Axl Blaze said:
yeah, that big thick thing poking up from your inner wrist is your tendon, but where there is usually a tendon there is usually a vein. so if all else fails you could poke around there, but be very careful, as poking tendons hurts like a bitch.
if you can not find veins you MUST use a tourniquet. seriously man, your veins are not going to just pop out magically. I mean, mine do, but many people's do not. you should use a belt or something to tie off everytime you try shooting. I would never try to shoot without a belt, in fear of missing because of the vein rolling around the needle. I would try to tie off around your lower bicep and squeeze TIGHT, hopefully some veins will pop up around the crook of your elbow or around. rub your hand gently around your skin and you should feel some if you don't see some. all in all, shooting drugs is not for everyone, as some people have very shitty veins. please be careful.
I'm a medical technologist (that's a guy who works in a medical lab) and drew blood on a daily basis for 10 years. As such, let me give you a few of pieces of advice.
#1 Axl is right about the tourniquet. You need one for sure, but don't tie it so tight that it cuts off all circulation, or there won't be any blood entering the arm, either. You want the tourniquet tight enough to stop blood flow in the veins, which are usually relatively close to the surface, but not tight enough to stop blood flow in the arteries, which run deep for the most part. This way, blood will build up in your arm like water behind a dam and help the veins bulge and firm up.
#2 Axl is right about feeling around, too. The pros find veins by feeling around for them more than by sight. The veins will feel like rubber tubes under your skin, and being full of blood makes them just that much easier to find. Feel around the areas that the diagrams show as having veins and you should find one. Remember, though, that if the blood vessel is pulsing, it is an ARTERY. DON'T SHOOT INTO AN ARTERY, you just might lose an arm and the hit both in the process.
#3 I'm afraid that I have to disagree with Axl about poking about around that wrist tendon. There are 2 arteries relatively close to the surface near that tendon, one on each side of the tendon as shown in the pic that you posted the link for. Waaaaaaay too easy to hit an artery if you are desperately poking around to get your hit. And those wrist veins are small and delicate in a lot of people, and just poking around to hit them is likely to go through them and possibly tear them. Some people have luck with wrist veins, but its best if you know for sure where they are and how they run if you try to hit them.
#4 One hint that nobody has mentioned is the use of heat, preferably moist heat. Try running warm water over your arm for a little while, that may help the veins stand up, too. A hot shower is ideal for this, but I've read other posts on Bluelight that hot showers can be bad for people who've been doing stimulants. But I can often see and feel veins that I had no clue about after a hot shower.
#5 Asl also mentioned that you may just not have veins that are good enough for use. I've found that African-Americans in general tend to have smaller veins, although that is certainly not always the case. You also said that you are big. Being big usually means bigger veins, too, but if you are also badly overweight (like me), they will run deeper and be harder to see, feel, and hit. I often have to help people find my veins when they try to draw my blood.
All in all, good luck but be careful.
Stimpy