tongue piercing.
 

I'm writing this on behalf of my gf. She got her tongue pierced 4 days ago, and the poor girl is in so much pain. Been living on applesauce & mashed potatos. Does anyone have any experiences/advice that would help? thanks

Ice. ibuprofrin.

and some oral disinfectant i cannot remember the name of.

/me runs to google, brb.

[edit] i cannot find it..bleh.
it comes in a white bottle with blue lettering, may be 'oxy' something in it's name, is about 7 bucks at walgreens/wherever
[/edit]

You might get some use out of this especially section 5.7 (aftercare for oral piercings).

You could always go back to the person who did the piercing and ask can the recommend anything.

i had mine done about 4 years ago. make sure she uses lots of mouthwash, do it every couple hours and after eating or drinking anything other than water. she should try eating ice cream without any hard stuff in it, so just like plain vanilla or chocolate or neopolotain and whatnot. my tounge stayed swollen for about a week, but after the week was done i could pretty much play with the piercing however i wanted. if it hasn't happened yet, her tounge should also change colors. kinda creepy, but fun too.

oh, and the piercer should have told her this, but no deep-kissing (ie, your tounge should stay in your mouth, hers in hers) for i think the first 2 weeks after the piercing, and no smoking for the same amount of time.

what you are describing is what i considered to be the most painful part of the process - not getting to eat properly. i don't remember any kind of lasting physical pain though. i remember the area around my piercing getting "stronger" day by day.

c_b

I had mine done twice about 5 years ago. She should be rinsing with an anti-septic mouthwash at least 3-4 times an hour. Rinse after every meal, every drink, every cigarette, every kiss. Ice chips and ibuprofin are her friends too. Advil will reduce any swelling and kill the pain.

One major thing she needs to work on, positioning the bar when eating. Even though she's still on ice cream and applesauce, practice biting/chewing motions whenever eating. You never realize how much you use your tongue when eating until there's an inch of steel in it...

Tell her we said 'Good Luck'.

I can't understand how one can do this.. I know I couldn't. I have enough pain when I bite it. Maybe I'm just a big pansy.

Anyways yeah, even though the mouth is the fastest healing part of the body. Still gotta keep it clean, wouldn't wanna lose that tongue. The person that did it should offered advice on what to use to keep it clean and an anti-bacterial. But it sounds like if they didn't, all the advice is right here :)

I have been thinking about getting mine pierced over the summer while my girlfriend is away...so I can let it heal.

Is it worth it?

I got 2 in my tongue, In my experience, It swelled for about a week & then went down, It felt sensetive & eating was difficult & a little messy, kinda like eating like a bird, use gravity to get things to the back of your throat.
I would advise AGAINST using strong mouthwash because the alcahol can halt the healing process. I tried to stay away from alcahol, vinegar, hot/spicy food.
For the first week or 2 I used diluted mouthwash twice or 3 times a day & salty water every hour or so.
If the swelling doesnt go down within a week, go back to your peircer.
This is just my advice so dont take it as gospel. You can always just call your piercer & ask for advice.