I figured it’s not red and infected, but it hurts. I would go immediately, but it’s from drug use and usually the doctors treat you like shit in that case. I don’t want to go in if it clears up on its own (sometimes they do)
When do I absolutely need to seek treatment?
Fever, if it looks "angry" or red/streaking, or if it increases in size
Any of those and I'd get doctored immediately
And it is infected, even if it doesn't seem actively so. That's what abscesses are. Don't let it go septic and keep in mind that any blood infection puts you at risk for cardiac shit etc
I’ll keep that in mind. I always thought there was such thing as a benign abscess, and I’ve had some that have cleared up on their own. Drs will often treat you like shit or second class when they know you are in there for drug use.
For now I’m just going to keep an eye on it. I have no fever and there are none of the telltale red streaks.
An abscess is a medical emergency. If it breaks into your blood supply you could go septic. Don’t leave this to chance. Hit up a primary care provider and get the abx. You don’t wanna be on the worst case scenario end of this.
Edit: holy shit it’s from an IV? Don’t sit on this man
Definitely keep it clean and disinfected. Wash it with water and hydrogen peroxide, pat it dry, apply some triple antibiotic ointment, bandage. Change bandage daily, wash and dry it again and let it breath for 30-60 minutes before putting a new bandage on.
Not guaranteed to prevent it from getting bad but it'll definitely reduce the chance.
I get the struggle with doctors. I don't use anything stronger than weed but I've had doctor's believe I was a drug user before due to having chronic pain since I was young and they always treat me like shit. Can only imagine the kind of abuse they'd give to someone that actually uses drugs.