Harm Reduction Help with sterilization of Focalin (and other future pills) prior to I.M. Injection?

[MasterKeeks]

I’ve recently started injecting Focalin extended and instant IM after filtering with either cotton or cigarette filters. The effect I get from this dwarfs any other route I’ve taken (even plugged and I am hip on how to plug correctly FYI). I’ve never used it or any drug intravenous so please don’t suggest I just move on to that because I absolutely will not out of fear of filler giving me a heart attack alongside general fear of sticking a needle into my vein myself lol. But I will say I am done using the Focalin IM until my wheel filters and sterile injectable water comes in the mail. My point of discussion for this post is to ask if any experienced drug users here and anyone in general have any insight into how I can further sterilize a solution not meant to be injected to further increase my safety doing so? Would one of the UV sterilization devices on Amazon be a useful purchase or is something else recommended?

 

[Keif' Richards]

Hey @MasterKeeks

I saw your thread and thought I could contribute some information.

A rule of thumb is that solutions made from crushed/destroyed pills, tablets or what have you is known to be especially risky. Intramuscular injection has a slower onset of action. This is due to a lower total blood flow relative to intravenous injection in which the solution, for better or worse, is instantaneously distributed through the entire vascular system and back. If intravenous is a river, intramuscular is a slow running creek.

You're unlikely to ever end up with a truly sterile solution unless you have lab equipment. Micron filters will do a relatively good job, but even they are not perfect. The longer this unsterile mass of solution sits in a muscle, the greater the chance of infection.

I would advise against using pills via the intramuscular route. It might work once, twice, thrice, but if it is indeed "that good", you need to prepare for the very real possibility of losing control and compulsively administering. This is something you really don't want to make a habit.

If you can't be dissuaded, follow all hygienic practices as well as you can.

- Thoroughly (sing a nursery rhyme) wash your hands prior to handling anything that will be used. Alternatively, put on some surgical gloves.
- Only retrieve other equipment from its original packaging when it is ready to be used. Do not leave syringes out on your kitchen table.
- Use only boiled water, but preferably bottled (you never know what is in your water. you can't boil lead out of water)
- Wash the site. Alcohol pads are best for this. Quick drying, easy, no mess.
- Rotate sites. Use larger muscles. The deltoid triangle, the glutes, the quadriceps etc.

I hope this helps.

 

[MasterKeeks]

Hey @MasterKeeks

I saw your thread and thought I could contribute some information.

A rule of thumb is that solutions made from crushed/destroyed pills, tablets or what have you is known to be especially risky. Intramuscular injection has a slower onset of action. This is due to a lower total blood flow relative to intravenous injection in which the solution, for better or worse, is instantaneously distributed through the entire vascular system and back. If intravenous is a river, intramuscular is a slow running creek.

You're unlikely to ever end up with a truly sterile solution unless you have lab equipment. Micron filters will do a relatively good job, but even they are not perfect. The longer this unsterile mass of solution sits in a muscle, the greater the chance of infection.

I would advise against using pills via the intramuscular route. It might work once, twice, thrice, but if it is indeed "that good", you need to prepare for the very real possibility of losing control and compulsively administering. This is something you really don't want to make a habit.

If you can't be dissuaded, follow all hygienic practices as well as you can.

- Thoroughly (sing a nursery rhyme) wash your hands prior to handling anything that will be used. Alternatively, put on some surgical gloves.
- Only retrieve other equipment from its original packaging when it is ready to be used. Do not leave syringes out on your kitchen table.
- Use only boiled water, but preferably bottled (you never know what is in your water. you can't boil lead out of water)
- Wash the site. Alcohol pads are best for this. Quick drying, easy, no mess.
- Rotate sites. Use larger muscles. The deltoid triangle, the glutes, the quadriceps etc.

I hope this helps.

With acknowledgement that injecting pills is always inherently dangerous, would IV be safer all things the same? If so, could you at least give me an idea of how much safer it is? Like significantly safer or marginally or something else?

 

[Keif' Richards]

@MasterKeeks

This is a difficult question to answer. See, an intramuscular shot is dangerous due to the substance remaining static for so long in one place. Yes, injecting into a vein "spreads" this mass more evenly across the body, but you are also bypassing several more layers of your body's natural defenses against foreign material. You are avoiding one issue, but perhaps exposing your heart or other vital organs to these same, potentially harmful bacteria.

This is not a question I will answer with any certainty. I want to give you something though. I would say IM presents the chance of more frequent, but less deadly complications, whereas injection into a vein will lead to less frequent, but likely more deadly complications e.g. Endocarditis.