vajeeh
Bluelighter
Okay well, this is both a cautionary tale as well as a plea for advice.
EVENT:
I injected a shot of heroin into the area I use to hit the inner-right vein of the three main veins at the elbow crook of my left arm.
I have been using this vein on and off for the entire 8 years (on and off) I've been IVing.
I have hit an artery in the past a couple of times.
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CONSEQUENCE:
As soon as I shot it, I felt as if my entire forearm was splashed with hot oil, all the way up to my thumb. Within half an hour, my forearm swells completely up to capacity. The swelling even ruptured blood vessels and I had diffuse bruising over my forearm. The swelling is all the way from the elbow crease, to my wrist crease, and my
thumb. I cannot extend my arm a full 180 degrees....it's like 140 degrees, like a damn obtuse angle, rather than a straight 180 like my other arm. It hurts if I flex the muscles in my arm. I can't rotate my wrist very much. I can't pick up anything with the arm.
I still have feeling in my fingers...it doesn't hurt unless I do the above mentioned moves. The bruising subsided after an hour. This was on Saturday. It's now Monday, exactly 50 hours later. The swelling is so bad that I can't pinch any lax skin on the arm. It's swollen to capacity.
I'm afraid that if I go to the hospital, they will cut my arm to relieve the pressure, that's how swollen it is. It hasn't improved so far, but it hasn't really gotten worse. Although I've had this happen in the past, they were at different areas, and I don't recall it being swollen for more than a day, and it wasn't THIS swollen, nonetheless I hadn't shot as much as I did into this artery. It was about 70 units of strong and potent, yet heavily cut heroin. It was high quality scramble heroin, containing (with 100% certainty) raw heroin, fentanyl, mannitol, quinine, and (possibly, however not confirmed) doxylamine or diphenhydramine, as well as potentially something else.
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I should have known better. I know exactly what to look for...pink/light-red frothy blood with a bit more pressure upon registering. I saw this, however I chalked it up to the color of the solution and figured it just appeared lighter because of that. And I figured that I hit in the spot I always did when I used this area. If you ever hit a spot and you suspect it is an artery, immediately pull out. Do not even try it. Some may say to just shoot a tiny bit to see how it feels...but there is really no need to risk doing that. Better be safe than sorry. I wasn't thinking...and I should have been. Learn from my mistake. I blew off my suspicions due to reasons I mentioned.
Basically I want to know if anyone has ever had a severe reaction like this, how long it would last, if I should go to the hospital...and if I go, do I tell them that I accidentally hit an artery, or should I just play stupid and let them treat the swelling with anti-inflammatory and other medications? Should I just wait it out, and see if it gets worse? I figured if it gets worse like if I started losing sensation in my fingers or my arm, or if I'm losing even more mobility than the 140degrees, then I may go.
(I have been taking 400-600mg of ibuprofen a couple times a day. Massaging the arm every now and then. Not trying to extend or stretch the arm in fear of injuring/tearing/ripping/pissing off my arm muscles in the process.)
EVENT:
I injected a shot of heroin into the area I use to hit the inner-right vein of the three main veins at the elbow crook of my left arm.
I have been using this vein on and off for the entire 8 years (on and off) I've been IVing.I have hit an artery in the past a couple of times.
-----------------
CONSEQUENCE:
As soon as I shot it, I felt as if my entire forearm was splashed with hot oil, all the way up to my thumb. Within half an hour, my forearm swells completely up to capacity. The swelling even ruptured blood vessels and I had diffuse bruising over my forearm. The swelling is all the way from the elbow crease, to my wrist crease, and my
thumb. I cannot extend my arm a full 180 degrees....it's like 140 degrees, like a damn obtuse angle, rather than a straight 180 like my other arm. It hurts if I flex the muscles in my arm. I can't rotate my wrist very much. I can't pick up anything with the arm.
I still have feeling in my fingers...it doesn't hurt unless I do the above mentioned moves. The bruising subsided after an hour. This was on Saturday. It's now Monday, exactly 50 hours later. The swelling is so bad that I can't pinch any lax skin on the arm. It's swollen to capacity.
I'm afraid that if I go to the hospital, they will cut my arm to relieve the pressure, that's how swollen it is. It hasn't improved so far, but it hasn't really gotten worse. Although I've had this happen in the past, they were at different areas, and I don't recall it being swollen for more than a day, and it wasn't THIS swollen, nonetheless I hadn't shot as much as I did into this artery. It was about 70 units of strong and potent, yet heavily cut heroin. It was high quality scramble heroin, containing (with 100% certainty) raw heroin, fentanyl, mannitol, quinine, and (possibly, however not confirmed) doxylamine or diphenhydramine, as well as potentially something else.
-----------------
I should have known better. I know exactly what to look for...pink/light-red frothy blood with a bit more pressure upon registering. I saw this, however I chalked it up to the color of the solution and figured it just appeared lighter because of that. And I figured that I hit in the spot I always did when I used this area. If you ever hit a spot and you suspect it is an artery, immediately pull out. Do not even try it. Some may say to just shoot a tiny bit to see how it feels...but there is really no need to risk doing that. Better be safe than sorry. I wasn't thinking...and I should have been. Learn from my mistake. I blew off my suspicions due to reasons I mentioned.
Basically I want to know if anyone has ever had a severe reaction like this, how long it would last, if I should go to the hospital...and if I go, do I tell them that I accidentally hit an artery, or should I just play stupid and let them treat the swelling with anti-inflammatory and other medications? Should I just wait it out, and see if it gets worse? I figured if it gets worse like if I started losing sensation in my fingers or my arm, or if I'm losing even more mobility than the 140degrees, then I may go.
(I have been taking 400-600mg of ibuprofen a couple times a day. Massaging the arm every now and then. Not trying to extend or stretch the arm in fear of injuring/tearing/ripping/pissing off my arm muscles in the process.)
