I Am An IV User Of Heroin . Yesterday, While

Posted on Mon, 6 May 2019

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 6 May 2019 Answered on

Last reviewed on

Question : I am an iV user of heroin. Yesterday, while injecting I may have missed. At the time I did not notie anything. Within a few hours my hand and arm (up to my elbow) began to swell. It is now extremely swollen almost all the way around. I have beeb using ice every hour and ibeprofin to help with swelling but it does not seem to be getting better. Im worried about my arm and i dont want to lose it. What can I do at home because I fear going to the hospital. I do have an almosylt full suppy of Doxycycline hyclate 100mg and cephalexin 500mg at homrle that I can take if needed. What do you recconend?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Ivan Romich (43 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Intravenous antibiotics required

Detailed Answer:
Hi and welcome.
These are ver serious incidents and there is obviously soft tissue infection. i am afraid that nothing can be done at home and these antibiotics wont help because you need intravenous wide spectrum antibiotics for at least 5 days. Also laboratory findings and surgical consult may be necessary since sometimes it should be surgically managed. So I suggest not to wait and visit ER. Wish you good health. Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T