My wife bruises easily as well, especially when new people are tickling her because they are less used to the sweet spot in terms of pressure. Even I can bruise along my ribs because I like harder tickling sometimes. If you are that bruised, and across many of the main spots you want to be tickled, I'd just delay the session. If you're worried about how the other person might take it, just be honest and communicate that you wish you could do it now, but need the healing time. Conveying to them that you are looking forward to next time will give them the right message. If you think things when too hard this time around, just let them know you would like less pressure next time so that you avoid as much bruising. You can create a special safeword just for this so they know to lighten up the pressure, but still keep tickling. That can be a great way to train others on how to get used to the right pressure for you.
There are those that will say you shouldn't bruise at all in a session, but everyone's preferences and bodies are different. Just make sure you're getting out of it what you want, that your body isn't paying for it more than you want, and that you are taking care of yourself afterwards. Speaking of taking care of yourself, here's a few things to ensure you are treating the bruises to help healing:
- Vitamins: Make sure you're getting enough vitamin C daily. It's important for connective tissue health like in skin and capillaries, and it is important for the overall healing process. A bruis is essentially blood that leaks out into the surrounding tissue from broken capillaries. Other vitamins to ensure you're getting enough of are iron, zinc K, and D.
- Drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated helps your body clean out the old blood and repair the damaged tissue easier.
- Cold/heat: ideally you'd put a cold compress on the area in the first 24 hours or so to help restrict further blood from leaking from the broken capillaries, but that would probably be uncomfortable on the ribs. Consider it wherever tolerable. After 24 hours, use heat to increase blood flow to the area to help clear out old blood and promote healing.
- Medication: Obviously don't adjust medication you're already taking as directed by your doctor, but consider avoiding certain medications like pain medications after a session. just because you have some discomfort. Many of those like Asprin, ibuprofen, etc. thin the blood and increase bruising potential. (Thin blood leaks from capillaries more easily.)
I'm Sorry you're dealing with this but whatever you decide, I hope you heal quickly and have another great session soon
🙂
