Infectious Diseases in Persons Who Inject Drugs Persons Who Inject Drugs PWID

The best is in the deltoid, the muscle on your upper, outer arm where your shoulder and your arm meet. If injecting into the butt, mentally divide each cheek into four equal sections and inject into the top right or top left outer section of each cheek. You can also use the front surface of your thighs about six inches above your knee to about six inches below your hip, or the outer surfaces of your upper arms between your shoulder and your elbow. Always be careful to avoid nerves, blood vessels, or bones, and rotate injection sites to avoid bruising, abscess formation, and the like. It is not uncommon for your muscle to be sore for a few days after an injection. This section of the manual presents information on proper injection technique (intravenous, intramuscular, and subcutaneous injection).

Medical uses

Heroin, cocaine, and amphetamine are three drugs that are commonly administered intravenously. It is important to follow proper sterilization procedures when utilizing needles and syringes to inject drugs since inaccurate sanitation practices may increase the risk of bacterial infections. It’s called “track marks” when needle addiction causes chronic vascular scarring, as well. The risks of overdosing greatly increase when drugs are injected directly into the bloodstream. As a result of the rapid action of the high and the severity of the effects, abusers also find it difficult to assess how much of the drug they are injecting into their bloodstream. Those who use intravenous drugs are at a higher risk of overdosing on a substance than those who usually take them in a manner other than by intravenous injection.

An ecosocial theory understanding of SBI risk in PWID

Users will move to other areas of the body such as neck, groin, hands, feet, or face. The more visible the injection site, the more likely a user is going to try to cover it up with clothing, make-up, or tattoos. Injection drug users have unique challenges because of additional social stigma, iv drug use substantially increased risk for infectious diseases, the health consequences of injection drug use, and the addiction to the injection process itself. Needle fixation is when people become addicted not only to the drug, but also to the ritual of drawing their drug up into a needle, and the act of injecting it. Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person’s vein.

• Many cities, counties, and states adopt community outreach programs to manage opioid addiction and substance abuse effectively.
• Rates of needle sharing among injecting drug users have declined during the 21st Century, leading to a decrease in viral infections from this transmission method.
• Intravenous (IV) access is used to administer medications and fluid replacement which must be distributed throughout the body, especially when rapid distribution is desired.
• Commonly used syringes usually have a built-in 28 gauge (or thereabouts) needle typically 1/2 or 5/8 inches long.
• Cotton shots, when not shared, are perceived by participants as a safe last resort source for drugs, unaware that warm, moist environments facilitate bacterial growth.
• Cotton fever is a slang term used to describe a temporary fever that sometimes occurs when using IV drugs that have been filtered through cotton.
• Cleaning the skin and sterilizing the needles may reduce the risk of an abscess, but they cannot prevent toxins from the medications from causing side effects.

Summary of risks and dangers

If this occurs, they may replace the plunger with a bulb, such as those from an eyedropper or baby pacifier. Additionally, and quite dangerously, a variety of prescription drugs are also used this way. Most of these medications come in a pill or tablet form which requires users to crush and liquify the drug.

• Hepatitis C is a type of viral infection that can be spread through the use of IV drugs.
• Ben Lesser is one of the most sought-after experts in health, fitness and medicine.
• The Recovery Village aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with substance use or mental health disorder with fact-based content about the nature of behavioral health conditions, treatment options and their related outcomes.
• Since there is a great risk of overdosing with IV drug use, users put their bodies at risk of suffering from an overdose if they try to take too many medications at once.
• While NES is more common in other countries than in the United States, it continues to be a contentious practice here in the United States.
• Underlying tissue damage both locally and at distant sites would allow for adherence and propagation of bacteria.

Combine non-sterile objects and inadequate hygiene, and bacteria from liquids increases the risk of an abscess or a skin infection much more significantly than did contaminated objects by themselves. Cleaning the skin and sterilizing the needles may reduce the risk of an abscess, but they cannot prevent toxins from the medications from causing side effects. The patterns of when and how and where someone injects can change over time. Typically, a person who injects will fall into a pattern that works to balance the need to get high, the symptoms of withdrawal, and what is financially feasible. Some people who inject drugs (PWID) inject multiple times a day in smaller doses to have a somewhat stable high. Other PWID inject only a few times a day; they may wait until withdrawal symptoms have just begun, so that the surge from the drug is more dramatic, and contrast between withdrawal and high are more distinct.

Vein Damage From IV Drug Use Hinders Delivery of Life-Saving Drugs

And talk with other injectors about the various tips and wisdom about injecting they’ve picked up over the years. The equipment is usually hidden and out of sight, held in the closet or under the bed. The resulting feeling is often called an intense feeling of euphoria known as a “rush.” It may only last for a few seconds before leveling off into a sustained high that typically lasts less than 20 minutes.

But on the other hand, stimulants such as cocaine would create a quite different impact in comparison to the depressant effects of an opioid. There should not be much bleeding at the injection site when skin-popping, but you might want to apply a Band-Aid to prevent infection. Veins are blood vessels that carry blood from the extremities of the body back to the heart and lungs where it becomes re-oxygenated. Veins have no pulse, and https://ecosoberhouse.com/ the blood they carry is a deep, dark red because it is low in oxygen. Arteries carry blood rich in oxygen from the lungs and heart to all the other parts of the body. Arteries are located deeper in the body than veins and so are not visible as many of your veins are.

• Participants reported storing cottons wet for a prolonged time in drug dilution from previous injections for a “cotton shot” when they did not have access to drugs.
• Hepatitis C can be difficult to diagnose early for some patients, as it can take from six months to 10 years or more for symptoms to become apparent.
• In some cases, a fungal infection can spread or even enter the bloodstream, increasing the risk for potential medical complications and side effects.
• The risks of overdosing greatly increase when drugs are injected directly into the bloodstream.
• When there is scarring, inflammation at the injection site, damaged or collapsed veins, lesions, or bruising, access to those veins becomes extremely painful or impossible.

In countries where harm reduction programs are limited or non-existent, it is quite common for IV users to use a single needle repeatedly or share with other users. It is also quite uncommon for a sterilizing agent to be used on needles and syringes. This creates a high risk population for the spread of bloodborne pathogens. Cocaine has a numbing effect on the veins and causes them to constrict (shrink), so if you’re shooting coke, you should be extra careful to register properly and make sure you’re in a vein before you inject your drugs.

Lack of hand and skin hygiene injection practices

Several participants reported no prior knowledge regarding hand and skin hygiene prior to injection. An additional common practice leading to damaged tissue was the self-treatment of perceived minor injection-related injuries. Of those participants that did report receiving harm reduction strategies for SBI, Drug rehabilitation it was described as primarily limited to needle sharing and re-use. If you or someone you love is struggling with IV drug use and addiction, The Recovery Village can help. Our organization is dedicated to helping people on their journey to a healthier, drug-free future.Contact ustoday to learn more about how our evidence-based addiction treatment programs can work well for your situation and recovery needs.

In addition to the bloodstream, septic arthritis can develop from a penetrating injury that causes germs to enter the joint from a puncture directly. For those who misuse IV drugs, Staphylococcus aureus is the most common infectious agent that results in septic arthritis. Misusing any medication or drug is dangerous and can result in an overdose. However, one of the most severe health dangers of IV drug use is that it significantly increases the risk of overdosing and death. IV drug use introduces a drug directly to the bloodstream, heightening and intensifying its effects. Regarding route of administration, much injection drug use, but not all, is intravenous injection, whereas some is subcutaneous injection or intramuscular injection (including skin popping, which often involves a depot injection).