Low on vein choice, harm reduction advice?

[No fit vein]

I'm sure there's a stack of information here about harm reduction in regards to the use of needles, safety, hygiene and the rest, well at least I hope there is. But as a user who keeps everything secret, I'm unable to browse at a leisurely pace to find these.

So I'm hoping there's many experienced users who can point me in the right direction or sites to educated myself further as I'm at the end of what I know about my own veins and need to know how to find new sites to inject into.

I was once a polydrug user, but with the demise of my favourites I'm left only with ice. And for those whove injected it know, get it wrong, and it stings the fuck out of your arm, like it's being lit on fire, so this is one you don't want to miss.

After a couple years of injecting pills, I've lost the use of the most easy sites, the veins anterior to the elbow, 2 have been removed.
I'm only left now with the one just above my left wrist that runs along the back of me hand, which is screeming out for a break.

I can't see any others that I can access easily, and being a girl I don't have many that stand out.
I can't use my legs, veins too small there.

I would so appreciate you advice, about this topic only please.

No sober living lectures pls.. I do that already every second.

Thanks replies

 

[SS373dOH]

I know you dont want to hear it, but youre running out of options, I would give your veins a break, and try a different roa.. but we all know you probably wont, so the one piece of advice I can give you, is taking hot baths will bring some of your veins closer to the surface.


Good luck, Hopeless 7nos

 

[Znegative]

The brachial, it's a huge vein that runs up from your armpit and kind of under your bicep, it goes all the way down towards your ditch. You have to tie off at the armpit and extend your arm out. There's actually a couple ways of hitting it. One you extend your arm out and make a fist with your fingers facing the ground. With this method the brachial can be felt on the underside of your upper arm. It's such a big vein that for a long time I thought it was a muscle. When you hit it this way, you use a regular sized needle and basically enter it at a 90 degree angle, but get a feel for it first. I'm really thin, so I usually went at more of a 50 degree angle. Be careful not to use too long of a needle or to push the needle in too deep because in this position the brachial artery is directly above it, and if you go through the vein, you will hit it.

The other way of hitting it is to again, tie off at the armpit and then lift your arm up and make a muscle. You should see it pop out below the bicep. This way is probably easier for a lot of people because you can actually see it, but there is a risk of hitting a nerve if you're not careful (don't go too deep).

This isn't a 'safe' vein to hit, but I know how IV drug use can be. People don't just 'give it a break', like what 7nos was saying. However I think the brachial is safer then hitting your jugular or your femoral vein. But to be honest if you still have any superficial veins on your hands or forearms left at all, I would recommend learning to hit a little bit better. There are a ton of veins in your arms that you can't see, but can learn how to see. Sometimes looking at an anatomical chart helps. I got really good at this because my last girlfriend would make me hit her every time and after blowing out her jugular I had to always find new places to hit, so I learned how to 'palpate' a vein. A good technique also is to use a flashlight in a dark room and put it up against your flesh. It makes it translucent and you can see tons of veins that normally would be invisible.

So really, practice tying off and feeling around for anything that feels 'bouncy' in your fore-arms, and make sure that it doesn't have a pulse (you don't want to hit an artery).

I should mention that the BA of rectal methamphetamine is pretty much on par with IV, but having been an IV user, I will say I only resorted to that when my shots became coagulated. But it is a good alternative if you can get past the fact that the rush won't be as strong. Sometimes it is actually really releaving to take a break from IV use for a while, because if you're like I was, it became such a fucking hassle and strong source of anxiety. I would literally spend hours sometimes soaked in blood and crying because I'd blown out all my veins. Even recently when I went to get some blood drawn I had to be referred to a hospital where they could use a sonogram, because I really am that hard of a hit. The last two years of my IV use I used primarily my brachial veins and my femoral vein, both of those hold up for a long time, but the femoral is one that you really don't want to fuck with. I remember accidentally shooting some shard into the artery and my good, it felt like someone had mainlined acid into my penis.. A truly painful experience.

Anyway, good luck and be safe.

 

[crzydiamond]

The brachial, it's a huge vein that runs up from your armpit and kind of under your bicep, it goes all the way down towards your ditch. You have to tie off at the armpit and extend your arm out. There's actually a couple ways of hitting it. One you extend your arm out and make a fist with your fingers facing the ground. With this method the brachial can be felt on the underside of your upper arm. It's such a big vein that for a long time I thought it was a muscle. When you hit it this way, you use a regular sized needle and basically enter it at a 90 degree angle, but get a feel for it first. I'm really thin, so I usually went at more of a 50 degree angle. Be careful not to use too long of a needle or to push the needle in too deep because in this position the brachial artery is directly above it, and if you go through the vein, you will hit it.

The other way of hitting it is to again, tie off at the armpit and then lift your arm up and make a muscle. You should see it pop out below the bicep. This way is probably easier for a lot of people because you can actually see it, but there is a risk of hitting a nerve if you're not careful (don't go too deep).

This isn't a 'safe' vein to hit, but I know how IV drug use can be. People don't just 'give it a break', like what 7nos was saying. However I think the brachial is safer then hitting your jugular or your femoral vein. But to be honest if you still have any superficial veins on your hands or forearms left at all, I would recommend learning to hit a little bit better. There are a ton of veins in your arms that you can't see, but can learn how to see. Sometimes looking at an anatomical chart helps. I got really good at this because my last girlfriend would make me hit her every time and after blowing out her jugular I had to always find new places to hit, so I learned how to 'palpate' a vein. A good technique also is to use a flashlight in a dark room and put it up against your flesh. It makes it translucent and you can see tons of veins that normally would be invisible.

So really, practice tying off and feeling around for anything that feels 'bouncy' in your fore-arms, and make sure that it doesn't have a pulse (you don't want to hit an artery).

I should mention that the BA of rectal methamphetamine is pretty much on par with IV, but having been an IV user, I will say I only resorted to that when my shots became coagulated. But it is a good alternative if you can get past the fact that the rush won't be as strong. Sometimes it is actually really releaving to take a break from IV use for a while, because if you're like I was, it became such a fucking hassle and strong source of anxiety. I would literally spend hours sometimes soaked in blood and crying because I'd blown out all my veins. Even recently when I went to get some blood drawn I had to be referred to a hospital where they could use a sonogram, because I really am that hard of a hit. The last two years of my IV use I used primarily my brachial veins and my femoral vein, both of those hold up for a long time, but the femoral is one that you really don't want to fuck with. I remember accidentally shooting some shard into the artery and my good, it felt like someone had mainlined acid into my penis.. A truly painful experience.

Anyway, good luck and be safe.

+1

Excellent advice in this post

I too was a tough stick, and found the brachial by accident but didn't know how to always get it.

But one more tidbit of advice--lower legs also have a big vein running down the inside of calf area. I confess that once I found it I marked it with a sharpie and a dot lol. That's so I didn't have to spend hours next time

But as znegative says- there are so many veins you just don't realize you have until you start looking. Back of forearm there is a pipeline, Hang your arm down to floor and after a minute look by wrist bone on outer edge of hand. There is a fat one there people don't notice, Top of arm around elbow area--not the classic spot but turn your arm over so you have palm facing downward--about a finger's width from outer edge of arm there is a big one you can hit right at joining of upper/lower arm, top side of wrist there are 2-3, fingers, abdomen, ankle, etc etc

You have to FEEL for the spongy feeling on most as they wont be visible