I’m planning to get my NExT implant soon and was wondering about people’s experiences driving right after the procedure. I’ll be going solo, so I won’t have anyone else to drive me, plus it’s a 2 hour drive.
For those who have had the injectable implants:
Did you feel lightheaded or unwell afterward?
Did you drive yourself home? If so, how was it?
I’ve had a tattoo before without feeling lightheaded, so I think I should be fine, but I wanted to hear firsthand from others. Thanks in advance!
My last two installs were maybe 1 hour before driving home on a ~2h drive. As long as you eat before and after the procedure, you should be fine.
After getting bandaged up, eat something a bit sweet but not candy/etc. A granola bar will do. Some water too.
If you are shaky at all, make sure you chill out and relax for a few minutes before leaving the studio/shop/parlor. Wait for pain to settle in and be consistent too.
The worst is about 5 seconds into it or about ten minutes after. Once the vasovagal response ends youre good.
The day of install just do everything normal. Eat like you normal will
If you start to feel quezy or uneasy that is the vasovagal response. You can minimize it by tending and untensing your toes, thighs, back and forth. But that’s honestly the worst of it if you are affected by it.
My experience was without any type of creams or anesthesia to numb the area and it really didn’t hurt at all and then I went out driving 45 minutes later. I took good care of the wound with soap and water 3 times a day and followed Amal’s recommendation to buy prenatal pills that help heal quickly and so it was. It’s more scary than painful.
When I had my xLED installed, I drove to and from the appointment. After the install I went out across the street for dinner at a mexican resturaunt before the hour drive home, to let the nerves settle a bit more and let my heart rate come back down (I am… not a fan of needles). I had it installed in my left hand between thumb and forefinger (right next to my NExT) but didn’t have issues gripping the steering wheel afterwards.
I wasn’t going to say anything because my experiences are very different from everybody above.
I also dont want to sound like I’m “tougher” than everyone else that has posted, I guess O just want to show the other side of the spectrum which should be represented so you get an idea of other examples.
Personally, none of my implants caused me any grief, and I’m not saying I dont feel them, but they really dont even register on the pain scale for me, so driving after an implant would not even be a thing I would consider avoiding.
I also dont go out of my way to eat or hydrate before hand, only if im hungry or thirsty…
But for your first time, and going off other people posts, I would suggest you eat and drink prior and maybe post install.
I highly doubt I am alone in my install occasions, and it’s more of a case of some sort of Survivorship bias, we just sit in the back and let other people warn of the “negative things”
Oh yeah, I wasn’t trying to play up the pain. Or how bad it is. I like to lean on the side of caution.
In my case:
All installs no lube
Lidocaine doesn’t work on me (1st install with, 2nd two without)
All of my installs pain levels were somewhere between the least painful shot I’ve gotten and the post painful shot I’ve gotten. (Not particularly bad)
I highly dislike needles due to a nurse having bent one on a bone as a kid, then twisting it multiple times before tearing it out. Bled like a mf, whole 9 yards. This incident is not counted as “most painful shot” above, as me and my family consider this “assault”. I’m sure you can understand why my heart rate goes up and blood pressure dips when a needle is involved.
Other than sitting after for 5 mins, and sipping on half a glass of water to “change the topic” for my brain, none of it was a requirement for me.
No no, I didn’t think you were, just this coversation comes up on occasion, and it’s rightfully people giving examples of their experience and precautions / suggestions.
Everybody’s pain tolerance and install is different.
I just thought an example from the middle of the scale was important; not to take away from the others, merely to explain that not every install needs a “warning”.
Infact, I should have mentioned, the other end of the scale is people who may “get off” on getting stuck by needles
@Pilgrimsmaster providing cyborgs with the full gamut of install experiences
I’ll add my two cents to this.
As @tac0s and @amal can attest to, I’m a big ol’ baby, but never fainted and always felt fine 10-15min after the install. Of course your mileage will vary.
I think a slightky different question would be:
Do you think your install location would impact your ability to drive immediately after, i.e. if you get a larger implant, or one on a finger tip, will you be comfortable using that hand/arm or driving without it?
