Thought I'd take advantage of my new ability to create threads by sharing my newest piercing experience of getting my tongue done. Unfortunately don't have a high enough post count to put pics yet, but you can squint at my avatar for now if you so wish.
I've been wanting my tongue done for absolutely ages now, but kept putting it off for silly reasons, mainly fear about my father's reaction (he's a dentist whose professional life has led him to believe that oral piercings are the spawn of the devil, despite my numerous attempts to better inform him on the matter) but finally plucked up the courage and got it done on 7/2/2012.
Went down my usual haunt, Old London Road in Kingston (getting a cheeky plug in there - maybe I should tell them about it and they'll give me free shinies), filled out my release form and sat, waiting and shuffling slightly nervously while waiting for my piercer to finish getting the room all ready for me. I must confess, much as I like to perpetuate my image as something of a 'badman', as we say in dear old Blighty, this is one of my few piercings that I've actually been very nervous for. I'd read so many recounts saying that it barely hurts at all, but all I could think about is how much it hurts when you accidentally bite your tongue, and what if it was just like that but a million times worse? Luckily, my piercer is great, and she was just as chatty and casual with me as she always is, which relaxed me a fair bit. One minute we were laughing about her stories of how she liked to seek out all the girls she didn't like who went to goth clubs wearing cheap latex and stick pins in their clothes to make them explode, the next thing I know there's a clamp and a needle all up in my tongue's business. I was genuinely so surprised at how little it hurt, oh me of little faith who should have trusted all the recounts I had read. I do admittedly have a fairly high pain threshold, but on the scale of all my piercings so far, I'd actually put it as the least painful after my lobes. Even putting in the bar wasn't bad at all, so I was very happy to hand over my cash whilst commenting that the blue marking ink left all over my tongue made me look like I'd just sucked off a smurf.
Barely experienced any swelling at all in the first day, although was limited to a very exciting diet of soup and ice cubes, and talking was a bit off. I think at one point I mentioned that I sounded like Chewbacca on helium, but that may have been something of an exaggeration. The next day was a bit tougher. When I woke up, there was no denying my tongue had swollen, and it had those funny frills on the side of it from where it'd been pressing against my teeth. Even now, it still has a definitively pie-crusty quality to it, but is finally starting to go down a bit. Luckily, my piercer used a super long bar, so even with the swelling caused relatively little pain or discomfort. Particularly relieving as I had a bit of a horror story with a friend of mine who recently got her tongue done at a much less reputable place where they used a far too short bar, and she ended up having to go to frikkin A&E to get hers sorted. Needless to say, she got an earful of my classic 'you wouldn't go to a cheap, crappy doctor so why go to a cheap, crappy piercer if they're both dealing with your body and your health' lecture. But back to my shiny, day 2, eating was still tough, so yet more soup was called for, and things like coughing, yawning, and brushing my teeth were fairly tentative, twinge-y affairs. One thing that I found really helped, apart from swilling with mouthwash like a good 'un after eating, drinking, and smoking, was drinking soluble anadin. It worked amazingly quickly and was so much more convenient and soothing than trying to swallow a pill. Unfortunately, the one thing I'll say against it is that it tastes like a combination of dishwater and jizz, and even I who likes to boast of having an almost impossible to provoke gag reflex found it hard to swallow, but for the effect that it has, I'd still say it's worth it.
Currently on day 3, not much change from day 2, although I have started to notice a little, white-ish raised ring around the top ball, although I'm assured this is normal. Hopefully the swelling will start improving soon so I can get back to eating some proper food, as I am beginning to come to the end of my tether with bloody heinz cream of tomato with a side order of ice cubes. All in all though, I couldn't be happier with my new shiny, and more than anything, I'm just happy that I finally manned up and got it done after so many months of umm-ing and ah-ing about it. So far, it's been a lot less painful and a lot less hassle than I'd expected, and I have a feeling that as long as I keep treating it well and nothing untoward happens, it's going to be a very welcome and happy addition to my shiny collection.