how to make veins surface

[candy]

-Staying hydrated
-Using a tourniquet
-Apply heat: Hot shower, warm compresses, warm bath (avoid hitting in the bath)
-Exercise
-If you are using black tar, your veins will be fucked quickly and will likely never be the same
-Rotate your sites
-Don't reuse needles: Dull needles will scar veins and surrounding tissue
-Always treat missed shots ASAP: Apply heat to missed shots to help absorb faster and prevent abscesses, Apply ice to bruised areas a few times a day.
-Using the lower extremities can lead to infection, blood clots, and slow healing
-Best to avoid using the jugular veins: If you do fuck up every peripheral vein that emergency services can access quickly, the jugular veins can save your life. I know this personally.
-Use a micron filter
-Take your time when injecting. Have your supplies ready to go. Keep your supplies clean and dry. Use sterile water if you can get it.
-Get a vein finder if you can afford one. A Red LED light can be helpful. I hear iPhone makes something to find veins. A flashlight can work as well.
-Stop injecting if you are not in the vein, it starts to hurt, starts to swell at the site.
-Always aspirate to check that you are in the vein before you inject. Even if you get blood, always pull back on the plunger before pushing in the contents.
I always used to aspirate one or twice when injecting larger amounts if I wasn't sure the vein was a great one when I started. It can take a steady hand, but it is worth it in the long run.

These are not all tips of getting veins to the surface, but will increase your likelihood of being able to inject much longer.
Injecting BTH is going to tear up your veins quickly. I have not injected in more than a decade and blood draws and IV's are a real struggle.

[Indy]

Either I have veins that just aren't durable, or I'm not very good at injecting. Probably a little of both. Realizing that was a bit of a hit to my ego, TBH, since I like to think I'm good at first aid and other "medical" stuff, but I just was never cut out for IV use. Can't handle the speed at which withdrawal kicks in, my hands get shaky in anticipation/fear of missing, and I can't really afford how much it takes to stay well for any decent period of time when shooting.

But during the periods when I was shooting, running the entire appendage under increasingly hot water definitely did work. I think a lot of people don't realize how long you have to hold it there, it takes a good minute or two for me. I guess it's hard to be patient since the times you're having trouble finding a vein is usually when sick. At least for me, my veins love to vanish when I'm sick, it's directly related, then when I get well they pop out more.

Those elastic tourniquets are nice, however IMO they aren't long enough for self-administration. If you tie two of them together you can do the tuck and loop thing (where it releases when you let go) AND hold the end in your mouth.

Exercise never really did it for me since the veins I'd be looking to hit weren't easy to isolate and work out. I guess whole body exercises would work but I just never had it in me when sick, and if I'm not sick I can usually find a vein without much trouble, kind of ironic when you think about it.

The one thing I could always rely on is something I really really can't recommend at all, especially with fentanyl-cut dope so ubiquitous these days: alcohol. Specifically the drinking kind. Again, really not a smart method but it was the one thing that always got my veins to stick out even when sick, usually I could keep it to moderate amounts and still get good results. I don't know if I should even have mentioned it, but I guess it's not really a secret that ethanol is a vasodilator. Always helped with shaking hands too. But again, I can't recommend it.

Oh and strangely enough I never had any trouble from shooting in my feet. Made it much easier to hide any bruising or whatever, people say it hurts a lot, and I'm not one of those people with a superhuman tolerance to pain or anything, but "stinging" pain is easy to deal with for me, or maybe it just wasn't that intense for me. Never had any abscess issues or anything like that either, however I only ever IV'd for maybe a couple months at a time at most, so that could definitely be why.

If I had to pick a suggestion I would say hot water, with a reminder that it has to be hotter and for longer than you think. Keep increasing the temperature as you get used to it.  Oh, and I've shot in the shower before, it really is awesome, you start out sick, get that relief from the hot steam but you don't want to wash your hair or anything because of the way it feels, then you get right or even high, and you can actually wash up while feeling great. I'm big on those intense low to intense high experiences like that.

[Dog Food]

It sucks being extremely sick, in one of the worst areas in a major city, trying to find a spot to stop and hit yourself when sweating bullets, and my hands get cold when sick, and damn near zero visible veins for awhile till tieing off each arm several times looking for a place to even try.  Fuckin sucks

I agree, the sicker i get, the less my veins show.  Then as soon as I get well, my hands warm up, stop sweating, and i get a whole bunch of veins showing without even tying off.

Yep, im goin to detox again as soon as they have a bed open for me.  Sick of it

[MoeMentim]

@Dog Food - best of luck with the detoxing, hope it's not too painful.

[REDROOSTER]

Elevate your legs .

[Raine]

Flexing and lightly slapping the area can help to find them.
Make a fist and squeeze your thumb inside your fingers when you are looking for arm veins.
Examining them in diff types of lighting and taking an eyeliner pencil and "marking" spots to try is something I used to do when it got hard to find spots.
When I found a new one that worked I'd mark it so I could find it again
Eventually there will be marks from the needle but the first times
It is easy to lose the spot.

Drink shit tons of water.  (Will help with the junky constipation too!!)
I like the crystal light powders. They only have a few calories but don't taste diet imo
So they help me to drink way more water than I would if it was unflavored
Always add ice to your water it just tastes better
There are so many flavor options now for various drink mixes
That I think anyone can find something.

Doing the arm windmill thing like someone else said
Pushups
Warm compress and/or bath/shower
Really does help

When I used to use in public bathrooms I'd prep my shot and slip it in my purse
Then "wash" my hands using hottest water i could stand while I waited for the bathroom to empty out
Then I'd hustle back into the stall and tie off while I was still hot
And hit my hand or wrist somewhere.

Good luck!

(Edit- a word)