Injection; IV Complications and Information MEGATHREAD and FAQ II - show me the blood

[caseface99]

As a rule of thumb, heat speeds up bacterial replication and growth so ur probably right to keep it in the fridge or a cool dry place. Some bacteria like oxygen too so if possible try to remove as much air from the storage container. Obviously if it's a glass bottle u can't but if you fill up a portable container like a syringe or small bottle, it might be something to consider.

Personally, I sterilize my water by putting it through a 0.2 micron filter right before I use it and straight into a syringe. They have smaller filters too, if it's a 1 ml needle kind of shot.

Do you rely on chemists or do you have a needle exchange handy? Sterile water is free where I live.

Where do others get bacteriostatic water from as I haven't seen that?

You can buy your own benzyl alcohol and mix it into a solution in parts that make the water .9% benzyl alcohol, or you can purchase it pre made. Your best bet will be online - sourcing of which is aloud here since it isn't a drug.

Browse and post in the IV Product Review Thread.

Wow that's heaps cool. I don't know if 0.45 is big enough for particles, depends on the particles and how much ur putting through. Once they block u can keep pushing through but only drip drip drip for another ml or two, I find. I don't filter pills but sometimes I will filter blood out of a methadone shot if more than a couple of hours has passed and I need bigger than 0.45 for that (I use a 5.0). I mean any size filter will filter anything but u might only get a ml through!

It may have actually been .5 that it started at, i don't remember it was long ago. I'll try and find some again and post the link.

The closest thing i can find is this, so at least its proof that such things are made. I can't for the life of me find one that goes down to .2 though, maybe there's a way of connecting this one to a .2? That would be absolutely perfect!

 

[Captain.Heroin]

You can get bacteriostatic water here.

 

[AuraLee]

Re bacteriostatic water

Just some info:

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/fdaDrugXsl.cfm?id=1165&type=display
Although adverse reactions to intravenous, intramuscular or subcutaneous injection of 0.9% benzyl alcohol are not known to occur in man, experimental studies of small volume parenteral preparations containing 0.9% benzyl alcohol in several species of animals have indicated that an estimated intravenous dose up to 30 mL may be safely given to an adult without toxic effects.

 

[AuraLee]

The closest thing i can find is this, ...........maybe there's a way of connecting this one to a .2? That would be absolutely perfect!

You'd probably be able to connect 2 or 3 filters piggyback to one another seeing as it's got a female and a male connection. Never tried it, wonder if air would get in or some other obstacle to doing it like that. Hmmmm.....* Goes off to try*

 

[caseface99]

You'd probably be able to connect 2 or 3 filters piggyback to one another seeing as it's got a female and a male connection. Never tried it, wonder if air would get in or some other obstacle to doing it like that. Hmmmm.....* Goes off to try*

On closer inspection i think that's exactly what's in the link i posted haha. I definitely think what i was originally talking about that i saw a year or so ago online was legitimately one "wheel" with different stages inside it. I could be wrong though idk it was so long ago.

 

[John_Burrows]

Thanks for the info about the water... Yes our needle ex gives out water, but only enough for a few shots per visit (it's funny, they throw needles at you like they get paid for each one they hand out, but ask for extra water and they balk big time).

So getting or making my own is going to be the only solution (heh heh, get it? Solution? har!)

So, basically, 1 percent of my water should be benzyl alcohol. Measuring that seems like an impossible nightmare, unless anyone has a clever trick or two?

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Thanks for the info about the water... Yes our needle ex gives out water, but only enough for a few shots per visit (it's funny, they throw needles at you like they get paid for each one they hand out, but ask for extra water and they balk big time).

So getting or making my own is going to be the only solution (heh heh, get it? Solution? har!)

So, basically, 1 percent of my water should be benzyl alcohol. Measuring that seems like an impossible nightmare, unless anyone has a clever trick or two?

You can get sterile water, or sterilize water, and then add in benzyl alcohol. You only need to add in 25 to 30 units of benzyl alcohol for every 30 mL (30 ml = 30 cc = 3000 units).

 

[darkvein]

just so yall know, the swelling has gone down considerably, almost completely, and my arm feels fine. I guess it was just a histamine reaction

 

[Zubi420]

Didn't loosen the belt

I forget to loosen the belt i was using as a tourniquet when shooting up. The whole spot turned red maybe within 1.5 inches diameter of the shot, and a bump formed at the shot. Now i can't seem to find the part of the vein upwards of the shot (closer to the heart. Did i do serious damage or collapse my vein? What s the best thing for me to do?

 

[OEandricearoni]

You probably did some damage to your vein, but your most likely going to be fine. Just don't try to shoot in that vein anytime soon, give it time to heal.

 

[Zubi420]

do you think ill ever be able to use that vein again? or is it gone for good?

