To start off, I'm 19, female, and married to a wonderful national guard recruiter. He and I are by no means wimps! My piercings include my earlobes, nose, labret, retired nipples (3x each), retired navel, and my favorite, my VCH. I also have nine tattoos in random places on my body. So I'm not a scaredy-cat when it comes to pain. But for some reason I've always been terrified of getting my tongue done, I don't know why. not just nervous or anxious, but seriously scared.
At A Glance Author Stephanie Contact Stephanie@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Michael Studio Pierced Out Location San Jose, CA -- USA Anyway, it all started this Valentine's Day when my poor husband tried his hardest to get me a nice necklace. It was very pretty but... just not me. So I suggested we return it and use the cash to get another tattoo/piercing. I quickly crossed out a tattoo because they're just way too pricey out here in California (we moved from Florida where everything is dirt cheap). So we decided on a piercing, but which one? I'm running out of things to pierce that wouldn't be frowned upon by my job. (I'm a receptionist at a software company in Silicon Valley.) I decided on my tongue. I ran it by him and he said NO WAY!!! But I was set. I was getting my tongue pierced and there was no changing my mind. So I came on here to bmezine and started looking at photos and reading stories and I got way more confident in the fact that I had nothing to be afraid of. For two days I read stories and watched videos on YouTube. That made me a lot more comfortable.
Fast forward to piercing day. It's Friday, February 16th, 2007, and I was looking forward to a nice three-day weekend (thanks, President's Day). I decided I should get pierced after work on Friday so I'd have Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday for my recovery, and hopefully be better by Tuesday when it's time for me to go back to work. I did a lot of researching online and found what seemed like the best place in the area-- Pierced Out, in San Jose. I called ahead of time to ask some questions, and decided to come in at 6:30 - 7ish that night. I got off work at 5:00, rushed home, and was reminded by my husband that we had a "party" to go to at 9pm. I said no thank you! I'm about to go get my tongue pierced and I won't feel much like socializing, and there'll definitely be no drinking. I told him I'd go with him to the function if he got his tongue pierced with me, totally thinking he'd say never mind. But he agreed! So off we went to the piercing studio.
The drive there took twenty minutes but felt like an hour. My hands were sweating, my heart was pounding, and I was sucking down my "last cigarette" with shaking hands. We walked in the shop and found that we were the only ones in there, so there'd be no wait. We talked to the girl at the front, filled out our paperwork, then met our piercer, Michael. I was hoping for a guy named Erik (he is the one who invented the industrial) but I guess it didn't really matter. He wasn't very friendly at first so that made me a little uncomfortable. I like it when my tattoo artists/piercers talk a lot to me and make me laugh, to take my mind off the nerves. I guess I'm just a baby. We got in the piercing room, a blank room with white walls and a black chair. Now I was more nervous. Nothing on the walls for me to look at?! He started giving his schpiel about how long he's been piercing (fifteen years), which I'd normally be very interested in hearing, but by this time I was just ready to get it over with.
I said I'd go first and I hopped up on the chair. He made me swish with what was probably Listerine, I spit it out, he marked my tongue, I checked it out in the mirror and gave him the thumbs up. This was after he told me that I have a large vein in my tongue, so he had to pierce me a little off-center on the underside of my tongue, but that was fine by me, as long as the top was centered. I pulled my husband toward me so he could hold my hand. Michael then showed me the needle and the barbell, and they both looked HUGE! I asked if that was the standard 14 gauge, and he shocked me by telling me no, they were 12 gauge, and that piercing shops that insist on 14s are just cheap and don't want to buy the more expensive jewelry. Whoa, okay, whatever you say. I asked where the clamps were and then came another shock-- he's a freehand piercer. No clamps. He rambled on about how clamps cause unnecessary stress to the tongue and he's been piercing without them for fifteen years. That made me WAY nervous and I was about to back out, but my husband kept me calm. Michael then took some gauze and pulled my tongue out as far as it would go. He told me I'd feel a little prick on the bottom of my tongue, which I did. Then he told me to take a deep breath in and hold it, which I did, and then he told me to exhale. As I did, I felt the needle going in the bottom of my tongue, all the way through, and out the top. SO WEIRD. It really didn't hurt AT ALL , but I could feel it. It really blew my mind that that was it. Then he got the barbell and pushed it through, and screwed the ball on the top. There was a liiiiiittle discomfort there, but I was still in shock at how little pain I experienced. The girl at the front gave me an "Otter Pop" and I sucked on that while it was my husband's turn to get pierced. He went through the same routine I did, except he seemed to be in a little more pain. He was squeezing my hand really tight and his eyes were clamped shut and his tongue was shaking. But otherwise he did fine. He got his ice pop and we bought some BioTene (alcohol-free mouthwash), paid, and left.
