Having trouble shooting

[pirates_]

At first I was able to smack the vein dead on, blood poor into the syringe id shoot and get lit. Now I cant seem to hit the vein for shit. Is it possible that my veins are too small?

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

As you continually inject into the same vein, you do damage.. scar tissue is created, little misses add up, and the vein itself just becomes harder to it (let alone if it collapses, then it's just gone). So, it's not that your veins are "too small".. I mean, everybody has a different situation of course, as far as how much their veins protrude.. but it's not really vein "size". There are things you can do to help them show more however, like work out.

You should really be rotating sites so you don't do too much damage to any one location.. I don't know if you use a tie or not, but start learning to hit different veins. Keep in mind though that depending on what veins you are going for, your technique might have to change slightly—the angle you hold the rig at, etc, etc.

This is a natural thing for many users.. I'm guessing you haven't been injecting for very long. Veins become harder to it as time goes by, especially if you have poor technique and do more damage to them than necessary. Veins don't last forever.

 

[snazzy_sn]

i'm going through this exact same thing.
i missed bad bad last night and it might have been a blessing in disguise because i was about to destroy my second mainline.

unfortunately my arms are riddled with holes because i cannot fucking register anywhere.

 

[pirates_]

i'm going through this exact same thing.
i missed bad bad last night and it might have been a blessing in disguise because i was about to destroy my second mainline.

unfortunately my arms are riddled with holes because i cannot fucking register anywhere.

me too, im stuck with IM and I bruise easy my legs and hips look pretty bad

and mr scagnattie, other than the crook of the elbow where else can i shoot. what about the hand?

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

If the crook is no longer a viable spot, the next best thing to do is to work up your arm at your bicep and down your forearm towards your wrists/hands. Right now, the only veins I have left are in my hand, a couple in my wrist, and my feet.

As you can see, there are some really good veins that are easy to hit in your wrist and hands. Just keep in mind that the closer you get to your extremities, the longer wounds take to heal. Also, I don't know what kind of syringe you have been using, but you need to use a small needle if you're going to be hitting the veins in your wrist and hand as they are much smaller and more sensitive. Use a 30 or 31 gauge short tip needle, (8mm)

 

[PillyGirl]

Shooting in your wrist can be good because you can generally see the veins, but they are very thin & delicate, so be gentle. I'm talking about the veins on the "inside" of your wrist. If you put a turnicate about 4" from the wrist, they should pop up for you on the wrist & hand. If you put a turnicate just above your ankle, you should get some to pop on your foot too. Those are thin too, so be gentle.

 

[mrflowers00]

not everyones veins are in the same place

 

[effie]

^ True. Mr.scagnattie, that looks like an arterial map to me too although veins follow a broadly similar pattern.. Vein maps can be of help definitely but as a guide for where to look. Make sure you know how to differentiate an artery from a vein OP (veins have no pulse where as arteries do; other signs are less concrete - arterial flow has more force behind it altho if you are only partially in you may not notice this, arterial blood is sometimes brighter but not always, arterial injection often hurts more but again not always).

Rotating your sites is v important as is using a fresh sterile needle each time - blunt needles will make it much harder to register and can do a lot of damage to your veins and skin. Try using a tourniquet and bathing your arms in warm water, or lifting weights before you try to register. Wrist can be dodgy if you don't know what you are doing - there are a lot of structures (arteries, nerves etc) in a small space - so ideally have someone show you if you need to try there.. as mr.scagnattie said, start at crooks then move down forearms. Anywhere other than arms is less safe; feet have a high incidence of infection and blood clots, femoral vein is right next to the main artery supplying your leg along with the main nerve supply, and also has a high chance of getting infected and causing serious complications.

Please please don't IM - it's actually riskier than IVing, as any bacteria sit in one place rather than being swept away and dealth with by the blood. It's highly likely you will end up with an abscess.. make sure you are micron filtering and as sterile as possible if you continue, but really you should switch to plugging if you can't IV..

I'm going to move this to Other Drugs as they are the IV experts take a look at the IV complications megathread in their directory too.

BDD > OD

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

^ True. Mr.scagnattie, that looks like an arterial map to me too although veins follow a broadly similar pattern.. Vein maps can be of help definitely but as a guide for where to look. Make sure you know how to differentiate an artery from a vein OP (veins have no pulse where as arteries do; other signs are less concrete - arterial flow has more force behind it altho if you are only partially in you may not notice this, arterial blood is sometimes brighter but not always, arterial injection often hurts more but again not always).

Rotating your sites is v important as is using a fresh sterile needle each time - blunt needles will make it much harder to register and can do a lot of damage to your veins and skin. Try using a tourniquet and bathing your arms in warm water, or lifting weights before you try to register. Wrist can be dodgy if you don't know what you are doing - there are a lot of structures (arteries, nerves etc) in a small space - so ideally have someone show you if you need to try there.. as mr.scagnattie said, start at crooks then move down forearms. Anywhere other than arms is less safe; feet have a high incidence of infection and blood clots, femoral vein is right next to the main artery supplying your leg along with the main nerve supply, and also has a high chance of getting infected and causing serious complications.

Please please don't IM - it's actually riskier than IVing, as any bacteria sit in one place rather than being swept away and dealth with by the blood. It's highly likely you will end up with an abscess.. make sure you are micron filtering and as sterile as possible if you continue, but really you should switch to plugging if you can't IV..

I'm going to move this to Other Drugs as they are the IV experts take a look at the IV complications megathread in their directory too.

BDD > OD

It's in red but I double checked before I posted. It is a vein map.

 

[cooli007]

Also a lot of people have deep veins, I unfortunately was one of those people. I shot daily for almost 15 years and by the end I was buying it by the quarter pound for the week. I was one of those people that had to hit my hands. I had this one spot right where my right wrist and hand meet that literally was amazing for almost a year I would just put it in and was golden. Now after staying away from needles for the past 7 years it’s on of the few remaining spots u could tell. Basically just a darkish black small circle, and then I have three abscesses only two you can see. A CT Dr was training an intern and talking about dealing with junkies right in front of me and then cut a cross three inches in diameter so now it looks like a gunshot. The one I got taken care of in the Bay Area was by a sweet Asian Dr that made a small inch incision and pushed it all out. Now I’m back after 5yrs of sobriety and thankfully won’t touch a needle but am taking 300 blues a week and it’s mad expensive and I’d do anything to just find some Methadone to safely detox. I can’t go into a clinic as I have a wife and new baby girl so this has to be done ASAP.

 

[G_Chem]

Veins go to shit after awhile it’s the name of the game. Hence why you see long term addicts hitting less than ideal spots.

To keep ones you got..

1). Always use cleans. I’d at most re-use 2-3 times. Only got desperate and used a blunt one a few times.

2). Switch up spots constantly. Don’t be the guy that has an open hole in his arm like my buddy that he hit every time.

3). Use clean product. Obviously someone who shoots pure Diacetylmorphine will have better veins than the guy shooting Mexican Tar.

-GC