vein damage from iv use, one year later

[Ilsa]

this thread is equally relevant in the cocaine addiction forum, but swim had to choose a spot, so the opiate addiction forum it is. swim quit shooting about a year ago, after about a year and a half of moderate needle use (a few times a week) and about 6 months of intense needle use (5 to 50 times a day, depending on how much coke and/or heroin was around the house), and noticed significant swelling in her wrists and hands every morning for the first few months, some difficulty bending fingers, to give a general idea. she used new needles whenever someone had enough forethought to get a box (about 100) of them, but there were definitely times when she reused the same ones 4-6 times. she has blown out several veins,and didn't have the best to begin with (small and difficult to pop up, even with the most rigorous methods). in addition, she noticed a hardening of the veins she used a lot, up and down the length of the vein , not just where she shot (perhaps due to particularly nasty cut?). this hardening necessitated a more violent method of injecting: having to pop the needle through the wall of the vein, in a motion swim and her proteges at the time dubbed 'juking'. a year later, the swelling after prolonged periods of immobility is not so pronounced, but is definitely still occurring. alcohol obviously makes this worse, so it's probably a good thing that swim doesn't drink a lot, but even few beers or drinks produce a significant effect the following morning. anyway, the alcohol bit is tangential, so she'll get back on track: has anyone else had this issue? if so, how long does it take to resolve, if ever? swim thinks forearm exercises, and lifitng weights again in general, would build a little more muscle (she's regained most of the tone she lost via emaciation by doing yoga), thus stimulatng angiogenesis, but she's not sure how effective weights would be (she doesn't gain bulk when weight-training, just gets more tone). also, anyone know of supplements that could help with this? the vitamin stores don't really specify which vits are best for ex-junkies

namaste

[Dickon]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I heard today in a lecture on harm reduction that swelling caused by repeated injections can be permanent. Sadly, I didn't ask about the mechanisms of this, so cannot really say anything more.

As to supplements, I would imagine anything good for the circulation, so for instance Ginkgo Biloba would be good. I stress this is unscientific in the least, and merely a hunch.

In general the best supplements for ex-junkies would probably not be vastly different from the list I gave on the how to detox thread. This is a direct steal from the OP of the "how to come off 150mg methadone cold turkey: the easy way" thread; written by a "real" doctor who seems to know his onions, as he had personal experience with addiction. I take multivitamins, ginseng, and a thing called Juvenon, which contains alpha lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine, and I used to take adrenal extract, but have run out. I also sometimes take omega-3,6,9 and condroiton and glucosamine (these last two for joints, so nothing directly to do with helping recovery). Yep, that makes me something of a pill head, as I'm a bit of a sucker for random "health supplements"! However I think the supplements I've listed won't do any harm. I recommend you read the OP of the "how to come off...." thread.

D

[Ilsa]

^^thanks D!! great advice...i was afraid the damage might be permanent to some extent. i shall try some of the supplements

fluffies to you good sir!