IV Drug Use: Signs, Dangers, and Treatment

iv drug use

In addition to injected drug use, other risk factors for soft tissue infections that should be considered include trauma, recent travel, prior surgery, unprotected sex and immunosuppressive disorders such as diabetes mellitus or cirrhosis. Mental health problems have been examined as potential determinants of high-risk injection behaviours. However, little is known about the differential effects of various markers of mental health, including symptoms, specific diagnoses, or general psychological distress. The literature addressing the relationship between depression and injection risk behaviours, for example, mostly relies on cross-sectional studies and symptom assessments.

Clostridial infections

Although infections in IDUs can be challenging to manage, they can be satisfying to look after with the right approach. Skin and soft-tissue infections and complications of bacteraemia remain common, but outbreaks of rare iv drug use infections do occur, so it is essential to remain alert for severe or unusual presentations. Discussing options with your healthcare team can help minimize side effects and the potential for overdose with IV opioids.

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Vascular complications are common in PWID, can occur locally at the injection site or at a distant location and may be arterial or venous in nature. They occur more frequently when injected drug users progress from injection of superficial upper limb veins to larger and deeper vessels such as the femoral vein in the groin or jugular vein in the neck [15, 26]. Vascular complications may manifest as injury to the vessel wall, interruption of blood flow in the lumen with resultant ischaemia or haematogenous spread of a pathogen from the injection site. Despite the growing importance of NMUPO, and to some degree the injection of POs, little is known about injection practices and the health risks they pose to users. According to studies mainly conducted in Europe, some PWID report injecting drugs such as mephedrone or bath salts.62,63 The literature shows that both the face of injection drug use in Canada might be currently changing and its future is uncertain.

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Not only is there a high prevalence of conditions causing physical pain, such as trauma from accidents or violence, but there is also some evidence of altered pain perception. The difficulties apply, not so much to the treatment of acute pain — where advice to divide the daily dose of methadone or buprenorphine and add other analgesic medications including opiates may be appropriate — but to the management of long-term pain. These include opiates, but gabapentin and pregabalin are also drugs that are now frequently used for mind-altering effects. A systematic review by Mathers et al. finds PWID have increased in several countries overthe last decade and are reported with a high prevalence of HIV34.

iv drug use

Impact of HIV

  • However, Des Jarlais and colleagues (1986c) suggest that male and female “running buddies” are likely to share injection equipment and have sexual relations.
  • There are no studies that support the claims of benefits from IV vitamin therapy.
  • 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.

They argue doing so boosts the chances these patients will stay on their antibiotics and beat the infection. A PICC line (for Peripherally Inserted or Percutaneous Indwelling Central Catheter) looks sort of like a flexible IV tube, inserted into Jackson’s chest. After she arrives at Jackson’s home in Boston, she joins him on the couch and starts by taking his blood pressure. A person should always consult a doctor or other healthcare professional before booking an at-home medical procedure. A 2020 study concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend the use of multivitamin IV therapy outside of medical settings.

Sepsis and HIV/AIDS

iv drug use

Another problem with a short half-life is that you can develop drug dependence (also known as addiction). This is because your body “needs” the drug frequently to achieve the desired effect, and can cause withdrawal symptoms if it doesn’t get it. By understanding which are and which are not, healthcare providers can “stage” treatment to ensure the first-line drugs last longer and are less likely to develop resistance if you miss a dose. Medications used to treat chronic infections have the potential for drug resistance. This occurs when a virus or bacteria mutates and is able to escape the effects of an antiviral or antibiotic drug. As a result, the concentration of one drug may go up because it is not being broken down sufficiently (increasing the risk of side effects), while the concentration of the other may go down as it is eliminated from the body too quickly (making it less effective).

iv drug use

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iv drug use

However, more frequent injections are likely to mean more episodes with shared equipment, thus increasing the likelihood of HIV infection. In addition, for IV drug users who are addicted, the symptoms of drug withdrawal can heighten the sense of urgency or desire for the drug and decrease the likelihood that safer injection practices will be used. Finally, whether an IV drug user did most of his or her injecting prior to 1975 or later will greatly affect his or her risk of HIV infection. Given the high relapse rates of drug users after they leave drug treatment programs and the ineffectiveness of currently available treatment for some injectable drugs, the complete elimination of injection behavior is not a realistic goal. Change should be conceptualized as risk reduction rather than complete risk elimination. Moving toward a more moderate, more realistic set of goals will broaden the possible approaches to risk reduction programs; these efforts should include mechanisms to prevent relapse.

What is intravenous medication?

Don’t apply creams, salves or oils you use to treat your track marks or bruising until the injection wound has begun to close (a couple of hours after injecting) otherwise you might cause an infection. Treat missed shots (those that ended up somewhere other than in your vein) immediately with a warm water soak or compress to reduce the likelihood of irritation and abscess formation. Warmth will open the capillaries and bring disease-fighting white blood cells to the affected area. Every year in the United States, about 20 people are diagnosed with wound botulism. In more severe cases of botulism, symptoms can worsen and even result in death if left untreated. An antitoxin is needed to stop the negative effects of the toxin in your body to treat wound botulism.

  • Moreover, unlike other research strategies whose findings often lag months and even years behind the actual events, ethnographic studies can yield timely results that may act as an early warning of emerging problems.
  • For example, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Advil (ibuprofen) and Aleve (naproxen) both treat inflammation and pain by blocking an enzyme called cyclooxygenase (COX).
  • Others (Densen-Gerber et al., 1972; E. M. Johnson, 1987) have reported an association between drug use and promiscuity and prostitution.

It allows medical professionals to administer fluids to a patient quickly and efficiently. Multiple bony sites, including vertebrae, may be involved, leading to abscess formation in the subdural or epidural spaces. Necrotizing fasciitis, the so-called “flesh-eating disease,” is a rare but serious infection that can affect people who inject IV drugs.

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