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

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AuraLee said:
I have a question but first I'll give you my tip. I inject methadone so I use winged infusion sets otherwise known as butterflies or wings. So after filtering the mix (anywhere from 5-10 x 10 ml syringes) thru a 0.2 micron filter, I attach a syringe of water to the butterfly and prime the line. (the water is tap water that I micron filter before the methadone so no methadone gets in the water.) Anyhow, I have the water syringe on the butterfly until I am 100% sure I'm in the vein. This means that if I get blood in the mix, I've only wasted water rather than the mix.

Also, because I only pierce the skin once with each needle, all the repriming of the line wastes a lot of liquid so this way I'm only wasting water. The butterfly also makes it so much easier to get the vein, jack back, change syringes etc.

Maybe I'll put my question in a new post, this is getting long...
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If you're going to inject methadone, then micron filtering is by far the way to go, so I am glad that's how you're doing it.

I have never used this winged infusion sets/butterflies before. I'm going to try to find some pictures online of them.
 
Blister and white waxy skin!

Okay so about 40 hours ago, I was whacking my methadone in-between my 2nd and 3rd toe and when I periodically jacked, it wasn't registering blood. However it didn't sting and there was no resistance so I kept going. I figured the bevel might be against the vein wall as it was a very thin vein. I must have injected about 40 or so mls of diluted methadone before I tried to get it to register and ended up pulling out too far and giving up for the time being.

Once I pulled out, I realized that I had missed as the skin was very tight etc, also there was some numbness that I had previously put down to the position I was in. By now it was 8 or 9 a.m so I lay down for a couple of hours and when I got up I had a blister about 2x3 cm on the top of my foot in-between the two toes. None of the tightness had gone down yet. That evening I lanced the blister as although I was worried about infection, I thought it would help drain the fluid that was still in my toes. At first the blister kept refilling as it drained but now, the following evening, my toes still feel just as tight.

Now what I am left with is a half deflated angry looking blister and in-between my toes looks white and waxy similar to how waterlogged skin looks. Parts of my toes are partially numb. I have been elevating the leg and keeping the foot as clean as possible.

I am considering going to a doctor but in order to tell them everything they need to know I will be putting myself at risk of having my takeaways taken away. So I'm thinking of going to a doctor I've never been to and saying I got the methadone off the street cos otherwise they might look up my prescriber.
 
I would go to a doctor if you can, but I'm not sure what else to say... I have never tried to inject in my feet before. :(

I am sorry to hear about this complication.

Have you considered trying to dilute your methadone solution, before micron filtering? That might be a good idea.

Do you have to inject in your feet? I would never willingly inject in my feet to be honest.
 
I know I've probably answered my own question above but what advice can anyone give as to home treatment, how to get medical treatment w/out giving myself up to my own doctor. Has anyone seen this before?

I know I gotta tell the truth but how do I go about it without it getting back to my methadone prescriber? I'm kinda worried cos I know how bad foot circulation is and this blister could take years to heal by the look of it! I'm already planning what kind of shoes I'll have to wear once my toe gets amputated cos thongs won't fit anymore.
 
Captain.Heroin said:
I would go to a doctor if you can, but I'm not sure what else to say... I have never tried to inject in my feet before. :(

I am sorry to hear about this complication.

Have you considered trying to dilute your methadone solution, before micron filtering? That might be a good idea.

Do you have to inject in your feet? I would never willingly inject in my feet to be honest.
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Thanks for the reply. I know, feet are bad. Ive actually had a lot of luck with them, maybe cos I inject really slowly. This is the first complication Ive had in 9 years of injecting methadone.

I already dilute the methadone, I think from now on I will be more aware of the signs of missing. the signs were there but I ignored it as it wasn't hurting. U can kind of get away with that if it's sterile solution and NOT IN THE FEET!
 
In regards to your doctor question, must you mention you were shooting specifically methadone? Maybe say any other drug to a different doctor so you dont lose your script? Or just go in there and act like you dont know what happened, I'd think doctors would be able to see if its infected/ an abcess and just treat that.
 
AuraLee said:
I know I've probably answered my own question above but what advice can anyone give as to home treatment, how to get medical treatment w/out giving myself up to my own doctor. Has anyone seen this before?

I know I gotta tell the truth but how do I go about it without it getting back to my methadone prescriber? I'm kinda worried cos I know how bad foot circulation is and this blister could take years to heal by the look of it! I'm already planning what kind of shoes I'll have to wear once my toe gets amputated cos thongs won't fit anymore.
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You can say a spider bit you; there are reasons people get abscesses other than IVing.

An abscess (Latin: abscessus) is a collection of pus (dead neutrophils) that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue in which the pus resides on the basis of an infectious process (usually caused by bacteria or parasites) or other foreign materials (e.g., splinters, bullet wounds, or injecting needles). It is a defensive reaction of the tissue to prevent the spread of infectious materials to other parts of the body.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscess


You don't have to admit to having IV'd anything. If a doctor assumes something they aren't allowed to go tell people things. At least this is the way it is in the United States, privacy laws here are very strict, and if it did "get back" to your methadone doctor you could sue the first doctor. And you would pretty much win.

