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Heroin Best place to IM heroin

Artificial Emotion said:
An IM injection of sterile diamorphine in an ampoule is okay, isn't it? It's just the bacteria in street heroin that makes it dangerous to inject intramuscularly, right?
Click to expand...

Yes.

Sterile ampules of diacetylmorphine would be dry though - so you would have to add in the solution, and then draw back the shot. Essentially a sterile ampule of diacetylmorphine can be used when sterile water/technique/needles are used as well.

There's lots of things that make street heroin bad for IMing. The potential for bacteria to be in there is one thing. Another is the fact that street heroin is often cut. The cut can be damaging to the tissue, and it can increase the likelihood of complications.

Without micron filters or a sterile ampule, you want to stick to IVing heroin if you are going to shoot it at all.
 
Reviving this oldie as I am still unsure of what exactly it is that makes street heroin unsuitable for IM.

Provided that you use a 0,2µ filter and that the heroin is completely suspended in the solution, what could cause problems? Using this method should sterilize the solution of any bacteria and since the product is dissolved, I cannot think of what would make it dangerous.

Is it because of the risk of non-water soluble cutting agents? If so, what could these be for instance, that would cause a detrimental effect to the health of the muscle in question?

Cheers!
 
"SWIM's local needle exchange nurse explained that during her own training, she was instructed to push the needle in far enough to feel it hit the bone of her patient; after this occurred, she was instructed to pull back slightly and inject- because "that way you know you're in the muscle."

LOL...I don't know what nursing school she went to but I can personally attest that nurses (I am one) are NOT taught that. IF the needle accidentally hits the bone, we are taught to abandon that injection, withdrawal and start over IMMEDIATELY, NOT CONTINUE ON WITH THE INJECTION!!!!! A bone can SEVERELY damage a needle, therefore causing possible injury to the patient. No offense, but I don't believe that a nurse would have really said those things...not if she was properly trained...not only as a nurse, but also an an employee of the needle exchange organization. Those deals ARE all about harm reduction, hell, that's the premise for them...so I would REALLY highly doubt that a nurse would suggest, and then instruct a person to IM heroin. No friggin way.

To add to this resurrected thread, I can also say, with passion that IM use of anything but a medication specifically prepared for IM injection is asking for huge trouble. I have seen abscesses that have required multiple surgical interventionS with some people even losing a portion of the involved muscle. Very potent antibiotics aren't always effective depending on the organism causing the abscess. If the abscess is caused by a resistant organism, a person could actually lose a limb, or if the infection makes it to the bloodstream (sepsis), it can even cause death. IV'ing of course comes with it's own dangerous risks...but the simple,easy, and STERN answer is NO IM'ing street drugs.


:0)
 
^Uhuh, but why?

I understand that nurses, junkies and doctors probably have seen some truly fucked up cases up close, but considering that those are cases where a full understanding of all influential variables are lacking, it is hard to deduct the actual cause behind the case.

I am interested in physiologically founded arguments against IM administration of street quality heroin as described in my previous post.
 
Illicitly prepared Heroin is liable to contain a very large amount of bacteria, possibly virii and fungii. The materials and technique used to prepare an injection can also introduce harmful bacteria/virii/fungi (not washing your hands, not cleaning the injection site with alcohol or soap, using un-sterile cotton, using used cottons, using injection equipment such as needles and syringes that have been used one or more times already, using anything other than bacteriostatic water, etc).

Aside from this, there is the high probability of insluble materials in illicit street Heroin. Again, the risk is largely dependant upon technique. Insoluble material introduced into a muscle will cause varying degrees of physical damage, in the form of abscesses, gangrene, open sores, etc.

There are a number of health bulletins issued by different non-profit, NGO and government offices outlining the dangers associated with IM and SC use of street Heroin. Certain batches of Heroin get contaminated with specific bacteria/virii/fungi, and users run a high risk of becoming exposed- especially with certain ROA's (such as IM injection). Examples in recent history include the spread of Wound Botulism and Flesh Eating Bacteria (Clostridium botulinum & Necrotizing Fasciitis).

http://www.harmreduction.org/article.php?id=207

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83949549.html

There is no ideal route of administration for Diamorphine. Up until the 1924 Heroin Act, IM and SC injections were the most common for opioid addicts who used via injection. It wasn't until Heroin was taken off the medical market completely that IV injection became popular and is now the norm among Heroin addicts. Cultural and geographic norms have a lot to do with the ROA a person uses. In the end it doesn't matter how it is taken, every ROA will introduce Heroin to the brain and bloodstream resulting in a typical opioid high. Concern for the IV rush is an example of cultural and geographic norms effecting how people use.
 
Hi, i'm interested in this topic- basically have been on methadone for a few yrs-reduced from 100mls to 60 mls recently- and then a bad crisis hit. I cannot deal with the pain and grief that it brought.
I cannot 'get myself'-i.e-IV. , i can't even look when a friend is getting me.

I have been back using street H for a month now, and i'm sure i have a nasty abcess or 2 in my butt... the past 2 days i have been in a fair amount of pain, feeling 'off', feeling ill, and its not a junk sick ill.
So i started a course of pretty strong antibiotics - (I can get these easy enuff, as mother a pharmacist- but does not know what im 'up to'.)
I am hoping that this will get rid of an infected abcess if I have one.
(I do need to stop doing this, i know.)
Have any of you had experience of abcesses there? Could you pm me or reply here,
Gratefully, badkitty.
 
Kind of off topic, but in third world countries where junkies don't have access to needles, some of them will actually slit their bodies open with a knife and dig the heroin into the wounds to get high... Thats pretty intense. I wouldn't think that IM drugs is a good idea, or IVing for that matter.
 
Cerp said:
It is common knowledge that Intra-muscular and subcutaneous (skin popping) injection are very risky and have a high potential to cause absesses. One question that might come to the minds of people less informed on biology (I fall into this category) is how can it possibly be safer to IV something than it is to IM something? I think this would be a good thread to shed some light onto that subject. Anyone care to explain?

Does a substance that gets intraveinously injected get filtered somewhere along the bloodstream? That is the only logic I could come up with, but I am curious to know why (as I'm sure other people are) IV is safer than IM?
Click to expand...



yeah it gets filtered in the liver
 
MY GOD.. case studies forum has changed my life.. literally. I will NEVER agin do some of the stupid things i have done.. and I feel SOOOO LUCKY to be OK.
 
The truth is IM heroin ( black that is , is russian roulette) . Sometimes you wont get infected sometimes you will. Believe me I know.
 
Just from my own experience never reuse after an IM shot.
I've gotten an infection in the past using twice IM'ing black.
Always use alcohol pads to where you're going to IM as well
and everything else that's going to touch the spot where you are
going to IM.
 
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I realize I'm reviving an ancient thread, but I wanted to second this.

I've been IMing, IVing for years now and I have like 2 veins left that I can hit, so usually resort to IM. I try to always use a clean point, but this is not always possible so I on occasion have to use one twice. The ONLY times I've gotten an abscess were when I reused a needle and didn't bother to re-sterilize it. I've had to get about five giant ones drained, but I firmly believe it was from reusing my needle, not from the dope itself.
 
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