About seven months ago, I turned 18 and decided to celebrate with getting a body mod. I have two friends who had their tongues pierced and I just loved to watch them play with it. So, I figured why not? I saved up some birthday cash and went and got it pierced. I had my two friends that were pierced and two friends that were not and one of her mother's was there watching me too. Nervous and scared, I walked in and asked about the price and things. While we waited for a room to open we looked around for tattoos and new barbells. Finally I got back there and I wanted to pass out. Needles always scare me to pieces. I have always cried when having to get a shot for any reason. Ray told me to mouthwash and I did. Then he dotted my tongue after a good inspection, making sure he would miss the main veins. When he had me fold my tongue back, the purple dot dotted my tongue farther back. He laughed at me and I relaxed some at the joke. The forceps hurt! But the piercing itself was al most painless. I did not cry or throw up, but just clenched my friend's mom's hand a little too hard. Afterwards, I mouth washed and Ray wrote down all of my instructions for my new piercing. I followed all the directions to the max and even went back for a checkup a week later. I asked my piercer if I should continue with the mouthwash and excessive cleaning. He said to not over do it, but cleaning is always a good thing. So I did. I got into the habit of brushing every single night and even mouth washing for good measure.
At A Glance Author Lindsay Contact Lindsay@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist ray Studio dixieland tattoos and piercings Location alabama I started college not too long ago, about two and a half months ago. With college comes the understanding of keeping food in your dorm because the lunchroom is horrible. It's worse than high school food. My roommate and I buy drinks and Ramen Noodles among other things. One of our favorite drinks is Capri Sun drinks. I would drink one before going to bed, even though I had brushed my teeth. I have bad cottonmouth at night.
The next morning my throat was sore. When I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I decided to check my glands. They felt swollen. So I opened my mouth to find a black tongue, like a chow-chow's! It looked as if I had sucked on a black huge jawbreaker! I tried to brush and mouthwash it off, but it only wore off through the day. I kept spitting black, purple stuff too whenever I spit phlegm out. It really scared me. I had heard horror stories of tongue piercings gone wrong: infections, scarring, all that nasty stuff. I was taking great care of it though so I was terrified.
I quit smoking, but it didn't go away. I started brushing twice before bed and not drinking a Capri before I fell asleep. It still was turning black. I finally told my dad about it and we had a chat over the possibilities. He wanted me to go to the dentist and I even had my boyfriend's sister telling me to go. The talk my dad and I had made a lot of sense. He came up with the thought that the Capri Suns are full of fruit acids. The acids are causing a chemical reaction to the metal of my tongue ring. For example, put a penny in orange juice. What happens? Well, that's what my tongue ring is doing!
I stopped drinking the Capri juices and noticed my tongue stopped turning, even though I was smoking again. I did all the regular things I always did before the cursed Capri, and nothing happened. I stopped drinking those for about a month. However, the other night I was very thirsty and there was nothing but those juices. I cannot stand water. So I took one and guess what I found the next morning? A chow-chow tongue.
I still drink Capri, but not often and never before bed. If I do drink some form of juice, it's midday. That way I will have some time before I can let it sit in my mouth long enough to turn me black again. I haven't been to a doctor about it and I do not plan to do so unless it occurs more often even if I have cut the drinks out. That little scare got me into mouth washing more frequently, even during the day again. I try to wash out my mouth after meals now too.
Moral of the story: Beware of highly acid things. Even though my barbell is titanium steel, it still can corrode because it's still a metal. Just be careful and if things look really scary, please go to a doctor! I wonder what is going to happen when I get my tattoo?!