IV Good Thing, IV Bad Thing, Discuss

[megasyn]

i was born in tulsa oklahoma in 1943. when i was sixteen i started shooting amphetamine. i shot with my friends everyday for three years and then left town but i've gone back through the years. once the needle goes in it never comes out. Larry Clark

 

[Shambles]

Is it the massive relief you get when you finally hit the spot that you are enjoying? It's like stress stress stress annoyance stress, hit the target, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. It's almost as if making the administration of the drug more complex and aggravating adds to the anticipation and satisfaction when you do finally succeed.

Yes. That's very much the case. The itch that can never - barely ever given enough abuse - be scratched. Along with the (eventual *fingers crossed* payoff ). See below...

Coke hcl. that is all.

I believe the term is "lol"? :D

Shooting coke in any way shape or form is a fool's errand and no mistake. You haven't lived til you've got a few grammes of rock in hand/transeferred in stages to the spoon/taken 12+ hours to get the first gramme in and then carried on despite several good friends (and fellow smack/crackheads) wincing at the state of you and begging you to just hit the pipe instead

 

[DS_]

'Cause I've watched friends go from being pessimists to work at home archaeologists
they dig skin deep, they work every day
I'm burying their arms for a vein or two that maybe they forgot.

It's certainly bloody enjoyable. Technique is hard to get down at the beginning but after some fiddling and finally sinking the plunger down it's unbeatable imo.

 

[Albion]

Since being given a modspot to oversee everything in Other Drugs, I've gone right off the thought of ever IVing anything for recreation. Would probably IM ket/mxe if it weren't for the fact that it'd give needle tips a friendly face to stick into my veins forever after. Main deterrent is the IV complications megathread

Lil taster.


I know I don't know what I'm missing, tis why I'm intentionally missing it

 

[watsons torment]

i've IM'ed ketamine/morphine and IV'ed smack and i'd like to IV speed/coke/mdma just to see what it feels like but... fuck it. some things are best left in the unknown & for me it's just too much hassle, although i'm guessing it becomes less hassle as you gain proficiency. which is exactly why I won't be doing it again

 

[badandwicked]

imo IV - bad thing. Like everything in life after experiencing it its very hard to settle for second best which is what makes it so compulsive, and lets face it our veins weren't designed to be poked & prodded.

 

[Albion]

Nor were our noses designed to be used as intoxicant vacuum cleaners. Or lungs designed to be deliberately used as a means of inhaling concentrated smoke, cept for that pesky cough reflex that we eventually learn to override through repeated learning...Same goes with needles. The thought of piercing your skin with something sharp is intuitively skin-crawling unless you either happen to like that sort of thing anyway, or you learn to crave the sensation of IVing through IV substance abuse.

Drugs are wrong, mm'kay? 8) Well not wrong, just innocent molecules that we betray our bodily functions to. Anyone ever found a drug with nutritional value?

 

[watsons torment]

Anyone ever found a drug with nutritional value?

cubensis mushrooms, low in fat, high in protein, packed with vitamins/minerals

make sure its 1 of your 5 a day

 

[Allein]

^^^

Since I am a self confessed pedant I have to point out that neither Psilocybin or any of its associates have any nutritional value and they are the drugs of which we speak, the fact that you might obtain the drug infused by nature into a mushroom is neither here nor there, I'm sure poppies are probably OK t eat as well.

 

[Cornishman]

The coca plant?

Ganja?

 

[Albion]

What are the specs on weed's nutritional GDA? Does it vary from strain to strain?

There must be data on the webs.

 

[watsons torment]

^^^

Since I am a self confessed pedant I have to point out that neither Psilocybin or any of its associates have any nutritional value and they are the drugs of which we speak, the fact that you might obtain the drug infused by nature into a mushroom is neither here nor there, I'm sure poppies are probably OK t eat as well.

Pfffft.

cubensis mushrooms = drugs, shove your pedantry up your arse

 

[Shambles]

i've IM'ed ketamine/morphine and IV'ed smack and i'd like to IV speed/coke/mdma just to see what it feels like but... fuck it. some things are best left in the unknown & for me it's just too much hassle, although i'm guessing it becomes less hassle as you gain proficiency. which is exactly why I won't be doing it again

There's a bit of a bell-curve thang going on on the proficiency/experience graph, Watson. Those early days when you learn your craft tend to put a fair few of the prime (ie dead easy to find and hit) veins through the wringer a bit. Then there's the Golden Age when you know what you're doing and it's all so damn easy - anything and everything goes into the barrel and it seems the veinglory will never end. Then you hit the Excessively Experienced Era when you're a total slave to the needle but have likely had a wee bit too much fun and usable veins are in short supply (stims are by far the worst culprits for causing this) and are back to hit and hope like the early days only without much hope left cos it ran off with yer veins

In all honesty, atm is right about the "no regrets" thing. I wouldn't trade in those experiences for an armful of fresh veins... but if I were to start over with a full set of veins, no experience, but a mysteriously prescient hindsight of what stage I'd be at several years down the line I'd've thought a lot harder before taking the plunge(r). I'd learn all I could about technique, safety and ways to minimise damage both from reading up and talking to longterm IV users. And probably still do it cos that was always gonna be my path... but maybe do it armed with considerably more due care and attention. I'd also skip most of those insanely extended IV stim binges - especially those involving shonky RC stims that were all fiend and no joy (yes naptherone I am looking at you ). Probably stick to smoking crack rather than injecting it too cos those sessions definitely did a helluva lotta damage.

