Heroin Help! First time shooting up question!

[get high]

Hello bluelighter so I have pondered the idea to shoot up for awhile time. I am at a HORRIBLE time in my life right now. I've been smoking heroin for 8 months straight everyday. I get extreme withdrawals if I don't smoke. Anyway just giving you some background on my usage.

Anyway I need to get away from it all, I have so much pain and stress right now. I am going to shoot up / bang heroin for the first time. I have to, and I will. So anyway who tells me otherwise I'm not going to listen. Just telling you now. Anyway I'm going to have to shoot up heroin myself as I have no one to help me my first time. I have NO idea what I'll be doing whatsoever. I've never even seen anyone shoot up before besides in videos. My question is how do I know if I've got the needle in my vein?!!?

I have big veins in my arm so it's going to be easy to find one. Now how will I know when to actually inject myself? Like what happends if you shoot heroin but you accidentally aren't hitting a vein, then you shoot up the heroin in a random spot on your arm that's not actually the vein? How will you know if you did either? How do you know if your actually hitting the vien? Also wouldnt it be easy to inject the needle to deep into your arm or too shallow, and totally going through the vein and messing it up completely? How far do you put the needle in your arm? Would you say very very shallow, like the tiniest poke ever, or like does the needle have to actually be pretty deep in your arm?

Again how do you know if the needle is actually in your vein and not through it completely, to shallow, or missing it completely. Like what will you feel if you shoot it in your arm vs shooting it in a spot that's not your vein? Ugh I'm having really bad anxiety about getting this right, and I'm hoping I dont waste any dope because Im broke. Oh and when I go to say a pharmacy what needles do I ask for? I live in washington btw. You can get needles legally without anything Im pretty sure. Thanks! I appreciate any feedback!

 

[burn out]

What needles you want is really your preference, but you can ask the pharmacist for 30 gauge .5 cc insulin needles to start out with. These are pretty fine needles. For shallower, smaller veins, you want very fine needles but larger, deeper veins are easier to hit with thicker needles (lower gauge). But, the lower the gauge the more damage you do to the vein and the more likely are track marks.

The way to tell whether you're in a vein or not is simple, after you insert the needle you pull back a little bit on the plunger. If you see dark red blood enter the syringe, you're in. When searching for a vein, you probably want to insert the needle fairly deep into your arm (past the vein your aiming for), then pull back on the plunger a bit to create the vacuum and then gently pull the needle back out. As soon as the tip enters the vein, blood will rush into the needle. That means you're in the vein, so you stop there. Then you gently push down the plunger and inject the dope. So in other words, intentionally stick the needle deeper than the vein youre looking for so you will pass through it as you pull the needle out. This is much easier than trying to stop the needle in the right spot on the way in.

If you are missing the vein, you will feel a sting/pain. If you are in the vein, you should feel no pain. If you're not sure whether youre in the vein or not, you can always pull back the plunger again to see if you get blood. I often have to repeat this procedure many times because my veins are shot. You will know you made the shot if you feel a rush about 10 seconds after you inject, unless your dope is really crappy.

 

[get high]

Thanks man! I appreciate the feedback! You're the only one who answered me sadly. Thought I'd get more support than that. Oh well. I'm going to try it today. I'm a bit anxious, ugh I hate needles too! I just need to get out of reality though, I'm going through horrible shit right now. The only thing I'm scared about is getting permanent scars, then not being able to get a job or anything later because I have damn track marks. Ugh. So I may try the fine needles. So my veins are big, can I still use a small needle? Also I'm assuming once I'm high as hell on dope, I won't feel the needle as much when I'm injecting? So it will make the process easier and less painful? Anyway thanks for answering man. Umm how much are needles anyway? I want to get the fewest amount possible. Oh and can you use the same needle multiple times? Why doesn't people keep using the same needle over and over again?

 

[evilpanda]

Damn man I know this is not what you want to hear but with the questions you're asking you really need to find someone that knows what they're doing to show you the ropes.

 

[pbuilder]

When you first begin to insert the needle, pull back on the plunger a bit to create a suction, and then continue inserting the needle and blood will automatically flow in from the suction you created when you hit a vein.

Start off with a very small amount of h, no more then 30mg.

You will regret doing this for the rest of your life, the honest truth.

 

[Mad Dash]

Seems like you have your mind made up about this, so I am just going to say please be careful and as safe as possible.

http://www.drugs.ie/resourcesfiles/guides/mqi_safer_injecting_guide.pdf

This is a great illustrated guide that I recommend for the kids at my volunteer program to use.

 

[crzydiamond]

What the above poster said about pulling back a tiny bit as soon as you break skin to create a vacuum is the best way to know when you are in a vein. As soon as you are in, blood will start flowing into the syringe. Move slowly as you insert the needle into your skin, don't just ram it in. I don't agree with going intentionally through a vein, as if you do the vacuum thing you will know when you are in. Also, that creates a hole on other side and some solution may leak out. (that may be why that person said his veins are shot?)