Finally, I don't know how the laws about medical privacy work in Australia, so I'm sorry, but someone from Australia would have to fill you in there. I would sincerely hope that it wouldn't be any different over there in Australia.

AuraLee said:
Thanks for the reply. I know, feet are bad. Ive actually had a lot of luck with them, maybe cos I inject really slowly. This is the first complication Ive had in 9 years of injecting methadone.

I already dilute the methadone, I think from now on I will be more aware of the signs of missing. the signs were there but I ignored it as it wasn't hurting. U can kind of get away with that if it's sterile solution and NOT IN THE FEET!
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Interesting! You have been doing this for 9 years; have you been using micron filters the whole time?

Georgie25 said:
In regards to your doctor question, must you mention you were shooting specifically methadone? Maybe say any other drug to a different doctor so you dont lose your script? Or just go in there and act like you dont know what happened, I'd think doctors would be able to see if its infected/ an abcess and just treat that.
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If you were going to come clean you can always say it was a street drug like heroin, so that it doesn't indicate you were injecting a pharmaceutical.
 
Thank you both for your replies: I thought of the spider bite idea but the thing is if I don't fess up to what it is, I won't get the right treatment, whatever that is. If it was an Abcess then I probably could not say how I got it but the thing is it's not pussy stuff inside. It's like a sticky straw colour liquid. I just googled it and it might be lymph.

The reason I feel like I need to mention it's methadone is cos the whole problem is that I whacked 40-50 mls of the stuff & missed! And it's trapped in there not draining which is turning my toes numb and I think the pressure is also killing off the flesh. So I kinda need to mention that to get the right treatment.

I massaged the toes a bit and more fluid is leaking out. If I can get the fluid to go down I might tell the doc it's an infected blister n get it treated that way....
 
La Bruna said:
I need help... I had taken about 4mg of Suboxone this morning and then got a half g of dope a couple hours ago and shot like a point.... I think I feel something, I mean I definitely feel different than i did before I shot the dope but what I almost feel like I missed my shot... I did draw back blood in the syringe and it didn't hurt but then when I finished my shot and drew that small amount of blood back to check and see if i missed no blood went in... I don't see how I could have missed since it didnt hurt when I shot and there is no sign of it ( a bump, redness, or hurting) unless I poked al the way through the vein and missed the shot under my vein rather than above... my question is wouldn't it still hurt? it was about 40 or 50 au of fluid so I dont see how that wouldn't have hurt... Please help me in an explaination or advice on what this sounds like.... ugh... I shoot dope after a couple days of being on suboxone and this shit happens, I'm already sick of it again...
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yea 4mg of suboxone is a lot. imo, 2mg is the most you can take, and still get high. but even then i think you need to wait a few hours.

The most important indicator, you got to be in some sort of WD. I think its pretty much a guarantee, ypu will get high, if your in WD
 
AuraLee said:
Thank you both for your replies: I thought of the spider bite idea but the thing is if I don't fess up to what it is, I won't get the right treatment, whatever that is. If it was an Abcess then I probably could not say how I got it but the thing is it's not pussy stuff inside. It's like a sticky straw colour liquid. I just googled it and it might be lymph.

The reason I feel like I need to mention it's methadone is cos the whole problem is that I whacked 40-50 mls of the stuff & missed! And it's trapped in there not draining which is turning my toes numb and I think the pressure is also killing off the flesh. So I kinda need to mention that to get the right treatment.

I massaged the toes a bit and more fluid is leaking out. If I can get the fluid to go down I might tell the doc it's an infected blister n get it treated that way....
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Well best of luck! I would also use triple antibiotic ointment, that might help.

I am sure you will get the treatment you need no matter what you tell them.
 
I've also wondered what I would do if I had to see a doctor for an injection related issue, since I don't want to risk "getting busted" by my own doc.

I figure a good option would be to visit a free clinic. Just about any major city has them and part of their virtue is they treat anyone, no questions asked. Plus, my guess is that any injection related problem is likely to only be one visit anyway.
 
Reply to post #'s 557-560

When I was still using (stopped a little over 2 years ago), I would almost always be sick in the morning until after a long search I found some tickets. By the time I finally got some I was dehydrated, and that makes it 10 times harder to do it correctly.

Tip #4 Make sure to drink enough water (not a bunch of soda) each day, so you aren't dehydrated by the time you have your shot ready to go.

Luckily in the over 2 years of daily use, I never got an abscess or infection (skin or any other type).

Tip# 5 Be as clean / sterile as possible with everything you use and do. I always made sure to use rubbing alcohol and sterile rigs. IPA is much cheaper than an ER visit for sepsis.

Tip # 6 If you buy a hypodermic syringe from any person other than a pharmacist at a pharmacy, make absolutely sure that it has not been previously used.
 
