Drug addiction has a very powerful destructive power. Under its onslaught, all other human attachments, the ability to compassion and love are destroyed. It should be borne in mind that an early solution to this problem increases the chances of an addict to save. If a person does not do anything to get rid of addiction, his health continues to be systematically and very actively destroyed. It is enough to look at what is happening with the veins of drug addicts to imagine the scale of exposure to harmful substances. After all, this is only an external manifestation. And internal organs suffer much more.
Health
Although there is a different opinion, outwardly recognizing a person addicted to this addiction is not always easy. Someone instantly “sits down on the needle”, increasing the dose constantly. Knowing what the veins of a drug addict look like, it is not difficult to figure it out. But as we have said, not everyone uses intravenous drugs. In addition, people who have this addiction, are sometimes able for a long time to hide their secret from everyone.
Signs
Not at all such a habit will manifest itself as wounds from injections. There are many drugs used orally. And not in all cases the addict is given veins in his arms. And a completely different picture emerges among those who for a long time use directly injections.
When determining how the veins of a drug addict look like, it should be borne in mind that in people “sitting” on substances they are darkened plaits. The most important “communication lines” of the body do not blush, do not swell, despite the fact that many do not sterilize syringes.
It is noteworthy that often even the most experienced doctors cannot get into them, not to mention the addicted themselves. And there are reasons for this. Over time, the vein bed begins to overgrow, especially if a person has taken opium and some other types of substances.
Why disappear
When answering the question why drug addicts cannot see veins, it should be borne in mind that the harmful substance “burns” them. The same applies to desomorphine, which is popularly called a "crocodile." This is a deadly substance, however, it is a cheap drug that was prepared from pharmaceutical drugs by those who for some reason could not get heroin. People who took this mixture in 80% of cases die within 1-2 years, another 20% can survive 3-4 years.
Explaining why there are no veins in drug addicts who use such drugs, doctors talk about tissue necrosis, thrombosis. But along with this, the formation of a purulent abscess begins in the brain. There are only five injections for the limbs to begin to rot. It is not surprising that with such effects, the veins decay extremely quickly. As a result, the veins of drug addicts (we do not demonstrate photos of these lesions for ethical reasons) quickly become worthless.
Then addicted to killer substances begin to inject them into other areas. As a rule, thin veins of the abdomen, feet, between the fingers are used, it is not easy to get here, but dependent people manage to do this. There are people who, having lost all the veins, began to inject substances into the scrotum. The craving for the potion was much stronger than the pain that arose during this. They did not serve as any obstacle whatsoever.
As a result, necrosis spreads throughout the body. Very soon, such a person loses the ability to move, is in the hospital. There, doctors are engaged in the amputation of gangrenous limbs to prolong the patient's life.
Appearance
In order to timely determine the presence of drug addiction in your loved ones, it is important to be able to distinguish it by external signs. At the beginning of the experience, the addict does not need to increase doses, since tolerance remains low. The body resists, and therefore a small dose is enough for a person. Subsequently, the required dose begins to grow. This requires a constant increase in the cost of buying substances. When the dose becomes so large that there is already not enough money, a person resorts to homemade drugs, poor-quality, which even worse affect the body.
At first, the addict experiences periodic drowsiness, which is accompanied by depression of the nervous system, pressure can drop, sometimes breathing is difficult, pulmonary edema begins, hibernation can begin, and sometimes it can be fatal.
When internal organs are damaged, the liver usually suffers. The man looks exhausted. There are dark circles under his eyes. Outwardly, he looks seriously ill. The skin turns gray, the whites of the eyes turn yellow, as there is too much bilirubin in the blood. After taking the drug, the pupils of the eyes become narrow, and if there is an withdrawal crisis, they expand.
Examining how the veins of drug addicts look, you can find that on the elbow bends they have scars from needle injections. And if a person who is addicted to harmful substances pricks several times a day, the veins on the back of his hand are the same.
To hide such traces, he will put on long-sleeved clothing, and hide his eyes under darkened glasses. If a person has been using opium for a long time, his teeth will be yellow. They will quickly deteriorate and begin to fall out.
Since opium can stop pain, a person does not experience pain. However, during “breaking” toothache is a symptom. At the same time, when someone takes her for a manifestation of “breaking”, it often happens that her teeth hurt not because of the cancellation of previously taken funds, but because they are already damaged.
The use of drugs is accompanied by a constant weakened state of the body, infections. As a rule, the veins of a former drug addict abound in cicatricial changes. These are traces of many non-sterile injections. Similar phenomena occur in young drug addicts.
Addict veins
The holes through which a person delivers poisonous substances into his body are divided into disposable, reusable and overgrown. Disposable can be found in people with this addiction throughout the body and sometimes in the most unexpected places. Once they are used, they go into the overgrown category.
While reusable holes are used most actively. "Needle Seated" refers to these with reverence. There are cases when they called them by separate names, the meaning of these nicknames can be difficult to trace. Sometimes the meaning lies on the surface - “well”, “metro”.
The characteristic veins of a drug addict can be found anywhere on the body - far from all, they are only on hand. Someone does not use the veins on the limbs at all, they have become overgrown. But the holes are all over the body.
