Opioids Injected Hydromorphone (dilaudid) into an artery

[LotusExige]

Well it seems that after a few years I finally fucked up and got an artery instead of a vein. The veins in the crooks of my elbows are pretty shot from when my technique sucked so I try them very rarely. Tonight I figured I'd move down my forearm a bit to try to hit a lower part of the vein. Hell after a few pokes bingo, I got pay dirt. While the flash was fairly thin it really didn't look that different than any new/good spot I usually hit. Definitely not thick/slow/dark but didn't really look much different. I was surprised that it registered as well as it did as it's been a while since I get that good of a register.

As I started to push down is started stinging a it. I stopped and registered again and was still getting a good register so I figured maybe I'd let the needle slip and that was why it stung. So I went down again and got about 50cc in (the shot was about 16mg) before I realized that no, something else is wrong. I stopped and pulled out but nearly instantly my arm started to swell, little white bumps everywhere and my hand started to swell. While it was painful it wasn't anything like what I've read about hitting an artery with heroin. I ran to the freezer and grabbed a few ice packs and filled a big baggie with a ton of ice cubes. Using all that I wrapped up my arm from elbow to my hands with the ice packs and ace bandages to add a little pressure too.

It's now a few hours later and while my hand is still swollen a bit and it's tight/uncomfortable to bend my arm at the elbow there don't seem to be any other big effects. Certainly nothing that makes me think I need to bite the bullet and rush to the ER. It seems to be getting better by the minute so I'll give it say 12 hours and decide if I need to go or not. While the ramifications would suck I clearly don't want to lose any body parts!

I'm posting this for a few reasons. First what symptoms should I watch for to know I need to take action? I assume if it gets worse in any way or doesn't continue to get better. Other than more pain and swelling is there anything to look for that could be hidden that I wouldn't see/feel? Second I just wanted to share the story since I've read so many horror stories about heroin in an artery - so far it doesn't seem hydromorphone/dilaudid is nearly as bad. That doesn't surprise me as for the last few weeks I've been doing heroin instead as I hadn't gotten my prescription filled yet. Now that I have a month's supply I went back to good old dilaudid as other than the short nod the rush is far better. Seems I got lucky that I did this with hydromorphone rather than heroin. Finally am I right that it makes sense that dilaudid would be less severe than hitting an artery with heroin? Or did it just affect me differently as it effects everyone differently.

Clearly I'll take a break from using that arm (left in this case) which is sort of a bummer as it has by far the easier to hit locations. May have to just plug a small amount for the next few days just to keep withdrawal away.

I welcome any thoughts or input on the situation - most importantly what to look for and how to know to go to the ER or not. Keeping it iced for now and will most likely switch to heat here soon.

~L

 

[Mad Dash]

I have hit an artery before and took all the emergency steps as well and was okay. It scared the shit out of me, but I was OK. Sounds like you are as well, count your lucky stars and cut out the shooting.

 

[LotusExige]

Just to sorta close the loop but everything is 100% back to normal. No swelling, bruising, pain or other issues. Sorta like it never happened, other than my memory of being utterly freaked out by it. I suppose the law of percentages that one day you're gonna make this mistake, suppose I'm just lucky/happy I didn't do it with heroin as the diluadid seems much gentler on my veins that heroin is. Whew.

 

[picklesandwich]

why can't you hit an artery? what will happen if you do?

 

[picklesandwich]

how do you know if you have hit an artery?

 

[mostly-human]

I've never hit an artery, but my wife did once; her hand instantly puffed up and she had extreme tingles.. It all went away after a few hours and she was fine. However - I've since learn't that even in instances where people lose limbs, quite often all those symptoms have gone after a few hours, so - hate to be the bearer of bad news, but even if all the symptoms have gone and you feel fine, there's no way to know for sure if you're out of the woods yet. Unfortunately some serious complications may not present themselves for days even.

So- I dunno, I'm an apathetic fuckwit who definitely wouldn't go to the ER in your situation. BUT there's definitely know way you can know if you're ok or not. Sorry.

 

[SKR]

After 1000's (sadly) of IV injections I've never hit an artery but I never used to shoot my wrists, hands or feet so inadvertently I reduced the risk of doing so I think. I've also given myself 100's of IM injections and I'm fairly certain on one occasion the tip of the needle just touched a nerve, the beginnings of what I could tell was going to be extraordinary pain was felt but my instantaneous reaction to abort the injection saved me from certain peril. Though with an IM shot with the needle an inch and a half in your leg the risks of hitting an nerve are obvious.

 

[LotusExige]

why can't you hit an artery? what will happen if you do?

how do you know if you have hit an artery?

