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Heroin Rotating Sites

Dr Pepper

Dr Pepper

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
458
Location
tx
Just wanted to call into question a little bit of common advice. Everyone says "rotate sites" or you will lose veins, etc.

Well i'm a male and have good veins, especially my left crook on the elbow. Never have lost a vein in however many yrs iv'ing (a couple at least) I can hit this particular vein 95% of the time, I have missed before but out of hastiness and the practice of not registering (so confident I was in that I didn't register feel the need to register and likely ended into scar tissue, which).

Anyways, sometimes I think of the advice i always see on HR; rotate sites. Well whenever I change sites, or try to hit the other arm, i often end up missing. None of my other veins are as massive as this one, and i may miss 1/4 of the time and sometimes more on these other sites.

Wouldnt it be better to keep going to for the same spot if you don't miss? Obviously giving it a break now and then, using fresh sharps, etc. But wouldnt it be less harmful to keep hitting ole' faithful, instead of screwing around more difficult and less practiced spots and risk a miss? I doubt this large vein would ever collapse unless I missed badly and screwed up the tissue beyond repair, or started IV'ing 2+ times a day with crappy rigs. Anyways, just curious about this? Obviously doesn't apply to everybody. If you are on a coke binge, perhaps not a bad idea.. but if its only like once a day?
 
what you're basically asking is does missing outweigh the risk not rotating. to be honest i'm not really sure. i'm gonna go ahead and say you should be rotating no matter what. lol you're lucky man i have NEVER been able to properly get a shot in in the crook of either arm, it fucking sucks. it might be because i always use 8mm short tips and i always get the whole needle so the plastic is against the skin so that when i push the plunger down its impossiblee to miss when i know i've registered. but yeah keep rotating and just try to become more skillful at hitting other spots. i've had no choice BUT to learn how to be creative and use almost anything i can find, except the femoral and dick veins lol.
 
Rotating is for the intention to prevent infection.

Shooting in the same spot is like scratching a sore... It's not going to heal, and it is going to get infected...

Plus, it prevents scarring... scarring is quite a noticeable thing in public.

Smaller and sharper needles prevent scarring to the most extent, but vein rotating prevents it even more...

While not understood by most, it is in fact a healthy practice... one that will keep you shooting for years to come...
 
Dude, your other post is about hitting a tendon, now you're asking about rotating sites?

If you are going to inject you need to read ALL the literature associated with harm reduction and heroin use. There is plenty of it, and you obviously have not consulted it all, and with 461 posts that is pretty surprising.

It's good that you're asking questions but you need to be fully informed. There are plenty of threads to do that. They include which veins you can rotate to (so you never hit an artery), proper procedure, sterility procedure, microfiltering and making sterile injection solution.

When I used needles I was dumb. I haven't for years, but you need to know this stuff man. It will prevent track marks, infections, and help preserve your life. You can abuse heroin safely if you do it right, the problems are usually social and monetary effects, as well as those WDs.

A thread of Texans so far, I am assuming we are talking black tar, no?
 
lolwhatzdrugs said:
Dude, your other post is about hitting a tendon, now you're asking about rotating sites?

If you are going to inject you need to read ALL the literature associated with harm reduction and heroin use. There is plenty of it, and you obviously have not consulted it all, and with 461 posts that is pretty surprising.

It's good that you're asking questions but you need to be fully informed. There are plenty of threads to do that. They include which veins you can rotate to (so you never hit an artery), proper procedure, sterility procedure, microfiltering and making sterile injection solution.

When I used needles I was dumb. I haven't for years, but you need to know this stuff man. It will prevent track marks, infections, and help preserve your life. You can abuse heroin safely if you do it right, the problems are usually social and monetary effects, as well as those WDs.

A thread of Texans so far, I am assuming we are talking black tar, no?
Click to expand...

I would be.
 
I'm exactly like you, in terms of having one awesome vein that's super easy to hit, and when I've rotated I'll miss. For some reason, despite being right handed, I cannot hit my left arm. Go figure.

Now, I IVd for nearly 6 years. In that time, I didn't rotate my sites very much; unless I had a big bender and was shooting upwards of twice a day. Did it cause a problem?

You bet it did! That awesome vein in the crook of my elbow is now quite hard and thick. I assume it's scar-tissue from the constant abuse it went through -- nowadays I don't like to go there, as it requires more pressure to go through with a brand-new fit (this increases my chance of going all the way through, or missing entirely), and it hurts like hell to deal with now.

Of course, that's much of a muchness for me; I don't shoot (or really take) drugs anymore. But there is a reason that "ROTATE YOUR SITES" is constantly drummed into people here; even when there aren't large complications (which there still is a risk of!), the best reason to do so is this:

Why fuck up your one awesome vein?

:)


----
EDIT:

Shit, I forgot -- that's the one site on my entire body where I have "track marks". They're faint, as I've not shot anything in over a year, but they are there as little scars. Thought I'd mention it.
 
C_Tripper said:
I'm exactly like you, in terms of having one awesome vein that's super easy to hit, and when I've rotated I'll miss. For some reason, despite being right handed, I cannot hit my left arm. Go figure.

Now, I IVd for nearly 6 years. In that time, I didn't rotate my sites very much; unless I had a big bender and was shooting upwards of twice a day. Did it cause a problem?

You bet it did! That awesome vein in the crook of my elbow is now quite hard and thick. I assume it's scar-tissue from the constant abuse it went through -- nowadays I don't like to go there, as it requires more pressure to go through with a brand-new fit (this increases my chance of going all the way through, or missing entirely), and it hurts like hell to deal with now.

Of course, that's much of a muchness for me; I don't shoot (or really take) drugs anymore. But there is a reason that "ROTATE YOUR SITES" is constantly drummed into people here; even when there aren't large complications (which there still is a risk of!), the best reason to do so is this:

Why fuck up your one awesome vein?

:)


----
EDIT:

Shit, I forgot -- that's the one site on my entire body where I have "track marks". They're faint, as I've not shot anything in over a year, but they are there as little scars. Thought I'd mention it.
Click to expand...

Exactly the point.
My right crook is nasty looking too, well there's a barely visible scar, but you can tell it's harder than my left crook vein, or your Medial Cubital vein (or Cubital fossa)
 
Yeah that tendon miss was a rare thing, and it was from trying a new spot, go figure. Havent been shooting lately, just was wondering if other people had similar experiences.
 
It is good to learn how to hit other veins while you still have an old faithful... a big part of the reason you rotate sites is that constantly pounding the same vein does a lot of damage and it will collapse much faster. If you never learn how to hit another one of your veins properly, then one day when your "go-to" spot doesn't work anymore, you're going to be in trouble. Better to learn now, where if you really need to, you know you can always hit in your normal spot.
 
damn Mr.S u keep readin my mind. that was going to be my point. i had such a hard time switching away from my hand to anywhere else once it started giving me trouble. it was like i had never really shot up before, even tho i had done it a million times in the back of my hand.

then once i went to go back to using that sweet spot on my hand, it was super easy to blow thru it or miss somehow. if i had rotated properly that probably wouldnt have ended up like that.

and PJ is spot on about the infection risk. i do know a guy who used one single spot for 5+ years. he called it his port. he had a nasty scar there tho. looked like harry on requiem.
 
working out and a break , gained 10 lbs, veins better n ever even with minimal fat gain
 
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