Long term heroin addicts no longer to IV

[bobbytarantino (OP)]

the outcome of IV use of black tar heroin in a place where it was next to impossible to get fresh needles on any regular basis has left me with little to veins at all to hit. shooting heroin IV has become such a monumental task that i have had to switch to intramuscular injection, for almost literally anything.

i know that there is a lot of long term users here and i would like to know what your perspective on IM use of particularly heroin. these days i cant afford to play hard in the paint, due to a lot of factors, but these past few times i have come to really enjoy IM injection.

it comes on a little slower, about 15 minutes. i have been tapping the muscle in the top of my thigh. i am pretty lean and i figure that is the spot on my body with the least amount of fat, as to ensure i get into the muscle.

i dont exceed .2 about every 3 days or so.. i have a slight habit, but my methadone withdrawal makes it seem like not so much.

at any rate, how many of you IM because you can no longer IV?

outside of the reasoning of "because i have no veins" the upside is, it leaves little to no evidence of use.

i like that.. no tracks no misses, no bruises. seems worth it to me.   anyone else?

[Tainted]

There was a period of time that I wasn't able to hit any veins (although, I won't try any in my legs/feet/anywhere but my arms because of potential health risks) and I ended up just quitting and going on methadone. I was always too worried about IMing (and I was doing powder not tar) and getting abscesses/infections. Even skin popping made me nervous, I'd keep a heating pad on a missed shot for 3-5 days afterwards in hopes it would prevent an abcess (I've only ever had one in 12 years and it was pretty minor, didn't require lancing, just antibiotics) However, after a year on methadone, it's like all my veins suddenly came back. The ones in my hand are all dead and a lot of the ones I used to hit I can't hit, but ones I never saw before appeared ALL over my arm, leading me to relapse for a few months. It was like I was a fresh user again, as long as I had fresh points, I could hit myself in a matter of minutes (whereas before I would be sick, sneezing, desperately trying to find a vein for an hour getting SO frustrated because I was so sick and was so close to being not sick)

I was only using for maybe 6 months at most and pretty much always used fresh rigs (couple uses before I'd toss it and get a new one) but my veins were quickly vanishing. I've not used for the past 4 months about and the veins in my arm are no longer bulging out like they were before I relapsed, but I could probably still easily find one.

My issue was less damage from using tar as I mostly did pills and powdered H, but scarring from using dull rigs as they can be very hard to obtain in my area. That may be why a period of abstinence brought them back, they were just pushed down deep from surface scarring possibly and resurfaced? Anyways, I know other people on this forum have the same problem you do as well as people formerly on opiophile. I've read many accounts over the years of people doing the same as you, but inevitably, abcesses seem to become an issue, which is what turned me off IMing.

[bobbytarantino (OP)]

yeah pills really fucked me up looking back. i went to the eye doctor and they didnt find any talc in my eyes, thank god, but the amount of scar tissue i have makes any IV dream just that. morphine ER/IR was my drug of choice because it was available and cheap, and them dull points... back in the day i could hit a vein in my hand with a 20 gauge needle....


papa aint pretty no more.

[Tainted]

yeah pills really fucked me up looking back. i went to the eye doctor and they didnt find any talc in my eyes, thank god, but the amount of scar tissue i have makes any IV dream just that. morphine ER/IR was my drug of choice because it was available and cheap, and them dull points... back in the day i could hit a vein in my hand with a 20 gauge needle....


papa aint pretty no more.

Yeah talc from avinza i think has really fucked me up. I smoke a lot of cigs, and i work with a lot of dust and paint fumes (carbon fiber composites) but i wear a respirator (which rarely fits properly and I'm not great about shaving which makes them useless)

A job about 4 years ago (i would have been 26) sent me for a respitory function test to see if I could safely use half face respirator or full oxygen scuba suits (hexavelent chromium is nasty stuff) and i failed the first 3 times, finally i passed but it said i had the lung function of a 56 year old

[bobbytarantino (OP)]

yeah pills really fucked me up looking back. i went to the eye doctor and they didnt find any talc in my eyes, thank god, but the amount of scar tissue i have makes any IV dream just that. morphine ER/IR was my drug of choice because it was available and cheap, and them dull points... back in the day i could hit a vein in my hand with a 20 gauge needle....


papa aint pretty no more.

Yeah talc from avinza i think has really fucked me up. I smoke a lot of cigs, and i work with a lot of dust and paint fumes (carbon fiber composites) but i wear a respirator (which rarely fits properly and I'm not great about shaving which makes them useless)

A job about 4 years ago (i would have been 26) sent me for a respitory function test to see if I could safely use half face respirator or full oxygen scuba suits (hexavelent chromium is nasty stuff) and i failed the first 3 times, finally i passed but it said i had the lung function of a 56 year old

[Snout]

Im on methadone now, but i IMd tar for many years, as did many of my friends. After exhausting all the veins in my arms, hands, legs, and chest i had to make the switch. I was afraid to use my femoral because i personally know  two people who had ruptures and almost bled out from that.
      Anyway, even with careful clean injecting, with sterile new rigs, you will get the occasional infection. Hot compresses as soon as you notice a problem is the way to go. Boiling water on a towel is great, but another way is to microwave a potato for 2-3 minutes, wrap it in a towel and use that. It stays hot for a Long, long time.  And you can reuse it, keep it in the fridge in between uses. Rotate your injection sites also, hips , thighs, upper arms. Alcohol pad every time. Good luck.

[Esoteric Anhydride]

IM is all I've done for years. For awhile I used long, 1.5"/3ml rigs and did deep muscle hits, but eventually realized that shallower infections are easier to deal with. The shots work whether or not you get very deep into a muscle, and at least for me, as long as I get on any budding infections quicklike, they never go very far. Like Snout said, hot compresses FTW. I also gave up on femoral hits purely from a harm-reduction standpoint, I knew I couldn't continue that shit forever.

I like the potato idea!!

[Snout]

I also tried bigger needles and deep shots after reading that insulin rigs didnt reach into the muscles. I couldnt notice ay difference except the longer needles were more damaging to my battered hide. Back to insulin rigs i went.

[Chip]

Ivy league ... i remember the time a used a 25g x 1.25" (memories fade) pick and i bent it on scare tissue or bone !

That was the end of that arm and after a second re-use, fuck that !

God i miss those peak hours but when i invariably end up in hospital, it's a case of hook me up with your phlebobotomist for at least 20 minutes of digging or sit around waiting for anaestetist's lugging their ultrasound around. VEIN FINDERS ? no surface veins left.

Femoral / necking it ? Nah ... i need my leg and heads.

If only they'd invent some hormonal modulator so all this gold was a PCA-like (Patiently Controlled AnALgesia) but neurological.

$ign me up, bro'

DREAMLAB