I had admired tongue piercings for awhile and in college an acquaintance of mine had hers done. Her roommate was going to get hers done and I decided to go with them. After careful consideration, I decided I'd get mine done too. I read a lot about it, and heard horror stories about how it could get pierced wrong and you'd bleed to death or it would cause heart failure when you were older... I still don't know if any of that is true or not, but the sources I got this information weren't all that compelling, so I decided to do it.
At A Glance Author evefreak Contact evefreak@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Qui Qui Studio Kaleidoscope Location Springfield, Missouri We left and I had wanted to eat first, because I doubted I'd be able to eat very well afterwards. (I was right!) I have a passion for thai cuisine and we all went to this fabulous thai restaurant and I ordered the spiciest thing on the menu-- curry! I knew I wouldn't be able to have anything spicy for at least a week afterwards. Sadly, that restaurant no longer exists, but oh well. I was pretty nervous and I very nearly chickened out. The other girl that was getting it done got hers first, and I was like, NO WAY. She said it didn't hurt that bad though. I was asking all the employees how bad it would hurt and how long it would swell, so on and so forth. I'd had my belly button, nose and nipples pierced before, none of which really hurt. The belly button was the worst of the three but the nipples were like nothing. They told me if I could get my nipples done, that I could get anything done. Boy were they wrong!
At the last minute, I was like, screw it and I sat up in the chair and told the piercer to get on with it. He told me to stick my tongue out so he could see if it was long enough for a tongue ring, and he said he could put like three in there! He dotted me with the felt tip marker and when I stuck my tongue out to look, the dot looked really far forward. I asked him about it and he told me that it would look that way when I stuck my tongue out but when I looked at it sideways, it would be in the center. I guess it's just how the tongue muscle is. He clamped me and that stung pretty bad, especially when he wrapped the rubber band around it. He got the needle out and at this point, I was really nervous and shut my eyes. They have you open your legs as far as you can so the piercer can get to your face, and then they have you hold a towel up so you don't drool everywhere. It really was pretty demeaning. When he put the needle through, my eyes watered and I really wanted to close my mouth He was pretty quick about it and corked the end of the needle and thread the barbell through it in no time. He screwed the ball on the end of it and I was so relieved that it was over and I had gone through with it.
It really was the most painful piercing I had ever had. Afterwards, I was so glad I went through with it, but it was really weird having that huge barbell in my mouth. I stopped at Sonic on the way back to the dorms and got a huge Route 44 cup of their little pellet ice and that really saved my butt. It swelled a little and was really painful the first day. I couldn't eat hardly anything, even puddings and applesauce. Drinking was hard too. At that point, I was like, if I ever lose this piercing, no way am I ever getting it again. I took ibuprofen and it helped a lot, and the next few days weren't so bad. After a week, it was like nothing. When it healed, my first treat to myself was a slave barbell that was really awesome! My favorite jewelry was ones that sparkled with like diamonds (fake, of course!) and stuff in it. I had the piercing for about a year and then I got pregnant. I figured I could keep my tongue ring, but it started hurting really bad. Your whole body changes when you're pregnant! So I ended up taking it out and I'm contemplating getting it again, but I work at a doctor's office and I don't know how well it would go over. But I'm thinking about it! My advice is, if you really want to do it, just go do it. If someone else is pressuring you into it, then don't. It's your body and you only have it for so long, mark it and pierce it how you please!
Peace Out