Hello. I’m a harm reduction volunteer at a needle exchange in North Carolina and a young woman came in today looking shook up and stumped all of us with this one…

She had recently knew someone that relapsed and needed to pick up a Narcan kit for them (so they explained) but she asked us a question that none of us have ever been given concrete scientific information on..

She said she IV’d cocaine years ago and would even use IM size gauges so she was worried about DVT but she explained that she 100% has felt her circulation (and thus increased fear of clotting I assume too?) Has never been the same. She said she can feel her pulse in the back of her head when she lays down at night..

We deal almost exclusively with opiate users and meth IV users and not a lot of known -IV- cocaine users…

This one seemed beyond the basic lectures and pamphlets of DVT, HCV, endocarditis, sepsis and so on.. plus she claimed to be clean.. so after a chaotic and non-instructive Google search, my ask is this…

OTHER than obvious the obvious healthy diet and exercise, and ceasing any substance abuse.. is there any peer-reviewed remedy for a recovering IV cocaine user to get their circulation back?

As a science minded individual myself I was hesitant to recommend things like Rutin or Asian Ginseng.. so I thought I’d ask the pros since we all got stumped tonight on providing her with meaningful advice. Thanks doc(s)!!!!