First time caller, longtime listener here, and I just wanted to get y’all’s opinions on a thought I had, because I know I’m ridiculously excited, and I’m not sure if this is a terrible idea that sounds good because of the excitement, or actually a doable/reasonable idea: How terrible/inadvisable would it be to get two implants in one hand, in one sitting, as a first-timer?
My plan is to get the NExT in position R0 and the xM1 in position R3 (I measured my hand there’s a 7-8 cm separation between them depending on how I hold my hand, which should be sufficient, right?). I don’t have an extreme pain tolerance, but I’ve had standard lobe ear piercings and a tattoo done (which I know aren’t really that terrible in the grand scheme of things), and neither we’re too bad, but that’s all I really have as comparison points. Not currently planning on using any numbing agents, but I could look into that if it’s going to take the pain from intolerable to tolerable.
That should be sufficient spacing for most use cases.
If you are nervous about the pain you could try numbing gel to take the edge off. The xM1 is 3mm diameter which uses a larger needle which can be more painful for some… and the R3 position typically has less working room and more vein density so they may need to go slower there to be safe… so I’d probably use the gel to take the edge off that install.
For what it’s worth I did 6 x series at once, with no numbing, and it wasn’t really a big deal
(Mostly being cheap and impatient)
Each one hurt like normal, last one more so only because it was a more sensitive and unusual position on the hand
But once the needle is in that’s 90% of it
My experience I don’t feel any burning or throbbing until 20 minutes or so after I leave… moving around and getting blood flowing… that’s when my inflammation cycle starts
My routine has been,
grab a medium size meal right before…
pop a couple Tylenol on the way in…
Pop a couple ibuprofen on the way out…
Go home
Elevate
Ice
Realizing now, I definitely get a decent burning throbbing for an hour or so afterwards… I might even say that’s worse if I had to pick
My first implants were an xG3, xM1, and NExt in R5, L0, and R0 respectively. All were done in one sitting. I went into it having had absolutely no piercings done before to compare it to, and was fine. My pain tolerance is pretty low as well, and I hate needles, but it ended up being ok. The pain isn’t that bad; even the larger xG3 installed in my knife edge where there’s tougher skin and a lot more nerves didn’t bother me too much.
That being said though, I would definitely recommend having someone there with you that can drive you home just in case. I nearly passed out, and was very thankful to have someone else there able to drive me. Don’t let that discourage you though - I don’t regret getting three at once at all!
I honestly wouldn’t really recommend numbing. You certainly can, but the pain is like a 3/10 max, and only lasts for a couple seconds. If you feel like you need it, go for it! But you’ll definitely be fine without it as well.
Thank you all for your really, really quick replies, I really appreciate it!
@APartOfMe reminded me that I totally do have another point of comparison, I do my own IM medication shots (22g x1.5") weekly and that’s not a huge deal for me (in fact, it’s become so normal I forgot about it in my original post lol), granted that’s a 22g and 3mm ID puts this at what an 8g (?), but still it’s a point of comparison.
Good to know that it wasn’t a big deal for you, that gives me a bit more hope that it’s not a terrible idea. That’s an excellent idea, w.r.t. having someone there, one of my friends wanted to come with me to watch anyway, but I need to call the shop and see if they have COVID rules that prevent that. Worst case, I’ll ask her to hang out in the car if she’s up for it.
@Eriequiet 6 is an impressive number for one sitting. Hahahaha, my desire to get them installed at the same time is also fueled (about 50:50) by being cheap, and the excitement.
Another quick question, I know everyone’s pain tolerances are different and the different locations have different pain levels, but are there any good points of comparison for the pain level of an x-series install? I know they’re mild compared to something like the Titan/anything palm side/in the fingertips, but other than that, is there any good point of comparison?
I’m middle for pain tolerance, but I can also be mildly masochistic at times in a nihilistic sort of way
But my scale could be different from some spectacularly painful things
Don’t take this as bad as it sounds,
But x series feel like they are trying to push a cost hanger thru your skin for about 1 second, and then it pops thru and you won’t really feel it