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I.M. Needle Length

ronthetiger

ronthetiger

Greenlighter
Joined
Dec 6, 2012
Messages
39
Location
Deep in a K-hole
I feel really bad for starting this thread because I'm SURE there is a very clear discussion on this already, but I, for the life of me, cannot find it; however, feel free to abrade me anyhow. If you know where the existing forum is please direct me to it!

I tried, for the first time, yesterday to inject my ketamine intramuscularly. I bought 28g 1cc needles, but when the lady at the counter asked "would you like an inch or a half an inch" I was truly at a loss for words and stood silent, like a mute, for a good ten seconds....
I ended up picking half an inch, as an entire inch seemed, to me, like overkill, but after I made my solution and then shot up (approx. 100mg) in my shoulder I felt NOTHING.

After research in medical journals (I had read plenty of guides on how to properly preform an I.M. injection, but none of the guides said anything about needle length, only gauge and number of mLs for a solution of 100mg to dissolve in) and they suggest 1 - 1.5 inch needles for I.M. injections, so I assume that's where I went wrong, but recreational injection differs from medical, so I came here for a more definitive answer.

Thank you!
 
You should use 1 inch needles for IM to make it through the skin and adipose layer... shooting ketamine subcutaneously as you seemed to have done is usually significantly weaker than a muscle shot.

My favorite has been IV, but you have to be fast, best done with a sitter.
 
I've read the IV rout, for some people, isn't as enjoyable as the high ends WAY to quickly. For me the ketamine high doesn't last nearly long enough already...
For an IV injection would I be better off with my 1/2 inch needles, or would I still be advised to get something slightly longer? My gf likes to IV and uses the 1/2 inch needles often, but (I love her to death) she's kind of a junkie and often times does NO research before dosing a brand new drug, so I don't really trust her judgement.
 
Needles that are an inch or an inch and a half long are fine for IM administration as opposed to needles which are half an inch long for subcutaneous administration. The needle must be thicker and longer for IM administration to ensure that the ketamine is being njected into the muscle below the subcutaneous layer.

A person who is thin, with very little fatty tissue can use the inch long needle, a heavier person may need to use the inch and a half long needle.
 
Ketamine is often administered subcutaneously in a medical settings for continuous infusion. The intramuscular route would trump the subcutaneous one for recreational purposes, as the onset is much faster. I would also assume that the bioavailability would also be higher for IM administration at 93%.
 
Yeah just half the dosage for IV and like i said make sure someone is there to cap the needle in case it kicks in faster than expected. 1/2 in. needle is perfect for that. It is a short high but much stronger so the time dilation, in my opinion, makes up for the actual duration. There's no harm in SC shots as long as you're using sterile techniques and are using lab grade ketamine. IV is probably the safest route, IM is probably the most enjoyed/longest lasting so again get the longer needles.

Like Chromophobia said, if you're skinny the 1inch is good but if you're thicker you wants a 1.5inch.
 
I personally believe if you're really thin like me, 1/2" is deep enough to hit the muscle. People have disagreed with me here though, explaining that it isn't going deep enough into the muscle for the entire contents of the shot to get absorbed in the muscle.

However, I think most people are going to prefer 1" long pins for IM use, as you're for sure hitting muscle with 1" pins.
 
Mr.Scagnattie said:
Yeah I'm pretty skinny too and I still wouldn't use anything less than 1" to IM, of course I don't IM anything so it doesn't matter but..... hah.
Click to expand...

I'm prescribed synthetic B12 and the needles that are prescribed with the B12 are 25g, 5/8" tips, which is just a little bit longer than a half inch.

I have also seen/heard of 3/4" long needle tips; I'm sure those would also work well to getting the shot into the muscle.
 
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