Ever since I saw my cousin's tongue ring, I have wanted one...I just never thought I would get the guts to do it. I admired it for 2 years, and finally took the plunge last Friday. The last week has been pure hell!!!
At A Glance Author Nicole Contact Nicole@bme.anon Location Alberta, Canada I think what finally pushed me to do it was the place that I work. I work at a youth drop-in centre, so body piercings are fairly common, especially facial piercings. One of my fellow employees has hers done, and a couple of teens did it too. So last Friday, I finally went for it.
**I DID ALOT OF RESEARCH!!!**
BME proved to be the most informative website that I have ever went to. I think that reading about personal experiences is a good place to start.
**THE PIERCER**
I live in a small town. The nearest city is an hour away. The woman that did the piercing was very nice. She was NOT certified, but was approved by the health board in our region. I also talked to a person that had been pierced by her previously, and she had no complaints. I inquired as to how many piercings she had done. The location was very clean and comfortable.
I had to swish and gargle with blue Listerine (which hurt more than the piercing...that shit BURNS!). She then checked my tongue and claimed that it was piercable. I told her that I wanted it far back enough on my tongue so it wouldnt be really obvious when I was talking. She marked it with a dot, and I checked it out in the mirror, and told her to go for it!
Then she pulled out these clampy tong things....she got a grip on my tongue, pulled out her needle (sterile and packaged) and said, "Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in..." PIERCE!!!!!!! In it went. Id say that on a scale of 1-10, the pain was about a 3. Then she slipped the barbell in. THIS IS WHERE I SCREWED UP. I did not inquire what the length of the barbell was. She put a 5/8 in my tongue and I didnt even bat an eye.
So....on with the story: I looked in the mirror, and I liked what I saw. She had a bit of trouble screwing the ball on. She was really shaky and had to yank on my tongue a bit, and the drooling on my part didnt help!!
I had no trouble speaking, and my tongue didnt hurt.
**4 HOURS LATER**
I AM IN AGONY!!!!!! I went to work, totally cocky thinking that the ordeal was a piece of cake. By 10PM that night, I couldnt talk, I couldnt swallow, and the glands in my neck were swelling up. My tongue? IT WAS HUGE. The balls on the stud were sinking into my tongue and making indents. I sucked on ice, but all it really did was numb it for short periods of time. So I went to the hospital, naively thinking that a doctor could give me something for the swelling. (I had popped 8 ibuprofens by that time in the course of 6 hours and they didnt do a damn bit of good.)
The doctor thought that I was having an allergic reaction to the metal because there was so much swelling. He then said, "Take it out." I looked him in the eye, lied to him, and said, "Ok."
I stopped at the 7-11, loaded up on ice and went home.
**THE NEXT MORNING**
OW OW OW OW OW OW!!!! My tongue is STILL huge, and to top it off, I am HUNGRY. Applesauce just does not cut it when you are starving.
Over the next several days, I ate applesauce, mashed potatoes, and baby food. By this time, the indent on the top of my tongue is looking like a crater on the moon. VERY gross. At the same time, I am losing weight, so Im not TOO concerned. But then I compared it to a teen at work and his piercing. He was pierced the same day as me, and his tongue looked fine. He was horrified with mine and thought that maybe she had used the wrong size barbell.
So I went back to the piercing place, and said to the piercer, "Want to check out my tongue?" I stuck it out, and her eyes got HUGE. She said I needed a bigger barbell, and admitted that she USED to use 3/4 barbells, but they were "too big" and got in the way for people.
Even though she should have known to use a 3/4 on me, she was really nice, so I dont have hard feelings. She suggested that I should let it close and she would repierce it for free. I refused. She called a couple places to see if they had and 3/4 barbells, and no one did. She had one place left to try and said she would get back to me. This morning, she called and said she "couldn't find one" and suggested that I let it close up. I was half asleep and cant remember what I said.
Finally, I grew a brain and decided to go to Red Deer. I went to WICKED WORKS and talked to the piercer there. She looked at my tongue and said, "OH MY GOD. Who did this to you????" I didn't tell her, because I didnt want to seem really bitchy about it. So she took me to the back room and had a chat with me. Apparantly the 5/8 in my tongue is reserved for DOWNSIZING. I knew all that too, when I was reading up on it, but it just didnt click. I was more concerned about the healing and stuff....
Anyways, she made me gargle with yellow Listerine (which is way more nastier than the blue stuff). She froze my tongue with this spray stuff, and slipped a 3/4 in my tongue. She told me that she didnt think the indent would ever go away. :( She also told me to drink green tea. This woman knew what she was doing!!!!! I know that there are conflicting views about diets and stuff, but I was really comfortable with her, and she even asked me to come back in a week so she could look at it.
**10PM, FRIDAY NIGHT**
So here I sit, on my computer, and guess what?? THE INDENT IS GOING AWAY!!!! I dont think I will be stuck with a crater tongue! *Nic does the happy dance**
My boyfriend is PISSED RIGHT OFF. I didnt think he would get mad, but I hope he gets over it. :(
So, my final words of advice are:
1: DO YOUR RESEARCH. Remember that every persons experience is different. The woman that "fixed" my tongue has been piercing for 6 years, and she had NEVER seen a tongue that looked as bad as mine. (she called her coworkers over and said, "Check this out, this is what you call a BAD piercing." *sniff* My poor tongue!)
2: MAKE SURE THE FIRST BARBELL YOU USE IS BIG ENOUGH.
If anyone wants to talk to me personally about thier piercing, contact me via ICQ# 7856348 and simply state that you want to talk about piercing. Im no expert, but maybe I can help if you need some advice!
Many thanks to BME for all the information!
Nicole