Heroin Blood Clots???

[lovemissile66]

I've been using heroin for 18 years. SIGH. It still seems like only yesterday I was telling myself that I would never become god forbid...A JUNKIE!!
That being said, I finally quit using needles about 5 years ago. It was tough for about a month and then I got past it. After some time, I couldn't
believe what a human pin cushion I had been. And I really ran out of real estate for shooting. I guess 2020 among other personal trauma finally
got the best of me and I have found myself shooting again. My veins have always been small, and even after 5 years I still only have a couple
options for shooting. Soooo, my syringe got clogged last night and I didn't want to waste the shot. When I finally cleaned the contents of the
needle out, it looked like there was a clot of blood that had plugged my shot. WTF???! I don't ever remember that happening in the past. So,
should I be worried and better yet, could someone please tell me why this happened? Thank you in advance

 

[JessFR]

Seriously? You've been using 18 years and this hasn't happened to you until now? Wow.

I've been using heroin IV probably closer to 14 years, and while this doesn't happen super often, it does happen from time to time.

You see, your blood will start to clot as soon as it is exposed to air.

I have small hard to see veins too, and while I am normally good as reliably hitting them yeah every now and then things don't seem to work and I lose access to the vein after registering, and soon after the needle might clog from blood being exposed to air at the tip.

At times when this has happened I've had to remove the shot and refilter it, and when you do that, yes your blood will likely clot if it hasn't already.

It is brain dead suicidal to shoot it at that point since shooting a blood clot could kill you, but what can I say, I was braindead and suicidal cause I've done that several times over the years and I haven't died.

So yea, bottom line, if you register your shot, if you don't then shoot it pretty quickly, the blood in your shot will clot. At that point you shouldn't have it. And if you must because like my you were a junkie with a death wish, make sure to refilter it.

 

[lovemissile66]

Thank you tons for replying. I wasn't going to try and shoot again until I heard back from someone. I honestly don't recall ever having a clotting issue in the past. But, you know

what they say "that's why they call it dope!". I have been very lucky in that I've never shared needles and didn't use as a group. It was just myself and my guy of 20 years. He OD'd

almost 5 years ago and I can't move past the grief. I have never thought of my self with a death wish, always was a functional addict. But I also suffered from anorexia and now I

know that I am a masochist who wishes death on the installment plan. Not quick and easy. Slow and suffering. I did not shoot up with the clot because I couldn't!! It really fucking

clogged the works. I soaked two needles for a day just to get that shit out. Now thanks to Amazon, and I hope I don't get into trouble for saying this, you can actually purchase

syringes online, no prob. I may be late to the game on this, as like I said, its been 5 years since I shot. Again, thanks so much for responding. I was really scared but not enough

to quit

 

[JessFR]

Thank you tons for replying. I wasn't going to try and shoot again until I heard back from someone. I honestly don't recall ever having a clotting issue in the past. But, you know

what they say "that's why they call it dope!". I have been very lucky in that I've never shared needles and didn't use as a group. It was just myself and my guy of 20 years. He OD'd

almost 5 years ago and I can't move past the grief. I have never thought of my self with a death wish, always was a functional addict. But I also suffered from anorexia and now I

know that I am a masochist who wishes death on the installment plan. Not quick and easy. Slow and suffering. I did not shoot up with the clot because I couldn't!! It really fucking

clogged the works. I soaked two needles for a day just to get that shit out. Now thanks to Amazon, and I hope I don't get into trouble for saying this, you can actually purchase

syringes online, no prob. I may be late to the game on this, as like I said, its been 5 years since I shot. Again, thanks so much for responding. I was really scared but not enough

to quit

You won't get into trouble. We won't normally allow directing people where to buy drug shit, but harm reduction supplies, which clean syringes are, are exempted for obvious reasons. We actually have threads in some of the geographically specific subforums that exist solely to direct people to clean syringe supplies.

I know what you're talking about with it clogging, when your shot has your blood in it, if it's exposed to air, either through small bubbles or when you remove the needle, it'll start clumping together and clot, it's quite gross. It only happens when exposed air, basically it's what happens if you get an injury to stop the bleeding.

