Dilating woes

27
u/Ok-Efficiency1934
Fri Dec 16 19:24:36 2022 UTC
SPOILER
(13 comments)

Hi girls I’m in my 5th week post op with Dr. Wittenberg. I was told that from now till the 3rd month dilating becomes more difficult as the body is healing from the inside out. There has been increasingly resistance making it painful to push through it. Last night I was dilating prepared to do it as long as it took but the pain was so bad I couldn’t insert the orange dilater would not touch the dots just the full tip. The day before I was able to get to get more in only missing three dots as I lost two dots of depth. Should I be doing pelvic rehabilitation exercises?

I had to take pain relievers which I was slowly weaning off of. This experience feels regressive although I know I’m healing from the inside fast. I don’t want to loose more depth but the pain I felt last night is un-relivable. I also noticed that granulation tissue had formed on my labia minora which I don’t believe is causing the pain and there was no bleeding just yellowing discharge after I took the dialter out. Any experiential advice is appreciated.

all 13 comments


9
u/bellatricked
Fri Dec 16 20:58:15 2022 UTC
(4 children)

Whatever you do you have to get to your full depth each time you dilate or it’s like skipping a dilation. Increase frequency, duration, take anti inflammatory medication, smoke weed, anything that will help you get to depth.

2
OP
Fri Dec 16 23:21:11 2022 UTC
(3 children)

Which anti-inflammatory medication do you recommend. I smoked weed last night and this morning which helped my afternoon session.

4
Sat Dec 17 00:38:38 2022 UTC
(2 children)

I took ibuprofen, 400mg 30 minutes before I started dilating and it helped a little bit. I was doing this twice a day and my doctor had to prescribe me a PPI to prevent the ibuprofen from harming my stomach and possibly causing an ulcer. I exceeded the recommended dose but it worked well enough. It’s probably going to be a hard few months tbh.

4
Sat Dec 17 11:35:17 2022 UTC
*
(1 child)

NSAIDs like ibuprofen slow down wound healing especially at the wound contraction stage (5-12 weeks). use tylenol, cannabis and even poppers instead (nitric oxide signaling is good for wound healing)

granted I was using 600mg 4 times a day but when I discontinued my ibuprofen at day 33 my wound healing sped up massively

2
Sat Dec 17 19:32:23 2022 UTC
(0 children)

Ok maybe but you don’t need to speed up healing, you need to reduce swelling so you can get the dilator all the way to your full depth. If you don’t get to depth then you lose that depth.

6
u/rabidninjawombat
Fri Dec 16 23:04:48 2022 UTC
(5 children)

If your starting right with the orange. Try working your way up first. I go 5 min each with the blue and green before doing 15 on the orange. Works a charm

3
OP
Fri Dec 16 23:22:45 2022 UTC
(4 children)

I’ll try this method. So by using the larger dilators first it open the vagina and makes it easier to use the base dilator?

3
Sat Dec 17 02:00:40 2022 UTC
(0 children)

Do you have the tiny orange or the orange one bigger than the green one? I think they meant start with a smaller dialator than the one you're currently using and switch out to increasingly bigger ones while dialating

3
Sat Dec 17 02:06:18 2022 UTC
(1 child)

Okay, they probly assumed you were on orange #4, that is the largest. If you are on #0, the smol orange, that won't work for you.

What I suggest, is to do some kegals, 5 where you tighten with a breathe in for count of 5, and release for a count of 5... after that, you can do 5 quick ones, and then relax. While you are trying to insert... use light pressure (LOTS OF LUBE) while breathing out and actively relaxing pelvic floor. Once you get to full depth, be sure to hold pressure at "compass points" (hold pressure up for a minute, then down for a minute, then left, then right). This should help make more space and make it easier to dilate in the future. This is also how I prepared to size up.

If you can't insert, and get back to depth, I would contact the surgeon ASAP.

1
Fri Dec 16 23:36:56 2022 UTC
(0 children)

I second this. I’m on week 6 and I even start with purple in the morning, then blue and green. I make sure I do the full amount of time I’m supposed to dilate with the the dilators I can get to max depth with, then I spend some time working on orange. That way I don’t have to worry if orange gets all the way in because I’ve already done my time with the smaller ones.

3
u/GreySarahSoup
Fri Dec 16 21:17:34 2022 UTC
(0 children)

Can you get smaller dilators to depth? If so focus more on those as maintaining depth is much more important than girth.

2
u/chayadoing
Sat Dec 17 11:43:48 2022 UTC
(0 children)

OP: you can actively stretch the skin by rotating in circles. (you can move the dilator in circles without rotating as well - a "widening" exercise.) start with compass points. be forgiving of yourself. take a cannabis edible maybe. light a scented oil candle. deep breaths.

1
u/zenmtf
Sat Dec 17 01:48:01 2022 UTC
(0 children)

I start with blue five minutes, green ten minutes, orange twenty minutes. Have done it this way almost from the start.

I’m at five months, only twice a day.