IV drugs are such a treat they should be treated as such (and veins to be treated with the utmost respect at all times cos they don't grow back ) or just skipped altogether would probably be my current conclusion to the question I asked in the OP.

 

[Mr Smokes Blunts.]

Since being given a modspot to oversee everything in Other Drugs, I've gone right off the thought of ever IVing anything for recreation. Would probably IM ket/mxe if it weren't for the fact that it'd give needle tips a friendly face to stick into my veins forever after. Main deterrent is the IV complications megathread

Lil taster.


I know I don't know what I'm missing, tis why I'm intentionally missing it

Did you see that Panorama on where are surgical instruments are made? That needle after the 6th use is the least of your worries if they're not UK made lol. They were making it in tiny workshops in Pakistan with laves (sp?) that were worse quality than those shit ones you get at school, and other crappy tools, then throwing them into a huge pile next to an open sewer with donkeys and shit walking around lol. When they inspected the tools the surgeons were using they were absolutely fucked, and obviously if they're cutting up one of your organs with those things the slightest deviation is going to make a big difference.

 

[Albion]

armed with considerably more due care and attention.

shonky RC stims that were all fiend and no joy (yes naptherone I am looking at you)

Is that Shambles spelling for IV Naphyrone? Cancer in a barrel? 8(

 

[Mr Smokes Blunts.]

There's a bit of a bell-curve thang going on on the proficiency/experience graph, Watson. Those early days when you learn your craft tend to put a fair few of the prime (ie dead easy to find and hit) veins through the wringer a bit. Then there's the Golden Age when you know what you're doing and it's all so damn easy - anything and everything goes into the barrel and it seems the veinglory will never end. Then you hit the Excessively Experienced Era when you're a total slave to the needle but have likely had a wee bit too much fun and usable veins are in short supply (stims are by far the worst culprits for causing this) and are back to hit and hope like the early days only without much hope left cos it ran off with yer veins

In all honesty, atm is right about the "no regrets" thing. I wouldn't trade in those experiences for an armful of fresh veins... but if I were to start over with a full set of veins, no experience, but a mysteriously prescient hindsight of what stage I'd be at several years down the line I'd've thought a lot harder before taking the plunge(r). I'd learn all I could about technique, safety and ways to minimise damage both from reading up and talking to longterm IV users. And probably still do it cos that was always gonna be my path... but maybe do it armed with considerably more due care and attention. I'd also skip most of those insanely extended IV stim binges - especially those involving shonky RC stims that were all fiend and no joy (yes naptherone I am looking at you ). Probably stick to smoking crack rather than injecting it too cos those sessions definitely did a helluva lotta damage.

IV drugs are such a treat they should be treated as such (and veins to be treated with the utmost respect at all times cos they don't grow back ) or just skipped altogether would probably be my current conclusion to the question I asked in the OP.

What actually happens to the veins shambles? Do they just rescede into your arms? Because I assume blood is still getting down to your fingers somehow?! Why don't they repair and come back up?

I'm so glad I have bad veins already. Since I started taking gingko bilboa and exercising though my vascularity has improved immensely. I could probably shoot something without tying off now.

 

[Albion]

Effie says I have excellent veins.

 

[Myshkin]

You're so vein.

 

[Shambles]

Is that Shambles spelling for IV Naphyrone? Cancer in a barrel? 8(

Doh! Yeah. Thought that spelling looked a bit wonky

Missed the stuff about it being a cancery thang. Must've only got a mention whilst I was on the last extended leave cos I don't recall seeing owt about health concerns above and beyond it being a shit stim at the time. Still not looked into it since I've been back either. Bit late to be a-fretted of such things now really

 

[Shambles]

What actually happens to the veins shambles? Do they just rescede into your arms? Because I assume blood is still getting down to your fingers somehow?! Why don't they repair and come back up?

Depends what damage has been done really. If they collapse then they're permafucked as far as I know. Mostly they just hide deep down and don't come out to play anymore. Someone with more accurate medical knowledge could no doubt correct me and explain better but, from my perspective, the ones that start off big and healthy seen to shrivel and die, the slack is taken up by smaller (but still decent enough sized) veins who in turn get battered, shrivel, die and the slack is taken up by even smaller veins... and so on.

Obviously no limbs have dropped off yet so blood is still circulating but I have more or less permanent pins and needles () in the extremeties, feet in particular but also hands are permanently cold too. Circulation still circulates but barely enough to keep stuff working, I'd surmise. I always had atrocious veins so was never a good candidate for longterm IV use of owt but I have no visible veins left in arms or legs anymore. All there is to see - even with a tourniquet - are small and very wiggly capillary-size veins. There are still larger ones deep down but are all heavily scarred now which makes hitting them not only very difficult but also unbelievably painful. Dunno why (thought scar tissue didn't hurt?) but the pain is too extreme to put a needle anywhere near 'em these days. If I ever need to have blood tests done it takes the doc/nurse/phlebotomist literally hours of attempts. Last time was about two years back, took over two hours and she got maybe 1ml of blood in the sample and about a pint dribbled and dripped anywhere but the sample pot

Have heard that exercise is good to beef up blood vessels and really should make the effort... Tis exercise though innit 8)

Never heard of gingko in relation to vein health - may have to look into that. Especially if it doesn't require exercise to have an effect :D