Piercings = Illness???

Le Rack

hey, so was in the doc the other day, having tonsilitis for the fourth time since december, and as soon as I opened my mouth for her to exam my throat she started spouting off how any professional medical expert would refuse to operate or even treat me unless I remove my tongue piercing!

she went on about this for a while gave me a prescription, and sent me packing, she didn't care that I was nearly hospitalised in december with the same condition because it wasn't on record in wexford, since I had gone to a dublin doctor, and all down to the piercing. she was really nasty about it, saying it harbours disease, and a load of other tripe. granted food may get caught in it, but when you keep it clean and have the right length bar I hardly think it "harbours disease"!

Just wondering if anyone else has had such treatment before, all over having your tongue pierced?

r3nu4l

I think the doctor was wrong to treat you the way you were treated but has a point in that any foreign body in the mouth can harbour potentially dangerous organisms.

This is why hospitals regularly change oro/nasopharyngeal tubes. That said, keeping the pierced area washed and cleaned and cleaning the bar/stud will vastly reduce any chance of the piercing becoming a source of infection, especially once the wound has healed.

It does require patience and vigilance. The only suggestion I would have is that during and following an infection near a piercing site, you should swap bars/studs regularly and spend more time cleaning the area just to be safe.

Some people just get a bee in their bonnets tbh.

Will

bah doesnt matter if theyre a doctor, binman or piercer, the doctor seemd like a d!ckhead. same thing happend to me when i was getting an operation on my foot. Was still awake and the surgeon was just being a nob, asking me if id like him to remove the 'abomination' in my lip, very rude.
Then again our local GP was very nice about it. you were ust unlucky

edit: uhm would removing and changing jewellery just irritate a piercing more if its infected? think keeping it clean in the first place is the best bet

Gauge

Not to mention that an infected tongue would usually give you a sore tongue and not just sore tonsils

Le Rack

my tongue is perfect! was in with my piercer last week, it's over 6months old now, well settled, and he'd have told me if there was a problem when he was changing my bar like, it's just my tonsils at me, which I've had trouble with all my life

r3nu4l

I wasn't saying anything about your tongue I was saying that while you have an infection in your tonsils, make sure to keep the bar really, really clean as once the infeciton has cleared you don't want it returning because some of the bacteria have been hiding away on the bar (assuming it's a bacterial infection). I'm just saying that in general btw, not directly at you LeRack Just trying to be helpful

Le Rack

thanks, sorry, sorta skimmed through the reply, prob just looked that way! she just iritated me really badly, especially since I had it worse before christams and the docs never said anything! thanks!

ergonomics

Just after I got my tongue pierced I got tonsillitis and could not get rid of it. Had it every 2nd week for about 3 months. At my sickest point my Mum had to bring me to the doctor and while there she asked if the virus could be getting caught in my piercing/could the piercing be causing tonsillitis. The doctor said not a chance. You can get a spray over the counter in most chemists which you are meant to spray on the back of your throat when it's sore. My doctor told me to spray that on my tongue just to be sure but it's highly unlikely that a piercing would trap the virus.

I'd say your doctor was just up herself. She prob thinks she knows all.

r3nu4l

Yep, most human viruses can't survive any significant length of time outside of a human cell, so growing on a stud/bar just won't happen. However, bacteria can and do grow on studs/bars, hence the importance of keeping it very clean, particularly during and for a while after a bacterial infection.

Again, it seems as though your doctor was taking her personal abhorrance of piercings out on you, very unprofessionally. Her job is to treat you and explain possible consequences of having a piercing and how to avoid those problems, without passing any judgement.

Fantasy_Suicide

Good lord that's disgraceful.
I'd have every mind to report the doctor to, eh, someone!

I've had my tongue pierced years and I've never had any problem at all with it professionally.

Wilburt is right.
The doctor was an ass.

Hope you're better now.

r3nu4l

Fantasy_Suicide wrote:

Good lord that's disgraceful.
I'd have every mind to report the doctor to, eh, someone!

That would be the Irish Medical Councils

Fantasy_Suicide

Nice!
Haha, I'd do it.
But then again I'm not the kinda person to take any crap from anyone!
That was so unprofessional.
Things like these infuriate me.

But then secretly we all love the attention...

Le Rack

well she bugged me bigtime! so unimpressed! although the drugs she gave me seem to have done their job! hopefully gettin the tonsils out soon and my baby ain't going nowhere! (the bar...)

Fantasy_Suicide

Good for you.
Ha. We should sedate her and pierce her!!!!!

Will

...with a rusty spoon

Fantasy_Suicide

Hmmm. I could swear this thread happened before. Or did it?