At A Glance
Author	garbagedoll
Contact	sittopbomb@hotmail.com
When	A week ago
Artist	wayne
Studio	my house
Location	nuneaton, warwickshire (uk)

Here goes...

After much thought, I decided that now would be the right time to get my tongue pierced. I've wanted 'venoms' for...well, a very long time, but it never seemed to be the right time - I always had college, or work, or some other reason not to get them done. I had read they took a long time to heal, due to placement, and so I decided I wouldn't get them unless I had at least a week with nothing special to do, just to make it a little bit easier on me and the piercings.

I have recently got a job, but haven't started. I knew it would be a couple of weeks before I got the call to start, so I thought that now was the time to do it.

I called up my piercer and we arranged a time and date when he could come round. Yes, come to my house. I know this isn't ideal but there is no one else I would trust to pierce me – he had recently left the shop he worked at, and so offered to do them at home for me.

I was very nervous about these piercings – they would be my 21st and 22nd holes, but my first tongue ones. I'm not usually nervous when it comes to getting new piercings, but I didn't really know what to expect with this area of the body, its so unique. I didn't even know if I could get them due to huge veins in my tongue, so we decided that if I couldn't get the venoms I would get my tongue web pierced instead.

Luckily, after some discussion on placement, we decided that it was entirely possible to fit some nice blue bars in my tongue.

After sterilizing everything and getting it all ready, the procedure began.

I had the right hand side done first. I have NEVER felt pain like it, and I have a very high tolerance for pain.

We had decided to use anaesthetic, but he forgot to apply it!!

It was a very, very intense, sharp, tearing pain and very uncomfortable. I had a little tear in my eye, and was very glad when it was over with, to say the least!

That side didn't bleed.

I rinsed with some cold water, and then it was time for the next side.

Again, I was marked up so they matched and the same pain came again-only a little more intense.

This time I bled quite a lot, and had to rinse out for about 5 minutes before it would stop.

He pierced them at a weird angle – the bottom balls are closer to the front of my tongue than the top ones, and they are also closer to the edge of the tongue than the top ones.

The first few hours after I had them done was fine – I was swelling up a bit, but there wasn't much pain and I was talking fine, apart from the interference of the extra saliva my mouth was producing (to try to wash away the foreign objects, I presume).

The more time went on the more painful they became. I had to take some painkillers that night, and some anti-inflammatory pills in the form of ibuprofen, and continued to guzzle those for days into the healing period (I'm still taking them now a week later).

I've decided to include a bit about the healing as I couldn't really find an experience that helped me know what to expect.

The mornings are the worst. A combination of the pain killers wearing off over night, and the extra blood that goes to your head while your lying down causing your tongue to swell more is, quite frankly, excruciatingly painful. However, the pain does subside about 5 minutes after you get up if you drink enough ice cold water (I was getting through 5 litres a day).

I think the third morning I woke up...felt like I had been beaten up and had all my teeth knocked out during my sleep. It felt like my entire mouth was throbbing. I kinda wanted to rip my face off to make it stop it was that bad!

So as you're gathering, healing is not fun at all.

I lived solely on mashed potato and soup for the first 3 days, and couldn't eat anything solid without a lot of difficulty – chewing is fine, it's the trying to menouver the food over the balls and to the back of the throat to swallow that's a pain. Make sure you have a big glass of water to wash down the food after each bite, else it just gets messy!

I rinsed with diluted Listerine and brushed my teeth after any food or drink that wasn't water, and I did 3 sea salt soaks a day during the first few days. I cut this down after the first 5 days or so, so as to not over clean and destroy all the 'good bacteria', however I continue to rinse after eating and do the occasional saline rinse.

Its exactly a week since I had them done, and the pain has only just begin to calm. Its more of an ache now, really. My tongue is still swollen and hasn't really gone down a lot. Although, I am beginning to like them again – yes, I regretted it. It's a lot of effort. A LOT. But if you can handle a few days of pain, its quite a nice feeling, having 2 pieces of metal in your mouth. (BUT I would NEVER ever go through that again, and no needle is ever going near my tongue again!)

I'm most definitely looking forward to getting the super long bars downsized in a couple of weeks – talking and eating is just a pain in the ass.

I cant say go for it because I just said I wouldn't do it again, but it doesn't really matter anyway since you all know that if you want a modification bad enough you will get it regardless of what others might tell you.

You might have a completely different experience, but all I can give you is mine. Good luck if you decide to get this piercing!