Ballooned vein

[Suboxombie]

I tried searching but all I can find is results about missing a shot. My situation is this. I have destroyed my arm and hand veins in the last two years injecting suboxone than I have in the past 15 years shooting heroin.

Tonight, I decided to try my foot. I inserted the needle and couldn't hit the vein so I removed it and tried the other foot. With being able to use 2 hands, unlike when injecting in the arm, I was able to feel the vein, hold it to keep from rolling and inserted the needle. I felt it pierce the vein and made sure not to move it any further. I drew back and got blood. Holding the syringe with 2 hands making sure it didn't move, I injected 40units very slowly to make sure not to explode the delicate foot vein. All the way through the injection, I was very careful and gentle. And all the way through, the needle didn't move, the vein did not expand, everything when as it should.

When I finished, I removed the needle very slowly. Everything looked fine until IMMEDIATELY after the needle came out. As soon as it came out, the vein sort of ballooned out. And discolored. The vein and just around it became a darker 'vein color'. I put pressure on it for about 5 minutes to try to prevent bruising. I'm pretty sure the discoloration was blood leaking out of the vein but I don't know why it ballooned out like that. I know 100% that I didn't miss a single drop. And I was so careful not to pierce all the way through the vein and not to move the needle and tear the vein. Does anyone know what caused this?

It's weird because this never happened on my arms or hands. But I have injected in feet years ago and this has happened several times when using my feet. Also happens on the inside on my wrists. That makes sense because it feels like feet and inside of wrist are similar, having delicate veins and thin sensitive skin.

So my questions are:
Does this happen to anyone else specifically in these areas?
What is the cause of the ballooning and discoloration?
Why does it happen only these spots?
How can I avoid this happening again? I have a feeling I'm going to have a huge bruise on my foot now.

 

[Keif' Richards]

I'm not going to get too down on you buddy, but in the spirit of Harm Reduction, I need to tell you straight-up that I believe your are going to kill or seriously maim yourself for life if you don't give up on the injection use of Buprenorphine (Subutex/Suboxone). We've been dealing with issues directly related to the injection of Buprenorphine for a few years now. I am not sure if it is the additional components of the pills/strips that cause the problems, but it would definitely seem that Buprenorphine injection carries with it a greater risk of complication than many other drugs.

If you do a quick search over the forums, you'll encounter a lot of people like yourself who have systematically destroyed their peripheral veins through this practice and then decide to advance into further damaging behavior as they are unable to cut their dosage. Abscess and sepsis sound like they could be a serious possibility. I've seen it in real life and I've read about it plenty here on Bluelight. We need to find a way to get you off the needle in regard to the Buprenorphine before you seriously hurt yourself.

With all of that in mind, the peripheral veins of the feet and hands are especially delicate and more prone to injury than larger veins. Do you have access to any kind of programs or detox? I really think you need to get with a prescriber and figure out how to get you on the proper dosage of Buprenorphine by the proper route of administration.

We all care about you and are worried, so please keep us posted.

 

[Suboxombie]

You’re definitely on point about me needing to stop. I’ve been trying and it’s unbelievable how hard it is especially considering I get no benefit from injecting them. No rush no high. And I don’t even NEED to do it to stretch what subs I have, as I’m prescribed much more than I use. I don’t use it for instant onset either, because I dose every morning so it’s not like I’m sick by the time I’m dosing. It’s just my addiction to the needle.

Im going to order a 100 count of oral syringes and maybe try to at least go back to plugging. Taking sublingual, since being changed from pills to strips makes me vomit before it’s even dissolved. At least it did for the first week I tried and I think it traumatized me.

I don’t think I can go into detox for suboxone because isn’t that what they give people IN detox? Plus I’d be discharged right when the withdrawals are starting to get bad. But I’m probably moving soon (hopefully) and won’t be getting prescribed them anymore. So IVing is going to stop one way or another.

I do actually have 1 oral syringe left so I think I’m going to make a pact with myself today to be done. My hands are swollen and puffy and I feel it’s very obvious bc I’m a fairly small girl. I disgust myself with this shit and I want to be done. Hopefully I stick with this pact because it certainly isn’t the first I’ve made and broken.
Thanks keif.

 

[ObieWan]

What you are describing sounds like a hematoma, where blood leaks outside of the vein. This is more common is veins very close to the surface, like the hand or foot. If you felt no resistance or pain when shooting this is probably the case. If you are interested in tapering and stopping the subs then I suggest you immediately go back to under the tongue. Being a previous H user I realize this is difficult when the whole ritual is part of the addiction. When you say plugging, I assume you mean in the rear or in the vag. Sometimes ingesting the stuff can make some people sick. If this is what you need to do, then do it.

This shit is hard and you have my best wishes. Feel free to PM.

 

[LopLover]

Suboxombie, I get the needle thing, seriously, I do. For decades any pill, powder, or liquid I got my hands on, the first thing I would do is try to shoot it. Half the time, whatever I was doing wasn't even able to be properly broken down and I was probably slamming nothing but water and contaminates. So it goes... Anyway, I finally was able to quit slamming, before the advent of Suboxone, thankfully, since I'm hearing horror stories of experiences with IV use of it, and if I was still strung out on the needle, I'd be there. Today I live with pulmonary fibrosis from years of shooting Ritalin pills, most of my hand, arm, leg, and foot veins haven't existed for decades, and I have huge chunks of flesh gone from various muscles from IM'ing loads when it became obvious there was just too much blood in them to get them into my veins, and then getting massive abcesses. That's life, though, and it took what it took to get me to stop slamming. Whatever it takes, I hope you are able to find a different way to take your Sub, as I haven't heard anything good about shooting it. It's a tough one, though. Namaste, Sherry