• 💊 OTHER DRUGS 💊 Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads 1 Notable Threads 2
    Dangerous Combos Addiction Support
    Emergency Services Benzo Guide v.1
    Addiction Stories Scary Case Studies
    Biology, Pharmacology & Drugs 101
  • Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Heroin Missing a shot - Discuss

O

OGstickyswisher

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
Messages
46
First and foremost I'd like to inquire about something that happened the other day.

4 or 5 days ago while I was taking my hit, it seemed like I was in a little weird, so as I take my hit I would re-register every 5cc's to be sure I was still in.

I ended up missing about 2cc's of the shot into my arm.
It didn't hurt, burn, sting, or anything negative or unusual.
It took me 1 day to notice I had a little lump near where I missed. The lump that has developed is on a lump of muscle, the spot is slightly raised & not really swollen. It's not red, it doesn't itch, burn; it's not sore; it's simply a small semi-hard lump.
This is the first time I have missed. But I have watched my friends miss before and this same kind of lump developed for them, they did not seek out any medical attention, and didn't do much to it aside from running warm water over it and rubbing it - eventually after a couple days the lump would disappear.

The lump was it's largest the day after. I've ran warm water over it and slightly massaged; and the size has since reduced.
It has been 4 or 5 days now and it hasn't gotten any smaller - and is still there.

I've got a couple pictures of the site. If you see redness and/or little bumps - I just ran hot water over my arm and IV'd moments ago.

PICTURES

LEFT ARM - With lump
1. http://s8.postimage.org/xdzpnr2w3/Left1.jpg

2. http://s8.postimage.org/iw2ifrbl0/Left2.jpg

3. http://s8.postimage.org/pb1jcfias/Left3.jpg

RIGHT ARM - Comparison/ No lump
I circled in red the correlated spot of where the lump is on my left arm, for comparison.


1. http://s8.postimage.org/qelnoe2xv/Right1.jpg

2. http://s8.postimage.org/3kspf5e8z/Right2.jpg

I'm wondering if this is something I should be worried about or seek medical attention for. There is 0 discomfort let alone any type of pain. It has me slightly worried - but I decided it didn't seem as serious so I stopped here first. I've read some threads and have come to believe it is fine; but I want opinions regarding my specific case.
Thanks




What's your worst missed shot experience?
Details!
 
In all probability it's nothing to worry about. Can take time for the body to break down the gear under the skin and repair the irritation, especially if it's cooked with citric. Keep an eye on it, checking for any changes or signs of heat, redness, swelling, soreness that might indicate an abscess forming, and if you find any of those those signs get yourself to a doc or hospital straight away for a check-up. Otherwise it will probably go down of it's own accord.

Are you still injecting in roughly the same area on that arm? Switch arms or use another vein, give your arm time to recover without irritating it still further.
 
I use heroin HCL (white/grey rocks) so I only use water to make my solution, not even heat.

Yes ive hit around the same area a few times since; i dont know why i hadn't thought of not using the same area.

Thank you for all the advice, i will be sure to keep a close watch on it for those symptoms.

Thanks again for the re-assurance and calming the anxiety i was having.


EDIT

Is there anything I can do to maybe make this lump go away any faster?

Believe it or not I just missed 1cc again, using my non-regular hand to IV. :|
and currently the newest miss, the site is very slightly tender. It's a very small lump about the size of a quarter, and it's barely raised up at all it seems to be under my skin. No redness, burning, etc.

:(
 
Last edited:
2cc is quite a lot.. thats a fucking massive shot. YOu missed all of it and it did not burn? But yeah my general rule of thumb is if pain or swelling increases after the initial lump forms thats bad.

I use 1cc pins and even when I do a 5 bag shot I only use a half cc and I could use less... why so much water?

You can double check you are still in the vein mid way, pull bakc on the plunger a tad.

That way you will NEVER miss atleast fully. Flash of blood at the begining, flash it in the middle, bam shibam.
 
In the beginning of my IV use I missed my fair share of shots, I always used a heating pad to help the swelling go down. Seems to work, well as I haven't had any serious complications. I would go to CVS and get a cheap heating pad, I'm not sure it will make much difference after a few days have passed, but for the future, if something similar happens a heating pad is something good to have around.
 
Yeah thats where my experience with missing shots coems from. I dunno I thought I could like learn off the internet lol.. WOW would it have been golden to have someone show me in person.

Eventually I learned though and i am an expert now haha. if I miss even a unit I fucking kick my self.
 
ms4104 said:
2cc is quite a lot.. thats a fucking massive shot. YOu missed all of it and it did not burn? But yeah my general rule of thumb is if pain or swelling increases after the initial lump forms thats bad.

I use 1cc pins and even when I do a 5 bag shot I only use a half cc and I could use less... why so much water?

You can double check you are still in the vein mid way, pull bakc on the plunger a tad.

That way you will NEVER miss atleast fully. Flash of blood at the begining, flash it in the middle, bam shibam.
Click to expand...

My mistake, I meant I missed 2units, out of a total 30unit solution.

Where I've been saying cc's I mean units. So I missed 2 units out of the total 30units of solution I mixed.

Up until just now I had not realized 1cc/ml meant the entire 100unit insulin syringe.

I do not use that much saline, the most I use per shot is .3cc, or 30units.
Thanks for the help/advice.

