I had to rip the needle from my arm...

[Keeth Stone]

Hey everybody, as you may have guessed from the title, my question is related to IV drug use, meth to be exact. I keep my use down to a hand full of times a month but have been doing so for years. In all that time, this is definitely a first and a pretty concering one.

I set up everything as i usually do, only noteable difference is this was the 3rd-4th use of the same needle...i know, bad....but to continue, i mix 25 units of water to an eyeballed amout of meth (pretty small amout). A small ball of cotton used as a filter (i know i should be using a micron filter) i mix everything together in the cap that comes off the plunger side of my standard 30 unit insulin syringes. After drawing it up, clearing the bubbles, registering in the vein at the base of my left bicep, and slowly pushing down on the plunger as usual and finishing it, I tried to remove the needle from my arm and only about 50-75% of the needle came out, then it stopped...i tried to remove it again but iw wouldnt come out of my skin, i started slowly pulling harder and it was stretching my skin as far as it could go, then i pressed down on the skin around the needle and pulled the syringe again, with some effort, it finally came out and with no pain durring the entire time. But when inspecting the small hole where the needle was stuck, a very small (about a mm in length) white string was poking out of the hole, i thought it may have been skin that was pulled through so i pinched it with tweezers and tried to remove it, it came out about another mm but hurt in a very odd kind of pain so i stopped and decided to apply pressure to prevent brusing or any possible bleeding for the needle being stuck, after about 4 mins, i checked the spot again and the string thing was gone (back in my arm i assume)

I inspected the needle before and after using it and it was not damaged or barbed or hooked on the end. I cleaned out the needle before use with distilled water. Im really confused what this was all about. Kind of freaky...

I know this was long but i wanted to make sure i gave as much detail as possible. Thank you for any input you guys have as to why the hell that happened and what the string was, a piece of vein? A piece of nerve?

 

[Someone Who Is Me]

That's really weird. I've never encountered that myself. I'd think if it were a piece of nerve, pinching it with tweezers would've sent you through the fucking roof. Intentionally trying to pull out your own nerve would be an experience like no other. My guess would be maybe a string of tendon or muscle or something? Maybe your needle caught on one on the way out. I know tendons and veins are pretty tightly woven. I'm always hitting tendons by mistake. Especially if you're muscly. I'm not, and I still have that problem, so I'd imagine someone who's bulky would encounter it all the time. That, or maybe fat? There's a decent layer of fat around the biceps in most people, right?

 

[Keeth Stone]

That's really weird. I've never encountered that myself. I'd think if it were a piece of nerve, pinching it with tweezers would've sent you through the fucking roof. Intentionally trying to pull out your own nerve would be an experience like no other. My guess would be maybe a string of tendon or muscle or something? Maybe your needle caught on one on the way out. I know tendons and veins are pretty tightly woven. I'm always hitting tendons by mistake. Especially if you're muscly. I'm not, and I still have that problem, so I'd imagine someone who's bulky would encounter it all the time. That, or maybe fat? There's a decent layer of fat around the biceps in most people, right?

Thank you for your input! Im glad i got a response lol. As far as fat goes, im roughly 11% right now. Im 5'8'' and weigh 176lbs so its safe to say that im more on the muscular side (i know, fitness/strict dieting and IV meth, weird combo lol).
Thats an interesting thought about it being tendon, but ripping a little piece of tendon would be very painfull too as you mentioned about a nerve and there was little to no pain, just uncomfortable and a kind if sickening feeling like something just wasnt feeling normal when trying to take it out. I know it wasnt a major nerve because i definitely know what that feel like to stick the needle to deep in the center of the vein running along the top of the fore arm, it an intant electric shock feeling that storms through your arm and makes your forearm and wrist quckly convulse or twitch. But do you think its possible it was a smaller nerve that is closer to the surface? Or possibly scar tissue from the vein?

 

[Someone Who Is Me]

Oh yeah. That middle of the arm nerve, hahaha. It's a bitch. Holy shit.

Good point, I didn't think of that. Like a really tiny nerve or something? I work in the medical field, but I guess I really don't even know what scar tissue looks like, lol. Scarred veins are kind of harder and tougher to get through, so I guess it'd make sense for one to snag on a needle point. Shiiit, kinda turns your stomach to think about it. I gotta stop hitting my track marks. I'll probably gag pulling the thing out if that same thing ever happens to me, haha.

 

[bluebellbutterfly]

Nothing weird about IV meth and strict dieting.