It's Been a Month Since the Daith Piercings....

It's been awhile so I thought it was time to update you all on how the piercings have been healing. Before I go on, I want to make sure everyone understands not all piercings heal the same. My experiences may differ from everyone else's. But, that isn't going to stop me from sharing them with you.

First off, I want to share the thing I'm most pleased about since I've gotten them. I haven't had a migraine in a month. After suffering from at least one bad one a week and waking with a headache every morning, I haven't had either. There have been a few times I've had stress headaches and those I can attribute to anxiety. But those have been easily remedied with medication.

Now, on to the good stuff. The healing. So far, it's gone mostly pain-free. In fact, I haven't had much soreness since the ball popped off the left ear ring. I have been able to sleep on both sides without trouble. In fact, I have been surprised. I suspect I haven't seen the end of the pain. But I'm hopeful it won't be serious.

What has gotten to me a few times is the itching. There are times it gets unbearable! So unbearable, in fact, I want to shove my fingers in there to free whatever it is trying to dig its way out of my ear. However, I quickly remember unwashed fingers are NOT the way to go about this. As a way to combat the issue, I would use a clean water-dampened Q-Tip to gently dab at the piercing. This not only relieved the incessant itching for a spell, it also cleaned away some of the crust that might have built up between cleanings.

With that being said, I clean my ears twice a day with warm water and then a water/sea salt solution or Dial soap. Both of these work great. 

Sorry this week's post isn't very interesting. I will say though....tomorrow, I'm going in for a new piercing. I have a few ideas of how I want the end result to look. I guarantee you may be surprised when I'm done. But what I've chosen and saved for reference is both very feminine and makes a statement. 

And yes, pics to come.

Week One of the New Piercings

I’m going to be completely honest tonight and let you all in on my experiences with my new piercings. There are a few things you should know and I hope my experiences can help with anyone thinking about getting the piercing done.

First, I’ll mention, if I had done a bit more research about the piercing itself and not what the benefits of it may be, I probably would have talked myself out of it. I’m glad there are a lot of people talking about how the piercing has helped with their migraines. Otherwise, I don’t think all the pain involved would have been worth it.

Now, the nitty gritty stuff I know you’re all dying to know.

I clean my piercings twice a day. This is what the girl told me to do. I do, however, when I feel like one is leaking, I will wet a Q-Tip with warm to hot water and gently clear out any crust or drainage. The piercing site will drain, sometimes a lot. I recommend trying to keep it from building up as much as possible.

To clean the piercing, I use warm to hot water, Q-Tips, sea salt, anti-microbial soap, and cotton balls. First, I use a Q-Tip and water to clean the entire ear. This gets the crust as I said earlier. Even before I do this, I wash my hands thoroughly with the soap. This prevents any germs and bacteria on my hands from transferring to my ear.

Once done with that, I do one of two things, I either mix 1/3 tsp of sea salt (do not use table salt) with 1 cup of boiled water. Stir it as it dissolves and the water cools a bit. Once the water is cool enough to apply to your skin, use a cotton ball to soak the piercing for 5-10 minutes. If I don’t feel like messing with that, I wet a cotton ball and add a bit of antimicrobial soap. Lather it up and then soak the piercing for 5 or so minutes. Once I’m done soaking, I take a clean cotton ball, wet it, and then rinse off the piercing. I then dry the piercing with a clean towel. It may be a fairly tedious process. But your piercing will thank you.

If you have been pierced with a captive bead ring as I have been, you should be made aware of something that happened to me. Sometimes, the bead can snap free. This isn’t really a big deal for most people. The ring won’t wiggle free at all. This happened to me on Friday night when I laid down to bed. I felt and heard a loud snap. I kind of panicked because I had no idea what to do. I made a note to go to the body shop and talk to the girl who did my piercings in the morning and tried to sleep.

The next morning, I headed there as soon as I was up and they were open. It was a fairly simple fix and the girl explained how it can happen. If it wasn’t hooked up very well in the first place is one of the biggest reasons as well as too vigorous cleaning. Either way, it happened.

It didn’t hurt too badly when she fixed it, other than some minor pressure. It took a minute of my time and soon I was on my way to breakfast with my daughter. However, by two that afternoon, I was in the worst pain. It felt almost like I had an ear infection except it was the whole ear. I had a hot sensation and a dull, continuous aching that became so bothersome I had to lie down.

This was probably my mistake. When I got up, my ear had swelled and was red. I took some Aleve and hoped it would help. It did, but I was unable to sleep on that ear which made my night difficult.