It is noteworthy that some "sitting on the needle" in a special way called vessels on the body. They note their physical condition and suitability for taking the next dose. The latter factor is decisive for the name.
When injected, blood is released. Part of it remains in the syringe, and the other is allocated to the surface. Sometimes it accumulates under the skin.
Common symptoms
Thus, changes in the veins of drug addicts are very typical. They thicken, resemble a kind of tourniquets. They are accompanied by many scars. On the walls of the veins of drug addicts often come across suppuration, abscesses. Sensitivity decreases, sometimes obliteration occurs.
Explaining why drug addicts lose their veins, doctors say the reason lies in the fact that the tissue scleroses. In other words, the gaps begin to narrow. This happens with a fairly prolonged use of harmful substances.
The impact on the body from the inside
The worst affected veins are opium. Therefore, the question of why drug addicts lose their veins, usually concerns those who take opium or desomorphine. As those who were sitting on the needle themselves note, some for 5 years injected heroin, and veins appeared. But after only five doses of desomorphine, they disappeared completely. The harmful mixture “burned” veins in the body.
When desomorphine was just beginning to spread, doctors at first could not understand what was happening to the insides of the patients who came to them: the tormented veins resembling jelly raised many questions. The body was destroyed from the inside. Hands, bones rotted, all veins disappeared, the head swelled. After finding out that the cause was narcotic drugs, doctors often began to amputate the actually destroyed limbs.
Complications of Intravenous Injection
Prolonged intravenous injections of narcotic drugs often lead to thrombosis. Outwardly, it looks like dense formations on the walls of blood vessels that cause pain if pressed on them. Typically, such seals appear on the lower extremities. This can lead to necrosis, separation of the blood clot and obstruction of the lungs. As a result, in the absence of treatment, the addict is fatal.
The next complication is thrombophlebitis. This is an inflammatory process of venous nets. Usually this pathology occurs after non-sterile injections, because this is an infection. Symptoms include severe pain, fever, redness in the veins.
An abscess is an area filled with pus. As a rule, in the beginning there is a seal, the skin turns red here, it becomes painful. If you click on this area, it emits a characteristic sound. If an abscess breaks in or out, it will be life threatening.
Intravenous drugs also lead to phlegmon. This is pus in the soft tissues. It manifests itself in elevated temperature, pain and swelling. The danger is that the infection can easily enter the bloodstream, and this will lead to sepsis.
Thrombotic ulcer is the next complication. This is damage to the skin and surrounding tissues, which simply does not heal. It occurs due to problems in the blood circulation. Thrombosis or thrombophlebitis usually leads to a thrombotic ulcer. It manifests itself in cyanotic skin in the damaged area. Blood circulation is disturbed, and the addict is chased by a feeling of cold in the lower extremities. As a result, the feet turn blue, they swell quickly. The outcome can be fatal due to deep necrosis, gangrene. Amputation is often required to save the patient's life.
Self-medication
No one is able to save the life of a drug addict, except for a professional doctor. Nevertheless, in the absence of a doctor nearby with thrombosis, half an aspirin tablet will help relieve the situation. He will make blood thinner. It is necessary to take it after eating. Otherwise, a stomach ulcer will develop. It is necessary to bandage the lower limb above the place where the thrombus appeared. It is important that the bandage does not overlap too tightly. It is necessary to keep the legs in a raised position, observe bed rest. You will need to use an ointment with heparin twice a day.
If a blood clot appeared on the arm, you need to apply a compress with heparin ointment here. There is no need to apply an elastic bandage. In cases where thrombosis continues, it is important to consult a doctor as soon as possible. At home, treatment cannot be continued.
The algorithm of actions will be the same with thrombophlebitis. You only need to add a compress from vodka to the inflamed area to the procedures. It is prepared simply: you need to take gauze, moisten it with vodka, put polyethylene on top and attach to the damaged area. Do not replace vodka with pure alcohol. At night, you need to make a compress with heparin ointment. You will need to drink a course of two packages of Troxevasin. Take the medicine three times a day, 1 capsule.
Disease development
As a rule, after the addict overcomes the first stage of addiction, tolerance to the drug is developed. Changes in human behavior are manifested - before the dose activated him, and now only supports his condition. Now he seeks to return to the initial state of euphoria, but he cannot.
As a rule, a person taking drugs suffers from sudden mood changes, he is emotionally unstable. He is able to cry, laugh out of place. He is fooling around, now depressed. Sometimes unreasonably aggressive. The character is changing absolutely for all drug addicts. Those who were previously active and sociable, become closed. Conversely, a silent person can become suspicious, overly talkative and uninhibited.
Inattention to appearance appears. A person begins to look careless, he rarely bathes, begins to wear things with a long sleeve even in the hot summer time - he thus hides the marks from injections. He prefers to hide his eyes behind dark glasses - so no visible changes in the pupils.
Often a drug addict dramatically changes the circle of friends. He breaks with old connections, not regretting it. His new friends can behave quite strangely, and the addict himself will hide the interests that connect him with these people. He abandons his previous hobbies, experiences difficulties at work. After all, harmful substances negatively affect the ability to work. Therefore, having discovered any of the signs of drug addiction listed in the article, the patient should be urgently shown to a specialist, since his life is in danger.