Neck injecting!

[Anon33]

 
I would like to kn ow if any of you know of any harm reduction leaflets/posters that have been done around neck injecting.
Where I live we have a high influx of eastern Europeans who think it's the norm and the rest are people who have exhausted all their other sites, hands, arms, feet, groin.
This is in desperation and some report a rush, that they are getting addicted to-maybe adrenaline?

I have asked Keys and they have advised to advise to go in the groin as the legs can get chopped off but you need your head.

The people who I have spoken to have said there is a certain way you must do it, otherwise you miss, they are using the surface veins, you have to keep blowing with your cheeks puffed kind of holding your breath...a few who have missed have been to hospital with bad abscesses and infections.
There needs to be some real harm reduction advice approaching this taboo subject.
Any input would be most helpful, as they will do it regardless and I believe, if they will, at least do it with the safest practice- even though it is such a high risk site-hope you can help or advise

Happy New Year

[froude]

Anon33 I was bang into injecting into my neck and head as i had NO veins left.Very dodgy,used to feel it run through my head round my ear and then the sensation would go,never had a rush though,well only the snowball.Thats all I can help you with sorry,All the best Froude

[sapphire]

My EX Husband, who dies from dodgy injecting/OD, was going in his neck, and I believe he did have to hold his breath and puff out his cheeks to bring the veins closer to the surface.

Very risky though, if you hit the artery you could be dead in seconds.

I have NEVER seen any harm reduction for neck inhjecting, which seems like the place that needs most harm reduction, as it is the most dangerous!

[angiesims AKA true grit :)]

Yeah I went in my neck a few times. Mental. And yes I used to hold my breath. I've seen it go wrong and people necks swell and one lad die. All my veins used to go with been so skinny and cold all the time. Even a hot bath wouldn't do it. One thing I ain't done though is the groin. But I do cringe when I think what could of happened to me entrusting people to do my neck  And now my veins are pumping. I look like madonna 

[froude]

Definitely got it right there Saphh hold your breath and dont breath ,sort of go puffing your head out,cor them veins are like gas pipes,mad aint it ,the lengths we will go to ,to be not ill,now im just dumbfounded when i think what i have actually done for a hit.All the best Froude

[OP8S]

I've been asked to do it for someone but they got told to fuck right off if they thought I'd do any time if it went wrong. Yet another reason for diamorph prescribing. I've never considered doing it myself, the groins bad enough. I've often thought that in the name of harm reduction that they should give practical classes for i/v use, I was doing it for years before I learnt all about arteries and such things. My viens are very close to the skin, which a lot of people think are easy but they tend to push away when you pierce the skin, so I've always had to go in quick piercing the skin & vien in one go. When I stopped using i/v daily it seemed to take months for the lumps & bumps to disappear. Surprisingly they now look in not to bad shape but it is very rare I use i/v & when it is it is usually amps.
Could something like a canula not be used for those that are intent on finding a vein when there's no viable ones left ? Either that or morphine prescribed off label by their DSP that would at least lessen the harm being done. My mate that asked me to i/v into his kneck died several months later. It really is time to call it a day when you're causing yourself so much harm.

[Jules]

Anon33, I think the reason there's no harm reduction advice around injecting in the neck is because the general answer is DON'T.  It's so risky as other posters have testified to.

Just in case you haven't seen the site, Exchange Supplies do some great leaflets around safer injecting which can be read online:

http://www.exchangesupplies.org/shoplist_leaflets_and_booklets.php

Wishing you and everyone else on the forum a very Happy New Year!

Best wishes

Jules

[bp]

Anon33, if you Google 'neck injecting-heroin' there's info to be had. I tried it a few times many years ago but although the riush was great, goughing out and coming to with a works embedded in my neck scared the crap out of me; if that needle had broken..............

All the Best Everyone for 2012. I believe we're going to need all the positivity we can muster up.

B 

[Anon33]

Yeh, I did have a look at exchange supplies, but there is not a proper section anywhere devoted to neck injecting-apart from a small bit in the safer injecting handbook, saying it is a high risk site and avoid it altogether, although there is an array of groin injecting info.
Have looked at drugs forum and there is just 'opinions' of swim (someone who isn't me)

My point is, there needs to be some evidence based literature, maybe it is because it will open a can of worms, but just like the groin injecting info, it is not written because it is condoned, it is because there is a need to know reasons why blah,blah.

Where I live we have one of the highest rates of injectors per capita and it sounds like it's getting desperate. The people I have spoke to have said it is a last resort and there veins as good as any.

I have done it a few times and got a rush, whether it's coz of holding my breath then a shot of adrenaline or because it is a cluster of veins that are not damaged-who knows- this is not about me though and I would rather not....it is risky, it is addictivie and a last resort....but it is getting 'popular' where I am and it worries me...I hear about it too much- I have mentioned it at last 6 mnths of harm reduction meetings but it is falling on deaf ears

[simon]

I tend to start neck injectors on a higher dose of methadone due to the risk with the hope they'll not do it or be able to stop doing it quicker. It's a really really bad plan.