IM'ing Heroin, is it effective?

[Jonro]

what are ppls thoughts on this? is the rate of absorbtion to slow to be effective?

[mickenator]

Im'ing heroin will work but it seems to take about half to an hour to take effect and the results aren't as potent as smoking or Iv'ing the drug plus it can leave horrible lumps on your body. Most people only resort to this if they have wrecked there veins, in swims opinion it is a last resort thing.

[Thanatos]

Bad scene, this, considering the purity of most street 'junk' in this swim's humble opinion. Some areas on the left coast in U.S. admit numerous abscess cases daily from those simply 'trying to get it in, but miss.. god I can't imagine anyone putting that crap in any body tissue other than at least a semi-functioning vein...! Beware of any 'skin poping' or IM use of any street drug of unknown purity or absolute knowlege of all contents therein!
Than

[Alicia]

Swia agrees with above what ever you do not IM or IV black tar heroin or suspected badly cut H. The amount of threads and other sources that state how it is likely to cause infection is quite high.

[brown_chunx]

Swim just IVd some shit that he later found out to be cut with baking soda. So if it cooks up all white and foggy rather than clear, I wouldn't reccommend using a needle at all (or using the dope)

[Psych0naut]

Let's say one has pure heroin, and that person doesn't want to IV, would IM'ing be even worth it or would chasing the dragon be preffered?

[enquirewithin]

Why IM if you don't want to IV? IM injections are more painful-- not worth it. Chasing the dragon is much more fun.

[Psych0naut]

SWIM has only IM'ed ketamine so far, every time he did it he didn't feel any pain at all, neither when injecting or when the syringe went in.
When injecting a salt(like diacetylmorphine hcl) dissolved in water in general one won't feel any pain, as long as it's a clean solution.
SWIM can get pure diacetylmorphine but has never IV'ed before and certainly isn't planning on doing it with heroin, though he'll probaply go for chasing it.

[methologist]

one can chase diacetylmorphine hydrochloride? i thought the only way to chase it would be using freebase heroin. But swim doesnt know, he loves to IV but its hard for him to hit veins.

[Psych0naut]

Sorry, yes. One needs to have the freebase but it wouldn't be a problem to turn it into the freebase for SWIM. He'll probaply try that.

[methologist]

would skin popping 80%+ pure heroin be okay? because he has trouble finding veins, or if he tries to hit a vein and misses would that still work?

[Psych0naut]

It could cause an abscess, even 20% of adulterants is too much if one doesn't want to take any risks. Maybe do a clean up?

[SwanSushi]

IM'ing Heroin creates a slower, weaker high in the user. If you decide to IM Heroin (or anything else) do not inject more than 3-5 CCs in one spot before moving to another. Don't get freaked out if it burns a bit or you develop a lump at the injection site as that is normal and to be expected. Honestly though, if you have the rigs (and someone to watch after you if you lack experience) I would just go IV.

[coryt]

ok as you can see SWIM is a newbie and this is DEFIENTLY a newbie ?........i know IM injections are either in your ass or in your upper arm for a fact but can you IM anywhere on your body? also will a 1/2 in insulin syringe suffice? thanks

[OpiateWarrior]

No no no, you don't inject in your skin. 1) V. painful. 2) You won't get high. 3) Waste of gear. 4) Leaves lumps under the skin for months. 5) Why? Look, if you digg? then i.v. it! Swim has been using heroin for over 15yrs and been addicted for 11yrs, and every single H user he knows, plus himself would say a digg in the skin is a ''miss''. Meaning a waste, if your ''rattling''(withdrawing from H) and you score. You get home, cook up and then ''miss your digg''(miss the vein) then swim would still be ''rough''(withdrawing). This way of H use is crazy to swim & swim's friends, any real H user will tell you ''skin popping'' and ''IM-ing'' is worse than the last resort. Smoke H, if swiy doesn't want to I.V.? Swim would always recommend smoking to anyone who isn't so far gone that they can't afford to smoke gear? and have to I.V. to get through the day without ''rattling''. If your want more proof not to I.V. heroin, unless you have to, then check out my profile album showing open, infected wounds from injecting cut H. You will need a strong stomach to view these photos.

Reputation Comments on this post:

lots of good info to help out newbies to shooting

[samuraigecko]

IMing Heroin is fine as long as it is pure, which will not happen with street Heroin. So there would be no point.

[zero]

SWIM's been doing dope on and off for about 14-15 years as well. Here on the left coast it's almost all tar so not much of a choice. He says skin-popping=BAD whether you have white or black dope. IM'ing is a last resort to get well if you just CANNOT find a vein. It'll get you well if youre strung out but not high. People disagree but the only way to even get somewhat high from IM'ing is by throwing some coke in there with it. Either way its not good for the body,especially if youre a daily user... like SWIM... again.

[Solinari]

It's known as 'muscle popping' in the UK (or at least Scotland where i am) and it is against the advice of UK drug services because they say it could allow any bacteria to take hold since the solution is in one place longer. A muscle or under the skin would be an ideal place for bacteria to start to multiply. Drug services say if you have no veins consider using other methods or contact your local drug service for advice.

Here is a quote from "A Guide to Safer Injecting"...

Injecting into muscles or just under the skin can cause very serious problems. Drugs are absorbed much more slowly if you inject in these ways, giving the heroin/acid mixture more time to cause damage at the injection site and to increase the chance of serious infection. 'Missed hits' can cause similar problems.

I had to type that out, i couldn't find the leaflet online, i'll type more of it up later.

