Getting Off: The Basics of Safer Injection

It’s important to encourage your loved one to seek treatment if they are abusing IV drugs. If they become defensive or deny their drug use, you may need to consult an interventionist for help. It may also be necessary to talk to other family members or friends who may have more influence than you or be able to support you in your efforts to encourage said loved one to get into treatment. Once you’ve been addicted to a drug, you’re at high risk of falling back into a pattern of addiction.

• A serious problem among people who abuse IV drugs is blood-borne infectious diseases.
• A potential overdose needs to be addressed and treated immediately by a medical professional.
• As the frequency of IV drug use increases, the most commonly used injection sites become infected, inflamed and much too painful to access.
• For patients on opioid maintenance therapy, the dose and timing of the last dose should be confirmed with the dispensing centre at the first opportunity.
• This issue of CDC’s Vital Signs presents data about HIV diagnoses and risk behaviors such as syringe sharing among people who inject drugs.
• Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is another type of infection that is typically only transmitted through blood.

MUSCLE – POPPING ( INTRAMUSCULAR I N J EC T IO N )

Injecting a drug is one of the most dangerous forms of drug misuse, as it bypasses your skin’s natural defense systems. IV drug use often causes more intense highs, making it difficult for someone to gauge how much of a drug they have taken. If bacteria reach the blood vessels, it can result in a severe vascular infection.

• It is essential to consider placing a filter into the inferior vena cava if there is an increased risk of serious hemorrhagic complications during antithrombotic therapy [43].
• This can be traumatic on the veins and the surrounding tissues, and result in a lot of bleeding.
• Understanding the risk factors for skin and soft-tissue abscesses can help prevent the development of drug-related abscesses.

What Common Substances Do People “Shoot Up”?

Because of easier access, the redistribution of stimulant substances’ production increases the risk of their use by IVDU in middle and low-income countries [26,28]. There’s a very low risk of opioid use disorder after short-term IV use. If this is a concern for you, talk with your healthcare team about your concerns. It’s important to critically evaluate whether IV opioid use is necessary and whether it’s the best course of action. There may be alternative treatments or ways to minimize the amount of opioids given while still adequately managing pain. Confronting someone about their drug use isn’t always easy, but it can be life-saving.

Signs of IV Drug Abuse

If you worry that someone you love has an addiction to an IV drug such as heroin or meth, you should look for the physical signs of addiction. They may have hidden paraphernalia around the house, including the small plastic bags and glass vials that once held the drugs. You may find dirty needles or the orange caps that sit on the ends of the needles around the house. More than 13 million people around the world use and abuse IV drugs and a large portion engages in something called a drug binge. While some like to sit down and watch television or movies during a binge, others prefer to be physically active and to do things around the house.

• We believe in treating each person on a physical, emotional and social level to help them make positive lifelong changes.
• According to the United Nations (UN), approximately 269 million people used drugs worldwide in 2018 [16].
• Muscling speed or cocaine is very painful and dangerous, and is likely to cause an abscess.
• A person on a stimulant may exhibit frequent behavior changes, aggression, or rapid or rambling speech.
• Routinely cleaning the skin prior to injection is one of the most important things you can do to reduce your risk of endocarditis, blood poisoning, and similar infections (discussed in chapter 3).
• Frequent drug injection increases one’s tolerance of the drug, making him/her crave larger doses.

Another theory explains this association of IV drug use and DVT to be due to the citric acid used to dissolve these drugs. Most heroin available reaches a pH of nearly 4, which is quite low as compared to the normal pH within blood vessels [6,33-34,42]. While IV opioids are not the first-line treatment for many conditions, doctors use them in certain situations, like during or after surgery, or if someone cannot take medication by mouth for any reason. Depending on why you’re getting IV opioids, there may be alternatives your doctor can use. You may have concerns about opioid use disorder (OUD), but this is extremely unlikely from short-term IV opioid use. A 2019 study of a cancer care center in Texas found that more than half of the nurses had administered IV opioids too quickly.

Table ​Table11 summarizes all the possible differentials of deep vein thrombosis. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. Fill out the form below to receive a free and confidential initial consultation with a callback. Signs and symptoms of drug use or intoxication may vary, depending on the type of drug.

Meth, cocaine and other stimulants

This practice is used to hide the damage from injection sites in general. Despite being administered the same way, each drug iv drug use of abuse has a different method of action. Drugs within the same class, such as opioids, will closely mimic each other.

Changes in the brain

The soot that forms on the needle goes directly into the body and can leave behind a dark marks that becomes even darker over time. Some people get professional or amateur tattoos done as a way to hide those marks. The combination of immediate sensation, intense euphoria, and a shortened high result in higher instances of intravenous drug users engaging in bingeing behavior. IV drugs are often preferred over oral capsules because intravenous injection gets the desired substance to the brain much faster. Finding the right one for yourself or a loved one suffering from IV drug addiction will depend on several factors.

Syringe services programs (SSPs) can play a role in preventing HIV and other health problems among PWID, by providing access to sterile syringes. A person who injects drugs often develops health problems related to their injection practices. By re-using injection sites and dirty needles, they can cause a build-up of bacteria, which can, in turn, produce skin infections that may lead to ulcers and abscesses.