 

[jamesBrown]

i dont know man.....i shot up drugs, mostly heroin and oxy, for years, several times a day, and not once did i loosen up my shot. And also....never did I have any problems with my shot.......in fact, it wasnt until I became a member of BL that I heard about the concept that you need to loosen the tourniquet before you inject.
But for some reason, after thousands and thousands of inections, my veins are fine...checked by several doctors even. So I find it hard to believe that I am just an extremely lucky individual who just happened to break the rules surrounding IV injections thousands of times, with no consequences.

I think its just rather a safer method to loosen the tournequet rather than a necessary method. If you choose not to....you should be fine.

But as far as your redness etc. goes......I would say you probably missed the shot, or atleast part of it......or possibly had a histamine reaction, possibly by itself or along with the missed shot. Either way, I injected WAAAAAY to many shots without loosening the tournequet without having any complications for me to believe all this "you HAVE TO loosen the shot" mumbo jumbo. I believe its probably safer, but not necessary.

<Mod note- The reason we say to loosen the tourniquet is to prevent small blood vessels from rupturing. The chance of a large vein from rupturing may be low, but keeping those small ones is crucial to keeping your body healthy!>

 

[Kurrupt]

99% you're fine, don't make it a habit..

 

[OEandricearoni]

It probably isn't permanently damaged, so you should be able to use it again eventually. Just don't use it again anytime soon, you need to give it time to heal. If you do try to use it again soon it probably will collapse. Just shoot up somewhere else for a little bit, idk how long. Just until it seems to be fully healed. I wouldn't worry about it too much, I've done the same thing before. I don't do H anymore but my vein that i used to shoot it into is fine, and i put that thing through hell.

 

[Zubi420]

thanks guys. hopefully it will get better, ive been lifting weights to keep em in good shape for now and in the future.

 

[caseface99]

We have a IV complications megathread, this may get merged into there.

Anyway, I've done this before. Its just blood leaking out of the vein into your arm because the tourniquet is blocking its path to go anywhere else. It happened to me a bunch of times. Luckily blood is absolutely one substance your body is capable of breaking down, the lump will be gone tomorrow. It's just a bunch of clotted blood IMO/IME.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Yeah, I'll merge this into the IV Complications Mega Thread.

If the tourniquet was too tight, and/or you were injecting too much solution, this can definitely cause the vein to burst, or even for some of the solution to leak out. This definitely is not good.

It seems to me though that most people who do this don't lose their vein they do this in the first time they do it; I would just not make a habit out of it.

If you are lifting weights, you shouldn't need a tourniquet to be honest, unless you just started and haven't gotten too much accomplished with lifting yet. I would try IVing without a tourniquet next time, IF there's a next time. Good luck!

-> IV Complications Mega Thread

 

[ektamine]

...

If you are lifting weights, you shouldn't need a tourniquet to be honest, unless you just started and haven't gotten too much accomplished with lifting yet. I would try IVing without a tourniquet next time, IF there's a next time. Good luck!

...

On the subject of lifting weights / cultivating good veins, what specific exercises would you recommend to best supplement healthy veins in the (fore)arms? Assuming this would be just part of an existing, wider, lifting and exercise regimen.

 

[Pegasus]

i dont know man.....i shot up drugs, mostly heroin and oxy, for years, several times a day, and not once did i loosen up my shot. And also....never did I have any problems with my shot.......in fact, it wasnt until I became a member of BL that I heard about the concept that you need to loosen the tourniquet before you inject.
But for some reason, after thousands and thousands of inections, my veins are fine...checked by several doctors even. So I find it hard to believe that I am just an extremely lucky individual who just happened to break the rules surrounding IV injections thousands of times, with no consequences.

I think its just rather a safer method to loosen the tournequet rather than a necessary method. If you choose not to....you should be fine.

But as far as your redness etc. goes......I would say you probably missed the shot, or atleast part of it......or possibly had a histamine reaction, possibly by itself or along with the missed shot. Either way, I injected WAAAAAY to many shots without loosening the tournequet without having any complications for me to believe all this "you HAVE TO loosen the shot" mumbo jumbo. I believe its probably safer, but not necessary.

It's not that black and white... I wish you wouldn't bad mouth HR practices because it isn't just about living or dying, or getting horrific injuries. The little capillaries that are mainly being ruptured by forcing up the pressure in your veins are certainly best kept intact, for example, and we say to release the tourniquet for that reason.

We're not going to try to get drug users to do a bunch of tedious stuff that complicates things needlessly. We're here to prevent all forms of harm, not just life and death. A drug user can be a healthy person, even though the two often don't go hand in hand. I don't IV but on extremely rare circumstances, but when I do, I release the tourniquet because I worked hard as hell to get the veins that I have and wish to keep all of them intact.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

On the subject of lifting weights / cultivating good veins, what specific exercises would you recommend to best supplement healthy veins in the (fore)arms? Assuming this would be just part of an existing, wider, lifting and exercise regimen.

Anything that utilizes the upper body. It's ideal to work out your entire body, so that everything can improve together. Chest presses, rows, arm extensions, shoulder presses, and curls (machines and loose weights work the same way, though loose weights also help you build dexterity) are probably the best thing to do. ​