Can't say I can explain why it's so bad other than arteries take oxygenated blood from the heart to your extremities where veins return it back. So when I hit on my upper arm everything down the line from there, my wrist, hand and finger were affected as the injection was sent that way instead of back into my system and to my brain. How to know - well for me it was the stinging and pain, while not as extreme as others have described when they do this with heroin it was still very painful and I knew something was wrong. I've read that when you hit an artery the blood that flashes into the syringe is much thinner and bright red and can be frothy. It also should squirt in quicker as it's under pressure from your heart - but none of that happened with me. Looked just like every other register I've had, well meaning the ones when you get a nice new and clean vein. After using a vein for a bit for me the blood gets much darker red and flows much slower. In this case it stung at first so I pulled back to register again and got blood so I knew I was in and as such I pushed down again. Hurt more so I reregistered again and all seemed well so I pushed again thinking maybe I'd just hit a nerve and it would stop - well it didn't, it started to hurt much more so I yanked the needle out and ran to the kitchen to get as many ice packs and cubes as I had. Wrapped it all up and waited it out - took a few hours to get much better / no pain and 6 hours later when I woke up all was 100% back to normal.

As for something still being wrong and me still being in danger I suppose that could be the case but I'm not sure what I could do about it. Nothing hurts, nothing is tender, swollen or otherwise inflamed. It's like it never happened. If I were to see a doc now it seems all I'd be doing is ratting myself out as I can't see how they'd be able to do anything. That said if it does change in any way and start to get back, swollen, painful, color change, etc. I know where I'll be heading pronto. Sure the ramifications of that could be rather bad but not as bad as loosing my arm/hand over something like this.

At this point I'll just be happy that I did this with dilaudid and not heroin, seems that would have been far far worse that what I experienced. From looking at vein/artery maps I'm still not sure how I hit what I must have, it doesn't look like the vein/artery would be that close together and I know where the vein is as I used to use it a lot. Oh well, glad no serious repercussions so far other than the message that it's time to take a break for a while from the needle. Fortunately I've never had needle fixation the other times I've stopped for a while it's just the withdrawal that I hate so much. May get suboxone a try this time.

~L

 

[Mad Dash]

I just wonder why it does not get you high, when I shot it, it was like a wasted shot, I had little to no tolerance at the time, so my shots were kicking my ass at the time. The only thing I can think of is that it did get me high but somehow my OVERWHELMING amount of fear scared me sober? lol

 

[LotusExige]

I just wonder why it does not get you high, when I shot it, it was like a wasted shot, I had little to no tolerance at the time, so my shots were kicking my ass at the time. The only thing I can think of is that it did get me high but somehow my OVERWHELMING amount of fear scared me sober? lol

As I understand it it's because the injection went to your extremities and stayed there rather than going back into your system and on to your brain. While ultimately all the systems are connected there isn't enough for the dope to make the round trip to your head. Same happened to me, when I hit the artery I didn't get any rush or high either as again it didn't get to my brain to effect me. I'm no doctor or science talkin' guy so I can't exactly explain, just sharing what I understand from what I've read. Arteries go from the heart out to the extremities where veins go from your extremities back to your heart and brain.

 

[namnoc16]

Hitting an artery in your hand makes it look like you have a boxing glove on it(a red one) and you feel very uncomfortable pins and needles giving off burning sensations through your extremity along with itching, at least in my experience!

 

[Screaming_Skull]

I don't think I ever hit an artery, maybe once my arm got kinda swollen after injecting at the bottom part of my hand(the top of hand not under the hand). It didn't sting/hurt, but my arm just got kinda swollen...I know they say if it's bright red it's an artery, but my blood is always regular red, or DARK red. I never understood what people meant when they said the blood looked frothy??? Can someone explain that... I hit in my hand a lot, but it's usually in this one spot, I ALWAYS go really damn slow as I heard it stings if you hit an artery, so if I I do I can stop ASAP.

 

[LotusExige]

I too have never understood what frothy means in this context. For me I get two types of blood when I register, either very slow and very dark red, almost black - or when it's a fairly new site, or one I haven't used in a while, I get much thinner red blood. Not bright red but not dark either. When I register with that type of hit the blood shoots in to about the 20-30 mark on the syringe but I wouldn't say it shoots in. I usually pinch the syringe at the point where the plunger meets the syringe so I can add a little vacuum for when I hit. I've never seen a register without adding the vacuum

Also just sorta following up on my first post as it's been nearly a week and I've had zero issues or complications, at least that I can tell/feel after my arterial hit. It definitely scared me from trying to find new locations as I do not want to do that again. Not only was it rather painful it basically scared the shit out of me with all the horror stories you read on the net.