Side effects - Needle points / ends remain in legs and arms

[suninmy_MOUTH]

SWIM has seen two doctors about this but over the years a number of the ends of needles broke off at the injection site and were immediately swallowed up. Presumably from the swelling in the limb due to numerous injections, and then pushing deep to find a vein, is why SWIM thinks they didn't even stick out at all after breaking off.

An ER doctor and SWIMs own internist said it would be too invasive of a surgery to go digging around in search of the needle points. Both doctors said the tissue would granulate around the foreign body and then simply stay there, and hopefully will eventually work its way out. Much like a piece of shrapnel. Which all fine and dandy. SWIM rarely if ever notices that are indeed in there. Nonetheless, now that SWIM is clean over a year, the thought of the needles being there is quite troubling to the psyche.

Has anyone had this happen to them and gotten them removed? Any different diagnosis?

[dyingtomorrow]

SWIM has never heard of this, and is very puzzled how they could "break off" in you, let alone be not-easy to pull out.

[suninmy_MOUTH]

Originally Posted by dyingtomorrow

SWIM has never heard of this, and is very puzzled how they could "break off" in you, let alone be not-easy to pull out.

To explain more. SWIM was also mainlining cocaine with heroin during this period where the incidents above happened. When SWIM did shots of coke, let's say 3 to 4 grams in an evening. That's roughly 40 or 50 shots. Added that cocaine makes one's veins shrink, there were many missed shots where SWIM had to pull out and find another spot. SWIM would buy 20 insulin needles, but over the binge, using the same needles over and over, they get weak at the base and would break off.

The Xrays were quite disturbing!

[Spucky]

My Cat thinks the Doc`s are right about that,
but control that once or twice a Year.
If it start to move think about a Operation.

My Cat once also broke a Needle but she have been lucky to remove it manual!

[helene]

Urgh. SWIM has never heard of this happening before, but is quite shocked to learn that this is a possibility...SWIM can't think of anything worse...

SWIM hopes that because she never re-uses needles there is no chance of this happening to her...?

The only (slightly) similar thing that has happened to SWIM has been when she was trying to get a hit (using orange all-in-one insulin syringe) that she hadn't realised had blocked, and pushed a bit too hard on the plunger, and the needle must not have been attached properly, as it kinda shot out of it's plastic surround into SWIM's arm, but luckily it didn't imbed itself completely and SWIM was able to pull it out with her fingers. SWIM now checks that all of her pins are properly attached to the plastic bit before she uses them.

However much this freaked SWIM out, it has only happened to her once, and considering she has had an average of maybe 4 hits a day for the past 4 years, it's not a very high statistical probability, is it? So probably not really worth worrying about.

H

[funkcentralstation]

wow...do you have the means to share copies of those x-rays? that sounds almost unbelievable.

[dyingtomorrow]

Originally Posted by helene

So probably not really worth worrying about.

H

SWIM would definitely agree to that. You certainly hear some weird things on this site - things you never even considered possible, or never heard about even from the stories of dozens to scores of other long-term heroin users.

[motorhead]

The human bodys ability to heal itself and survive is a remarkable thing. However, I have noticed in the short time that i have been back as a regular there is alot more IV drug users and members battling opiate addictions on the forum. In turn there have also been a lot more posts inquiring about unhealthy practices regarding IV drug use, specifically about how long it is safe to leave blood/substances in a needle before shooting, proper spots to inject, and repeatadly using a site and/or needle.

Now its about broken needle points. In this particular case the doctors didn't see any immediate danger, and hopefully this is the case. But the danger is real. Re-using a needle weakens it, use a new one as often as you can. I know this can be hard sometimes, especially when one is hampered with an addiction or lack of funds or transportation, but a clean/new rig is the essential first step in IV drug use safety. Also repeating injecting into the same site causes scaring, which causes resistance to the needle point upon entry and thus more likeliness of it breaking.

I'm not trying to preach-and I realize that instances such as this, along with absesses, infections, and amputated limbs are rare, but the dangers do exist. Please play safe swimmers.