So I was like everybody else with one stupid center tongue piercing. I was so sick of the masses getting their "belly buttons" pierced and their tongues and expecting me to have done the same just to follow the crowd. So when I saw pictures of venoms on this handy dandy BME site, I was in love. Oddly enough, I soon after met my current boyfriend, my piercer, who mentioned that he wanted to try something like that or get them himself. It intrigued me and, only a short while later, I found myself booking an appointment to get them done (even though I nervously remembered the hell of not being able to eat with my HUGE tongue the few days after my center tongue piercing).
At A Glance Author Aubz Contact Aubz@bme.anon When A month ago Day 1: The day of the piercings. Preparing for not being able to eat, I stocked up on a huge MacDonald's lunch and an even bigger home-cooked supper. I'm cursed with a high metabolism, so I enjoy eating way more than I probably should. When about 6:30 came around, I drove down to my favourite tattoo shop (my boyfriend just happens to be my piercer) and chatted it up with some close friends that happened to be there too while I waiting for my piercer to set up. He called me back quickly and I proceeded to remove my center tongue barbell. He slipped on his gloves and let me mark them myself. It just so happens that where I marked is exactly where my veins ran so he told me he'd pierce a little farther in, which didn't really matter at all to me. He wiped down my tongue and slid the clamps on the left side a little too tightly so, out of courtesy, he loosened them up a bit. The position of the clamps looked good and didn't interfere with my veins (with a quick glance using his handy little flashlight) but, just to be cautious, he decided to pierce from the bottom up to doubly avoid the veins. Holding the sharp end against my flesh, he asked to breath in through my nose, out through my mouth. After the third inhalation, in went the needle. Ouch! It was much worse that my center tongue piercing, which I didn't feel whatsoever, but bearable with my high pain tolerance. You could literally feel it piercing each layer of tissue, I thought it was over when it slid through the fatty bottom layer until I felt it exit the muscle and then the second fatty layer and skin. He slid the 14ga barbell in with ease and spun the ball on quickly. I retracted my tongue and proceeded to wipe the gob of spit from my chin (How attractive was I? He was probably reconsidering dating me...). Then I pushed out my tongue for the second one – the first already felt so natural. He again wiped it down and slid the clamps on, this time tighter as my tongue was becoming slippery. It took FOREVER. He clamped and reclamped over and over. The position was just not working. But finally, FINALLY, he got it in the right spot and once again held the needle to my flesh. I breathed, he pierced. He cleaned me up and handed me my center barbell for me to put in myself while I looked at the new venoms. But, to both our dismay, they were crooked. The right side was way to far forward so he apologized (it's difficult to pierce from the bottom up and get it right) and took it out for me. A surge of blood rushed from the hole but the it closed up almost immediately. So the clamping process started again. And again. And again. My tongue was getting sore from the pressure but soon enough he found his spot and did the third piercing of the day. I popped my center barbell in and it looked terrific. The right one was still a little closer to the center of my tongue than the other one, but symmetrical nonetheless. He still wasn't happy and wanted to do it again (as well as two on himself!) but my tongue had had enough. I told him to leave i t (cause I thought it looked fine) until it healed up so the swelling was gone, and we could take a second look. I paid up (I only had to pay for one 'cause of our little relationship) and began talking with my friends again. With no swelling or difficulty in talking at all, my piercer offered to take me out for a slurpee. Drinking was a little unnatural but otherwise the night was normal as ever.
Day 2: I woke up with a little bit of soreness but an Ibuprofin took care of that. There was minimal swelling and I could talk fine still (I was still careful to enunciate, though, just incase I slipped up around my parents). The placement was fine, the "closer" one only looks off because the line down the middle of my tongue is crooked and it had been the initial swelling of the opposite side that made the second side look funny. Eating sucked, though not as bad as with my center piercing because I was already used to having metal in my mouth. I managed to eat about two spoonfuls of Rice Krispies, a piece of sandwich meat (ham to be exact) and lots of pickles (for some reason I can eat them). For the remainder of the day I drank ice water and had a bowl of soup for supper. Following the soup though, I could eat fairly normally without much pain (maybe because of the second Ibuprofin I popped).
Day 3: Pretty much the same as day 2. I forced myself to try eating more and with a little bit of pain, I managed. In the morning and at night I've been taking Ibuprofin since that's when the pain is the worst. I've never been a big pain killer person, nor one to notice pain at all, but these suckers are bothersome – much more so than the center tongue piercing was.
Day 4 – 7: The swelling is beginning to dissipate, but the tongue itself is still sore. Eating seems a little easier though. I can eat meals with my parents with relative ease, though I'm still careful.
Day 8: The swelling is almost, if not totally, gone. I can eat like a normal person but I'm still wary of the extra metal until I decide to shorten the barbells – it sucks to bite down on a chunk of metal – even though I haven't done so with the venoms, yet. And by now I HAD to break down and try the oral sex thing – apparently the extra metal adds a lot of extra sensation! Lucky for my boyfriend...
I guess that pretty much sums up the whole experience and, to say the least, I'm very happy with the six balls now adorning my tongue. Though, I only recommend these suckers if you have a tolerance for annoying aftercare! :)