Pain, how to avoid

pippington

EMLA cream or Ametop is a local anaesthetic cream used for children when get injected, or cannulated....it does numb the area....but it can slo make the skin turn slightly red and can sometime can cause skin irritation...it must be taken off after 30mins to help avoid skin irritation..in fact some doctors and phlebotomists hate using this cream as it can slightly swell the area makin the veins harder to find....obviously any swelling of the area when getting a tat would not be good....instead they use a spray version....i would imagine though however that these creams or sprays would not be very good to use before tattooing...in fact think about it if they were compatable with tattooing the artists would use them all th time...its possible they would make the skin more difficult to work..whereas they would be good for piercings as ur just going directly through the skin..just like when injecting which is the creams purpose

If taking any painkillers before going in avoid anything with aspirin or NSAIDS (Ibuprofen, neurofen etc)...Advil or Panadol is ur best bet...however to be honest as it is surface pain as opposed to internal there effectiveness will be minimum

Best advice is good healthy food before you go including plenty carb and protein..make sure ur in the best of health dietary wise and in a good head space before you go

vangoz

Quattroste wrote: »

The best advice I've read is the "eat food and stay warm". I had a 2 hour session last Sunday after a bowl of cornflakes. It was fcuking freezing and hurt much more than the first tattoo. I found the pain getting stronger as I got hungrier. After I left the shop I was shivering with the cold walking back to the car. It felt like it was -20 degrees to me. When I got home I think I went into shock and felt like I had the flu. It all subsided after I managed to eat and raise my energy level again.

Lesson learned though. Eat well and stay warm. Raise your energy level beforehand.

More common sense than anything but I'll add to this... Dont go on a heavy boozing seesion the night before.

Splinter

vangoz wrote: »

More common sense than anything but I'll add to this... Dont go on a heavy boozing seesion the night before.

yes, ill agree with this, i foolishly made this mistake before my first tattoo and god i felt rough

pippington

ul feel rough and ul bleed all over the place...def not a good idea if its a tat in a very painful place...ya loose loads of blood..then ya feel rougher..then its more painful..a vicious cycle

seanybiker

I went to get my first tattoo. Me man said he could do it there and then, I told him I had to go back to work so couldnt get it done. Went to the pub and lunged a few pints into me. Wobbled back into the studio and got it done. Not one drop of blood came out at all, not even the slightest hint of blood at all. Didnt hurt much but Im fairly good with pain. Wouldnt advise getting half pissed though before a tattoo. I was giddy and got bored waiting for them to finish.

pippington

oh god...u have no blood.....your some kind of undead vampire/zombie type thing (whatever has no blood)

pippington

oh also when i get my first (and only so far) tattoo i downed a naggin of rum in the cinema...i bled...loads....and was prob really distracting for the dude doin it cos i kept jabbering on about how much i loved elephants

joshjoshjosh

if you cant handle the pain you dont deserve the tattoo!

joshjoshjosh

pippington wrote: »

oh also when i get my first (and only so far) tattoo i downed a naggin of rum in the cinema...i bled...loads....and was prob really distracting for the dude doin it cos i kept jabbering on about how much i loved elephants

hahahahha

force majeure

pippington wrote: »

EMLA cream or Ametop is a local anaesthetic cream used for children when get injected, or cannulated....it does numb the area....but it can slo make the skin turn slightly red and can sometime can cause skin irritation...it must be taken off after 30mins to help avoid skin irritation..in fact some doctors and phlebotomists hate using this cream as it can slightly swell the area makin the veins harder to find....obviously any swelling of the area when getting a tat would not be good....instead they use a spray version....i would imagine though however that these creams or sprays would not be very good to use before tattooing...in fact think about it if they were compatable with tattooing the artists would use them all th time...its possible they would make the skin more difficult to work..whereas they would be good for piercings as ur just going directly through the skin..just like when injecting which is the creams purpose

If taking any painkillers before going in avoid anything with aspirin or NSAIDS (Ibuprofen, neurofen etc)...Advil or Panadol is ur best bet...however to be honest as it is surface pain as opposed to internal there effectiveness will be minimum

Best advice is good healthy food before you go including plenty carb and protein..make sure ur in the best of health dietary wise and in a good head space before you go

This is by far the best responce I have see so tops marks here Pipp. :cool:

pippington

why thank u..,i do try

WopTittyPop

If you have an iPod/MP3 player, bring that! Preferably with some heavy-ish style rock music. It'll keep you distracted!

And if you're in a serious panic about the pain, just use the generally well known male stress relief method beforehand! :P

force majeure

WopTittyPop wrote: »

If you have an iPod/MP3 player, bring that! Preferably with some heavy-ish style rock music. It'll keep you distracted!

And if you're in a serious panic about the pain, just use the generally well known male stress relief method beforehand! :P

Heavy metal like say Metallica in full blast... shall I dare say perhaps even good old Nick Cave... O' Malley's bar' is a good long one.:eek:

As for stress relief.... as if... like I mean have you ever noticed people can get the wiff off self satisfaction... God jesus I never live that down so no way hosay. :cool:

Raze_them_all

force majeure wrote: »

Heavy metal like say Metallica in full blast... shall I dare say perhaps even good old Nick Cave... O' Malley's bar' is a good long one.:eek:

As for stress relief.... as if... like I mean have you ever noticed people can get the wiff off self satisfaction... God jesus I never live that down so no way hosay. :cool:

I wouldn consider metallica heavy metal!

