Abscesses From Injecting Drugs: Potential Complications and Effective Treatment
Injecting drugs directly into your veins might give you a more intense high, but it doesn’t come without risks. If you’ve ever worried about chronic wounds from your injections, you should know how to treat them and when to seek medical help.
What do you need to know about addressing an abscess from shooting drugs and the proper care for them?
Abscesses are caused by missing the vein, dirty injection sites, reusing needles, and the types of drugs you inject. A warm compress can help dissolve abscesses or soften them, allowing healthcare providers to drain them. An infection requires antibiotics if you have fever, chills, pain, or dark lines radiating out from the wound.
Purpose Healing Center can help you begin the long road to recovery while caring for your immediate medical needs, such as abscesses and infections, in a dedicated and medically supervised detox setting. We offer a safe space to land with all the resources you need to get healthy, often covered by insurance plans like AHCCCS and many others in-network.
Keep reading to learn more about how abscesses form and how you can minimize discomfort while preventing infections.
What Causes Chronic Wounds in People Who Inject Drugs?
Abscesses in intravenous drug use are quite common and frequently require medical treatment. If you use injection drugs, soft tissue abscesses should be on your radar.
Without proper care, they could get infected, leading to lymph node swelling, fever, chills, pain, and worse. Sepsis can be fatal or require an amputation.
Despite the common occurrence of abscesses at the injection site, many intravenous drug users don’t know how or why they form.
Some of these soft tissue infections could be prevented with precautions and access to resources in the Phoenix area.
Here are some of the main causes of abscesses:
- Injecting illicit drugs into the surrounding tissue rather than hitting the veins
- Injections with many particles in them
- A dirty injection site
- Reusing needles and other injection equipment
- Skin-popping drugs known for damaging muscle tissue and the surrounding skin
Users for inject drugs should be aware of the risk factors for developing an abscess and take any and all necessary precautions for prevention. If you do develop bacterial infections or chronic pain from drug addiction or a heroin abscess, seek medical help as soon as possible.
How Do Injection Drug Users Treat Heroin Abscesses and Others?
Wound care is extremely important, regardless of how severe your abscess may be. Injecting heroin and other drugs doesn’t always lead to a wound that fills with pus and requires medical drainage. In the early stages of development, you might be able to avoid worsening symptoms with a warm compress.
However, in many cases, this compress can actually cause the abscess to come to a head. Instead of a hard lump, the warmth softens the tissues, leading the wound to fill with pus for drainage. Make sure an abscess is drained only in sterile conditions. An urgent care center, a doctor, or a hospital can help.
Still, many injection drug users often avoid seeking formal healthcare services due to fear of judgment and discrimination from healthcare providers.
This means that some people will try to drain an abscess at home or on their own.
If this is your situation, be sure to keep an eye on the area. If dark lines begin to radiate from the subcutaneous injection site, you’ll likely need a round of antibiotics to combat infection. The same is true when you experience flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, pain in the lymph nodes, and fatigue).
Abscesses can become life-threatening if not treated. If you experience fever, chills, extreme fatigue, or pain associated with an abscess, seek medical attention immediately.
Resources for Injection Drug Use to Minimize the Development of Abscesses
Maybe the discussion of the risk factors associated with IV drug use is enough to make you think twice about your drug addiction.
At Purpose, we understand that injection drug users often avoid seeking formal healthcare services due to fear of judgment and discrimination from healthcare providers.
Even if you aren’t ready to pursue recovery yet, there are many resources in the Phoenix Valley to help keep you safe.
Local Needle Exchange Programs for IV Drug Use
Needle exchange programs are a fantastic and convenient way to eliminate the increased risk posed by repeated injections.
At these local community centers, IV drug users can swap used needles for clean and unused hypodermic needles. This harm-reduction strategy reduces the risk of bacterial infections.
Here are some of the locations central to the Phoenix area:
- Phoenix Harm Reduction: 3864 N 27th Ave
- Southwest Recovery Alliance: 2902 W Clarendon Ave
- Sonoran Prevention Works: 4338 W Thomas Rd
Wound Care Centers for Non-Medical Emergencies
When skin infections seem likely, seek resources and medical care now to prevent the infection from spreading. Many clinics around Phoenix offer drainage and pain management, as well as the frequent dressing changes you’ll need to help it heal properly.
You can seek help at places like Banner Health, AZ Wound and Hyperbaric Medicine, and HonorHealth.
However, you can also get treatment for addiction alongside wound care at Purpose Healing Center. A medical detox allows you to go through the worst of withdrawal symptoms under the 24/7 care of our team of doctors and nurses. We’ll also address your most pressing health issues, including abscesses.
The hospital is always an option if you need blood cultures or are worried about the development of a more serious condition. They can then help you locate services for maintenance and healing.
Homelessness Resources for Drug Addiction
IV drug use and open wounds are common around Phoenix, perhaps even more so in the unsheltered population. The Phoenix Safe Outdoor Space is an organized campground where you will find many of these resources in one convenient location. Purpose Healing Center also treats clients at SOS.
Many unsheltered people who inject drugs are worried about the cost of care. Most will qualify for the state’s Medicaid program, known as AHCCCS. Purpose Healing Center accepts nearly all forms of this insurance coverage. In most circumstances, it can cover detox and rehab costs in full.
With our help, you can get into Purpose Healing Center’s true medical detox with a dedicated setting where we can treat any abscesses, along with mitigating your painful withdrawal symptoms. Our team can even pick you up from your current location in Phoenix, lowering the barrier to entry for those with no form of transportation.
Find a Safe Foundation for Staying Clean at Purpose Healing Center
You might have injected drugs for months or even years. The good news is that now is the best time to start your recovery journey and get soft tissue infections under control for good. The enrollment team at Purpose Healing Center is ready and waiting to answer your questions and verify insurance benefits.
We accept nearly all forms of AHCCCS and many other providers in-network.
When you enroll in our detox program, we provide a comprehensive assessment to see where we can come alongside you in your sobriety and recovery. The result is an individualized treatment plan with our evidence-based therapies and interventions proven to help you succeed.
Reach out to our accredited facility today to kickstart your healing and receive help for abscesses from experienced healthcare providers. All calls are confidential, so please make the call for support now.
References
- Smith, M. E., Robinowitz, N., Chaulk, P., & Johnson, K. E. (2015). High rates of abscesses and chronic wounds in community-recruited injection drug users and associated risk factors. Journal of addiction medicine, 9(2), 87–93.
- Ozga, J. E., Syvertsen, J. L., Zweifler, J. A., & Pollini, R. A. (2022). A community-based study of abscess self-treatment and barriers to medical care among people who inject drugs in the United States. Health & social care in the community, 30(5), 1798–1808.
- Saldana, C. S., Vyas, D. A., & Wurcel, A. G. (2020). Soft Tissue, Bone, and Joint Infections in People Who Inject Drugs. Infectious disease clinics of North America, 34(3), 495–509.
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