How Should I Behave Before Getting a Piercing?

As I’ve explained in previous articles, a piercing is a – medically – simple procedure, and if you’re getting it done by a professional piercer – does not pose any health risk. None the less, there is a psychological aspect. A lot of you are probably nervous or stressed out before getting pierced, which might cause side effects such as dizziness or nausea. These side effects are caused in most cases solely due to emotional stress you were under before getting pierced, and not because of physical pain. Sometimes it happens simply because you found out it doesn’t hurt as much as you expected! Sounds strange? The explanation is simple: when you are scared or nervous, your blood pressure rises. After getting pierced, when you find out it doesn’t hurt as much as you thought it would, the blood pressure drops back down. Sometimes it drops at once, a phenomenon called “blood-pressure drop”, and the brain’s blood supply slows down a little, then, you might experience dizziness or nausea.
Of course, a professional piercer will know how to deal with such side effects and will easily resolve them, and worst case, the dizziness will become a blackout lasting a few seconds, and the nausea will make you throw up. Don’t worry about it, rest for a little bit, drink something, and it’s like nothing ever happened.
Yet, there are ways to prevent these side effects in advance. First of all, you should stay as calm as you can during the piercing process. A good night’s sleep the night before – could help tremendously. Have a nutritional breakfast on the day of the piercing, and drink a lot, preferably something sweet, that will raise your blood sugar level. If you do those things, you’ll have much more energy to go through the piercing process more easily, and even if it hurts a little – you’ll be able to have more fun dealing with the pain.
Also Try working on the fear issue. Convince yourselves that it’s just a simple process, like getting your blood tested, and that you’re going to go through it easily, just like everyone else. Perform a few breathing exercises and meditations before and during the piercing process. It works, believe me.
If you’re on any kind of medication, or suffer from various illnesses – tell the piercer in advance. In extreme cases, such as with epileptics, it’s advised to get pierced only after consulting with a physician.
In any case, don’t drink alcohol, not even a little, and don’t use drugs of any kind, a few days before getting pierced. As I’ve explained in the article: “Does it Hurt?”, these substances will cause problems during the piercing process, and will not help in any way relieving the pain.
Alcohol and certain drugs cause blood dilution and expand blood vessels, these cause stronger bleeding. In addition, those substances cause reflexes and involuntary muscle reactions, which will interfere with the piercing process. And in any case, the piercer needs to communicate with you during the process, which won’t be so easy, if you’re drunk or high.
It’s recommended not bringing chaperons with you. They might get in the way and interfere more than help, and during the piercing process you might find their presence stressing you out even more. If you don’t feel like coming by yourselves bring one chaperon with you. It really is enough. Not to mention that most piercers won’t even allow one chaperon to come into the room with you, let alone a group of chaperons. So they might get bored outside, make noise, and bother both you and the piercer.