At A Glance
Author	Amy
Contact	Amy@bme.anon
IAM	Altered
When	N/A
Artist	Pete
Studio	Kazbah
Location	Leicester, England

A while back, I got my tongue pierced. I can't remember the exact date was now, as it feels like I've had it forever. The day I got it done I wrote this experience about it, but as that was on the day, it has nothing about the healing process or how important it is to me now. That's what's lead me to write this experience.

Now, I can be a talkative girl, and I was on the day that I got it done. And because I had a new piece of metal in my mouth and a swollen tongue, it made my voice sound funny, and for some reason this encouraged me even more to talk. This was not a good idea, because it started to bleed at one point after I had had it for a while. Which probably didn't help to the following.

I remember the first week of having my tongue pierced was hell for me. I was determined not to take it out, I can't say I wasn't tempted at some points, but I knew right from the beginning what it was going to be like, and it was all part of the process. The cause of the frustration was not the swelling or the pain [other than when swallowing], as to me it didn't feel all that swollen, but the size of the bar. It reached from the roof of my mouth to the base of my mouth and prevented me from swallowing without discomfort. This made it hard for me to eat anything, even soup, for the first couple of days. And I'm not to keen on soup as it is. So the first few days weren't that great, all the things you would expect with getting your tongue pierced, a slight lisp, difficulty in eating and discomfort for the first week or so.
I'd wake up in the morning, and it'd feel worse than when I went to sleep, I used to wake up with the bar in-between my teeth, which wasn't comfortable in the slightest. To this day I still think my tongue feels a bit odd first thing in the morning, but it lasts for about 5-10 minutes and then it'd feel fine again.

After about three days, eating got slightly easier, but still caused discomfort and this was the main reason for the pain. I started eating more and feeling better because of that. Every time I looked at this newest addition, I loved it even more. It was something special that really reflected my feelings at the time, it was one not many people could see to start off with unless I made it obvious, and as I hid a lot at that time, it was fitting.

On the 4th day, I think it was, my tongue wasn't feeling swollen or painful, but I still found it difficult to actually swallow food because of the bar, so I paid Kazbah a visit. I talked to the lady downstairs at the counter and she explained that I'd have to wait until at least the 6th day to get the bar downsized. I wasn't happy about this, but I wasn't going to argue as they knew best and I was being hasty in trying to get it downsized. She told me to try eating mashed potato, as that's what she ate when she had had her tongue pierced. So when I got home, I tried to eat mashed potato, it was still as hard, but it tasted better than the soup I had been living on. I tried different ways to "swallow" the food instead of swallowing. I found tilting my head back slightly and gently swallowing helped, as gravity helped there.

All throughout the healing process and for a few weeks afterwards, I rinsed my mouth out with salt water after eating, some people use Listerine, but I can't stand the taste of that. I washed my mouth out in the afternoons and in the mornings. After a while just in the afternoons until I was certain it was fully healed.

There were many occasions during the healing process where I almost took it out. But I am very stubborn about taking out piercing, so it stayed in.
A week passed and I happily made my way up to Kazbah. I got the bar downsized and got to keep the long bar and get a spare bar free. I could move my tongue about once again and eat again. I still had to eat carefully as I wasn't used to eating with the bar in and kept chomping down on the balls instead of food by accident, I still do it to this day occasionally, this hurt my teeth more than my tongue though.

I feel I have been on a journey having this piercing, I had something to look after, and it made me feel so much better about myself, I can't explain how or why, but it did. I have never regretted my decision to get it pierced and I do and will always recommend this piercing to anyone who's thinking about it.
My tongue bar is still in and it's still one of my favourite piercings. Since I got it downsized I have swallowed one of the balls and had the bar come out whilst eating cereal, but I managed to notice before I swallowed it.
It now feels so natural having a bar of metal through my tongue, I can never imagine taking it out and keeping it out. Infact it feels un-natural not to have it in.