insulin syringes 1cc 28G1/2) on two separate occasions. The second time I just picked up a box of them while the first time I just picked up 15-20. One thing that came to my attention today, is that the rigs I initially picked up are much MUCH harder to pull the plunger back on. Often times I found myself unable to pull the plunger back & this made shooting difficult because it was preventing me from registering properly. They are the same exact rigs (brand and size), but from different boxes. I know that people stumble across some poorly made rigs every so often but I wasn't aware a whole bunch like this could be happen.
I just shot up today with a rig from the box I picked up and there is a night/day difference...it was a ton easier to register and pull back on. I tested one or two more just to make sure I wasn't making things up in my head and sure enough - the plungers all seem to be quite a bit easier to maneuver around. I have only IV'd a total of 5 times now, with the first 4 being from the rigs that I'll refer to as 'bad' rigs (which were difficult to pull back on).
I've got a couple of questions. Prior to the shot I injected today (good rig); when I would register - the blood would come up and disperse pretty freely throughout the H solution already in the barrel of the syringe. Today when I registered, the blood stayed at the bottom of the barrel (pretty visibly separate from the rest of the solution). Is this normal? All of my shots have been pretty small at about 30-40 units. I shoot into the crook of my elbow into two large & visible veins (no tourniquet required). I'm assuming it had something to do with the difference in the rigs..but I'm unsure how normal of an occurrence it is which is why I'm asking.
The next question I've got is about a potential missed shot. It was hard to verify if I was still in a vein (after registering) because of how difficult it was to register in the first place with these rigs (it was pretty hard to keep a steady hand having to try hard to pull back on the plunger). So my approach was to inject slowly after registering and to stop immediately if I noticed any burning or otherwise irregular sensation. The shot itself was painless, but after I withdrew the needle & was putting pressure on the injection site - there was a sharp tingling sensation. I waited 15-20 minutes and kept a warm washcloth on it for an additional 15-20 minutes. There was/is no swelling that I could/can see, but I'm still worried about it since there was no tingling sensation after any of my other shots. Should I keep an eye it or is it relatively safe to assume there's no real cause for concern? I will obviously keep looking over it and I won't take anyone's response as definitive truth - I'm just wanting input.
^^To reiterate: shot was 30 units, there is no pain, there is no swelling that I can see, but there is bruising (although i think it's pretty slight but it's hard for me to tell as I am new to IVing and have nothing to compare it to really).
My approach is to re-register halfway through the shot now that registering is so much easier. I realize now i shouldn't have to try so hard to pull the plunger back when I'm in a vein and I hope my veins haven't suffered too much damage as a result from that. I had no previous experience so I honestly thought everyone struggled in this same way. I really do hope I didn't cause any excessive damage to my veins because of this...not that I was injecting recklessly or anything...just that the needle probably moved more than it should have.
I had more written out but bluelight logged me out and I lost all of the text as a consequence. Hopefully this is written clearly enough to elicit some sort of response. I'll just edit this post later if I can think of what else I had written but those were the main things I wanted to ask about.
edit: Just to be clear - it was like the plunger would be stuck some of the time on the 'bad' rigs. Is this normal? It doesn't seem like it should be but maybe it is. I mean my sample size isn't that large so perhaps I may have just gotten a couple syringes that work significantly better than the first few I had or I'm just overlooking something
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