Though I felt a bit better Sunday, I knew there was still something not right. It was still a lot more swollen than I believed it should have been. Yes, there will be some swelling. But I didn’t think that swelling was normal for this piercing. I scheduled an appointment to see my doctor today just to be safe.

It may have just been my anxiety, but this is my ear. I didn’t want to take any chances with it. The doctor did let me know the piercing looked normal, but he prescribed an antibiotic just in case and let me know if it got worse, I may have to have the piercing removed. Normally, they won’t do that in case pulling it out makes it worse. This round of antibiotics better work. I don’t want to have to have it pulled.

Why am I telling you this? Because I want everyone to know there are risks involved with getting a piercing. There is a considerable amount of pain both in the piercing and healing. It can get gross with some of the drainage. But drainage can be a good thing and is normal. And some swelling is also normal.

As for the migraines. It’s been a week tomorrow and I haven’t had a migraine. In fact, I haven’t had a headache at all. The ear doesn’t count since I know that will eventually go away.

I will update again next week. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer if I can.

(Picture was taken Saturday night. You can see just how swollen the inside of my ear is.)

Well, I've Gone and Done It

I had spent quite a number of hours doing the research on whether or not the daith piercing would help with my migraines. It was supposed to be similar to acupuncture on the pressure point held within the ear. 24-hour acupuncture without the use of needles and spending outrageous amounts of money sounded too good to be true.

Waking up most days with a headache of some kind, I would take pain relievers and attempt to go about my business. There are, however, many days, at least one a week, where I'm unable to do much more than hiding in my room with a blanket over my head. It was becoming increasingly difficult to even make dinner for my five-year-old.

So, Tuesday morning, I broke down and began my quest to find a tattoo shop that didn't treat me like shit. It took three phone calls to three different places. When the last place answered, I immediately knew this was the place to go. I had just pulled in my drive and parked when I decided to go. I backed away from my garage and headed the semi-short distance across town.

Walking in, I took in the ambiance of the place. It was small, decorated with the usual pictures of tattoos, a large screen TV, and a window seat to lounge if I chose to do so. It took a mere minute or two to tell them what I was there for, to fill out the paperwork, and to follow the girl into the back.

While she set up, she explained the aftercare procedures, making sure I was aware there would be an extensive healing process. I avoided looking at the equipment she was pulling out and sterilizing. Being afraid of needles, I worried about seeing something and chickening out.

Ten or so minutes later, after I made sure I asked all the questions I felt I needed to, I laid back on the table, turned my head to the side, and closed my eyes.

I knew it was going to hurt. But I had gone through the pain of childbirth. I could do this. I was confident in that. When she told me to take a deep breath and exhale slowly, I focused on a thought in my head and did as she asked. And then it hit me.

Holy mother of all things holy!! I had never felt anything quite like that before! The pain was sudden and excruciating, I'm not going to lie. Childbirth had never felt anything like the pain of having a hollow needed shoved through your skin and cartilage. It was slow and agonizing. Or so I thought. What felt like hours was a mere five or so seconds.

As quickly as it all hit me, it was over. No more pain. Shock must have registered on my tightly clenched face because she laughed and told me it was over. Over the next few minutes, she slid the earring in, put the ball on, cleaned the blood (Yes, it can bleed. In my case, it bled a lot), and helped me to sit up.

I looked in the mirror with a grin on my face. I had done it. My left ear now held a cute pink earring inside it. I debated on getting the other ear done, but the second one always hurts worse than the first. I'd come back in a month or so to have the second one done.

She took a picture of it for me so I could show it off to all my friends. I was still smiling. The adrenaline was flowing through me. I had done it! Now, I had to wait to see if it would work.

That same night, I noticed a difference in the pressure in my head. It wasn't as severe. After taking pain relievers before going to bed every night for more than ten years, I went to bed without taking anything for pain. And I woke up the next morning without pain on that side of my head! It was a miracle!

So, being the glutton for punishment I am, I went back to get the right ear done first chance I had the next day. Same procedure. Different girl. It hurt ten thousand times worse than the left. But the results were the same. I have been migraine free for more than 24 hours. Now to just fix my sinus problems and I'll be the happiest girl in the world.

Also.....it has turned me into a piercing addict. I'm sitting here as I type trying to decide what to pierce next......

Stay tuned for a weekly update on how the healing process is going, and whether or not the amazing results have continued.