We got home and took some Ibuprofen. We each took 600mg, as they were huge military-issued pills. Immediately started sucking on ice cubes so keep the swelling to a minimum. Then I remembered my promise to go to the party with him. We got to TGI Friday's and everyone was eating what looked like SUCH delicious food! I knew it'd be a bad idea to try and chew anything so I ordered some French onion soup without the croutons on top. It seriously took me thirty minutes to finish. It was cold by the time I was done. I managed to get down a few green bean fries and that was that. It was water and ice for the rest of the night. Six hours later I took 600mg more Ibuprofen and went to bed.
Day two: I woke up the morning after I had gotten pierced, expecting a huge, fat, swollen, painful tongue... but found nothing like it. It was a little swollen and sore, sure, but nothing like what I was expecting. Brushed my teeth CAREFULLY, got irritated at the fact I couldn't brush my tongue completely (I brushed very slowly around it), then ate some warm tomato soup. It was a little awkward but I got used to it. Ate more soup, swished afterward each time, swished once for five minutes with warm sea salt water, and took Ibuprofen 'round the clock the rest of the day, and went to bed.
Day three: Woke up, again expecting some horrible fat tongue, but still nothing extreme. Maybe it was a teeny bit more swollen but I could still talk clearly and I wasn't in any big amount of pain. Just a little sore. Same routine with the teeth brushing. Husband and I went to the mall and his stomach was grumbling so loudly, he insisted on stopping by the food court, "just to see." We ended up ordering some orange chicken and some mushroom chicken, along with some rice. We thought for sure it'd be impossible, but lo and behold, it wasn't as tough as we expected. We just chewed on one side of our mouth, and vveerryy sslloowwllyy. Rice was a little trickier, but you don't really have to chew it, so we just swallowed spoonfuls of it. I swished my mouth with water after every bite. Then attempted to eat a soft pretzel. That was a little more difficult as the bread gets mushy in your mouth, so I ate half of it and gave up. Same routine with the Ibuprofen and swishing.
Day four: Went again to the mall. I ate some bourbon chicken and rice (SLOWLY!) and my husband attempted a piece of pizza and a salad. He got olive oil vinigarette dressing.. bad idea. He said it burned like hell. But otherwise it was no problem. Got some ice cream, waited for it to be a little melty, then ate that slowly. Yum. That night, our friends/neighbors decided to surprise us with dinner-- pork loin, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and rolls. YUM! I was a little more confident in eating, but failed to notice the cracked peppercorn crust on the pork loin. OUCH! One of the pieces of peppercorn got stuck in the hole and wowwwww, did that hurt. I immediately swished with water to get it out and it was better. I didn't eat any more of that, and I was still the last one at the table to finish. No dessert.
Day five: Woke up with my tongue a little more sore and swollen than before, but still no big deal. Nothing horribly uncomfortable or awkward. I'm talking a little funny-- I can't properly pronounce my Ls or Rs, but otherwise I'm fine. Minimal pain. Haven't eaten anything but a Starburst yet (that was tricky) but I think I'll be okay.
If this is as bad as it gets, then I'm totally cool with that! After reading everyone's horror stories, I was expecting much worse. In all honesty, I think the worst part about this whole experience is the bad breath I'm getting from not being able to properly brush my tongue. That and the combination of the BioTene mouthwash. Not very pleasant. I just can't wait to go back in a week or so and get my bar switched to something shorter and less noticeable in my mouth when I talk. But I really do love my piercing. If anyone is ever thinking about doing it but is scared of what it'll feel like or the aftermath-- go do it! Don't let your fears hold you back for so long, like I did. Just go out and get it over with and before you know it, if it did hurt at all, you'll have forgotten all about it and you'll have a pretty new piercing in your tongue. Good luck!