Injection woes: tips on NOT missing your shot?

[John_Burrows]

I feel like an idiot for even asking this, but help!!

Even though I've been at it for months and am very careful and do everything by the book, I STILL miss shots (dilaudid) more often than I'd like.

I push the needle in just a bit, pull back, and then slowly slide the needle in - when I reach the vein, the blood rushes in so I know ive registered.

Then, being as careful as possible not to slip and slide the syringe too much, I reorient my hands to get to the plunger and slowly press down.

But, despite my best efforts, I still miss a few times a week! And often it's hard to tell until after ive pumped out the entire shot and the swelling begins. My misses are usually not painful and the swelling subsides in a day or two, but the area under the skin where ive missed (about the size of 2 quarters) stays a bit "hard" and obviously that part of my arm is off limits for a week or two.

When I'm trying to have as many injection points as possible to rotate between, this really sucks! At the moment I have 3 or 4 off limits spots on my arms and it's really pissing me off.

I try so hard to register and do it right!

Anyway, if you've got any tips or tricks I'd be much obliged...

 

[fryingsquirrel]

Without seeing you shoot it's impossible to really know what the problem is, but...

Use a new point every time if you aren't already.

Stay well hydrated.

Take a hot shower or lift a few weights to make veins pop up.

Register a few times during the shot.

If most of the missed are in smaller veins try to avoid those, kind of like a baseball team shortening up the rotation for the playoffs.

Try a different syringe size or needle length.

 

[phatass]

^^yes you can register, and if it s.tarts to hurt, reggister again to make sure you're still in the vain... do you have tremblig hands, i used to at first... you probably have somme frieds who IV.. atch them carefuly

 

[John_Burrows]

Is it possible that over time and doing a lot of iv that something is going on under the skin that
makes me more prone to missing shots?

It just really confuses me. I always register but more often now the shots still miss! It's driving me crazy and def no good for my arms.

 

[Sam228]

The only thing I know to tell you are my personal experiences from 20 + years of shooting mostly dope and coke.

My veins have always been pretty good but I do remember brand new works sometimes slipping on me so, I always try to use a hole in my arm that was a pretty easy hit at one time
or another. Try to go back in the same hole from a shot that you hit, eventually you’ll get calluses where you’re injecting and as unappealing as that sounds a hole in a callused vein is pretty easy to hit

I hope that’s some kind of help

As everyone already stated, it’s not easy to talk someone through this without really seeing what we’re dealing with

 

[cr250owner]

sorry for being off topic but when you miss a shot do you waste your drug? or do you still get a high?

 

[John_Burrows]

When u miss it's gone. Makes it doubly frustrating.

I mean it's call a MISS for a reason, right? If you still got high off it people would probably care a whole lot less and just be injecting themselves any old place.

 

[phatass]

when u miss.. worse than not getting the effects, it can cause all sorts of serious infections

 

[nvan7891]

when you miss you still absorb the drug just a lot slower ie no rush. try configuring your fingers about the syringe in such a way that you don't have to move them very much or at all in-between registering and pushing. also enter the vein length wise and as flat to your skin as possible. aim to stick the needle right down the center of the vein so You have a bit more give on movement. also if your using very short needles try longer ones ie. 5 inch if your using something smaller.

 

[John_Burrows]

Yeah I guess part of the problem for me is I can't see the veins in my arm at all, so I've learned how to find them by feel (when you gently press down on the skin, you can feel the slightly spongey nature of the vein underneath).

I've gotten good at it and (for better or worse) the slightly discolored trail down my arm makes it easy to find the general area... But there is still some guesswork involved and I never know if I'm hitting the vein right in the middle, or exactly how deep it is. That's why I really have to trust that when I register, I'm in.

I already enter at a 45 or 30 degree angle, but thanks for the reminder,I'll try even more of a slope.


I have a nearly perfect success rate in my hands since I can actually see the veins there, but I can't use my hands very often since obviously the marks are much easier to see there (thank god for my hairy arms!).

I suppose the good thing about my issues is that I'm doing my best to reduce/limit the number of shots I do per day.

 

[NemBL]

What I do is find an angle that allows me to push the needle all the way up to the tip of the plastic while still being in the vein. This allows me to only worry about horizontal movement and not vertical of the needle while pushing the plunger in. I love the 5/16" length needles for this reason, I don't need as much of an angle to do it with them.