AuraLee said:
Thank you both for your replies: I thought of the spider bite idea but the thing is if I don't fess up to what it is, I won't get the right treatment, whatever that is. If it was an Abcess then I probably could not say how I got it but the thing is it's not pussy stuff inside. It's like a sticky straw colour liquid. I just googled it and it might be lymph.

The reason I feel like I need to mention it's methadone is cos the whole problem is that I whacked 40-50 mls of the stuff & missed! And it's trapped in there not draining which is turning my toes numb and I think the pressure is also killing off the flesh. So I kinda need to mention that to get the right treatment.

I massaged the toes a bit and more fluid is leaking out. If I can get the fluid to go down I might tell the doc it's an infected blister n get it treated that way....
Click to expand...

If you're in Australia, just rock up to the Emergency Department at your local hospital. If you have a private prescriber, the hospital will not notify them. If you go to a government clinic which is connected with a hospital (eg in the same discitrct), then your prescriber may find out.
 
Flexistentialist said:
If you're in Australia, just rock up to the Emergency Department at your local hospital. If you have a private prescriber, the hospital will not notify them. If you go to a government clinic which is connected with a hospital (eg in the same discitrct), then your prescriber may find out.
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That would be a great idea except I'm a nurse so I'd have to go to a hospital on the other side of town. Once I went to the ED for a really bad dirty hit (back when I used 0.45 micron filters I used to get dirties between once a week to once a month, that stopped when I got onto the 0.2s as they are the only ones that catch all/most bacteria.) The next time I went to my "counsellor" appt at the public program, she tells me someone dobbed me in for whacking my takeaways and she put me back to daily pickup (from 4 TAs a week!) No one else knew that I whack my done as I was a solitary person so idk, I know there are privacy laws but how do I prove who told them. A few days later I went straight onto the private program n got my 4 TAs back immediately.

They have a free STD clinic in town. I wish they had something anonymous like that I could go to. See at my next appointment I'll be on 6 TAs a week n I don't want to stuff that up!
 
re: AuraLee

I would rather loose my take homes than my foot. Just sayin'...

"The reason I feel like I need to mention it's methadone is cos the whole problem is that I whacked 40-50 mls of the stuff & missed! And it's trapped in there not draining which is turning my toes numb and I think the pressure is also killing off the flesh. So I kinda need to mention that to get the right treatment." said AuraLee.
 
xxallgoodxx said:
I would rather loose my take homes than my foot. Just sayin'...
[/I]
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Good point, I could probably sacrifice a toe for the takeaways tho.... jk

I'm going to go to a doctor when day breaks. Now that I've written it I've got to do it. It kind of looks like a spider bite now - the blister is turning darker and I hope to god it is blood not necrotic tissue.

I originally popped the blister to help let out some of the trapped liquid (40 odd mls was injected) but I think it might have let in an infection. Even though I have regularly washed my feet and not let that foot touch the ground, tried to keep it as clean as possible.

To anyone reading this, DO NOT POP THE BLISTER! I will report back later with the results of the doctor visit.
 
IV help please

Hello, I've been IVing for around a month now and have only been hitting the crooks (inside of elbow). Can someone please share their vein rotation with me? I have no idea which ones to hit - I don't wanna shoot into an artery, and I wanna start using other veins so the ones in my crook don't go away. I've seen that vein map but it doesn't really help me too much. Thanks alot :)
 
Went to the doc, I'm a bit torn up about the attitude he gave me but u could tell he had no reference point by which to understand. He basically just lectured me, even asked me for my hand and tapped it n said 'naughty girl'. He gave me some oral antibiotics n said come back in 3 days. This is after he freaked me out saying I could lose my foot n I might have to go to hospital. It's turned necrotic but yet he wants to wait? He promised twice that he wouldn't tell my prescriber. He said if I do it again he will. Lol as if I'd go back there if that happened.

Going in I figured I'm going to be totally honest n if he tells my doctor then maybe that's what I need. I straight up told my last prescriber I was injecting my TAs cos I knew he wouldn't do anything. He prescribed me saline ampoules for the needle fixation n sent me to counseling but I kept my TAs! Pity he retired. The doc I see now I really want 2 tell him cos he truly understands the issues n I want 2 see if he can help me. But I can't risk my TAs. Bcos of course the doc has to cover his ass no matter how much they understand that won't stop me or help me.

I know in the end I personally have 2 make the choice to stop. But how do u make that choice when u have so much invested in the rituals, the needle fixation n it serves so many purposes. How do u stop when u don't want to but yet u cant move on with life until u detach from this habit. I have been doing this for almost a decade and day by day more and more layers of habit and ritual are piling on; I'm too scared what will hold the cravings at bay if I stop having what I see as a habit that is much less harmless than any alternative.

Hitting up methadone is my only vice, I don't even smoke cigarettes or drink let alone take any other licit or illicit drugs.
 
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