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Heroin Missed injection, arm now has a bubble that is sore... Please help.

S

sublime3694

Greenlighter
Joined
Mar 1, 2011
Messages
16
SWIM did an injection about an hour and a half ago, and immediately after missing half of the shot, his arm got a bubble in the crook of his arm that is quite large. Can anyone help him and give any advice that they can? It would be much appreciated! He is kind of worried... 8o
 
Someone please post their input on the situation? SWIM would love to hear what he should do ASAP if possible... He is extremely nervous, as this has never happened to him before! 8o
 
Sorry Bropiate, didn't see your post before I reposted. Can I have an example of a "hot compress?" I don't know exactly what you mean.
 
Please don't use swim here.

The bubble is sometimes called a bolus and is a way of injecting drugs. You'll want to apply some heat and gently massage the area to help absorb the drug. After the bubble goes away you can apply some ice and take an anti-inflammatory if you'd like if it looks like it might swell a bit.

Injecting this way increases the chance of a abscess forming so you will want to monitor for that as well as infection like usual.

Please check out the Injection; IV Complications and Information MEGATHREAD and FAQ II - show me the blood for more information on shooting drugs.

edit:
A hot compress would be an electric heating pad/hot water bottle/warm washcloth/bag of heated salt/ etc.
 
I apologize for using swim, I am brand new to Bluelight. And what do you mean by "The bubble is sometimes called a bolus and is a way of injecting drugs?"

The bubble came from missing a shot. I'm sorry if I am being somewhat oblivious.
 
One way of administering drugs by injection is subcutaneously which means under the skin (aka skin popping). The resulting bubble of drugs before they are absorbed is known medically as a 'bolus'. You will still get the drugs into your system and may even get a high. You just won't get the rush from IVing.
 
hot hot water... seriously this works... once my gal had the same problem and her arm looked bad... we kept putten hot water on it and it went down
 
Thank you amapola, your help is much appreciated. So by the sound of it, do you think I'm in any sort of trouble? The swelling is slowly starting to go down... but it is still pretty sore. I ran some warm water over it, I think that may have helped.
 
An example of a hot compress would be a towel dampened with hot water held against the skin. Or as i do it: Soak a towel in water, wring it out, put in microwave until it's hot to the touch and then hold it against the bubble for 5 mins.
You're not in any serious trouble, if it starts to swell up any more or get infected then you might need antibiotics.
 
Thank you Bropiate, I really appreciate your help.

I will be more careful next time ;)
 
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I don't think you are in any trouble at all. As I said the primary complication would be if the impurities and the cut of the drugs you shot cause an abscess to form (basically a giant pimple in your arm). The drugs will be absorbed slowly over the next few hours and the bump will go down. You may notice some mild swelling and bruising from mild tissue damage for up to 48hours as well.

If however it starts getting notably worse or continues to get worse after a day or two then you could have an infection or abscess and would likely need to have a doctor check you out. People miss shots all the time though and the chances are you'll be fine, and even if you aren't it's relatively simple to drain an abscess/treat an infection.
 
Anything from a couple of hours to a few days. It's not serious and happens often in people who have trouble hitting veins, the only time it is serious is if there was bacteria in the shot, the area can then sometimes get infected and require antibiotics to clear up but it will be swollen for over a week if it gets infected.
 
The swelling went down completely by that next morning.
Sorry for bumping this thread, just thought I would let you guys know. I appreciate all of your guys' help! Thank you so much.
 
I have something of a similar situation. Injection was about 12 hours ago, now tender at the point of injection in crook of arm and slightly above. I had an abscess once before on my foot, and while I remember the initial swelling being much more noticeable, I didn't realize something was very wrong until about a week later. Is there anything I can do besides a hot compress to help heal?
 
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Trace a circle with permanent marker around the diameter of your bump and monitor its size. If it ends up getting larger, that is an indication of infection. you can try putting topical antibiotics on, but that will only have limited effect.

As for your drug testing question, we can't help you with that as it is against BLUA. I would suggest editing that part of your post.
 
Thanks for the tips!Sorry for the non-kosher question, I wasn't aware and have edited. Thanks again
 
It should be noted that in some missed shot cases, the swelling of a lump is due in part to a histamine reaction.
 
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