You do not want to reuse needles because the get duller and duller after each use. There is a pic on one of the threads here somewhere that shows what a needle tip looks like after one use and after like 6 uses. It's almost completely curled back. (This is under a microscope not what you would see with naked eye)

Go in at about a 30 degree angle or so. A shallow angle but not too shallow. That helps when you hit for the needle to lay in the vein not just cross it

What someone said above about having a person help in real life versus internet would help a lot more. It's much easier to see how someone does it

One more thing, you said you're broke and if you are getting sick (withdrawal) when you don't smoke it you may not want to waste the only dope you have trying to IV. Because if you miss you aren't going to feel it and it's not likely to do anything to get you well. (Oh yea I've heard theoretically you should feel something even if it gets absorbed in skin tissue. In real life, I have never felt anything from a miss nor did anyone I ever used with). If this is your only dope for the day, you might want to just smoke it and wait to try injecting until you can afford to miss. Some people catch on easily to injecting, some are not so good at it and miss a lot at first

If you start injecting and feel a burn, that means you are not in the vein. Pull back plunger to check and see if you have blood coming into it. If not, you're not in, and either move the needle around to try to get back in or pull out and reinsert to find it

Good luck. Truthfully, if you're already smoking, injecting isn't going to be the magical wonderland of escape you seek. But that's something you'll probably have to learn on your own

 

[Mad Dash]

Ya I hate to say you just opened up the gates of hell my friend. Get ready for a type of hell you have only dreamed about.

 

[burn out]

I don't agree with going intentionally through a vein, as if you do the vacuum thing you will know when you are in. Also, that creates a hole on other side and some solution may leak out. (that may be why that person said his veins are shot?)

I started off doing it the way you said but quickly found it much easier to go all the way through. The tiny hole in the vein closes quickly, so leakage isn't an issue. Once you have any form of scar tissue, you will never be able to do it any other way than the way I described. All the junkies I have ever used with, always went straight through the vein and then found it on the way out like I described. If you are very new to injecting and have very healthy veins, then your way might work.

 

[burn out]

Thanks man! I appreciate the feedback! You're the only one who answered me sadly. Thought I'd get more support than that. Oh well. I'm going to try it today. I'm a bit anxious, ugh I hate needles too! I just need to get out of reality though, I'm going through horrible shit right now. The only thing I'm scared about is getting permanent scars, then not being able to get a job or anything later because I have damn track marks. Ugh. So I may try the fine needles. So my veins are big, can I still use a small needle? Also I'm assuming once I'm high as hell on dope, I won't feel the needle as much when I'm injecting? So it will make the process easier and less painful? Anyway thanks for answering man. Umm how much are needles anyway? I want to get the fewest amount possible. Oh and can you use the same needle multiple times? Why doesn't people keep using the same needle over and over again?

People do keep using the same needle over and over again. I have used the same needle 100 times before. But this is terrible for your veins because after 2 or 3 uses, the point dulls and so you end up making a much larger hole than needed and creating track marks. In addition, the needles eventually break. In the latter part of my heroin addiction when I was perpetually broke, the only time I would ever stop using a needle was when it broke. You can buy a pack of 10 needles for 4-6 dollars depending what pharmacy you go to, cheaper online.

And yeah of course it hurts less when youre high but if you have new needles, healthy veins and a decent technique it shouldn't be too painful anyway.

Pain is when you only have one working vein and you've recently missed in that area and then you are stabbing yourself 70 times in the bruised inflamed area trying to get into that one vein with the same needle and blood is dripping everywhere and you're dopesick. That's where you're headed.

 

[crzydiamond]

I started off doing it the way you said but quickly found it much easier to go all the way through. The tiny hole in the vein closes quickly, so leakage isn't an issue. Once you have any form of scar tissue, you will never be able to do it any other way than the way I described. All the junkies I have ever used with, always went straight through the vein and then found it on the way out like I described. If you are very new to injecting and have very healthy veins, then your way might work.

Well, I guess everyone's different. For the record though, I started using heroin back in 1994. Not exactly new to injecting ��. But when I had a lot of scar tissue I would basically literally *feel* a pop as soon as I entered a vein. I never had to push through one and come back. While it may have worked for you I don't think it's the best technique for someone starting out to use. Just my 2 cents.

However, your description of pain and trying to find the one working vein in a swollen area while dope sick and stabbing yourself countless times, well, that's 100% true. Bullseye.

 

[SKR]

Most people starting out with IV from my observations find it difficult to pull the plunger back with their thumb or two fingers with the same hand, so, to help folks out I used to teach them to do the shot in three stages. First of all steady hands help but beginners usually suffer the shakes, as do advanced users especially if fiending, but this technique will help with that as well.