Kerikosan

Some tattoo artists have local anesthetic cream and sprays which kill all pain for super sore areas and for people who cant take the pain at all! you could just ask your artist and get advice.

WopTittyPop

Raze_them_all wrote: »

I wouldn consider metallica heavy metal!

Way to fail start an argument there chief! :pac:

force majeure wrote: »

As for stress relief.... as if... like I mean have you ever noticed people can get the wiff off self satisfaction... God jesus I never live that down so no way hosay. :cool:

No I have never noticed this, but by all means, have a shower after if needs be! lol

seanybiker

hmmm maybe a shower sounds good the way this thread is going lol.
The best thing about the pain is not to think about it before you get it done bud. The thought of the pain is 100 times worse than the actual pain. I only have top of me arm done and a small one on me chest so Im no professional. But honestly the thought of it is worse than getting it. Only thing I didnt like about getting mine, was the pure boredom of sitting there.

tommyboy26

just wondering has anyone ever used numbing cream before getting tattooed? if so did it work? would effect the quality of the tattoo


(p.s not that i cant handle the pain its just planning full chest tattoo......)


tommy

hitlersson666

This apperantly makes the skin a nightmare to work on

Star Lord

Hey Tommyboy26, just merged the thread with the existing thread on the same subject to keep things tidy

Raze_them_all

tommyboy26 wrote: »

just wondering has anyone ever used numbing cream before getting tattooed? if so did it work? would effect the quality of the tattoo


(p.s not that i cant handle the pain its just planning full chest tattoo......)


tommy

I-pod+sleep, wake up to finished tattoo!

rannerap

lolly pops and someone to talk to has always seen me through!

force majeure

Just had word with my reg tatt's this afternoon about the cream issue.
By what he says its not as big an issue as some may think but it can make the skin spongy and slowed up the job.
to make matters a bit worse the effect off most off these creams can ware off before the job is finished so it often tends to be a wast off time.
So note to self, big jobs should be broke down to 3 or 3 visits and small jobs well prep-ed for.
Keep the tips coming folks.

kaydee124get

Getting my first tat next week, I'm ****ting myself tbh! But I'm getting this EMLA cream to numb the skin first. I've heard mixed reports about it. Any comments? My pain threshold is crap so any bit of help will do!!

nxbyveromdwjpg

kaydee124get wrote: »

Getting my first tat next week, I'm ****ting myself tbh! But I'm getting this EMLA cream to numb the skin first. I've heard mixed reports about it. Any comments? My pain threshold is crap so any bit of help will do!!

I posted this in another thread recently - Vasocaine spray works really well.

Darthvadar

kaydee124get wrote: »

Getting my first tat next week, I'm ****ting myself tbh! But I'm getting this EMLA cream to numb the skin first. I've heard mixed reports about it. Any comments? My pain threshold is crap so any bit of help will do!!

My mum was on haemodialysis... The needles are often referred to as Telegraph Poles... Mum found EMLA cream very effective... So I'd imagine it'd work well on a tattoo... Good luck...

Darth...

dodderangler

Half the enjoyment and appreciation comes from the pain you endured to get the tattoo in the first place.

ynwa14

As someone who was a complete baby about the thought of getting a tattoo (largely due to not knowing what the pain would be like), I just want to re-iterate what everyones been saying. I got a new tat on my inner arm down to my wrist yesterday and the worst part of the experience was realising it was over after only twenty minutes! (And the scariest part was when Luke was tuning the machine, that freaked me out)

Stay calm when you're going in, best way to do that is to bring a friend who ISNT annoying and have them sit beside you so you can look at them if you feel squeamish about what the tattooist is doing. Use hand squeezing if you feel too much pain, I basically did it as an indication of pain scale to her :P And the other technique to keeping calm is talking to your tattoo artist if you're worried. I dont know if I just got lucky because Luke at Snakebite was a total babe for keeping me steady but he put me totally at ease, explained his ideas and everything that he was doing, was down to earth and laid back and that made such a different to me - when he expressed that it honestly wasnt that bad and its just a surface pain more than anything and that after the first minute it subsides greatly I believed him and yeah, he was completely right so that's what I'd say to anyone like me who's very anxious and has a low pain threshold.

The first ten seconds was shock that it felt EXACTLY like you should imagine it feeling - a sharp needle scratching you. The only time it got a bit worse than that was when it moved to a more sensitive area or closer to the bone but that just made it feel a bit more like a burning sensation for a couple of seconds.

I also was completely rested and had a good meal before hand, kept warm and had a sugary snack or five before going in. Worlds best pain relief - milkshakes.

I love my tattoo and it means the world to me but I never thought that I'd be laughing throughout getting it done and that just adds more meaning to it. I wouldnt shy away from getting more and more, because now I know the pain in more sensitive areas is so worth it and I would go back again tomorrow to have that experience again!

I also maintain the most painful part was taking the tape off my skin and feeling some hair rip out last night :P

Killer_banana

I have a really low pain threshold and I've never found tattoos that bad. I find you build them up so much in your head that they're never as painful as you expect. As others have said go in well rested and well fed and bring someone with you if you're really nervous (although some places won't let people sit in with you). If you're dead set on using the EMLA cream talk to your artist first because as some people have already said it can cause issues and I imagine some artists probably don't like to tattoo on people who've used it.

nxbyveromdwjpg

dodderangler wrote: »

Half the enjoyment and appreciation comes from the pain you endured to get the tattoo in the first place.

Bollocks to that.
It might be a part of it alright but given the choice between being put through pain for a couple of hours or getting a tattoo without pain, I know what I'd be picking.