Swollen forearm after successful IV

[Jsmith22321]

Has this happened to any other IV users??

First off I am new on here and not sure if I am posting in the right section so bare with me. I need help. I have been IVing opiates and other drugs for years now. Tonight is the first time I have had any type of complication. I will be as detailed as possible because I have googled and found similar situations but not exactly the same. I set up a shot of ritalin and injected into the crook of my right arm. The vein there is fat and I always favor that spot. I was using a short tip 30g needle. I registered and began pushing it in then I stopped and registered again making sure I was still in. I felt no pain at all. I pulled the pin out and applied some preassure onto the site with a clean napkin. I got a decent rush and nothing was out of the ordinary. I got in the shower and started to feel my arm becoming slightly numb and noticing it start to swell a bit. After I got dressed and laid down there was a golf ball sized lump forming on the inside of my elbow and my entire forearm was swelling up and becoming very tight down to my wrist. It felt mushy not hard at all and there was no localized lump like a normal miss. It's been about 5-6 hours and the swelling has stopped but remained inflammed just not as bad. It's not red or dis colored in any way. The only pain is a dull ache. What could have caused this????? It does not seem like an infection because of the rather immediate swelling....I don't think it was a miss either because it was virtually painless and IV Rits hurt like a mutha even if less than a single cc is missed. Has this happened to anyone before?? What could be the cause??? Damaged vein?

 

[opiatekrzy]

this has happened to me. must of got some contamination in the needle, arm started swelling up red with white blotches and my wrist puffed up and got tight, I got real scared,but it went away..idk what happen, I used the cap of a spray bottle in the employee bathroom to freshen the air, prolly got the chemical in needle

 

[Jsmith22321]

this has happened to me. must of got some contamination in the needle, arm started swelling up red with white blotches and my wrist puffed up and got tight, I got real scared,but it went away..idk what happen, I used the cap of a spray bottle in the employee bathroom to freshen the air, prolly got the chemical in needle

I don't think that's the cause although it's the most logical reason. Reason why I think that is because I used same rig and preparation to do several more shots in different sites and nothing happened

 

[Papaverium]

Well, I've never shot up Ritalin, but I'd check the inactive ingredients list to see if there's anything in there that would cause this reaction.
Perhaps you could be allergic to one of the non-medicinal ingredients in the mixture.

"cornstarch, FD&C Green No. 3, lactose, magnesium stearate, polyethylene glycol, sugar, and talc."

Are you lactose intolerant by any chance? I dunno if that would cause such a thing....

~Verri

 

[Jsmith22321]

Well, I've never shot up Ritalin, but I'd check the inactive ingredients list to see if there's anything in there that would cause this reaction.
Perhaps you could be allergic to one of the non-medicinal ingredients in the mixture.

"cornstarch, FD&C Green No. 3, lactose, magnesium stearate, polyethylene glycol, sugar, and talc."

Are you lactose intolerant by any chance? I dunno if that would cause such a thing....

~Verri

Not lactose intolerant. My veins have been abused pretty bad the last week. My forearm seems to be filling up with a liquid under the muscle. It's swollen and tight and feels really cold. No redness or anything

 

[Bob Loblaw]

If this is helpful at all, one of my good friends got an abscess--afaik--simply from not wiping off the injection site beforehand. There was some bacteria on the skin surface that got into the site & infected.

 

[opiatekrzy]

WOW I didn't knows it is that complex, I figured if u miss the vein or pierce it, then u can get one, I didn't even think licking blood off was not enough to clean up, I usually rinse my IV site. THANK YOU SO MUCH now at the needle exachange I will always grab alcohol wipes, wipe my cap, needle, where I will iv,wash myh ands.

If this is helpful at all, one of my good friends got an abscess--afaik--simply from not wiping off the injection site beforehand. There was some bacteria on the skin surface that got into the site & infected.

 

[Wessew78]

Maybe too much fluid in the arm if u been doing it a lot lately. I've also had this happen

 

[Jsmith22321]

Maybe too much fluid in the arm if u been doing it a lot lately. I've also had this happen

This seems to be what happened because I did not miss and it was not an infection. Swelling was gone when I woke up and everything was back to normal. What exactly happened to you???

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Maybe too much fluid in the arm if u been doing it a lot lately. I've also had this happen

wat

 

[opiatekrzy]

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