Injecting - help please! does this look bad?

[chronicpain247]

ok, my friend is a idiot cause even after reading about how dangerous it is to shoot pills on here he went and did it anyway, well no accounting for intelligence. anyway these are two separate injection points from about 6-8 hrs ago. this is what he did. crushed up 2 MS IR 30mgs filtered them as best he could till solution was just slightly cloudy but mostly clear. he used one needle, one shot clean brand new needles, cleaned the injection site with antibacterial soap ahead of time the Alchohol swabs before shot, clean cooker, the only thing he can think of that might not have been 100% clean is a pill crusher but he only uses that for crushing pills. He has never shot this far up on his bicep, usually in the crook of the elbow, so maybe its is a more sensitive area? he did not miss cause he registered before pushing and drew some blood back up to washout after. Maybe the wash or as i think it is called booting caused the irritation, this is the 1st time he tried that? Does this just look like bad bruising? No fever or chills or signs of infection spreading. Just a little swollen, red, sore around the immediate area and those white spots on the inside.

I know that everyone is gonna say "go to the doctor" and beleive me if things look worse tomorrow he will but hopefully there are some words of comfort for me also. Like "it is just bruised" or this is nothing. I know most of you wouldn't wat to discourage someone from seeking medical advice and like I said I am gonna keep an eye on it and I will go to the clinic if it looks worse, but what do you think? has anyone else had similar experiences?

[accatt2204]

Keep an eye on it closely. But it apears to be bruising and trauma to the tissue. It may be too soon for an infection of any sort but Swim cant be exactly sure. Swim advises NOT to shoot up. But see a doctor soon if anything seems unusual. Swim feels a doctor wont judge and is better off to be safe.

[Orion, R.I.P]

It just looks like a bruise to swim..... Be sure not to EVER shoot in an artery. Always pick a fatty vein. Swim has had bruising like that around swims veins too though. Usually happens when swim has to use a dull needle.

[ThusSpokeZarathustra]

It doesn't look bad. However, it doesn't exactly strike me as looking 'good' . . . I would get it checked out. The only problem there, do you think swiy's physician would inquire on the opiate use? They may get on swiy's ass about suboxone, or just become extremely reluctant to prescribing you opioid analgesics in the future, when you may really need them.

[Be]

From what swim can see from the pic it looks like there are a few red lines radiating which could be a sign of infection. Swim really needs to have this checked out because swim would rather be embarrassed than to lose her arm.

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Good advice

[MEKONE]

SWIM needs to keep an eye on that.Granted it has only been a few hrs. since the actual ingection it still shouldn't look so irritated.If Swim notices heat radiating from the area as well as pain that is a good indicator it's infected.Good Luck.

[chronicpain247]

no. no heat. this morning it looks more like bruising and is less painfull. the bruise has gottn larger but it hurts less and it isnt as red any more. it is more the dark color of a bruise but still has those spots at the actually site where it is the color of my skin normally, that is whats weird. it is bruised all around the site except for the actuall site itself? but im definitly less woried today.

If things dont appear to clear up I will go to a free clinic where I dont have to give my insurance and therefor dont have to worry about getting flagged.

thanks for the advice. I will keep an eye on things.

chronicpain247 added 60 Minutes and 28 Seconds later...

Originally Posted by Orion, R.I.P

It just looks like a bruise to swim..... Be sure not to EVER shoot in an artery. Always pick a fatty vein. Swim has had bruising like that around swims veins too though. Usually happens when swim has to use a dull needle.

i dont think that is an attery. atteries have a pulse. that is the same vein that is in the crook of my elbow just farther up on the bicep. right?

[Spare Chaynge]

seek medical attention. When one has problems with the circulatory system extreme negative consquences can result.. infection,stroke ect..
Swim would not mess around with something like this.

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Unmeaningful post (0 points so no gain/lose)

[biggpri]

maybe your friend wiggled the needle around too much when it was in the vein. this can cause bruising, especially if your friend is inexperienced in shooting. it looks like just bruising, but remember that none of the members here are professionally trained medics, so none of us really know with a hundred percent certainty what we're talking about in terms of your friend's arm. that's something to think about.

[chronicpain247]

Originally Posted by biggpri

maybe your friend wiggled the needle around too much when it was in the vein. this can cause bruising, especially if your friend is inexperienced in shooting. it looks like just bruising, but remember that none of the members here are professionally trained medics, so none of us really know with a hundred percent certainty what we're talking about in terms of your friend's arm. that's something to think about.

No doubt. I am not going to substitute the advice of people on this site for medical attention. Just wanted to get some experienced opinions. Yeah I think I have been moving the needle around a bit, and yeah I did just start shooting, but I have been getting lots of practice and I am getting better everyday. LOL.

