Heroin There is only one vein I can shoot up in. What is the cause of this?

So I have been an IV heroin addict for about a month now, used to sniff it before getting hooked on the rush. My problem is, there is only one vein I can shoot in which is the crook of my elbow of my left arm.

When I try to shoot in other veins, I get weird reactions in my skin for some reason. For example, I will get small to medium sized bumps that look very much like mosquito bites around each place where the needle entered. The weird thing about this, is that they appear in places where I did not even inject anything! That is to say that, if I put the needle in and then fail to register and pull the needle back out, a mosquito bite like bump will develop around the site where the needle entered despite no injection being made. Another problem I have is sometimes rashes/swelling redness and bruising and itching will appear on my arm or leg. That happens if I actually do find the vein and perform the injection. When I shoot in the crook of my left elbow, none of these things happen. I never get any strange reactions, bumps or anything of that nature (just a little brusing). But ANYWHERE else I try to inject my body seems to react badly to. Why is this? How bad is it to use the same vein every day, day in and day out? I generally have between 1 and 3 shots per day. I am really trying to find another vein as I explained, I get bad reactions or I can't find the vein or operate the needle well with my left hand since I am right handed (this makes it hard for me to use the crook of my elbow on my other arm). Anyone have any ideas or suggestions for me? I would prefer not to the destroy the one good vein I have.

Can you at least follow that one vein up, as in from the crook upwards in the direction of the shoulder? In my limited experience, if I have not used the crook of either arm, I have used about 3 inches above it. It is still going to lead to you ruining that vein faster than if you were rotating veins completely, but it will at least delay it since you won't be building up as much scar tissue in that one spot.

I have been following the vein, so I have about a 4 inch section of it that I work with. But I think I am just going to have to find another vein and start rotating. There's got to be a vein somewhere. The mosquito bites bumps are already disappearing it seems, so I doubt they are anything to worry about.

I was gonna suggest mb you have a problem with being right handed and are not injecting properly ay the other locations other than your left elbow cause it's a very natural comfortable injection to make..then I got to the end of your post and saw your right handed and struggle with your left .. Idk but mb this if the case and your irritating other injection sites by shakey poor insertions?? Idk but I definatley suggest not continuing to use the same site over and over again ..

It could be poor technique. I am right handed and I have a really hard time shooting into my right arm with my left hand.

burn out said:

It could be poor technique. I am right handed and I have a really hard time shooting into my right arm with my left hand.

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I know what you mean, my left hand isn't very iv friendly either... I've found if I can rest my left arm on something(table or counter) out talley helps me make a much nicer cleaner injection.. Just an idea .. But as long as there just little bumps that disappear and your not missing the shot I personally wouldn't be too concerned with it : /

The first two times I injected heroin I would get these weird patterns around my veins, thy weren't rashes I was like something underneath the skin. Hitting veins other than the crook are a lot harder, and if you've only been injecting for a month chances are you probably missed some of those shots. And as for when you pulled out when you didn't register and you still get little bumps, that could have something to do with the cut of the dope, because even though you didn't inject, the tip of the needle is still covered in a small amount of solution and is enough to cause that kind of irritation. If you have the patience to do this, switch syringes before attempting to hit again, the point of the needle dulls very quickly after even one insertion. There was a great pic posted somewhere demonstrating this.

There ya go! That picture shocked me when I first saw it, thanks nib

yeah Z is right i think. Its the cut of the dope which cause these bumps especially if they go away after a few mins. Ive had this happen before and I realized that after I do a shot I seem to always want to itch the spot where i just shot up. If you can refrain from itching that spot then the bumps wont be there or not as bad. But even if you do itch the spot the bumps go away within 30 min or so. This only happens when I shoot heroin too not pills so it probably is the cut.

Are you sure you're in the vein? Cause sometimes when you miss a vein and put a little pressure on the syringe to inject a little, the skin just bubbles and swells up because your not shooting into the vein. It happens a lot when they can't place the IV right and test it, the skin bubbles can look like a mosquito bite. Thing is tho, this probably would hurt a little, so does it hurt at all?