Yeah I usually check half way through to see if I'm still in. The other night will pushing my plunger in (lightly) it stopped as if the plunger hit a wall or something, went to register and had fell out of my vein. I've never experienced this before.


Has it ever taken more than a week for a small non-serious lump to completely subside?
If it ends up being there much longer its really going to bother me mentally.

Also i dont necessarily want to go to the hospital or see my doctor (considering it doesnt seem serious) this isnt something i want my family dr to know about
 
Last edited:
As Sephur said, watch out for signs of infection - redness, heat, pain, swelling and discharge from the site. Abscesses don't always display all these signs, so if you are concerned seek medical attention ASAP, especially if the lump is increasing in size or is not going down after a few days. The risk of an abscess is obviously is greater if your technique was not as sterile as possible and you didn't use a proper filter - hopefully it is nothing, but keep a close eye on it and don't hesitate to get help if you are concerned!

Check out the IV complications megathread for more info... good luck! :)
 
As Sephur said, watch out for signs of infection - redness, heat, pain, swelling and discharge from the site. Abscesses don't always display all these signs
Click to expand...

Is it possible for an abscess to have none of these signs? Because I have none of these signs, I only have a small lump which is slightly raised up. I'm closing in on 7 days of it being there. The lump is also not directly located at the site of injection where I missed 1-2units, it's off-placed to the right about 3 inches.

I would like to add another comparison photo, a better one.

http://s8.postimage.org/obtc2h950/Untitled_3.jpg

As I've mentioned it is a very small lump. It was never painful, red, swollen, bruised, discharge, or hot/warm.
I'm almost not even concerned about it; but considering it is still there it has been on my mind and bothering me. If it doesn't really seem like anything that needs medical attention (it doesn't seem like it does to me) to average opinon than I would rather not see my doctor or go to the hospital about it, as I would like to keep my medical experts from knowing that I IV heroin. But if a lump is something to be worried about and could be something serious (granted I know no one here can give me a 100%proper diagnosis) and I must seek attention, than it is something I have to do.
 
It is possible to have no signs except swelling as the infection is encapsulated inside the abscess, yes. Usually it will be tender, but not always. Often there is a punctum (like a little dumple) on the abscess, which sometimes discharges pus, but again not always (or at least not always obvious). It's so tricky to know over the internet as you say, even with photographs - it is probably just swollen tissue and will go away, but we can't guarantee that at all.. If you feel well in yourself, and it's not getting bigger or obviously showing signs of infection, I don't think you need to get it checked out right now - but if it is still there in 3-5 days or so and is the same size/bigger, or if you start to feel unwell in yourself or feverish, you should get it checked I think...
 
Well, it's still there.
Now it is roughly the same size, it just feels like a hard knot under my skin. Still to this day almost being 2 weeks now it has not caused any discomfort.

Because of this I'm still not sure what to do. I think I'll get it checked out next month when I can be in a different city at least. Should this little knot be very alarming, does anyone know more about the subject that might possibly have some more insight?
I figure I've come this far without having any negative signs I don't see why a couple more weeks would hurt, but I could very easily be wrong.
 
Being that you missed that little (and it was not tar right..east coast powder or what?) I think you'll be fine. Keep an eye out obviously..but I think your good
 
Yeah some pretty damn good east coast, nice rocks.

The thing is still there, it seems like it may have gotten a little bit smaller but it's still the same hard little knot that hasn't caused any discomfort
 
mosquito bumps

When I miss any amount when I push in I get what looks like a series of mosquito bites ranging in size from tiny to gigantic all around the injection site that stick around for about half an hour then go away. I know I didn't miss the whole shot because I still get the desired effect every time. And to make sure it's in there I always pull back a few times as I am injecting to make sure I'm still in. Any advice?
 
how long after missing a shot of a 2mg subutex, can i use that site again, effectively? (SN- i did not shoot the entire shot, maybe 2-4 cc... TIA!
 
another question.... how bad is it to use a 20 guage rig in the crook of your arm as opposed to those tiny rigs, oranged topped...?
 
. But I have watched my friends miss before and this same kind of lump developed for them, they did not seek out any medical attention, and didn't do much to it aside from running warm water over it and rubbing it - eventually after a couple days the lump would disappear.
Click to expand...
U just answered ur own question dude.. just chill, don't think about it.
 
Last edited:
omGitsMandy said:
another question.... how bad is it to use a 20 guage rig in the crook of your arm as opposed to those tiny rigs, oranged topped...?
Click to expand...
Damn, that is a huge needle! why exactly would you want to use a needle that thick? The tiny orange topped rigs are insulin syringes, which is what I typically use to shoot my 'tex, 1ml insulin syringe, 8mm tip, 29 guage. those work the best for me. That monster 20 guage is going to hurt and leave a giant mark where u inject, I wouldn't recommend using one of those on a regular basis or at all.

And about the spot you missed? how long ago did you miss there? does it still hurt when you touch that area or is it swelled there? I would leave it alone and find another vein to use until that site is completely healed. It might not come back, I have blown out a few veins that were huge when I started slamming sub, and are now completely unable to be hit. Be careful, try to use a micron filter and fresh rigs if you have the means to do so, if not at least use sterile cottons and fresh rigs.
 
A 20 gauge is want for horses 25 is the biggest you should use...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top