After a few days it is definitely looking like a standard bruise now. It hasn't spread any more and doesn't really hurt anymore, Just looks like hell. Guess Ill be wearing long sleeves during the day and some pajama tops with sleeves to bed so wifey doesnt see.

thanks for the opinions some of you guys really settled my nerves the night it happened, then again some of you some of you scared the shit outa me too (but everyone said what they felt and I appreciate and respect that regardless how it made me feel, Thanks for keeping it real! I would probably have been more worried if there were nothing but comforting posts) and thanks for replying so quickly too, I was freaking out a little bit the night this happened. Like I said I wouldn't ever substitute this site for a doctor but it is good to hear some rational thinking and cool headed suggestions when your kinda stressing.

[chillinwill]

Originally Posted by chronicpain247

No doubt. I am not going to substitute the advice of people on this site for medical attention. Just wanted to get some experienced opinions. Yeah I think I have been moving the needle around a bit, and yeah I did just start shooting, but I have been getting lots of practice and I am getting better everyday. LOL.

After a few days it is definitely looking like a standard bruise now. It hasn't spread any more and doesn't really hurt anymore, Just looks like hell. Guess Ill be wearing long sleeves during the day and some pajama tops with sleeves to bed so wifey doesnt see.

thanks for the opinions some of you guys really settled my nerves the night it happened, then again some of you some of you scared the shit outa me too (but everyone said what they felt and I appreciate and respect that regardless how it made me feel, Thanks for keeping it real! I would probably have been more worried if there were nothing but comforting posts) and thanks for replying so quickly too, I was freaking out a little bit the night this happened. Like I said I wouldn't ever substitute this site for a doctor but it is good to hear some rational thinking and cool headed suggestions when your kinda stressing.

Just a friendly reminder to remember not to self-incriminate here and remember to SWIM or something similar

[Laudaphun]

It looks to SWIM like he may have missed the vein a bit with the injection and gave himself a subcutaneous injection, or possibliy he pushed the needle in through one side and out of the other, SWIM has often seen bruising of that sort. However SWIM didn't look real closely at the pic and notice the red-lines that someone else had noted. If this is the case SWIM would be a little concerned. SWIM has seen some people who refuse to shoot in any other spot other than the same spot day in and day out... This girl SWIM once knew had a crateor, horribly infected... It was the most disgusting thing SWIM has ever saw. Don't know what ever happened to her. She had a heavy oxy habit and was shooting 80-160mg per load... or whatever she could fit into the syringe. It sort of looked like that movie "requim for a dream" when they showed him shooting into that sore before it progressed into the later shots of it.

MS COntin and especially the generics are some of the worst pills to IV... if you have ever seen what the residue looks like after cooking up a generic MS Contin (morphine) pill and it dries out and has a consistency of a hard plactic-like substance.

[adzket]

swim was going to start a similar thread but may aswell put it hear instaed afof injected h with 2ml barel and small orange needle tryed there elbow but just got lots of blood in hast put into top of wrist insted was exscruting pain but check and was still in however plunger started to get hard to push eventualy with about .5ml left could not get ne more in swim checked it had congealed way quicker than normal. so swim thinks he may now have a blood clot arm is painfull from wrist to elbow gets worse if swim has arm up or down to long also about half way up tendons that run forarm to wrist swim has a red mark which is hard with a whit mark on mmiddle this is geting bigger plus pain now worse at end of weekend this happend friday. swim is normaly so carefull but was on the wagon and feels there quickness to reuse may now be an issue also swim will get kicked of there methadone script if there doc finds out been useing this is puting swim off of seeking help.

[chronicpain247]

Originally Posted by Laudaphun

It looks to SWIM like he may have missed the vein a bit with the injection and gave himself a subcutaneous injection, or possibliy he pushed the needle in through one side and out of the other, SWIM has often seen bruising of that sort. However SWIM didn't look real closely at the pic and notice the red-lines that someone else had noted. If this is the case SWIM would be a little concerned.

Maybe missed a little but like swim said he registered first then booted back to wash out anything left in the syringe so he doesn't think he missed. Someone else had mentioned that he may have wiggled the needle around a bit and cause the bruising that way or like swiy said maybe swim went through the other side little bit.

It is pretty much all cleared up now so swim thinks it is all good and swim has noticed that he has some of bruising on some other injection sites as well, but not ass bad as this one was, hence the fear. Maybe swim's veins just bruise easily. Oh, and the red lines are just irritation from band aid adhesive. It is hard to see in the pic but you can see the perfect outline of the band aid adhesive if you are looking at it in person, so nothing to fret there, but thanks for the concern.