When I say you gotta have a death wish to still refilter and shoot it, I didn't so much mean that you wanna die, but rather that you/we put getting high or getting well above even insane risks to our health, which... A lot of people with a severe heroin addiction will. I certainly did.

I'm really sorry about your guy. I used to use as part of a group but like you it was mainly me and my boyfriend at the time for several years. We just also had other friends we included in various ways.

I get what you mean about being too scared to quit. All I can offer as advice, is that if you can't stop, perhaps consider trying a substitution program like methadone. I mean it's not for everybody, but I honestly don't think I'd ever changed my life from where it was then without it. I just wasn't willing to quit, or detox, or go to rehab. Methadone gave me another option.

I relapsed last year but even now my life is still objectively waaaay better than it was before I got on methadone.

But, it's your life, you gotta figure out what's right for you, I hope you find something.

 

[lovemissile66]

Thank you for reaching out to me I tried Methadone for about three months. I was quite disgusted by several things: its like a walk-in bank. Cha-Ching all day long.

I wanted to keep my dose on the low side, mostly out of fear when the day to come off it would be worse than heroin withdrawals. So, myself and my counselor went

round and round. They do not seem to have any issues whatsoever with raising your dose. To be honest, it was a half-assed attempt. I still wasn't ready. I was ONLY 3 years

into my addiction!!! And I was using dope and methadone. So I choose dope. And I can see why raising my dose would have prevented any feeling from a shot of heroin...

just wasn't ready. Again, thank you so much

 

[JessFR]

Thank you for reaching out to me I tried Methadone for about three months. I was quite disgusted by several things: its like a walk-in bank. Cha-Ching all day long.

I wanted to keep my dose on the low side, mostly out of fear when the day to come off it would be worse than heroin withdrawals. So, myself and my counselor went

round and round. They do not seem to have any issues whatsoever with raising your dose. To be honest, it was a half-assed attempt. I still wasn't ready. I was ONLY 3 years

into my addiction!!! And I was using dope and methadone. So I choose dope. And I can see why raising my dose would have prevented any feeling from a shot of heroin...

just wasn't ready. Again, thank you so much

I totally understand. While I was able to finally make significant improvements to my life by getting on methadone, it wasn't my first try with methadone.

Like you I had spent a couple years on methadone in a very half hearted way. I mean part of the problem is they wouldn't increase my dose fast enough, but a lot of it was cause I just wasn't ready yet. So I missed probably half of my doses and just kept using heroin.

I had to decide I was serious about stopping heroin and getting on methadone, combined with finding a clinic that would listen to me about how heavy my heroin use was and that I needed to go up faster, that's when I really started making progress.

Thing is, you're right about how hard getting off methadone is, and if you're aiming to be clean eventually, that's gonna be hard. Once you're on a dose of methadone that keeps your cravings under control, it'll be a long time before you wean down, and it'll still be tough when you finally jump off.


For me... This was pretty much the last option I could see left. At the time I was homeless, begging for money every day, prostituting myself when that still wasn't enough. And I still simply wasn't willing to get clean, I just wasn't willing to go through withdrawal.

Nevertheless I wanted to stop living like that, so I decided to get on methadone in full awareness of the fact that, I might never get off it. I might be on methadone for life. But, that was a risk I was willing to take cause it was still the best option I could see. And while I've had a relapse since then, I've never once regretted it.

Even if I had somehow gotten clean, I probably still woulda relapsed last year, only id probably be homeless again by now if I hadn't had methadone to keep me from getting sick.

I'm not telling you to get on methadone, I'm just explaining why I did. You'll have to work out what's right for you, and when. For what it's worth I wish you luck.

Life as a heroin addict is a real shitty way to live. Even at the best of times.

 

[lovemissile66]

Well said. And thanks for encouragement. I do believe I will get clean before I die. I would like to be present for the last few years my parents may be alive. And I also

have a daughter who suffers from severe trauma and was diagnosed Bi-Polar. Both unmedicated. She was a speed freak, now its her Adderall and my buddy, heroin.

She may not be motivated if I clean up, but she might!!