Heroin bump at puncture site- no injection

[Lechium]

So I just took my 2nd to last shot of h before I take a nice long much needed break. I had a ridiculously hard time hitting my vein and when I tried on my left arm in the crease of the elbow (a little above the crease) I put the needle in, pulled up on the plunger to make a vacuum and push the needle in looking for the vein. I didnt get the vein so I pulled it out and eventually hit a vein in the opposite arm. I quickly noticed that the spot I tried to hit had a pretty large noticeable bump about 1cm to a half in in diameter. I didnt actually inject anything in here so I was wondering why this happened and if its ever happened to anyone else. Im not really freakin out about it since I didnt inject anything there just very curious as to what the deal is.

 

[PKPro]

Was it an old needle? Dull needles tend to do this. The more you use them the more dull they become, I've also noticed that newer ones seem to be lubricated and slide in which fades even after the first use... It's also very possible you just irritated the site... It's not something to be worried about. It happens.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Yeah it's probably just site irritation. It happens. You are jabbing a foreign object into your flesh after all.

 

[missmeyet?]

I frequently get a histamine reaction at the site of injection with some batches of heroin. But sometimes even if I did not inject but just inserted the needle like you are talking about, the little bit of heroin that is on the needle will cause a reaction there where I inserted it in my skin. Maybe it is just a reaction from the heroin. Even though you did not inject the drug still came into contact with your skin and beneath it also.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

^^

Yeah all it takes is a drop or two sometimes to cause a reaction.

 

[mjl22881]

This happens to me all the time. It's a simple histamine response to the heroin. It doesn't necessarily mean you're allergic to the drug just because you have the response either.

Many, many people have a mild to moderate histamine release from non-synthetic and semi-synthetic opioids (i.e. morphine and diacetylmorphine) making it more of a side-effect than a true allergy.

Since I'm one of those people that have a hard time getting a vein I often have to pull the needle out and try again and all to often I have a small hive like bump at the site. To avoid a stronger reaction I take 25mg of Benadryl most of the time when I shoot and this also helps with the general itchiness and nausea that is also a lovely side effect of the stuff.