My first time was about 2.5 hours each way and i was getting a flexEM installed. I didn’t know how i would react so i wrangled a friend into driving. I have previously commented about my experiences with installers initially undersizing disc incisions. This was one of those. I was fine until they said, “shit, sorry, i gotta make it bigger.” And then immediate vasovagal. I was happy to have a ride. I don’t feel like i would have bothered with an driver if it were just for an x-series.
Im actually working with a piercer right now about 2 hours away (heard from someone here they do implants but aren’t on the map) I handled my piercings fine (though the drive home after my nips was not fun) so I expect that I should be fine
I got 3 implants in 1 sitting - 1 flex and 2 X series and then I drove myself > 5 hours immediately after. I had mild soreness around the install locations and the implants migrated a bit while I was driving but it was fine. I was also frequently white-knuckling due to poor driving conditions which very likely contributed to the soreness and a lot of the migration on my way home. I’d recommend trying to relax a little before leaving and maybe taking NSAIDs or something before taking off to help with soreness.
I did build in a couple extra hours in case I needed to chill out because I have had dizziness/nausea on a couple occasions following tattoos in the past. It’s better to build the extra safety margin in and get home early than it is to feel like you need to force yourself to do something that sucks at best and is actively dangerous to yourself and others at worst.
Your mileage may vary though - piercings, tattoos, etc. cause bodily trauma and everyone will react differently to it based on any number of factors. Make sure you’re well-rested, hydrated, and you’ve had a healthy meal. Breathing normally through the procedure is also helpful and can help with feeling light headed or other trauma responses.
About a month ago I had an xSIID chip installed between my thumb and index finger. Medically, I’m a bit different as I am a liver and kidney transplant recipient that takes a hose of drugs, and I’ve been on a triple anticoagulant cocktail to try to get rid of pesky bloodclots that keep recurring after an MRNA based Flu shot. Once you’ve gone through weekly paracentesis (they use a knitting needle sized needle to suck several liters of fluid from your abdomen) not much in the way of needles scares me.
A tech installed the chip with no lube or lidocaine. There was no bleeding or pain. A few minutes later I was back in my van driving home. About an hour into the drive I noticed my hand turning dark greenish and a big bubble of blood was forming. Driving was a stupid idea, as I was pressing the web part of my hand under the implant directly on the steering wheel. I pulled over, grabbed some ice and crushed it, stuck it in a bag and applied direct pressure over my implant. I let my wife take over driving us home. Something I should have done in the first place. A couple days later I had a huge bruise with a big bubble of blood. I went to the feed store down the street and bought a needle and syringe, poked it into the bubble of blood and sucked out about a tablespoon. After that the bruising subsided in about a week.
It’s been a month, and I can not get this insert to stay put though. I rotated about 50 degrees from where it was installed. it keeps sliding out under the tendons that move my thumb and index finger and disappears. Naturally, surrounded by fluids it can’t be read. I can massage it up to a spot I’d be happy with. I’ve tried taping small dowels to hold it in place for a couple days. I seems to stay put then, zip, it’s goes and hides. I can read the tag with my phone just fine. My Sifely Doorlock reads it about 2% of the time. I think part of the issue is how the NFC field works on the lock. If I hit the keypad, the field goes away, so I need to present my hand just barely off the keypad. I’ve tried the RFID little external antennae thingies, but they don’t seem to have any effect. It would be nice if they shipped with instructions.
In retrospect, installing it where I did makes it much harder to read. The tech tried to get me to install it on the side of my hand, or just by my pinky finger, as that’s where his worked best. Ah well, I’ll keep what I’ve got for now. Maybe I’ll install another one, this time red so I can have Navigation lights. I’ll just need to flip my hand over for them to work right.
So, short answer, my advice is to have someone drive you home and keep your hand elevated. I caused a hematoma that I could have easily avoided.
I hate locks that do this.. really short sighted and stupid imo.
I think you’re going to have serious problems getting your implant to settle in and encapsulate considering the propensity to bleed and the drugs involved etc. I don’t think pinky side of hand isn’t all would have helped much tbh. Still, it’s possible things will settle and swelling will go down enough to get good reads. It will probably take months though considering.
Ice is actually a bad move for a hematoma. Ice works for swelling related to immune response but for plain old hematomas it can potentially damage tissues further since the blood in question is not flowing and unable to bring heat to the area, putting tissues at risk of basically what amounts to microscopic frostbite.
on getting stuck by needles
