Intravenous therapy

**Intravenous injection** or **intravenous therapy** means putting liquid into a vein, using a needle.  Many illegal drugs and medications can be given **intravenously**.

## Benefits of intravenous injection
Drugs and medications work very fast when given intravenously, because they go right into the bloodstream.  They reach the brain and start working in a minute or less.  Also, when a drug is given intravenously, 100% of the drug gets into the bloodstream.

When medications are given in other ways, they do not work as fast.  Also, not all of the drug reaches the bloodstream.

## Types of intravenous injections
There are two types of intravenous injections.

### Single injection
Sometimes, people inject just one drug into a vein with a needle.  Then they take the needle out.

When people use illegal drugs like heroin intravenously, they use a single injection.  They shoot the drug into their veins, and then take the needle out.
* Put a needle into the vein 
* Slide a hollow plastic tube called a catheter over the needle, and into the person's vein  
* Attach the catheter to longer tubes outside the patient's body
* When a patient needs fluids or medications, the medical professional will put the liquid in a bag (called an IV bag) and attach the longer tubes.  The liquid then drips through the longer tubes, through the catheter, and into the person's vein
** When a medication needs to be given very quickly, a medical professional can also inject the medication right into the IV line, all at once.  This is called an "IV push."

An IV line allows medical professionals to give different liquids at different times, without having to put a needle into a vein every time.  They can also give many medications at the same time.

Losing too much fluid is dangerous.  People need liquid in their bloodstream to carry blood cells, glucose (sugar), electrolytes (salts), and many other important things.  Usually, the blood plasma (the liquid part of blood) does this job.  However, people can lose plasma for several reasons.  For example:
* Plasma
* Red blood cells (these are often given alone when a person is very anemic)
* White blood cells (these may be given when chemotherapy kills white blood cells)
* Platelets and/or blood-clotting proteins (given when a person's blood is not clotting well)

### Nutrition
If a person cannot eat for a short time, nutrition can be given through an IV line.  IV nutrition mixtures include water, electrolytes, glucose, amino acids, lipids (fats), and vitamins.

## Intravenous drug use
Intravenous drug use means injecting illegal drugs into a vein.  Illegal drugs that can be injected intravenously include:
* Amphetamines
* Barbiturates
* Cocaine and crack cocaine
* Methamphetamine
* Heroin

Sometimes, people also dissolve prescription medications in water and inject them intravenously.  For example, some people dissolve oxycodone or benzodiazepines and inject them.  Common infections caused by IV drug use include:
* Skin infections and abscesses
* Bone infections
* Infection with *Staphylococcus aureus* bacteria, which can cause: 
** Endocarditis (an infection in the heart)
** Bacteremia (infection in the blood)
** MRSA (which is very difficult to treat because many antibiotics do not kill it)

An IV drug user can also get some infectious diseases by using the same needles as people who have those diseases.  HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and many other infections can be spread by sharing needles.

In the world, 40-60% of IV drug users have hepatitis B, and 60-70% have hepatitis C.

#### Overdose
People are more likely to overdose when they use drugs intravenously.  There are a few reasons for this:
* IV drug users will usually inject the entire amount of drugs they want, all at once.  This makes it harder to guess how much of the drug they need to get the effects they want.  They cannot slowly increase the amount of drugs they use until they get the effects they want.  If they accidentally inject too much of the drug, they can overdose.
* Because IV drugs start working so quickly, overdose can happen very quickly.

#### Problems with veins
When an IV drug user injects drugs into their veins over and over again, they can damage their veins.  The veins can get scarred and eventually .  This leaves marks over the scarred veins that are called "track marks."

## Related pages
* Other ways to give medications
* Central venous catheter (a type of IV put into a large vein in the neck, chest, or groin)

## References