So we are shooting the vein in the crook of your elbow. If you can it helps to sit in a chair with an arm rest so you can use it to support your arm. I'm right handed so the rig is in my right hand, I inject the vein in my left arm at a small enough angle that I can let go of the rig once I've entered my vein and it rests nicely along the inside of my forearm without having moved. The angle is such that your elbow is fairly straight definitely not bent, the rig will hang onto your skin (dry skin), now you can use your thumb and forefinger to draw back on the plunger, you do it by grabbing the stem of the plunger where it exits the syringe with your thumb and forefinger or thumb and middle finger against the winged part of the back of the syringe and you just pinch or squeeze such a way as to draw back on the plunger slightly but holding the rig in position so it doesn't move in and out, then if you register you can adjust your hands again without moving the rig because it's resting along your forearm, now with thumb on the syringe to hold it in position steady and against your skin, you can now push the plunger in with a finger on that hand.

So in short:

* Insert needle and allow syringe to rest along your forearm
* Use thumb and finger squeeze technique to register
* secure syringe with thumb and push in plunger with a finger on the same hand.
* now you pull out your rig

You're doing all this resting the syringe along the forearm stuff so that you can re-position your hands in whatever way works for you - without a shaky injecting hand you can comfortably complete the next two stages of IV injection - registering the vein seeing that plume of blood and then pushing the plunger in thus completing your shot. It's easy for the user to move in and out, right through or not deep enough into a vein during the register and shot stage, this seeks to eliminate those factors.

 

[xivixive]

OP, there is more to it then just being in the vein. personally i find shooting up really damn difficult - i try to suck the dope up in cotton and the syringe is filled with air bubbles, i cant for the life of me get all the solution drawn up into the barrel, i make a pin cushion out of my arm cause i cant possibly hold the syringe and draw back at the same time. literally every aspect of the process i have difficulty with. consider all this if you really can't waste a hit. technique and experience come with a lot of fuck ups, and wasted dope, IMO. just smoke the shit.

 

[SluttyPeach]

Just take your time and try the crook of your arm, the top of your hand or any other tricky stick would probably cause you to miss the shot. Some people seem to have more trouble than others with staying in the vein when you undo the tourniquet.. plenty of people drop it or slide straight out of the vein and don't check by pulling the plunger back one more time. We've all done that or something similar when new to shooting.

You already know this but I'll reiterate that needle = ball and chain. Wish I'd never even seen one, man. Good luck and be careful..

 

[SKR]

I think tourniquets are probably a leading cause to a missed shot, I dunno because I have never used or needed one and I've shot up many 1000's of times, but I understand some folks needing to use one. OP has good veins which are easily seen so there is no need for a tourniquet and it will do more harm than good potentially as per what SP said above.

And on veins, those of you who IV really should get yourselves a set of dumbbells and perform bicep curls as often as you can, in fact getting exercise regularly is important if only for the health of your veins. Doing weights gets the blood pumping, and the more blood pumping through those veins the bigger they grow amongst other things. Honestly the most successful (highest functioning) junkie is one who has a balanced diet and gets regular exercise and sleep....Better recovery, better immune system and I reckon a better high. The fresher, more well fed, fitter and more well slept I was then the better the rush and and high from my first shot of the day and all subsequent ones.

Many of us were in good condition when we first started out abusing our DOC, so to get the most out of your drugs it's best to try to mimic or maintain that condition and also replenish those vitamins and minerals that our Drugs of choice deplete along the way. But lets face it, addictions to heavy drugs often result in a total breakdown of an individuals self worth, thus resulting in one messy life.

 

[pbuilder]

OP, there is more to it then just being in the vein. personally i find shooting up really damn difficult - i try to suck the dope up in cotton and the syringe is filled with air bubbles, i cant for the life of me get all the solution drawn up into the barrel, i make a pin cushion out of my arm cause i cant possibly hold the syringe and draw back at the same time. literally every aspect of the process i have difficulty with. consider all this if you really can't waste a hit. technique and experience come with a lot of fuck ups, and wasted dope, IMO. just smoke the shit.

I don't know, maybe it's because i got big hands but i found shooting incredibly easy and have never missed a shot. It's simple.

 

[J.Wallace]

Don't do it. It will be the biggest mistake of your life, hands down.

But you're not gonna listen to us...

Start small. Always use a fresh pin, its easiest to hit a vein with. You'll see a squirt of blood pull into the syringe when you hit a vein. Hardest part in my experience is pushing it in without moving it out of the vein. If you feel a burn, stop immediately, it means you're out of the vein and missing the shot. Stop, realign, pull back until you get more blood draw back, push plunger in, release tournaquet