Swim just started shooting after sniffing for about 5 months and eating pills for about 11 yrs so he is new to IV use but you know what they say "practice makes perfect" and swim is getting better. He read up on injections and their procedures as well as other info as much as he could with this PDF ( Attachment 6082 a must read if swiy is considering IV drug use of any kind ) before he went through with his 1st shot and thought that he had pretty much got a handle on it. The 1st few shots went great, no bruising or nothing (swim was shooting H that first couple times) but maybe swim got lazy or overly confident and this was the reason for the extreme bruising now. He will be more careful in the future and not shoot pills unless absolutely no other choice.

Swim has been trying to rotate injection sites and arms too but other than the opposite side of the elbow he doesn't have too many other options. the forearms are off limit cause his wife will see them when he rolls up his sleeves. it has been hard enough to hide the elbow from her, he just pushes his sleeves up to just below the elbow. she hasn't said anything yet about swim wearing only long sleeve shirts all of a sudden. Probably because it is fall and getting cooler out. Swim is trying to get a divorce before the next summer anyway so no worries there. But the forearms mean swim would have to always have long sleeves and never roll them up around her and that would send up some red flags probably.

The IDU manual says that other sites are more risky in terms of clotting and circulation so swim is a little scared about shootin anywhere esle but the arms. maybe he will start or look for another post about this and see where other swiy's shoot. Swims feet have big fat viens that would be easy to get at but they say your feet are one of the worse places to shoot cause it is so far from the heart.

That PDF in blue should download as a link, I think. If not then it is also up here as an attachment to this post. AND ONCE AGAIN IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING IV DRUG USE OF ANY KIND YOU REALLY SHOULD READ THIS THING, FRONT TO BACK, FOR YOUR OWN SAKE. REMEMBER THIS IS YOUR LIFE YOUR PLAYING WITH! AND ITS NOT A GAME.

There is one more thing swim has to say. swim is 31 and has been using opiates for about 12yrs on and off and, regardless of his naivety about IV technique since he just started using the needle, swim likes to think he knows his shit when it comes to "Gods Own Medicines", and swim knows he still doesn't know everything. I don't think anyone does. Even his pain doctor admits not have the answers to everything! When swim reads some of the post on this site about IV use or just Opiate use in general it scares the shit out of him how ignorant and overly cocky some of these kids are. swim says kids because without even knowing how old some of them are, it is obvious to him from their "oh it doesn't matter, just down the pills and spike the vein, Why are you all so worried about everything", kinda attitude, that they are either young in age, or mentally and emotionally immature. Look, swim was 18 once and he gets it. You feel like everyone on this site are just a bunch of old junkies who worry too much about everything and you probably think that anything bad that has happened to any of us is because we did something wrong and it wont happen to you cause your too smart for that. Besides your indestructible anyway, Right? Well listen swim knows how that feels...he's not that old, but the truth is that a lot of you are headed straight for a six foot dirt nap if you keep on going through life with that same attitude you have about drug use and life in general right now and if you just so happen to dodge the bullet some how, you are still passing along bad info to others who might not. Do you want to be the reason some 14yr old shot up Oxy's without any kind of filtering and died from an embolism? swim know he doesn't! The best thing you can do is take a step back, tell yourself that you are indeed human and that you don't know everything just because you read an issue of high times and start reading, asking and most important of all...LISTENING! Please! Cause every time one of you young kids die from some kind of opiate misuse not only does your family and friends loose someone they love over something dumb, but it also makes the rest of us opiphiles look dumb too. It makes us all look like a bunch of desperate junkies who cant keep a job or have meaningful relationships cause all we care or think about is drugs. It perpetuates the stereotypes that all opiate users and dirty, nasty, street walkers who sleep under a highway overpass somewhere and rob, cheat or steal to get a fix. It cause politicians to make tougher drug laws which causes police to lock up non-violent drug user and the rest of us poor folks who just want to enjoy our drugs in a responsible manner end up harassed, hidden or worse, in jail. So please, you don't have to stop taking drugs, but maybe slow down a little bit until you acquire a little more knowledge about things, and learn. Learn as much as you can about something that could and probably will effect the rest of you life. Knowledge is power, so empower yourself!
(Sorry about going off topic but swim just had to speak his mind. swim now sees why so many other user forums have closed their registration. They want to keep out the rubes. swim doesn't blame them.)

Thanks again for all the help everyone. swim thinks we can pretty much close the books on this one. peace!

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swim is agrees completely with the bit at the end of swiy's post. Good job reminding kids once again to listion and tak...