ouch

I like pain. Not all the time, and not all kinds of pain, but when I'm in the right mood, certain kinds of pain feel better than anything else on earth. I don't have the time or inclination to write a big S/M manifesto right now. Instead, I'll just focus on pain.

Of all the kinds of pain I have played with over the years, nipple pain is my favorite. I love to have my nipples mauled. The best is when my partner starts out soft and slow, then builds and builds and builds until she's squeezing and pinching them so hard they burn. The feeling moves from sensual to sexual to transcendently painful. I love it.

This weekend, Mera and I took it a little too far and now I'm sitting here with a bandaid on my left-nipple. Woops. I don't know why the right nipple got off so easy, but the left one is absolutely out of commission for awhile. We were both in a trance as it was happening. I was completely drunk off the sensation and Mera was in a sexual fugue state. I kept begging and egging her on and the next thing I knew she was saying "I taste blood."

Yeah.

So we stopped and now my left nipple looks a little like ground-round and hurts like it's been sunburnt. Hence the bandaid, to prevent chafing. And I'm also wearing a bra for a change. Anything to keep the little guy padded and safe from irritation until it's all healed up and ready to go again.

Years ago, I had my right nipple pierced. I had a theory that since I loved to have my nipples played with really hard, I'd REALLY love to have a ring through them to enhance the sensation. Boy was I wrong. Having my nippled pierced was the most intensely painful experience of my life. I enjoyed an endorphin high that lasted about three hours -- that alone was worth the $80 I paid for the jewelry and piercing.

Unfortunately, the ring only made my nipple ultra-sensitive and I was never able to enjoy rough nipple-play while the ring was in. Not to mention it never quite healed all the way. I kept it in for almost two years and it was constantly irritated and cycling through infections, even when it wasn't being handled at all. My body just wasn't into it.

I remember vividly the day I decided to take it out. I was working for Whole Foods in Durham and I was spending a lot of time in the dairy cooler because our Dairy Buyer'd quit and I was subbing. Spending a whole day in a giant refrigerator isn't good for nipples in general, but it's especially hard on an infected nipple with a piece of steel running through it. My nipple stayed hard as a rock all day in the cooler and the whole thing just throbbed.

Finally, early one cold morning as I dressed for work, I just did it. I didn't even think about it. I unscrewed one of the balls on the circular barbell in my nipple and gently slid the ring through and out of my body. As the steel left my skin, my whole body relaxed and I felt warm and comfortable again. It was like I'd been clenching and tensing every muscle in my body for two years and suddenly I was able to breathe free and rest. It was bliss. I have never looked back and would never, ever consider piercing my nipples again.

What about you guys? Pain? Nipple piercing? Clamps? Anything? I could write ten more posts about nipples and pain, but that's enough for today. I'm at the laundromat and it's time to fold my clothes and get out of here. But let me know if you've got your own pain stories. I'm all ears.