Cocaine Phlegmone (Images may be upsetting to those with a weak stomach)

[crOOk]

An old buddy of mine came for a visit yesterday because he was in dire need of Amoxicillin and clavulate (antibiotics). He is well-known across the dozen or so hospitals in our city due to being a (quite talented) doctor himself, so the ER was not an option for him.

I've seen him much much worse than this, but never bothered to take pictures. While I'm only 34 most IV drug users I've known are dead by now. This one has prevailed through all the abcesses, seizures and cardiovascular incidents he suffered.

His DOC is - you probably guessed it - IV cocaine, but he will pretty much inject anything. Cough syrup, beer, water from a public toilet - fucking anything!

Needless to say he doesn't bother with washing his hands, filtering or heating his solutions. Well, a lot of the things he injects aren't even solutions to begin with. Neither in the chemical nor in a problem-solving sense.

After self-reportedly having abstained from IV cocaine (he is a notorious liar and probably kept shooting his prescribed methylphenidate) he went on a binge that lasted close to a week. This is four weeks after his girl friend (still a medical student) gave birth to his third daughter.

When I opened the medication drawer, he immediately spotted all the abusable drugs in it. Zolpidem, promethazine, tramadol and bupropion. I wasn't even aware that one could get high off bupropion, let alone inject it for a cocainesque rush (an 'almost bellringer' he said).

I'm not proud to say that I didn't have the energy to deny him those drugs and even called up my neighbour to being him some amphetamine after he tried to appeal to my conscience by saying 'If I have speed I won't need to shoot coke'. I'm not usually supportive when it comes to other peoples' drug habits, but there are times when it makes sense to fight and other times when you will just scare the person away from you. Plus, I just didn't have the energy to argue.

After he gulped down a hand full of antibiotics he immediately proceeded to crush up 1200mg bupropion. I insisted that he at least filtered that poison and handed him a couple of dozen 220nm filters.

He unveiled his arm, loaded the syringe still stuck in the peripheral veinous catheter with half the liquid and started pushing hard. The vein was obviously collapsed already since it didn't carry a single drop of blood , but he said it's still good to inject into.

Anyway, here are thee pictures. I hadn't seen a phlegmone caused by poor hygiene during IV drug abuse before. He mentioned shooting up right after changing diapers, so that's probably how he got the infection. The pictures are blurry since he was having trouble holding his arms still.

Don't start mainlining!

 

[spacejunk]

I hadn't seen a phlegmone caused by poor hygiene during IV drug abuse before. He mentioned shooting up right after changing diapers, so that's probably how he got the infection. T

Eww! Fucking hell.

This fella is a doctor?!! And he's injecting all that terrible, filthy stuff? You'd think anyone with any sort of knowledge of microbiology would be more careful.

Assuming that he's a dad (he's changing a baby?) he needs to stop being so reckless, or he won't be around much longer.

Scary stuff - i hope your friend takes better care of himself.

 

[ShootupLeah]

Agreed .. I like to boot up now and again but that?s just taking it too far

 

[Coolwhip]

Jesus fucking Christ, he doesn't have any veins left! Good to still inject into my ass. It's just a matter of time until he loses an arm if not worse, looks like he has been forcing literal sludge into his arms(not veins) with dull needles; and given his lack of hygiene I am surprised he's made it this far.


Somebody needs to show him how to freebase his shit, getting him to smoke it is probably the best outcome one could hope for.

 

[crOOk]

Somebody needs to show him how to freebase his shit, getting him to smoke it is probably the best outcome one could hope for.

Yeah he has been considering that as of late he said.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Thanks for posting this crOOk. Reminds me of a kid I met once who had a bunch of needles broken off lodged in his arms. A little different, but equally depressing.

Definitely second the freebase idea. Anything to keep him away from injection for a few years 8)

Fuuuuuck, but I can't help but feel the sad thing is that there are even worse (much worse) cases...

 

[RedRum OG]

Oh god. That poor baby

Back when I was shooting heroin, if I ever came into a large amount of money, I'd start a speedball binge. After it was over my arms were bloody, bruised, sunken and swollen in places, discolored, painful. It made me feel so disgusting, so empty, like all the horrible ways I'd abused my body were suddenly all apparent at once. Just overwhelming guilt and disgust with myself.

I hope he finds his way. Shooting pills and other unsanitary things is risky as hell. I really hope he at least sticks to IVing in a safe manner, but that doesn't seem likely. I hope he is forcefully detained in some sort of detox or treatment, before he dies, loses an arm, gets any number of cardiac infections or embolisms. Wishing you and him best of luck.

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

A new parent? personally I'd have quite the ethical dilemma as to whether to put him out of his misery, I'd probably treat him for the infection, if they were a friend, and then make quite sure they never wanted to go near the stuff again. He needs your boot up his arsehole. Because fucking mother of christ, with a newborn baby around? words would fail me, and it'd go straight to knocking the crap out of him.

 

[G_Chem]

This brings back some memories.. I remember my buddy I shot with used to have an open hole in his arm where he could somehow still use to inject almost instantly. I get sick just thinking about it but when you need your dope you could care less.

Cocaine is the worst to shoot too. It can collapse veins quick and a binge means lots of injections compared to other drugs. What's even worse is shooting crack/vinegar.. If you love someone never let them do that, my buddy's arms went to shit in less than a month with crack.

It's all about hygiene though, I used cleans as often as possible, sterile water, the whole nine yards and I have zero tracks and all my same veins. This guy in the pics will do anything to get their fix, which leads to arms like that. Unfortunately it's hard to maintain proper hygiene when in the throes of it all.

-GC