I nearly forgot to add, there were several deaths a couple of years ago due to a flesh eating bacteria that killed a few "muscle poppers", they were the group at most risk, muscle and skin poppers (intramuscular and subcutaneous injecting). When the drug is put directly in to the blood stream then it flows around the system and white blood cells can immediately attack any bacteria (at least that's what i guess from my limited medical knowledge), i would avoid intramuscular or subcutaneous injecting unless the gear is very clean and you can get a reasonably sterile solution. I believe pharmaceutical grade IV preparations are treated to sterilise the stuff then some antimicrobial agents are added to increase the shelf life, but that is just guess work really.

[samuraigecko]

agreed, any bacterium that the cutting agents or even the drug itself because of how its made can cause serious problems just like a "miss" would. Everything from swelling of limbs, tissue and joint damage from infection or even infection to the point of a limb having to be amputated.

Pharmaceutical grade diamorphine has been used IM in the past for certain situations in the hospital but one is almost certain that this would be a long abolished practice since the first thing they do when you go into a hospital now is get a drip system inserted (if the medical case in question requires it) to keep one hydrated with saline and for easy administration of IV drugs through a convenient dosing line.

[Solinari]

I managed to find most of the guide but it's not in a very good format, the leaflet itself folds out to about and arms length with half of it written vertically, this is the step by step guide which you should still be able to see.

I will make it in a new post if that;s OK with everyone (Admins/mods?).

[OpiateWarrior]

Hay ''solinari'' well said, I also have that leaflet from the methadone doctor. Its very well written for H addicts, seems it was written by ex addicts or current users. Alot of swim's friends groin their H, swim never maneged to find his femoral vain. Hitting his artery, wow now thats pain. Swim's side of waist and penis swelled up to twice the size, could of been a stripper looking like that.lol Overall swim's happy he never did find his femoral vain because seen friends in & out of hospital with problems caused by ''groining it''.

[Solinari]

The femoral vein is very easy to hit and very easy to miss, and when you miss it's usually the artery you get or a nerve which can be extremely painful.

The thing with injecting in the groin is, when your veins are gone and then you start going for the groin (femoral vein), once you hit it then you can usually hit it 9 times out of 10, probably more. So once you successfully inject in the groin then it becomes very easy to keep doing it and then it will be the only injection site left.

Of course that doesn't mean you can't miss from time to time, and if you do it can take a lot of pressure to stem the flow of blood that literally sprays out the artery, it's a rather large blood vessel, so when it's pierced with a 25 or even 23 gauge needle (which is BIG) then that puncture can take while to clot and the blood to stop spraying out.

The other dangers are of course, infection, getting an infection down there can lead to very serious problems, and that's how people end up losing their legs.

[OpiateWarrior]

Well the femoral vain carries back all the blood from your leg so if you damage it or worse of all kill it, then you will lose your leg no maybes about it. Swim's real friend not ''friend'' only uses his groin and has a black hole on the surface that he likes to have a blunt needle for because he says a sharp one will cut a new hole instead of following the original path down to the vain. Swim's friends use their groin alot and have these scabs on both sides of their groin. It makes swim worry for them, especially with the bad quality H going about it Manchester. If you see what it did to swim's legs- image added. Then you must see my point, this is caused by H cut with mannitol. If this bad H was ''skin popped'' then it would have the same effect, rotting out the injection site. Thinking that swim's friends have been ''groining'' this crap is a worry, and makes swim glad he never found his femoral vain.

[Solinari]

My friend had a similar thing, he used all his veins so started jaggin in the groin, he did it for years probably. He ended up having what was basically a hole from his skin into the femoral vein, and of course it became infected badly. He left it for at least a week or two before going for treatment, i didn't see it, but i was told his groin and balls were basically black.

I was also told he was seen injecting in the groin when he had this infection, he stuck the needle in drew back, and it was puss, he adjusted got the vein and jagged the gear, nasty eh. He did eventually get treatment after he showed it to one of his junkie friends mother, she told him he better go to hospital NOW, in fact i think she may have took him herself right there and then, it was that bad. After he got treatment (IV antibiotics i imagine) he did recover, but unfortunately he did die about a year ago now (dam where does the time go), but it was unrelated to that infection. I never did get the full story, but from what i heard he got in some sort of fight and was stabbed through the neck, he got treated for that and was recovering from it, but i don't know what happened next, i think his body was just that fucked and run down (he may have had HIV/Hep C/Hep B i don't know) and his body just couldn't cope with it any more. In the end i think it was multiple organ failure. I always liked the guy, but drugs fucked him up bad, he did some bad shit to his parents (i feel so sorry for then, their only child) and his parents kept bailing him out even after he stole pretty much everything from his (parents) house. My mother cut me off completely and wouldn't give me a penny, it was the best thing she could have done and the right thing to do (if any parents read this and their child is using heroin or any sort of drug addiction, i think you should give them NOTHING, you don't have to put then out the house, just don't keep giving them money). Anyway, that's the story of a long term groin jabber, not exactly a story that warms the heart eh

The thing was, as i said, once you get that femoral vein it can be the easiest place to inject, not least because it's so big and easy to hit once you find it. It's the femoral artery that supplies the blood to the leg (the vein takes it back to the heart to get re-oxygenated). So yea, if you collapse the femoral vein you're in big trouble, i don't know if arteries collapse in the same way, i think they are more resilient but still damaging it or injecting in to could cause serious problems as well.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Helpful info, correctly informed