It was the day of my eighteenth birthday and I was free to do whatever I wanted without parental consent. But what? I had recently become intrigued by the tongue piercing. Watching it flick around in people's mouths as they talked, and watching them casually play with it... I knew I wanted one.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When It just happened Artist I think his name is Shawn. Studio The Tunnel. Location Alliston, ON. My friend came and picked me up and we went to the piercing place. I went in, told them what I wanted, filled out a form and paid my $75. Then it was upstairs to meet the piercer. I had seen him before come in and out of where I worked (a retail store) but never met him face to face. "Hi," I said. "Can you pierce my tongue?" "Sure," he replied and we got down to business. He had me rinse with a cup of Listerine. Now, I had made sure that I had eaten prior to getting my tongue done, but the taste of Listerine mixed with my nerves and the huger that was again starting to build inside me, made my stomach turn. But I wasn't about to back down! He told me to stick out my tongue as far as I could and he clamped it in the appropriate spot. This itself hurt, which made me even more nervous about the pain that was soon to come. He instructed me to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. I looked up and breathed in. When I let it out, pain surged through my body as he pushed the needle through. "...ow..." I said slowly, shocked by the pain. Everyone I knew with a tongue piercing had told me that it didn't hurt and I was unsure whether I believed them or not. Now I knew, it hurt!
He assured me that the worst part was over and proceeded to put in the jewelry and fasten the bead. I sat still in shock from the pain, eyes watering. After the jewelry was in place, he poured me another cup of Listerine and I shuddered at the thought, but did as I was told and swished the stuff around in my mouth. I spit it out and he told me to go over to the mirror and check it out, which I did. I admired my new piercing, it looked great! It was just a little silver ball sitting on my tongue. But then started to feel strange, my stomach was still turning, I began to feel lightheaded and dizzy, sweat and see black spots. "I think I need to lay down..." I said. He agreed, telling me that my face had drained color. He told me I could just lay there for as long as I needed and not to rush it. After about ten minutes, I got up and said that I was okay. He instructed me to take two Advil after I left, get a cold slushie, and take two more Advil an hour later. I thanked him and left.
My friend and I went back to her car and I immediately started to feel it again. She drove to Zehrs and went inside to grab me Advil while I lay in her car. I was sweating and had to unzip both my coat and sweater. My stomach hurt, I was breathing deeply and my hands began to tingle. "What is wrong with me?" I wondered. I had had tons of piercings done before this one: Madonna, Industrial, Conch, Nipple, and even a tattoo... and I had never reacted this way. All of a sudden, it all went away and I felt fine. I took the Advil and went to Dairy Queen to grab a slushie.
It's the morning after right now and last night all I had to eat was a bowl of soup and a cup of ice cream, and even eating those was really strange. This is going to take some getting used to. Also, it's hard to swallow and pronounce words because the bar is so long right now. I've had a lot of people laughing at my lisp. Today, it's swollen and uncomfortable. No pain, just uncomfortable. I can't wait until I can get a shorter bar, hopefully that will help a lot. The funny part is that my boyfriend came home from work and after about half an hour of conversation, I stuck out my tongue and he exclaimed, "You got it done today? I didn't even see it when you talked!"
As for recommendations, yes I do recommend the piercing. The healing stage pretty much sucks, but it's worth it. It looks pretty and sexy afterwards. As for the piercing part, I would suggest eating at least an hour before leaving, as I ate about two and a half hours before and the huger was starting to come back. And remain calm; don't get all nervous like I did, because the result is not fun! But in the end, the piercing was definitely worth it.